Adoration

by Rebecca King

  Alicia knew from the look on Mariette’s face that her daughter had just heard every word.

  ‘Has everyone left now?’ Alicia asked as she hurried past her. She pasted a bright smile on her face as she stepped through the front door and waved the last of the carriages down the driveway. When they turned out onto the road, she turned to face her daughter and said quietly: ‘We have problems.’

  ‘I heard him shouting,’ Mariette admitted warily.

  ‘How long have you known?’

  ‘That he is in love with Sissy?’ Mariette wrinkled her nose up. ‘I had hoped that it was an infatuation, but it appears that it is considerably more than that.’ She sidled closer to her mother. ‘Do you think I should pay her a visit?’

  There was something in her daughter’s eyes that made Alicia flinch in horror. ‘To do what, exactly?’ As she waited for Mariette to reply, Morgan’s words tumbled around in the back of her mind.

  ‘To warn her that Morgan is out of her reach. Did you see the way that Felicity was looking at him?’ Mariette slid a calculating look at the house. ‘I have invited her to dine on Thursday.’

  Horrified, but reluctantly conceding that Morgan might have a very valid point about the calculating ways of Mariette and her friends, Alicia shook her head. She sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to calm down but, deep inside, she knew her beloved husband would be chastising her just as much as Morgan had.

  ‘Well, you shouldn’t have,’ Alicia snapped. ‘You are not close friends with Felicity and I don’t know the chit. Why should she dine with us?’

  Mariette blinked at her. ‘But, I thought-’

  ‘No. You didn’t think, did you, Mariette? And no, I would not like you to take it upon yourself to try to warn Sissy away from your brother. Sissy has done nothing to encourage him in the first place. You are not to meddle, Mariette,’ Alicia warned. ‘Besides, there are bigger problems we need to concern ourselves with and they require your attention from now on. Do not, and I repeat, not, get yourself involved in anything to do with Morgan and Sissy.’

  Alicia slid an arm through her daughter’s and tugged her down the driveway that led to the Dowager House.

  ‘But aren’t we having luncheon?’ Mariette protested with a longing look back at the much larger and more resplendent house Morgan lived in.

  ‘Yes, at home where we belong,’ Alicia declared firmly. ‘That is Morgan’s house, Mariette, not yours, or mine for that matter.’

  ‘He has got to you, hasn’t he?’ Mariette cried. ‘Morgan has worried you into leaving him alone so he can sit in morose splendour in his study and drink brandy.’

  ‘If that is what Morgan wishes to do with his life then he is perfectly capable of doing it.’ Alicia knew from the defiant tilt of Mariette’s chin that her daughter was likely to continue with whatever plans she had for trying to get Morgan and Felicity together. ‘He has made it clear that he will sell the estate and move away if we meddle. Make no mistake, Mariette, he is serious. If he shuns society because they deprive him of what he wants, he is likely to turn his back on us as well. He can sell this estate. There is no reason why he couldn’t and then go and purchase a small house for us to live in while he lives somewhere else.’

  ‘He wouldn’t do that,’ Mariette scoffed. ‘This is his heritage.’

  ‘Wouldn’t he? Don’t underestimate just how deeply affected he has been by things like your ball. It is his life that has been upended, his house we have taken over, his life we have put on hold. It is only right that he should want it back. For now, we must give him some space and hope that once his temper eases, he will start to see things a little more clearly.’

  ‘If he doesn’t?’ Mariette asked sliding another worried look at the house.

  ‘Then we are likely to end up just like Sissy, so I wouldn’t scorn her if I were you. Right now, she is the only person who is stopping you from facing the same future as her. If you don’t wish to, you are free to find yourself a husband, you know. I mean, you are of age, and need to have a house of your own to run.’

  ‘Why should I change?’ Mariette demanded looking horrified at the notion.

  ‘Because it looks odd that at three and twenty you want to run your brother’s house for him rather than find your own husband and home to run,’ Alicia snapped. She mentally thanked God for Mariette’s scowl of consternation. Mariette might not like what Alicia had just said but at least she had taken it seriously. Strangely, Alicia knew that her son had meant what he had said as well. But whether he would go through with it or not depended on just how much he loved Miss Sissy Finchley.

