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“No? Because from what you have just said, Ryan has to preserve his reputation and accommodating us lowly souls is damaging that.” Sian stared at Norman and waited for him to correct her. When he merely looked as if he was choosing his next line of argument carefully, Sian hissed a breath, muttered a brief goodnight, and quietly left the room.
Out in the hallway, she ran straight into Ryan, who was returning to the room. He instinctively cupped her elbows to stop her falling over, took one look at her face, and knew immediately that something else was wrong.
“Sian?”
Sian stared at him but felt such a wealth of hurt sweep through her that she couldn’t do anything more than gasp at him while her tears began to flow down her cheeks. Without uttering a word, she twisted out of his hold and raced up the stairs.
Norman chose that moment to appear beside him. Ryan studied the room behind him and then at Sian before glaring at his friend.
“What have you done?” he growled menacingly.
Norman winced, and slunk back inside. With one last look at Sian, Ryan followed went after his friend.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sian spent the remainder of that evening packing her meagre possessions into a travelling trunk. She cried, slapped things around, ordered her siblings away when they appeared to bid her goodnight, and then became deeply hurt. Eventually, she slumped down onto the end of the bed and stared blankly at the floor. She tried to find the will to pretend that nothing was wrong, especially for the next day or so, but she just couldn’t.
“What is it, dearest?” Mabel asked her eldest when she crept into the room half an hour later.
“I love him, mama,” Sian whispered miserably. “But got a lesson tonight in how foolish I am.”
“You could never be foolish,” Mabel chided. “Why, there are times when I think you are wiser than me.” She took a seat on the edge of the bed. “What happened?”
“Norman told me that we have been taking advantage of Ryan and that we need to remember our place. He indicated that we don’t belong here and need to leave,” Sian whispered tearfully.
“Where was Ryan?” Mabel stared into the fireplace and closed her eyes to hide her despair when she heard Sian’s quite sobs.
“He was out. It was the first time I had been in a room by myself with Norman. He was a perfect gentleman but didn’t waste a moment telling me that I don’t belong here. His – Ryan’s - family name will be ruined by us being here because we aren’t of his class.”
“Norman said that,” Mabel bit out, incensed that Ryan’s friend would have the nerve. “What ungentlemanly conduct.”
“I just wish Ryan had told me himself. He could have hinted at it. I would have taken the hint, mama. We should have gone home with Wilhelmina like she asked,” Sian wailed.
“But Ryan made it clear we were welcome to stay,” Mabel insisted.
“It appears that he was only doing to because he didn’t want Wilhelmina ordering people around on his property. What do we do? I don’t think I can face him.”
“Have you told Ryan how you feel about him?”
“Do you think that is wise?” Sian sat upright and swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I don’t belong in his world, Mama.”
“If he loves you it won’t matter how poor you are, or where you come from. What matters is that you are together, and you return the love he feels for you,” Mabel assured her gently. “You have seen what happens when a husband and wife don’t love each other.”
“But you and father used to be happy. What happened?”
“I don’t know when everything changed, but we have been together for a long time now,” Mabel sighed. “We have changed, altered our views on life, matured as people. The family has changed now our children have grown up. Everything changes over time. Nobody can stay the same. While we were happy, now we have changed we both want different things out of life. Your father has turned into a grumpy old man who wants to live in a dictatorial household, and I want to have a bit more of a say in what happens in my home. I want to be consulted and a bit more involved. You father has no cause to object seeing as he hasn’t done such a wonderful job of looking after things by himself, but he won’t see me as anybody worth listening to.”
“You won’t come back, will you?”
“No. Sophia has always said that her house is too big for her. She has offered us a permanent home on many occasions and has always said that my marriage wasn’t going to last. I never believed her, but maybe she saw something was missing that I didn’t. Whatever, she is happy to accommodate us. I wrote to her because I wanted to make sure she wasn’t visiting relatives or something. It is rude to just turn up and expect someone to provide a roof over your head, isn’t it?”
“Look at Wilhelmina. She is rude,” Sian muttered.
“I know. Well, seeing as your father likes her so much, he can accommodate her, can’t he? I know I certainly shan’t. Not now.”
“What do we do? Norman has made it clear that we are to leave,” Sian hissed.
“Well, I have a little money saved up. It isn’t much but should be enough to buy us coaching tickets to Sophia’s house. We will just have to go a little earlier than planned and hope she is at home to receive us. If we all help when we get there it shouldn’t be too much inconvenience for her to make rooms up for us. Meantime, we have to pack.”
