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‘It can be as easy as you wish to make it, Morgan. Don’t you think it is about time that you set Mariette some boundaries, and made it clear to her who makes the rules around here? She lives over at the Dowager House yet swans in and out of here as if it were her own home. It doesn’t matter who you marry, no wife is ever going to be amenable to that kind of behaviour from a woman who doesn’t live at the house. It is best all around if you make it clear that Mariette is no longer a child and therefore cannot continue to do as she pleases. It isn’t appropriate for her to drop in here unannounced and make herself at home. I know you indulged her when she first moved to the Dowager House because you wanted her to understand that she wasn’t losing everything from her past life once your father died. However, times change. It is time for her to grow up. You have to start to treat her like an adult, Morgan, and stop indulging her as a young sister.’ Ralph tossed back the rest of his brandy. ‘If you don’t you are going to have some huge problems on your hands, and they could cost you your future happiness.’
He shoved to his feet and ambled over to the window leaving Morgan to slouch back into his seat and prop his boots onto the desk before him. He stared down at the battered leather of his boots and contemplated what his good friend had just said. He knew that Ralph was very astute.
‘I have indulged her too much, haven’t I?’ he mused several moments later.
‘You have only done what any good guardian would do. You wanted to ease her distress during a time that was already difficult. However, she is no longer nine years old. Don’t you think it is time that you all moved on?’
Morgan sighed. ‘I want to move on. I want to be able to get something more out of life. So far in life I have been very fortunate. However, I have to question that if I am not permitted to have the wife I want and children with her, what the point of it all is.’
‘You, my good friend, are ready to settle down and find a wife,’ Ralph mused with a wry grin. ‘I didn’t think I would ever see the day that you were prepared to do such a ghastly thing but there it is. You have openly admitted that you have contemplated marrying and now see it as a more beneficial exploit than you ever have before. The fact is, my friend, that you now understand that there are more benefits to married life than a life of bachelorhood.’
‘You don’t sound surprised,’ Morgan murmured.
Ralph turned to look at him squarely in the eye. ‘That is because I am not. If I am honest, I have come to the same conclusion. I just don’t have the prospect of a Sissy in
my life and am too horrified by the prospect of venturing into the marriage mart to hunt for a wife to try it. No, as far as I am concerned, unless life is going to be benevolent enough to allow me to cross paths with an eligible female who I find attractive enough to want to wed, it isn’t going to happen. You, however, just have to pave the way to Sissy and make sure that she takes notice of you. She will, in good time.’
Morgan contemplated his friend but wasn’t so sure. In fact, the more he thought about how he could break down all the barriers and get Sissy to look at him as a man and not a wealthy aristocrat, the more problems he found.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The following week, Sissy pushed the door to a small cottage open and peered warily inside.
‘Well?’ Norma demanded impatiently from behind her.
Sissy sighed and stepped into the empty property. The first thing that hit her was the cold. It was freezing. So much so, she shivered and tugged her cloak tighter about her but there was nothing she could do about how the frigid air nipped at her nose and promptly turned it red.
‘The sitting room is large enough,’ she suggested hopefully, keeping her gaze carefully averted from the heavy cobwebs in the corners of the room. She turned to look at the room opposite, which was a little smaller. ‘This has a window seat.’
Although from the look of it if you tried to sit on it you would end up on the floor with a nasty injury.
‘It’s horrid,’ Norma moaned.
‘You haven’t seen all of it yet,’ Sissy chided. ‘It would be habitable with a coat of paint. A good sweep out, and furniture.’ But even as Sissy spoke, her voice full of enthusiasm, she mentally put their furniture in the house and knew there would never be enough to make the house a home.
‘It’s so remote, Sissy.’ Norma made no attempt to hide just how unconvinced she was.
‘We can get by,’ Sissy replied firmly. ‘I am sure that we can get wood delivered, and if we stock up on food and provisions while the weather is nice we should be able to survive winter.’
‘What if we can’t?’ Norma demanded sharply.
Sissy’s shoulders drooped. Her aunt was just being sensible, but Sissy also knew that Norma had to face facts.
‘We cannot stop at the house, Aunt. I am sorry, but Mr Lauden made it clear we have to move out. This is the only house to rent in the area. Of course, we could move further away and completely start again but you know that we don’t have much money. We cannot afford to go very far. We cannot really afford to move here. We are going to have to pay someone to use a cart and we just don’t have the money.’
Deep inside, Sissy’s heart was breaking. She hated the thought of how much turmoil they were going to have to endure before they could settle somewhere new. She hated just how helpless they were to stop what was happening to them. They were well and truly being forced to do something neither of them wanted or were prepared for but had no option but to accept it. It was so frustrating that she wanted to rant and rave and scream at the top of her lungs against it, but she couldn’t do that either.
‘We cannot live here,’ Norma whispered. ‘At least we now know why the house has such low rent.’
Sissy sighed. ‘We cannot afford anything else. I have asked Mr Igson. He has made it clear that there is absolutely nothing else. The only property he has is in the city and that has one bed chamber. I refuse to live there.’
Norma began to dab at her eyes.
‘At least the roof doesn’t leak and the doors close. The shutters will close. We are just seeing it at its worst, that’s all,’ Sissy whispered, but her voice broke. She coughed to remove the lump from her throat and turned away before her aunt could see her tears. Inside, she was devastated that her life had come to this.
‘We need to go and have a look at the rest of it then, don’t we?’ Norma stepped toward the kitchen but barely gave the room a cursory look before she turned away.
‘We are going to have to take it,’ Sissy snapped when they had finished touring the rest of the house and returned to the hallway.