  ‘Do you think we should invite Sissy and her aunt to dine on Thursday?’

  ‘Mariette, I have just told you to stay out of it,’ Alicia warned. ‘Look, just remember that if you do decide to be reckless that it isn’t just your lifestyle you are destroying, it is mine too. I am not going to allow you to ruin my life just because you wish to meddle. Concentrate on sorting your own life out first and leave Morgan to sort his.’

  ‘What do you intend to do if he marries Sissy?’ Mariette mused. ‘You know that people will gossip. All eyes will be turned upon us. Having her married to Morgan will be embarrassing.’

  Alicia was appalled at the calculation in Mariette’s voice. ‘Do you know something? I am truly starting to worry about what kind of monster I have raised in you.’

  ‘Why am I to blame suddenly?’ Mariette snapped.

  ‘You truly do think that having Sissy as your sister-in-law will embarrass you,’ Alicia sighed.

  ‘Hopefully, he will calm down and think twice before he does something stupid,’ Mariette huffed.

  ‘I am not talking about him,’ Alicia snapped. ‘I am talking about you. How can you be so manipulative that you would even think about stopping your brother finding true happiness just to benefit yourself?’ She stared in horror at her daughter. ‘It is horrifying, do you know that? Just what have you turned yourself into?’

  Mariette stared at her with wide eyes, but Alicia was too appalled by what she had just witnessed to care about Mariette.

  ‘Regardless of what you want, Mariette, the dinner next Thursday is going to be cancelled. If those invitations have not been sent yet they are going into the fire. If they have gone, we are going to send our apologies and cancel it.’

  ‘But, mother-’

  ‘No, Mariette. We have just had a ball with two hundred and fifty guests. You have had more than enough entertainment for one month. No more. We are both going to concern ourselves with spending a little time at home. Hopefully, by the time we do return to society, you won’t be the creature you are now.’ With that, Alicia positively propelled Mariette toward the Dowager House and forced herself to leave Morgan to resolve his own problems in his own good time.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sissy opened the door several days later to find Morgan’s mother, Alicia, on the doorstep. Dipping into a curtsey, Sissy tried to keep her face impassive and not worry about why the woman had called upon them so unexpectedly.

  ‘How are you, Sissy?’ Alicia asked as she stalked elegantly into the room.

  ‘I am fine, thank you,’ Sissy replied as she closed the door.

  ‘It’s wonderful to see you. My, we are blessed, aren’t we Sissy?’ Norma cried, clearly delighted at having a guest, especially one so esteemed.

  ‘I came to see how you were doing,’ Alicia explained as she perched elegantly on the edge of a seat before the fireplace.

  ‘Oh, we are as well as can be expected, aren’t we, Sissy?’ Norma replied. ‘I apologise for not attending the ball. I hope it didn’t inconvenience you too much.’

  Alicia smiled at Sissy, who hovered uncertainly at her aunt’s elbow.

  ‘I will make tea,’ Sissy announced before disappearing into the kitchen.

  Alicia watched her go with far more lively interest than she ever had before. It was enough to make Norma a little uncertain about why the woman had chosen to call upon them.r />
  ‘I take it everything went well?’ Norma asked, trying to draw Alicia’s attention back to her.

  Alicia jerked out of her thoughts and stared blankly at Norma. ‘Yes, it was fine, thank you. We had a full house.’ She struggled to know what to say. At a time when conversation needed to be free flowing, Alicia had too many thoughts going through her head to know which subject to broach first. ‘We are having a small dinner party next week. I would be delighted if you and Sissy could join us. It is just going to be a few friends. I can send a carriage to come and fetch you.’

  Norma opened her mouth to accept. She would have loved nothing better, but the memory of the day that Sissy had been deluged in water by one of Morgan’s friends and then scorned made her hesitate.

  ‘I don’t know what our diary is for next week. Thursday, did you say?’ She clutched at her pearls with gnarled fingers and looked hesitantly at the kitchen door.

