Book Club Reads: 3-Book Collection: Yesterday’s Sun, The Sea Sisters, Someone to Watch Over Me. Amanda Brooke

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ her studio in record time so she spent her mornings in there working on the scaled version of Mrs Bronson’s sculpture. Her afternoons were set aside for chores and evenings divided equally between sketching new art pieces to satisfy Sam’s demands and telephone calls with Tom, not to mention the occasional foray into the village.

      Brunch with Jocelyn was a great success and Holly discovered more and more about the history of the village, although the subject of Jocelyn’s time in the house was expertly sidestepped. The rest of the village seemed equally unwilling to discuss Jocelyn’s past, so Holly’s curiosity remained unsatisfied despite her best efforts.

      Holly, too, did some sidestepping and kept any conversation with Jocelyn well away from the moondial. Since learning about the Moon Stone, she had become even more resolute in her belief that her vision had just been a hallucination. Her conviction grew as surely as the bruise on her cheek faded.

      Stripping away every last remnant of the nightmare that had haunted her, Holly erased the image of Tom’s lifeless eyes that looked right through her, deleted the vision of the gatehouse with a conservatory pinned to its back and wiped away the chaos of a house which gave home to a newborn but no new mother. The only image that Holly held sacred was that of the baby and, as she pictured Libby’s angelic face, her fingers tingled as she recalled the softness of her cheek.

      It was no surprise that the thought of motherhood consumed Holly’s thoughts, not least because she was now working intently on Mrs Bronson’s sculpture. At night, as she closed her eyes, she thought of Libby and relived that moment when their two hearts connected. Slowly she was beginning to share Tom’s enthusiasm for parenthood and she sensed the desire to be a mother growing inside her, a fragile ember that needed nurturing and, when the vision of the baby wasn’t enough to keep the spark alive, she used the anger against her mother to fuel her desire to change.

      ‘I’ve been thinking about the future,’ Holly told Tom one night as she snuggled beneath the covers in bed. She had the pink teddy propped on her knee in front of her and she felt a flutter of excitement as she imagined the bear’s pink ears being tugged by tiny baby fingers.

      ‘So what are you having for breakfast, then?’ Tom teased.

      ‘I was thinking a little bit further ahead than that. How about the next five years?’ Holly held her breath, waiting for Tom’s excitement to erupt.

      ‘Oh,’ he said.

      ‘Well, I was expecting a bit more enthusiasm than that,’ Holly replied, feeling a little bit deflated. ‘I’m about to tell you I’m ready to start planning for a baby and that’s the response I get?’

      There was a pause and an irrational fear gripped at Holly’s chest.

      ‘You’ve found someone else,’ she gasped.

      ‘Don’t be daft. Of course I haven’t!’ Tom told her, shock rising in his voice. ‘Don’t ever think that. Look, I’m sorry, I know it’s a big step for you and I love that you want to be a mum, I love that you’re ready to start a family, I love that you want to have a house full of kids, I love you!’

      ‘Back up a minute,’ interrupted Holly. ‘Let’s just plan one baby at a time, shall we?’

      ‘I know, I know. It’s a five-year plan, blah, blah, blah.’

      ‘So what’s the problem? Why aren’t you going wild with excitement?’ Holly asked, pouting her lip like a petulant child even though Tom couldn’t see her.

      ‘The studio has called me in for an interview as soon as I’m back in London.’

      ‘Why?’ Holly didn’t like the tone of his voice. She knew he was still worried about his job, but he was already doing everything they asked of him; surely there was nothing more he could give?

      ‘The reorganization hasn’t been able to stop the rot. There’s going to be a merger and more changes.’

      ‘But they can’t do that, they’ve already messed you around. Your job’s as flexible as it could be, they can’t change it any more! Can they?’ Holly felt tears stinging her eyes. She had been looking forward to this moment, telling Tom that she was ready to be a mother. It hadn’t gone according to plan and the euphoric moment Holly had imagined fizzled and died.

      She had planned on keeping her decision to herself until Tom returned home in two weeks, but then she had looked up at the full moon that night and the urge to go back into the garden and put the glass orb once more into the claws of the moondial had unnerved her. She needed to lay claim to the future the moondial was trying to take from her.

      ‘The merger will mean major changes, cutting deeper than anyone expected,’ Tom said.

      ‘You’re losing your job?’ Holly asked, panic rising in her voice. Her income from her artwork wasn’t enough to support the two of them, let alone a baby.

      ‘I really don’t know. I’m sorry, Hol, I think it’s great that you want to start planning for a family, better than great, absolutely monumental. I know how much it must have taken you to get to this point and I feel awful about it.’

      ‘Hey, don’t feel awful. It’s not your fault and, who knows, it might be good news from the studio.’ Holly was usually the more pessimistic of the two, but somehow she sensed there was a need for a little role reversal. Tom was sounding decidedly anxious. ‘Maybe they are in dire straits but they’ve just realized that it’s going to take someone as incredible as you to get things back on track. I can understand that.’

      ‘I get the feeling that it’ll go one of two ways. Either I’ll have no job at all, or they’ll use the threat as leverage to get me to do some kind of nightmare job. But, hey, we don’t know yet, and even if it is bad, I don’t have to accept it. I could always take a chance and go freelance if the worst happens.’

      ‘Suppose,’ Holly said glumly. Optimism didn’t become her and she was struggling to fight against the sense of impending doom. ‘Not exactly the secure future we imagined, then?’

      ‘Hol, we won’t know anything for sure for a couple of weeks yet. Let’s worry about it when it happens.’

      ‘You’re right,’ she said in a monotone voice that did little to hide her disappointment. ‘Perhaps during your interview you can ask the studio to fill out our five-year plan for us.’

      Holly knew it wasn’t Tom’s fault, yet she couldn’t help but feel as though he’d just thrown icy cold water over her fragile plans for motherhood. She suddenly felt so alone with Tom at the end of the phone and the distance between them stretching out further than ever before. Her only company was the pink teddy bear sitting on her knee staring back at her. She played with the label sticking out of the side of its head and it was only then that she noticed the warning written on it. The toy was not for children under two years of age. Perhaps this was a sign that she really wasn’t fit to be a mother after all. She couldn’t even buy a simple teddy for her baby.

      ‘We’ll know in a couple of weeks,’ repeated Tom.

      Holly bit down hard on her lip. She didn’t dare reply in case her words came out as a sob.

      ‘We’ll have babies one day, I promise,’ Tom added.

      ‘Will you stay on the phone with me until I go to sleep?’ Holly asked.

      ‘I’ll СКАЧАТЬ