The Secrets of the Tea Garden by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Author:Janet MacLeod Trotter [Trotter, Janet MacLeod]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503903135
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2018-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

‘Wherever have you been?’ Tilly asked when Adela finally returned home late that night. It was dark but Tilly and Josey were in the sitting room waiting up for her.

‘I’m not sure,’ Adela said, numb and weary. ‘Just wandering . . .’

Josey steered her into an armchair. ‘You look terrible. What’s happened? Have you had another row with Sam?’

‘Sam?’ Adela said in confusion. It occurred to her that she hadn’t thought about her husband for hours – not since she’d learnt the shocking news of John Wesley’s death. She closed her eyes. She couldn’t think about Sam – couldn’t contemplate the idea that he might be relieved her relentless search was over.

‘So you haven’t been to Cullercoats?’ prompted Tilly.

Adela shook her head.

‘Then where?’ demanded Josey.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Tilly said more gently.

Adela felt her chest tighten in grief. ‘No . . . yes.’ She leant forward, face in hands, and burst into fresh tears.

‘Darling girl!’ Tilly rushed to comfort her.

Adela groped for her and buried her face in Tilly’s plump shoulder.

‘How can I bear it?’ she wept.

‘Bear what?’ Josey asked.

‘My baby!’ Adela wailed. ‘My darling boy!’

‘What baby?’ Tilly asked, baffled. ‘Are you pregnant?’

Adela let out an anguished sob and pulled away. ‘No . . .’ She looked at Josey in distress and saw realisation dawn on her friend’s face.

Josey went straight over to the drinks cabinet and poured out a large whisky.

‘You’ve had a shock, haven’t you?’ she said, thrusting the glass at Adela. ‘Drink this down and then you can tell us.’

‘Tell us what?’ Tilly frowned in concern. ‘Josey, what do you know that I don’t?’

‘Adela can tell you,’ said Josey.

Adela shook her head.

‘Best to get it all off your chest,’ Josey said. ‘Tilly’s been such a support to you; she deserves to be put in the picture.’

Adela gulped at the whisky and spluttered at its fiery taste. She took another mouthful and almost instantly began to feel calmer. The women waited for her to speak, Tilly’s expression fearful.

Hesitantly at first, Adela began to unburden herself of the shameful secret she had kept from Tilly for so long. When Tilly exclaimed in shock, Josey silenced her and encouraged Adela to continue. Soon, Adela was pouring out her feelings about her lost baby and her increasing desperation to try and find him.

‘So is that what has been the cause of the rift between you and Sam?’ asked Tilly.

Adela nodded. ‘He can’t bear that I wanted my son back more than anything else in the world – even him.’

‘Poor Sam,’ said Tilly, ‘and poor you.’

‘So what has happened today,’ pressed Josey, ‘that has made you so upset?’

Adela told them about going to Railway Terrace and her terrible discovery about the death of the Segals. She dissolved into tears again.

‘I don’t think I can b-bear the pain,’ Adela sobbed. ‘I always believed . . . deep down . . . I’d get John Wesley b-back.’

Josey sighed. ‘That’s the real reason Adela came back to England – and dragged Sam with her.

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