The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley Read Free Book Online Page A

said, feeling disorientated, and hardly ready to cope with speaking to the living.
    Kit was staring at her. ‘You’re soaked. What on earth have you been doing?’ He looked up at the sky for an answer. ‘It hasn’t been raining, has it?’
    ‘No.’ Julia pushed open the front door, her boots treading on the folded piece of paper that Kit had pushed through the letter box. She leant down to pick it up.
    ‘I left my mobile number.’ He indicated the note. ‘But as I’ve caught you, do you think we can have a quick chat?’
    Julia knew she was looking less than enthusiastic and her teeth were starting to chatter. ‘I think I need to get straight into a hot bath,’ she said, hoping this was enough to make him leave.
    Not to be dissuaded, Kit followed her inside the cottage. ‘Yes. Those precious fingers of yours are virtually blue. We can’t afford to have Britain’s most famous young concert pianist getting frostbite, now can we?’ He shut the door behind him, then shivered involuntarily. ‘Blimey, it’s freezing in here too. Listen, why don’t you go upstairs and have a hot bath, whilst I make a nice fire and some coffee?’
    Julia turned round and eyed him. ‘I might be some time. I need a good soak.’
    ‘I’m in no rush,’ Kit answered amiably. ‘Off you go.’
    Julia lay in the bath, taking time to thaw out both her feet and her brain, wondering at the timing of Kit’s appearance. She wasn’t used to having visitors turning up unexpectedly on her doorstep, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.
    Yet … out there alone, she had known she couldn’t stay in the place she’d been any longer, that she had to do what everyone told her she must, and try to move on.
    She could have chosen to die.
    She had chosen to live .
    Pulling on her jeans and her old woollen cardigan, she walked back down the stairs. Kit was sitting on the sofa, a small package resting on his knee. The fire was burning merrily in a way she could never quite achieve, however hard she tried.
    ‘So, how did you find me?’ she asked Kit as she hovered by the fire.
    ‘My sister, Bella, of course,’ Kit explained. ‘She knows everyone. Or should I say, she makes it her business to know everyone, and if she doesn’t, then she’ll know someone who does. In this case, it was your sister, Alicia. I did try to call, but your mobile seems to be permanently switched off.’
    Julia thought guiltily of the seventeen messages she hadn’t listened to last time she switched it on. ‘There’s very little signal here.’
    ‘No problem. Firstly, I wanted to apologise for the other day.’
    ‘Why?’
    Kit studied his hands. ‘I didn’t know about what had happened to you. As I said, I’ve been abroad for years. I only came back to England a few months ago.’
    ‘Who told you?’
    ‘Bella, of course. Apparently it was in all the newspapers here. So she’s gleaned her information from them. I’m sure most of it was inaccurate, as these things usually are.’
    ‘I … don’t know,’ Julia sighed. ‘As you can imagine, I didn’t read them.’
    ‘No, obviously you didn’t.’ Kit looked uncomfortable. ‘I’m sorry, Julia. It must have been … must be , terrible for you.’
    ‘Yes.’ For both their sakes, Julia swiftly changed the subject. ‘So, what was it you wanted to see me about?’
    Kit’s face brightened. ‘I’ve found something that you and your family might be interested in.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes. You remember I mentioned that I was renovating the cottages in the Quad?’
    Julia nodded.
    ‘Well, it turns out my new home is your grandparents’ old house. The plumbers were taking out the floorboards and they found this.’ Kit indicated the package on his knee.
    ‘What is it?’
    Julia watched Kit unwrap the package carefully to reveal a small, leather-bound book. He waved it at her. ‘It’s a diary, beginning in 1941. I flicked through it briefly and it’s an account of life as a prisoner of war in Changi