Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde Read Free Book Online Page A

lovers were orphans – and she was an only orphan.
    *
    Ellie started to feel restive after only a few
days in her parents' immaculate dwelling. Up
until then, in the morn ings, she stayed in bed, telling them they didn't
want to be bothered with her when they were
rushing off to work. Really, it was so she could feel nauseous in
private. And once they'd gone out she had
rung her various employers and
belatedly – guiltily – handed in her notice. She couldn't possibly drive
all that way to work, even if she had the
energy to work once she got there. They had been satisfyingly sorry to lose her
-- though not as sorry as she was to lose the income, now that she was
homeless as well as pregnant.
    When she had the house to herself she ate dry
toast, drank peppermint tea and made sure
she left no trace of her habitation.
From time to time she wondered if coming from the background she did had
indeed made her a neurotic neat-nik, as Rick had once suggested. It was
possible, but she thought it unlikely. Her parents would have died of shock if
they'd set foot in Rick and Ellie's little
rented house. For one thing, the throws on the sofas and chairs didn't
quite blend with the walls.
    After she had watched enough daytime television
to make herself feel better, she went for walks around the village, buying
packets of flour and butter so she could make
cheese straws, tiny olive-flavoured scones, or crostini for her parents
to have with their drinks when they got in from work. It wasn't that they liked
snacks, particularly, but it made her feel less useless.
    When she'd done her little bit of baking, and
tidied up behind herself, she painted. That
too took a bit of tidying, and the idea that paint might land on some of
the virgin whiteness of the sitting room
terrified her. She was dicing with death painting in there, she knew,
but the light in the kitchen was hopeless, and she did drape everything in
newspaper before she started. It would be worth it when Grace saw the picture.
    One morning she decided to go back to the
beautiful house she was painting and have another look at it.
    It took her just over an
hour to get to the town nearest to the house, but she wasn't sure of
her way from there. She found a parking spot and went on a hunt for a loo and some information, in that order. Having found
a loo, she was on her way down the High Street when she saw Grace coming out of a shop further down the road.
It was too far to shout, so Ellie
sprinted. 'Grace! It is you. For a moment I thought I might have done
something really embarrassing.’
    It took Grace a minute to recognise Ellie, not
because she'd changed, but because she was out of context. 'Oh, hello! How nice
to see you. What are you doing here?’
    Ellie didn't want to say anything about the
picture, in case it didn't turn out well, so
she said, 'I just thought I'd have a look around. I'm staying with my
parents and am getting a bit bored.'
    ‘Well, why don't we have some coffee or
something?’
    ‘ That would
be nice, as long as I don't have to drink it.' Grace smiled, cheered by this chance meeting. 'The pub has got a
cosy snug and there won't be anyone there at this time of day. They'll let us have what we
like.
    ‘ So,' said Grace, sipping mineral water, when they
had settled themselves by the log fire in the pub. 'How is it going with
your parents?'
    ‘ I haven't told them
I'm pregnant yet, if that's what you mean.'
Ellie rubbed her hands and held them to the flames.
    ‘ Oh.'
Grace regarded Ellie, wondering how she'd have told her parents if she'd got
pregnant before she was married. It would have been very hard. She didn't blame
Ellie for not having had the courage to do it yet.
    ‘I'm staying for a few more days, so there's
plenty of time. In the meantime, I've got to
find somewhere else to live. The trouble is, Bath is terribly short of
accom modation at the best of times, let alone
accommodation I can afford. Although my parents have offered to help out,' she