Page 71 of The Girl from the Tea Garden
Adela felt sick at the way Nina had twisted things round to make her seem like the bully. Now she was doing her best to turn her Simla friends against her too. She gave Deborah a helpless look.
‘Listen,’ said Deborah, ‘just keep a low profile until all this hoo-ha with the prince and the shootings dies down. I’m sure in time we can all go back to being friends again.’
Adela nodded, although she knew Deborah was just placating her to avoid a further scene. Deborah smiled in relief.
‘So what was it like?’
‘What?’
‘Being with Jay? Bet he’s an expert lover like they say.’
Adela was winded by the unexpected remark. She answered without thinking. ‘You make it sound sordid, but it’s not. We love each other.’
She turned and walked away quickly before Deborah could show her disbelief.
In early June a letter came from Sophie.
My dearest lassie,
We have been thinking of you such a lot, Uncle Rafi and I. We have read the newspaper reports about the riots in Nerikot with great alarm and are greatly concerned about Jay’s involvement. I know you have a soft spot for him, my darling, so I thought you would want to know that he is back in Gulgat at the palace. I fear he has taken advantage of your affections, but he will tell us little, if anything, of his time in Simla. It is Fluffy Hogg who wrote and told us you had stayed at Eagle’s Nest.
I hope you will be home for your eighteenth birthday and that we can all spoil you on your special day– especially if you will be away in England for a while afterwards. Tilly is growing ridiculously excited at the thought of your trip home together– she misses Jamie and Libby so much and can’t wait to see them again. It makes me rather wish Rafi and I were coming with you too. I should love to see Scotland again, though I have no relations left there since my Great Uncle Daniel in Perth died.
Come home soon– it’s been far too long since we hugged and chatted! Give our greetings to MrsHogg. I imagine Boz is away on tour in the hills, but send love to Fatima.
Your adoring Auntie Sophie xxx
Adela sat down on her bed and wept. She had been waiting an age for word that Jay was safe, for him to return to Simla to be with her, but now he was hundreds of miles away in Gulgat. How long had he been there? He had not even sent word himself, but left her to hear of his return second-hand! Did he think so little of her? Or perhaps he was still in danger and was lying low? Maybe Sophie shouldn’t have told her and was putting him at risk by writing it down in a letter; the authorities could have intercepted and read it.
Adela read the letter again, so full of tenderness, and felt ashamed at resenting Sophie for breaking the news. Jay had fled from the hills without a thought for her; otherwise he would have sent a message himself or tried to see her one more time before parting. Adela curled up on her bed and wept until she felt hollowed out.
That evening she sat on the veranda with Fluffy watching an electric storm. It crackled and rent the sky into jagged pieces. She told her guardian about Jay being in Gulgat.
Fluffy didn’t seem surprised. ‘I rather suspected he had left the area.’
Adela felt her eyes sting again with unwanted tears. ‘Perhaps it was too unsafe for him to be seen in Simla,’ she said, searching for an excuse.
‘Perhaps,’ agreed Fluffy. ‘What do you want to do now, my dear?’
Adela thought bleakly how her life in Simla had collapsed around her so swiftly: she was outcast from the theatre group, gossiped about along the Mall and deserted by Jay. She had given up her job and neglected her duties at the hospital in favour of a social life of dances, dinners and riding expeditions, revelling in the limelight and encouraging Prince Jay. And worst of all, Sam lived close by in the hills and yet forever beyond her reach.
‘I think I should go home to Belgooree,’ Adela said quietly. ‘What do you think?’
‘I agree, and I think it will make your parents very happy.’
Adela felt a stab of guilt at how little thought she had given her parents and brother these past months. She had been having too much fun and had hardly spared the time to reply to their long, affectionate letters. A scribbled note shoved into an envelope with Fluffy’s longer epistles was all she had given them.
‘You’ve been so good to me, Auntie. The person I’ll miss most in Simla is you.’
Fluffy smiled. ‘I’ll miss you too, my dear. You’ve been such a good companion. Noor and I will find the house very empty without you.’
‘Quiet, you mean.’ Adela gave a sad smile.
‘You know you can come back any time you want.’ Fluffy gave one of her direct looks. ‘But I think you are ready to move on. Go and pursue your ambition to be an actress. Don’t let the petty-minded of Simla put you off.’
Adela felt her heart squeeze. ‘Auntie.’ She swallowed, forcing herself to ask, ‘When did you find out about my ... about Mother’s parentage? Was it just since Nina came? That’s not why you want me to go, is it?’
Fluffy looked at her, shocked. ‘Goodness me, how could you think such a thing? I’ve always known about it– ever since I met your dear mama on the boat coming out in ’22 and you were a wee thing rushing about on deck like an eager kitten. Some of the women were unkind to her, but she put them in their place with her polite but firm manner. It didn’t bother her that they knew she was Anglo-Indian– at least she didn’t show it– and it shouldn’t bother you.’
