HIDDEN TREASURES 

By Tessa Harvey


   
    But all Alice spoke were a few words. "Just please, help me to bed, Jess." By ten p.m. Jess had helped her nan to her room - and was dismissed with a small wave and a tired smile.
    Leaving the bedroom door ajar, Jess had tidied away the Milo mugs and washed the beautiful small crystal water glass, once part of a set of six. Her grandfather's old chair was still at one end of the kitchen table where most meals were taken.
    Beside his worn armchair in the lounge stood a small, old-fashioned pipe-rack, now empty. 
    The room smelt faintly of tobacco, though the old man had rarely smoked.
    The tied-back curtains were blue and white patterned in sea-swirls. It felt calm, but Jess was anything but. Questions fought for supremacy. What was wrong? Why a resurgence of the faith she remembered they all shared when she was small?
    And what should she do about Simon? He was compelling, strong, seemingly mature and very handsome. Jess was very attracted to his charming manner......and yet, in reality, he was a bully!


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