“Is that so? Mother, I believe I have said this before but let me say it again. My marriage is not your concern. I will behave as I wish in my own house, and nobody will stop me.”
Margaret’s eyes blazed. “Your mother said that too and look at what her fate proved to be.”
Graham jerked backwards as if he had been struck. He stared at his mother, no his stepmother, it was harder than ever to remember that she was the woman who had raised him with an appalled stare.
Margaret turned crimson, glancing away. Perhaps she regretted her words, but at any rate, it was too late.
“Forgive me,” she said crisply. “I slept badly. I am in an ill-humour. I should not have mentioned… that woman.”
Graham swallowed thickly. He felt ill, and any appetite for breakfast had vanished entirely.
“You are forgiven, Mother, but this leads us nicely onto another subject,” he managed, his voice shaking. “I have been thinking of how to broach this subject with you.”
Margaret took a long sip of her tea. “Oh?”
“The plain fact is, you cannot stay here.”
Now it was Margaret’s turn to flinch. She replaced her teacup, her hands shaking so intensely that tea slopped into the saucer.
“What do you mean, Graham?” she managed at last.
Graham breathed out slowly, careful to look his mother in the eyes.
“I believe that it is a bad idea for you to remain here,” he said slowly. “I know that you have many friends who would love to have you stay for a few weeks, if the repairs on your home do not yet allow you to return.”
There was a taut silence between them. Margaret’s hands were shaking, and Graham noticed that she tucked them under the table as if to hide them.
“So,I see,” she managed. “I am being turned out of my own house all for the sake of that walking scandal of a girl.”
Graham rose to his feet at once.
“Mother, you are speaking of the Viscountess Sinclair.My wife. I cannot allow you to speak of her that way. Can’t you see? This insistence on disrespect is what has driven us apart. Why can you not be happy for me?”
“Happy?” Margaret echoed, standing up with a rush that rattled the crockery on the table. “How can I be happy when you have wedded soiled goods? You do not love the girl! You entered into matrimony with her out of obligation and some sense of misplaced honour. There is nothing to be happy about here.”
“I am falling in love with her,” Graham barked back, his voice raising and echoing around the silent room. “I doloveher, Mother. Can you not be happy about that?”
Margaret blinked at him, almost amazed. For an instant, he thought he saw regret in her eyes.
The expression was fleeting. She tilted up her chin and scowled.
“I will not be dismissed like an unwanted servant simply because you have allowed your judgement to be clouded. May I remind you that this matrimony has sunk us greatly in the eyes of our neighbours. We have lost status and respect, which has lowered our standing considerably. That respect must be clawed back, bit and bit. And who do you think will do the clawing? Not you, that is for sure.”
Graham was forced to turn away, striding over to the window to calm himself. He breathed in deeply, composing himself, before turning back to his mother.
Margaret still had a mulish expression on her face, but there was an element of nervousness in her eyes now, too.
“I want you to move out of this house, Mother,” Graham said quietly. “There is not enough room for the three of us, it seems.You may take supper with us if you wish, but after that, you must go. I hope I am properly understood.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room. He would miss breakfast and begin his work right away. It might calm him down.
And I hope that my mother is gone by the time I return.
***
Ursula woke to the sun on her skin. She turned onto her back, stretching luxuriously, and yawned.
The first thing she noticed was that Graham had gone. That gave her a pang of disappointment. Sliding her hand over the empty mattress beside her, she found that it was cold, indicating that he had been gone for more than few minutes.
