Page 69 of The Hellion and the Captain
“I was in my bedroom?” she said as a question, for she had no idea why that would have been cause for concern.
“Not this morning,” her mother said curtly, taking charge of the situation. “Where have you been for the past few months?”
“Here?” she said, looking around at them. “Have you not seen me?” she tried to chuckle, hoping some humor might diffuse the situation, but she was to be disappointed.
“You’ve been here to eat and sleep, Emmaline, but for not much else,” her mother said in that no-nonsense way of hers, the persona she took on when she was in her meetings, speaking with those who could create change, trying to make them see reason. “I cannot recall the last social engagement you’ve attended. You are always crying off, claiming you are off to see Lily. You miss dinner some nights, and whenever I have sought you out, you have either gone out onto the grounds somewhere or left for an event with your friends. I appreciate you having some freedom, especially as you are reaching an age of… maturity, but I am afraid that I have been far too lenient.”
“People talk, Emmaline,” her brother blurted, and she turned her attention to him. Her mother was right on all accounts, of course. Emmaline just hadn’t realized that shewould ever actually notice. But for her brother to comment on that, when he wasn’t even around…
“What could they possibly have to say?” she asked.
“You are always out without a chaperone, and people have seen you go to that tavern with Lily and her husband and men from the football club,” Freddie said. “What do you think they say?”
“No one questions you on where you go every night, Freddie,” she lashed out.
“I am a man!” he said, rising slightly in his chair, and Emmaline turned quickly to her mother.
“Is this not what you fight for?” she challenged her. “This is the very behaviour that you tell everyone else is unacceptable – for men and women to be treated so unequally.”
“In a way, yes,” her mother sighed. “I understand where you are both coming from. It isn’t fair that you should have to follow different rules, Emmaline, but at the same time, I do not want to see you spend your life alone, and I’m afraid that’s just what this might come to.”
“What if there was a man out there who didn’t care about whether I followed the rules or expectations? Who saw me as more equal than any of you could ever imagine?”
Her mother straightened, her gaze homing in on Emmaline. “Is there someone in your life, Emmaline?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Perhaps. But I am not ready to share any further.”
“Is that where you have been lately?” her father said, leaning forward. “Out with this… man?”
“Not in the way you are thinking,” she half-lied. Shewaswith Rhys most of the time, that was true. But she could hardly tell her family it was because she was playing with him on Manchester Central.
She tapped her fingers on the table, realizing she had to givethem something. They were not the type of parents who would lock her away in her room or forbid her from going anywhere, but they could also begin to scrutinize her more than she would like.
“Very well,” she said, deciding to give them something, and she turned her attention to her brother. “Freddie, I told you that I wanted to start a women’s football club.”
“You did,” he said. “And I told you that was a bad idea.”
“Emmaline, we’ve been over this,” her mother interjected. “To associate with some of the women who?—”
Emmaline held up a finger. “First of all, Mother, if you are all for equality, then I should be able to play football with whomever I want. However, I realize that most people would feel the same way as you, so I have started a club for women of a similar upbringing, who are also not allowed to join another team.”
Her father finally spoke up, his speech slow and methodical, as it always was. “And just how do you propose to do that?”
“I have been training the team. That is where I have been many nights.”
Some of them, anyway.
“Once we are ready to play, I have a proposal to bring forward to Manchester Central’s club committee. Perhaps they would approve and sponsor a women’s team as well as the men’s team.”
“Oh, Emmaline,” her mother said, her face falling, and Emmaline straightened her spine.
“I am fighting for change because I have learned from the best how to do so,” she said, holding her mother’s gaze.
Finally, her mother nodded slowly. “I appreciate that, Emmaline, and while I might not agree that this is the best use of your time, I can respect what you are doing,” she said. “I suppose in all my work, I’ve always thought aboutotherwomen andotherwomen’s children. Perhaps it is about time I considered my own as well.”
Emmaline reached across the table and placed her hand over her mother’s.
“Thank you, Mother. I appreciate that.”
