CHAPTER TWENTY

POST-DINNER CONTROVERSY

Now even Lady Anna joined the chorus of voices against her husband. “Please, Harold, this is not the way…”

“Indeed it is not,” agreed Lord Redshaw. “You will be silent, sir, or you will leave!”

Mortified, I offered my apologies and made to leave myself, but still Clifford raged.

“And go where, exactly? You were the one who persuaded me to s-sell the house my father b-built! You were the one who en-ensured that we are f-forever in your debt. And now you expect me to s-stand by when you let Sutcliffe w-worm his w-way through your d-door.”

“How dare you!” Redshaw said, his voice ominously quiet. “How dare you embarrass me in front of my guest, in front of my daughters. After everything I have done for you.”

“After everything you have d-done to me,” Clifford snapped back. “If you w-want me gone, then I shall be only too hap-hap-happy to oblige.”

“Stop it!” Lady Anna’s shout silenced the argument in one. “I can take no more.”

Then the lady toppled forward in her seat. Clifford grabbed her, stopping her from hitting the floor.

“Doctor?” Redshaw called to me, but I was ahead of him. I helped Clifford lay his wife out on the sofa, and asked Victor if he could fetch some water.

“Please,” came Marie’s dismissive voice from the chair she had occupied throughout the conversation. “The last thing we need is Anna’s histrionics.”

“Your sister is unwell, Marie,” Redshaw snapped. “Show some compassion.”

“No,” Anna murmured from the sofa, her face as pale as a porcelain doll. “I am not unwell. I am with child.”

“W-what?” Clifford stammered, dropping down on his knee to take his wife’s hand. “My darling, is it t-true?”

The smile the lady returned was almost enough to wipe away the unpleasantness of the last few moments. She grasped her husband’s hand in hers. “Yes. Yes, I believe so.”

Clifford laughed in amazement and then turned to me, his own smile crumbling into concern. “Doctor, the b-baby? If I had known, I would never have…” Tears started to well in his eyes as he turned back to Anna. “I am so s-sorry. Shall I h-help you to b-bed?”

She stroked his face tenderly. “I am not an invalid, merely a little overcome.” Once again I was brought into the moment between husband and wife. “Is that not right, Doctor?”

I took the water that was in Sutcliffe’s hand and passed it to the lady. “All will be well, with a little rest. You must try not to excite yourself, that is all.”

“In this house?” Lady Marie commented behind me, a strange quaver to her voice.

All the while, Lord Redshaw had stood where he had raged moments before, staring at his youngest daughter as if she were the most incredible creature on God’s earth.

She, in turn, looked up at him with beseeching eyes. “Papa? Are you happy for me?” She squeezed Clifford’s hand. “For us?”

“Happy?” the older man replied, his face finally breaking into a rapturous smile. “Of course, I am happy!”

He lunged forward, clapping Clifford on the back with such enthusiasm that his son-in-law was in danger of being propelled across the room. Lady Anna rose and let her father embrace her.

“My first grandchild. I can hardly believe it.”

A sudden movement caught my eye. I looked up to see that Marie had grasped the edge of her seat so hard that I thought her fingers might disappear into the armrest.

“Marie?” Redshaw said, bringing his daughter to everyone’s attention. “Won’t you congratulate your sister?”

Anna smiled at Marie, although I could not help but notice that the expression was tempered by a hint of triumph. “You’re going to be an aunt, Marie, and I a mother.”

Lady Marie’s own features were brittle. When she spoke, her voice was as glacial as her demeanour. “Congratulations, sister. I’m sure you will be very happy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go to bed.”

With that, she rose from her seat and strode from the room without another word.

Sutcliffe made to go after her, but she shut the door firmly behind her, leaving her fiancé with us.

Clifford was quick to capitalise on Sutcliffe’s obvious discomfort. “Don’t mind M-Marie. You know what a c-cold fish she can be.” Then he turned his attention back to his wife. “You will be such a wonderful mother, so kind and warm. We shall be a family, the three of us. And then there will be more; brothers, sisters…”

Anna let out a delighted giggle, touching a hand to her corseted waist. “One step at a time, Harold.”

I had stepped back, allowing the couple to share the moment that would change their lives for ever. Lord Redshaw joined me, shaking his head in continued disbelief. “Watson, I must apologise. Dinner at Ridgeside Manor has been more eventful than I planned.”

“Every family has its drama,” I told him, but my eyes were on Sutcliffe. Etiquette forbade him going after his fiancée after she had retired for the night. He was obviously a man who liked to be the centre of attention, and to find himself so cruelly set aside affected him greatly. The balance of power in the house had shifted in the space of a few minutes. Victor Sutcliffe suddenly looked every inch the outsider, and I could scarcely help but notice the resentment that burned in his eyes.