  Sissy, having heard the conversation while she had been preparing a tea tray, tried to think of an excuse but her mind was blank. The second that Alicia had mentioned dinner she had immediately thought of Morgan and had been unable to contemplate anything beyond that. It was annoying, disconcerting, and more than a little worrying because she so desperately wanted - needed - to see him even though she knew it was wrong.

  ‘Sissy, dear? What are we doing next Thursday?’ Norma called.

  ‘We were going into town to do some shopping and won’t be back before tea-time,’ Sissy replied.

  ‘Oh, but there will be plenty of time for you to get changed and be at ours for dinner, won’t there?’ Alicia pressed.

  She saw the look the women shared but struggled to read it. Sissy’s face revealed nothing of her inner thoughts. It was a calm mask of politeness. Alicia opened her mouth to press her advantage home when there was another knock on the door.

  Sissy jerked in surprise. The tea tray rattled alarmingly. Again, her thoughts immediately turned to Morgan. Carefully sliding the tea tray onto the table between the women, she hurried to the front door. Her breath left her in a whoosh of disappointment when she found Mr Lauden, their landlord, on the doorstep.

  ‘Hello? Mr Lauden. I-I-’ Sissy threw a worried look at Norma, and reluctantly stepped back. ‘Come on in.’

  Both Sissy and Norma stared at their landlord, who sauntered into the room and promptly bowed when he saw Alicia.

  ‘Oh, please forgive me. I didn’t realise you had company,’ he began with another bow at Alicia. He was so pleased to see her that he promptly ignored Norma and Sissy who were used to the slight given their lower social status. ‘And such refined company it is.’

  Alicia, who also noticed the man’s inattentiveness to Norma and Sissy, suddenly decided she didn’t like him. The only people she had ever seen be so dismissive to others had been the guests at the ball with Morgan’s staff.

  Servants are dismissed that way not my connections, she thought in contempt.

  ‘Shall I pour?’ Alicia offered when a heavy silence settled over the room, doing her best to be as dismissive of him.

  Norma continued to flick the pearls at her neck, the only outward sign that she was worried. ‘Is everything all right, Mr Lauden?’ She looked at Sissy enquiringly. ‘We have paid the rent, haven’t we, dear?’

  ‘We always pay the rent on time,’ Sissy replied smoothly.

  ‘No. No. It is nothing to do with that. You are fine tenants, and that is a fact. The rent is paid,’ Mr Lauden announced. ‘I just came to inform you that I intend to sell the property. My dearest wife is not well, as I am sure you have heard. Well, she has gotten considerably worse and has been advised by the doctor that taking the sea air might help her with her breathing.’

  ‘Please send her my felicitations,’ Norma replied, trying her hardest not to weep.

  ‘I will need to bring an agent around to have a look at the place, but don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t sell quickly given I have taken good care of it. Of course, I am afraid that you are going to have to find yourselves somewhere else to live. I doubt the new owner will want to rent it, eh?’ Mr Lauden announced, clutching his lapels in a most officious manner and gazing proprietorially around the room. ‘A month, I think, should do it. This is, after all, prime real estate. We are going to leave in the next few weeks. Just as soon as it can be arranged.’

  ‘Tea?’ Sissy asked weakly for want of anything else to say.

  When she handed Alicia a cup her hand shook so much that Sissy looked at the woman to issue her an apology only to see sad sympathy in the older woman’s eyes. Offering her a brief smile, Sissy quickly turned away and looked at Mr Lauden. He shook his head and continued to clutch his waistcoat.

  ‘Where will you move to?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh, my wife has a cousin near Burnham. We are going to move down south where the climate is more suitable given her condition,’ Mr Lauden replied. ‘Naturally, we cannot come back here so we are going to sell everything before we go. The agent has already said that he can see no reason why this property should not sell. He is going to come around and take particulars later.’ Mr Lauden remained where he was for several moments as if expecting Alicia to engage him in conversation. When she didn’t he seemed to realise that he was intruding on the ladies’ tea and sucked in a breath. ‘Well, I shall be on my way then. Good day to you all.’

  Sissy saw him out and stared blankly at the door before her when he had gone.

