And the Bride Wore Red Read Free

want to get serious. Now, tell me about yourself. Are you getting enough sleep?’
    There was more in the query than just a desire to change the subject. Norah was in her seventies, and the only thing that had made Olivia hesitate about coming to China was the fear of possibly not seeing her again. But Norah had assured her that she was in the best of health and had urged her to go.
    â€˜Don’t you dare turn down your chance because of me,’ she’d insisted.
    â€˜I’m just trying to be sensible,’ Olivia had protested mildly.
    â€˜ Sensible? You’ve got the rest of your life for that sort of nonsense. Get out there, do things you’ve never done before, and forget that man who didn’t deserve you anyway.’
    Norah could never forgive the man who’d broken Olivia’s heart.
    â€˜I’m sleeping fine,’ Norah said now. ‘I spent yesterday evening with your mother, listening to her complaining about her latest. That sent me right off to sleep.’
    â€˜I thought Guy was her ideal lover.’
    â€˜Not Guy, Freddy. She’s finished with Guy, or he finished with her, one of the two. I can’t keep up.’
    Olivia sighed wryly. ‘I’ll call her and commiserate.’
    â€˜Not too much or you’ll make her worse,’ Norah said at once. ‘She’s a silly woman. I’ve always said so. Mind you,it’s not all her fault. Her own mother has a lot to answer for. Fancy giving her a stupid name like Melisande! She was bound to see herself as a romantic heroine.’
    â€˜You mean,’ Olivia said, ‘that if Mum had been called something dull and sensible she wouldn’t have eloped?’
    â€˜Probably not, although I think she’d have been self-centred whatever she was called. She’s never thought of anyone but herself. She’s certainly never thought of you, any more than your father has. Heaven alone knows what he’s doing now, although I did hear a rumour that he’s got some girl pregnant.’
    â€˜Again?’
    â€˜Yes, and he’s going about preening as though he’s the first man who’s ever managed it. Forget him. The great fool isn’t worth bothering with.’
    Thus she dismissed her nephew—with some justice, as Olivia had to admit.
    They chatted for a while longer before bidding each other an affectionate goodnight. Olivia delayed just long enough to make herself a basic meal, then fell thankfully into bed, ready to fall asleep at once.
    Instead she lay awake, too restless for sleep. Mysteriously, Dr Mitchell had found his way into her thoughts, and she remembered him saying, Other people have to pick up the pieces, and often it is they who get hurt.
    He’d given her a look full of wry kindness, as if guessing that she was often the person who had to come to the rescue—which was shrewd of him, she realised, because he’d been right.
    As far back as she could remember she’d been the rock of stability in her family. Her parents’ marriage had been a disaster. They’d married young in a fever of romance, had quickly been disillusioned by prosaic reality and had headedfor divorce. Since then her mother had remarried and divorced again before settling for lovers. Her father had moved straight onto the lovers.
    She herself had been passed from pillar to post, depending on whichever of them had felt she could be most useful. They had lavished noisy affection on her without ever managing to be convincing. Their birthday and Christmas gifts had been expensive, but she’d realised early on that they were aimed at scoring points off each other.
    â€˜Let’s see what your father thinks of that,’ her mother had said, proudly revealing a state-of-the-art, top-of-the-range, laptop. But she’d been too busy to come and see Olivia in the school play, which would have meant far more.
    The person who’d always come to school functions was