The Orchid House Read Online Free PDF Page B

you, please try to behave.’ Alicia sat down on the fender and took a large slug of her wine.
    Kate, her pretty, blonde eight-year-old, sidled up to her. ‘Mummy, do you like my outfit?’ she asked.
    Alicia looked properly for the first time at the concoction of vivid pink top, yellow polka-dot skirt and turquoise tights. Kate looked a mess, but it was too late. She could see her father’s car coming up the drive.
    ‘Grandpa’s here,’ shouted James, her six-year-old, excitedly.
    ‘Let’s go and get him,’ shrieked Fred, the four-year-old, and he headed for the front door.
    Alicia watched the other children following him, a smile of pleasure at their excitement playing on her lips. The children opened the front door and scattered out of it to surround the car.
    A few seconds later, George Forrester was pulled into the drawing room by his grandchildren. At sixty-five, he was still a handsome man – slim, with a full head of hair just greying at the temples. He had an air of authority and confidence, gleaned from years of addressing an audience.
    George was a renowned botanist – Professor of Botany at the University of East Anglia – lecturing often at the Royal Society of Horticulture and at Kew. When he wasn’t sharing his knowledge, he was off to foreign parts, searching out new species of plant-life across the world. Which was when, he readily admitted, he was at his most content.
    George had always told his daughters that he had walked into the hothouses of Wharton Park expecting to be overwhelmed by the famous collection of orchids that grew there, but instead had fallen instantly in love with the young beauty – his future wife and mother of his two daughters – who was in the hothouse with them. They had been married only a few months later.
    George advanced towards Alicia. ‘Hello, darling, you’re looking as beautiful as ever. How are you?’
    ‘I’m well, thanks. Happy birthday, Dad,’ she said as he hugged her. ‘Drink? We have some champagne in the fridge.’
    ‘Why not?’ His eyes creased into a smile. ‘Bizarre really, celebrating the fact I’m one step nearer the grave.’
    ‘Oh, Dad!’ Alicia chided. ‘Don’t be silly. All my girlfriends are still in love with you.’
    ‘Well, that’s always nice for a chap to know, but it doesn’t change the facts. Today,’ he turned round to face his grandchildren, ‘your grandfather is a pensioner.’
    ‘What’s a pensioner?’ asked Fred.
    James, two years older and wiser, dug his little brother in the ribs. ‘It’s an old person, silly.’
    ‘I’ll go and get the champagne,’ Max said, winking at Alicia.
    ‘So,’ George perched himself on the fender opposite his daughter, stretching his long legs out in front of him, ‘how’s everything?’
    ‘Hectic, as usual,’ sighed Alicia. ‘What about you?’
    ‘Same,’ agreed George. ‘Actually, I’m rather excited. Last week I had a call from an American colleague of mine who lectures at Yale. He’s planning a research trip to the Galapagos Islands in May and wants me to join them. It’s one place I’ve never been to and always intended to go – Darwin’s Origin of the Species and all that. I’ll be away for a good three months, mind you, as I’ve been asked to give a couple of lectures whilst I’m in the States.’
    ‘No intention of slowing down then, now you’re a pensioner?’ Alicia smiled.
    Fred hopped up to George on one leg. ‘We bought you a really cool present, Grandpa. It’s a –’
    ‘Shut up, Fred. It’s a surprise,’ said Rose – the disdainful teenager – from the sofa.
    Max came back in with the champagne uncorked and poured it into three glasses.
    ‘Well, cheers everybody.’ George lifted the glass of champagne to his lips. ‘Here’s to the next sixty-five.’ Taking a sip, he asked, ‘Is Julia coming?’
    ‘Yes, she said she would. She’s probably running a little late.’
    ‘How is she?’ he asked.
    ‘Not good.’ Alicia shook her