  ‘Oh dear.’ Norma began to dab at her eyes. ‘Whatever shall we do? Sissy?’

  ‘Don’t fret,’ Sissy urged her gently. ‘We will find somewhere. There will be other properties nearby. We will be fine.’

  ‘But a month isn’t very long to find somewhere. What do we do? How are we going to move all of this?’ Norma began to snivel into her handkerchief.

  Sissy had no answers. She struggled to quell her own panic. When she realised that Alicia was doing her best to pretend that she wasn’t there, Sissy threw their guest an apologetic look.

  ‘Please excuse us. This has all come as a bit of a shock.’ She busied herself by pouring two more cups of tea and handed her aunt one, liberally laced with several spoons of sugar.

  Tea and sugar were very expensive, but neither Sissy nor Norma could give them up. They were the only luxuries they afforded themselves and consequently, because of the cost, used them sparingly, or when they had guests. This, though, was an emergency.

  ‘Here, drink this. Try not to worry, Aunt Norma. We moved here; we can move somewhere else. It isn’t unheard of. At least we get to have a look at some of the other houses in the area, eh?’

  Norma nodded but then looked sadly at her. ‘But you and I both know that there are no properties empty in this village. Why, the only house I know of that is empty is the old cottage on the moor. We cannot live all the way out there.’

  ‘Well, we will just have to live somewhere else then, won’t we?’ Sissy said firmly.

  Deep inside, she was as worried as her aunt but refused to allow Alicia to see it. Right now, she was struggling to contemplate just how easily her entire life had just been swept out from under her boots. There were no answers.

  ‘At least we have a few weeks to get everything packed and moved,’ she added softly, more to reassure herself than anyone else. It was then that she realised neither her nor her aunt had replied to Alicia’s dinner invitation. ‘I do apologise,’ Sissy continued. ‘But I think it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to accept any invitations at present. As I am sure you will realise that we have a lot to do now.’

  Alicia nodded. ‘Of course, my dear. I understand. Is there anything I can do to help? Would you like me to have a word with Morgan?’

  Sissy stared at her a little nonplussed. ‘How could Morgan help with this?’

  ‘I really don’t know, but I am sure he would want to know,’ Alicia replied, and knew that Morgan would be livid if she didn’t tell him. She carefully ignored just how easily Sissy had used Morgan’s first name but it felt
right that she should do so.

  ‘He cannot help us,’ Sissy declared firmly. ‘This is our problem. We just need to find another house to rent, that is all.’

  ‘But I like this one,’ Norma whispered mournfully. ‘This has been home for many years now. How could we live somewhere else?’

  ‘There is no point wailing and weeping over it,’ Sissy huffed. ‘Mr Lauden has made his mind up. This house has to be sold. We have to move. That is the end of it.’

  She picked up her teacup and took a sip for want of something to do with her hands. They shook so much it was a miracle that she didn’t spill tea all over herself. She tried to think of some desultory conversation she could engage Alicia in. It was humiliating that this titled, wealthy woman had witnessed their complete humiliation. It was embarrassing that she was likely to gossip with her friends about what had happened to that poor Sissy and her aunt.

  It is embarrassing that she will tell Morgan what has happened. God only knows where we are going to end up.

  She knew, even without looking at the financial ledger they kept tucked away in the dresser, that they didn’t have the money to pay for the hire of the carts they would need to move. They lived hand to mouth and survived on the basics as it was. Even living basically, they didn’t have enough for many extras and moving was most definitely an additional expense they couldn’t afford.

  ‘You mustn’t concern yourself, dear,’ Alicia soothed a still fraught Norma. ‘I am sure that a solution will come about in time. Would you like me to come with you to view properties? I don’t mind. The carriage is right outside.’

  ‘No. No, I don’t think I am up to it today,’ Norma replied. She dabbed at her eyes and offered the elder woman a kindly smile, but it didn’t remove the panic in her gaze, which flew around the room in search of a solution, or a way out of the new mess that had presented itself. ‘All in good time. I really must lie down.’ Norma stood up and shuffled toward the stairs, oblivious to how rude she had just been to abandon Alicia.