Free The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley

intellectually sophisticated enough to rationalise, but the emotional part of him would surely find the truth impossible to cope with. Especially at his tricky age, as
he traversed the rocky road from boy to man.
    Dealing with Alex in general had always been so difficult. Helena had known almost from the beginning that he was an unusual child; so bright, so very
adult
in the way he processed
information. He could reason and manipulate like a seasoned politician and then, on the turn of a sixpence, slip back into his chronological age and become a child again. She remembered when
he’d become obsessed by the dawning idea of death and had cried himself to sleep at the age of four as he came to terms with the thought of not being ‘here’ forever.
    ‘But none of us are here forever,’ Helena whispered sadly to the night sky, ablaze tonight with its millions of stars. They had seen everything, she thought, yet kept their wisdom to
themselves.
    William told her she indulged Alex, pandered to his whims, and perhaps she did. She alone read his vulnerability, knowing he had to cope with the isolation of feeling he was
‘different’. His junior school had suggested Alex should be assessed when he was eight, as he was outstripping all his classmates academically. She’d done so reluctantly, not
wanting to label him while he was still so young. He’d come out of the assessment as a ‘gifted’ child, with an IQ off the scale.
    Helena had kept him at the local primary school, wanting to make sure his childhood was as normal as possible. Then, a year after starting at the local secondary school, the headmaster had
called her in and suggested Alex should go for an academic scholarship to attend the most prestigious boarding school in England.
    ‘Really, Mrs Cooke, I think we would both be doing Alex a disservice if he wasn’t at least given the opportunity to try. We do our best here, but he needs to be stretched and
there’s no doubt he’d be better off with other boys of a similar intellect.’
    She had discussed it with William, who had agreed with the headmaster, but Helena – having been sent off to boarding school so young herself – was reluctant.
    ‘There’s no guarantee Alex will get the scholarship, and with the best will in the world, we can’t afford to send him if he doesn’t,’ William had argued. ‘So
why don’t we let him at least try? We can always say no if he doesn’t want to go.’
    And then, Alex
had
won it, and everyone had been so excited that she felt she was being churlish not to seem excited too. After all, it was a huge achievement. And a wonderful opportunity
for him.
    When she’d asked Alex himself if he was pleased, he’d shrugged and averted his eyes so she couldn’t read his expression.
    ‘If you are, Mum – then so am I. Dad seems happy, anyway.’
    Which had told her nothing.
    William had been thrilled and proud, but Helena couldn’t help wondering – however unfairly – if her husband’s positivity was partly based on the fact Alex would be
boarding.
    She was very aware that William had taken Alex on because he had fallen in love with
her
, and her son came as part of the package. Whether he had actually wanted Alex or not, he’d
had no choice but to accept that he would live under their roof. Those were the facts, however one wanted to dress them up. And Alex – being Alex – would not have missed the underlying
semantics.
    Her son read
her
, too . . . perhaps better than anyone else. It was as if he saw through her skin to the nub of her, no matter how tightly she wrapped the thick veil that shrouded her
innermost thoughts around her.
    Helena pulled the cigarette out of her pocket and lit it.
    Alex
knew
her protestations about Alexis’ motives were lies.
    He
knew
there was far more to it than she was telling.
    And the truth was, he was right.
    By the following sunset, the master bedroom had been painted a soft dove-grey by Dimitrios and Michel, Alexis’