The Orchid House Read Online Free PDF

agreed. ‘But I met him years ago in this house, and bumped into him again just now.’
    ‘You’re a dark horse, Julia; you never said you’d met him when we were kids,’ frowned Alicia, moving an old mac to swaddle the urn and wedging it into the side. ‘Let’s hope this makes it home,’ she said, slamming the boot. They both climbed in and Alicia started the engine.
    ‘Fancy a quick drink and a sandwich at the pub?’ Alicia asked. ‘You can tell me all about how you met the delectable Lord Kit. Hope he’s more pleasant than his sister. I’ve met her a couple of times at local dinner parties and she treats me as though I’m still the gardener’s granddaughter. Thank heavens the closest male heir inherits the title. If Bella had been a man, there’d have been no stopping her!’
    ‘No … I don’t think Kit’s like that at all,’ said Julia softly. She turned to her sister. ‘Thanks for the offer, but if you don’t mind, I’d just like to go home now.’
    Alicia read the exhaustion in her sister’s eyes. ‘Okay,’ she replied, ‘but we’re stopping at the shop on the way back and I’m buying you some supplies.’
    Julia acquiesced, too weak to argue.
    Alicia insisted that Julia sit on the sofa whilst she lit the fire and stowed away the food she had bought from the local Spar. For once, Julia didn’t mind being fussed around. The trip out – her first in weeks – had drained her. And returning to Wharton Park and seeing Kit had unsettled her.
    Alicia appeared from the kitchen with a tray, which she placed in front of Julia. ‘I’ve made you some soup. Please drink it.’ She picked up the brown envelope that Julia had placed on the coffee table. ‘May I?’ she asked.
    ‘Of course.’
    Alicia drew the paintings out of the envelope, laid them on the table and studied them. ‘They’re lovely,’ she said, ‘and the perfect gift for Dad. Will you frame them?’
    ‘If I can do it in time, yes.’
    ‘You are coming to us for his birthday lunch next Sunday, aren’t you?’ said Alicia.
    Julia nodded reluctantly as she picked up her soup spoon.
    ‘Darling, I understand it’ll be hard, that big family gatherings aren’t quite your thing at the moment, but I know that everyone’s looking forward to seeing you. And Dad would be devastated if you didn’t come.’
    ‘I’ll be there. Of course I will.’
    ‘Good.’ Alicia looked at her watch. ‘I suppose I’d better be off, back to the madhouse.’ She rolled her eyes, walked over to Julia and squeezed her shoulder. ‘Is there anything else I can get you?’
    ‘No thanks.’
    ‘Okay.’ Alicia planted a kiss on the top of Julia’s head. ‘And listen, please keep in touch and try and remember to keep your mobile switched on. I worry about you.’
    ‘The signal’s almost non-existent here,’ Julia said, ‘but I will.’ She watched Alicia as she walked to the door. ‘And thanks. Thanks for taking me back to Wharton Park.’
    ‘My pleasure, really. You just call and I’ll be here. Take care, Julia.’ The door slammed behind Alicia.
    Julia felt sleepy and lethargic. Leaving the half-drunk bowl of soup on the table, she walked wearily up the stairs and sat on her bed, hands folded in her lap.
    I don’t want to get better. I want to suffer the way that they suffered. Wherever they are, at least they’re together, whereas I’m here alone. I want to know why I wasn’t taken with them, because now I’m neither here nor there. I can’t live and I can’t die. Everyone wills me to choose life, but then, if I do that, I must let them go. And I can’t do that. Not yet …

3
    At two minutes to one the following Sunday, Alicia marshalled her family into the drawing room.
    ‘Lissy, have some wine, darling.’ Her husband, Max, pushed a glass into her hand and kissed her on the cheek.
    ‘Rose, will you take that iPod off now!’ Alicia snapped at her thirteen-year old daughter, who was slouched morosely on the sofa. ‘And all of