Chapter 24
Because Dorothy was leaving Malaya, because she had made her decision about George, there was a calmness in her, a tranquillity that was new to her. And she could not help feeling proud of herself, the way she had not allowed George to sway her, to manipulate her with his promises, as he had done before. It was a coincidence indeed that he too was being returned to England. Shame that she could not dump him here; leave him to manage on his own.
She stepped down into the garden and looked across to the pergola and the jacaranda tree. Hibiscus, their pinks almost fluorescent, jasmine, their powerful scents, all bright and cheerful in the lazy sun, climbing, tangled with the humming shrubs. Would she miss them, tire easily of the mildness of the English rose? The lawn was flatten
