Page 1 of Bride Under Contract
PROLOGUE
‘I DON’T THINK this is going to work...’ Grace Andrews was not talking about the faded crimson shorts she held in her hand, nor the washed-out tops that lay spread on her bed.
‘They’re all going to get ruined anyway.’ Her friend and flatmate Violet peered at the ‘essential items’ list. ‘You can buy new stuff after the jungle...’ She paused then, and must have seen the anxiety darting in friend’s green eyes. ‘You’re not talking about the clothes, though, are you?’
As tatty as they were, no.
Grace stood in her dressing gown, her long brown curls wrapped in a towel, her flight just a matter of hours away. There was every reason not to go.
‘I should be looking for a new job. It’s hardly fair on you, me working from home.’
‘It makes no difference to me.’ Violet shrugged. ‘I’m at the library all day...’ She glanced up. ‘Though you are working ridiculous hours.’
‘I’m used to working at night,’ Grace said.
It wasn’t a lie. Data entry might not sound exciting, but it had proved to be a lifeline and meant she’d been able to arrange her hours to suit as her mother’s health deteriorated. But, yes, it wasn’t the best pay, and certainly it wasn’t going to be enough to support her mother long-term.
Grace picked up the backpack she’d been half-heartedly packing and, clearing a space on the bed, took a seat. ‘It’s not just that.’
Two years ago Grace had booked and paid for a month’s vacation to Malaysia, starting with a five-day river trip through the Borneo jungle. It was the most unlikely of locations for Grace, who’d never been further than a school trip to France. Only it wasn’t just the sale price that had caught her attention. The stunning wildlife, as well as the luxurious river-edge villas, had enticed, but the remoteness of the jungle, along with being off-grid for a little while, had truly appealed.
The purchase had been made prior to her mum’s dementia diagnosis. At the time Grace hadn’t known what was wrong—just that things had changed with her mother around the time she’d turned nineteen. Eventually things had become so dire that she’d given up teacher training college and moved back home from the flat she had shared with Violet.
The holiday had been something to cling to...
She’d been purchasing hope, Grace now realised. Some sort of assurance that things would surely get better...
Only they hadn’t.
Violet had been with her throughout.
They had been friends since infant school. Grace, the new girl at school after her parents’ break-up, had hidden shyly behind long dark curls. She’d been in awe of the popular Violet, with her bright sunny nature that matched her golden hair. But one playtime she’d seen Violet being teased about her father being in prison.
Grace had pushed her own awkwardness aside and stepped in. ‘Leave her alone!’
‘What’s it to you?’ The lead bully had sneered.
‘She’s my friend,’ Grace had said, taking Violet’s hand.
And, apart from one regrettable incident just before her mum had been diagnosed, friends they had remained.
It had been Violet who had held Grace’s hand when she’d made the heartbreaking decision to sell the family house and place her mother in a care home. And it was Violet she now shared a flat with once more, and who sat beside her on the bed and did her best to reassure Grace.
‘You need this holiday—you’ve been dealing with this for...’
‘Years,’ Grace nodded.
She’d never really had time to look back and examine it.
The diagnosis had been hard, but the years prior had been their own separate version of hell.
‘Maggie thinks it’s a good idea if you don’t visit for a while...’
Maggie, the care home’s manager, had been firm, telling Grace her month’s absence would give her mother the best chance to settle in.
There was a sick feeling in Grace’s stomach when she thought of her mother sitting alone in the care home, waiting for her to come.
‘I just don’t want Mum to think she’s been forgotten.’