Read Online The Winter Folly by Lulu Taylor - Free Book Online Page A

emerged from the church, her arm resting on the rough wool of his morning coat, and
there’d been a swift glance at each other, a kind of half-smile on Laurence’s lips, and he murmured, ‘Are you all right?’ to which she’d answered, ‘Yes,’
and then added hesitantly, ‘darling.’ His blue gaze slid away from her and he said nothing more. A moment later, they’d been surrounded by people, hustled into a waiting car and
driven home again. She walked into the house feeling a little ridiculous now in her dress with its cumbersome train and the long froth of veil around her shoulders, and was greeted by two staring
village girls holding trays of asparagus rolls. They’d bobbed curtsies and said, ‘Hello, mum,’ in a way that made her realise that everyone saw her differently since the little
ritual in the church.
    The reception passed in a hubbub of noise and a blur of tightly packed people. There was hardly enough room for the guests in the drawing room and some spilled out onto the terrace, as the
village girls passed among them offering trays of food and sherry. Alexandra escaped the bunches of inquisitive ladies and with some muttered excuses slipped into the dining room, where the wedding
presents had been laid out on the sideboard, displayed for anyone who cared to look. She went over, her train tucked over one arm, and inspected them. They didn’t feel like hers and she
wondered if it would be better if she simply left them where they were. The cut-glass vases and crystal looked more at home here than it ever would wherever they were going, not that she had much
idea where that was.
    ‘Delightful, aren’t they?’
    She jumped and turned to see Laurence’s brother walking across the room towards her, looking like a comical little bantam with his chest puffed out and his hands clasped behind his back.
He had fair hair like Laurence, swept back from his forehead, but unlike Laurence, with his thin, almost gaunt face, Robert was plump and his cheeks were ruddier than his brother’s, as though
blood had been pumped hard into the little veins and capillaries and got stuck there.
    Robert came up and stood close to her, his shoulder almost brushing her as he leaned forward to examine the presents. ‘Quite a haul. A respectable amount to start married life with.’
He tilted his head so that he was looking up at her from one pale blue eye. ‘Don’t you think?’
    She nodded. His nearness made her uncomfortable. ‘They’re very nice,’ she said politely, although she had no feelings for the pile of glittering glass, silver and china.
    ‘Look at this.’ Robert lifted up a large blue and white china vase, something in the style of Chinese porcelain but with department-store sturdiness. ‘Quite charming.’ He
held it out to her. She let the train fall from her arm and took the vase. It was heavier than it looked and she felt her arms sag under its weight.
    ‘Here, give it back.’ Robert reached out, his hands closing over hers. He smiled at her. ‘I should have known a little thing like you wouldn’t be able to manage
it.’
    She stared back at him, aware of his hot hands on top of hers, and then released her grip. The vase slid awkwardly away. Robert scrabbled for it but it resisted his clammy fingers and fell to
the floor with a heavy thump. They both stared at it as it rolled back and forth on the carpet, like a fat baby unable to turn over because of its round belly. It was unbroken, its solidity too
much of a match for the floor.
    ‘No harm done,’ Robert said with obvious relief. He bent down to pick it up and when he rose again, his blue eyes were reddened with the effort. He put it back on the sideboard.
    Perhaps his trousers are too tight
, Alexandra thought. His whole suit seemed to be straining a little as though it had been fitted some years before when his frame was altogether
slimmer.
    Robert was breathing heavily from his exertion, the air whistling through his