Sylvia Garland's Broken Heart Read Online Free PDF

only she hadn’t been feeling so unwell and, of course, if the only topic worth talking about was not totally taboo. She stuck to doing the hostess thing, offering food and afterwards tea and pretending to listen politely to whatever her mother-in-law had to say.
    The meal was, all in all, a ghastly strain and Smita was glad when Sylvia said to Jeremy, soon afterwards, “When it’s convenient, would you run me over to the hotel please dear? I simply have to have my forty winks, I’m afraid.”
    To Smita, she said brightly in the hall, “Thank you for a lovely lunch, dear. I’m sorry you went to so much trouble when you weren’t feeling well. I hope you get over your bug quickly. And maybe in a couple of days, when we’re both more ourselves, I can invite myself over for a cup of tea?”
    “Of course,” Smita answered through gritted teeth, “of course you can.”
    When the door had closed behind Sylvia and Jeremy,Smita went wearily back into the front room and started to clear up. Jeremy had told her to leave it all for him but she preferred to have a job done to her liking. She wondered whether Sylvia really had no idea what the matter was with her daughter-in-law or whether, not having been let in on the secret, she was just being coy. She decided that Sylvia really had no idea; she was so self-centred and so obtuse, it was hardly surprising that she hadn’t worked it out. Well, if Smita had anything to do with it, she wasn’t going to find out in a hurry either because Sylvia simply couldn’t help herself; she would immediately tell the news to every single person she met. At the realisation that her mother-in-law was now part of this too, Smita allowed herself a few hot angry tears.

    In the car on the way to the hotel, Sylvia apologized to Jeremy. “I’m sorry I wasn’t the life and soul of the party. All this has rather knocked the stuffing out of me, you know.”
    “It’s OK,” Jeremy answered, without looking at her. “No one expects you to be bubbly at a time like this.”
    He negotiated an apparently nonsensical junction in silence. Outside the window, a blurred city slipped past.
    After another pause, Sylvia added, “I’m sorry Smita’s not feeling well. I hope she gets over it quickly.”
    Jeremy seemed to be giving her a strange look.
    “It’s not anything serious, is it?” she asked in alarm.
    Jeremy appeared to be having difficulty controlling hisemotions. He was sweating profusely – although maybe it was just all the curry he had stowed away at lunch.
    “Honestly,” he said, apparently indignantly, “have you really not got a clue what’s the matter with Smi?”
    “No,” Sylvia replied in genuine bewilderment. “No, I haven’t.”
    Jeremy went extremely red in the face and Sylvia wondered how on earth she had angered him this time. She was so tired, her mind was in so many different places that at first she didn’t really take it in when Jeremy exclaimed, “Can’t you guess? She’s
pregnant
!”
    “Ah,” said Sylvia. A moment later, she jolted wide awake and cried, “Jeremy! That’s marvellous news. Congratulations!”
    If Jeremy hadn’t been driving, of course Sylvia could have hugged him or at least given his arm a good squeeze. As it was, she had to limit herself to a cascade of exclamations and questions. But it was too late; however much she exclaimed and however many eager questions she fired at him, she already knew that Jeremy would never ever forgive her for that first pause when she hadn’t been listening properly. He wouldn’t accept that it was due to fatigue and distraction; he would believe that it was because deep down she didn’t like Smita. She didn’t like Smita and consequently she wasn’t really all that thrilled that they were having a baby because it would surely cement their marriage.
    So Sylvia jabbered away, being as overjoyed and effusive as she could manage in her exhausted state, while sneaking sideways looks at Jeremy’s quizzical