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Ruth patted the back of her hand. “You are welcome to stay here for as long as you want to, my dear. Now, you must be tired after that journey so let me show you to your room.”
“Mr Parker has been wonderful company. He is a very nice man,” Georgiana said softly as she followed her aunt up the narrow stairs to a room at the back of the house.
“You will find that most of the people in the village are like that if you give them a chance. They are good people, Georgiana. I have no doubt you will get on perfectly fine here.” At the door, Ruth hesitated and looked back at her. “Do they know?”
Georgiana shook her head. She briefly explained what had happened yesterday sans kissing Will and watched Ruth shake her head in dismay.
“I had to leave. They would have made life unbearable. I just cannot stand it anymore.”
“Nobody should expect you to, Georgiana,” Ruth assured her. “Well, this is your room. While you settle in, I will make us a nice hot cup of tea, and then you can tell me all about your journey here.”
Georgiana soon found herself sitting in a cosy sitting room nursing a steaming cup of tea with a slice of fruit cake at her elbow. She had to admit the wonderful plushness of the over-padded chair she sat in seemed to envelope her and drew a blissful sigh out of her that made Ruth smile.
“They will send him after you,” Ruth said quietly.
Georgiana looked at her sadly. “I am not so sure, not this time.”
“What makes you say that?” Ruth asked with a frown. “Would you mind if I speak frankly with you my dear?”
Georgiana shook her head. “Not at all.”
“We have been corresponding for some time over the years, haven’t we?” Ruth waited for Georgiana’s nod. “I have heard so much about your life; it has been wonderful. In a way it has brought us closer than it would have done if I had visited you often because you have told me things you probably wouldn’t tell other people–and vice versa. Over the course of time I have corresponded with a young girl, and now young woman, who has been honest about her emotions and, as a result, several problems have become glaringly obvious even to me.”
“Like what?” Georgiana’s stomach sank.
“Yours and Cecily’s conflicting personalities for one,” Ruth said. “It is inevitable now that you are older than you will clash at some point.”
Georgiana nodded but didn’t speak because she sensed there was more.
“Your disquiet about missing out on life by living in Cranbury for another,” Ruth added.
“It’s true,” Georgiana sighed, realising that her aunt was being honest in that she truly understood Georgiana’s situation.
“Also, your adoration for Will,” Ruth said calmly.
Georgiana opened her mouth to argue but then closed it again with a snap. She wouldn’t lie to her aunt.
“Do you want to tell me why he won’t come after you this time?” Ruth prompted. “I mean, he has persuaded you to return home every other time you have tried to be yourself for a few hours.”
Indeed he had. Every time Georgiana had conflicted with Cecily resulting in Georgiana leaving the house for several hours, Will had always been the one to come after her and try to talk her into calming down and apologising-even when she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“He is getting married to Penelope Smedgrove,” Georgiana whispered. “As soon as Cecily told me I realised just how much of a fool I had been by hoping he would see me as a person. In his eyes, I am still eight years old–a child. Last night, I had cause to see him in a completely different light and I realised that my life would never truly change unless I forced it to.”
“He has always sided with your parents,” Ruth replied without hesitation.
“Yes, but-” It was impossible to try to explain her temporary fall from grace to her aunt.
“Something happened to change all that.”
Georgiana sighed. “We kissed.”
“So you decided to leave?” Ruth asked with a frown of confusion.
“He made it clear it was a mistake. He was cold. Aloof.”
“He is engaged to someone else,” Ruth finished for her.
Georgiana nodded and, in a gushing flow of words, told Ruth everything; the skinny dipping, kissing Will, and his behaviour later in the study–even Mrs Atterton’s scorn. Given Ruth’s generosity and own open frankness, Georgiana knew deserved nothing less than complete honesty.
