Page 46 of A Lady’s Fairytale Come True
“Thank you, my dear,” he replied.
Olivia made herself busy, pouring him tea, preparing a plate of food for him. She had purchased an abundance of good bread and even some meat and potatoes for dinner that evening in the hope that he might be happier with a full belly.
“This is a grand meal,” he remarked.
Olivia knew that it was nothing compared to what they had eaten thanks to the Earl of Glauston, but her father’s compliment was meant to show her some appreciation for the work she had done. She was glad for it. It was nice to know that he was satisfied.
“Thank you, Father,” she replied.
“You made dinner this evening? Is that not Louise’s duty?” he enquired.
“Typically, she does it. But this evening I wished to make you something special. In truth, Father, there are things I wish to discuss with you,” she confessed.
“Ah,” he said, leaning forward and giving her a suspicious look. “And you believed that feeding me well would make the conversation easier?”
Olivia blushed and smiled shyly. “You know me well, Father. Yes, I confess that I thought it could help. But that is not the only reason. You have been hard at work and I wished for you to come home to something reasonable instead of soup,” she said.
Her father took a sharp breath in. “Well then. I am thankful for the dinner and I wish for you to be out with it. What is it that you have to tell me, my dear?”
“Father, I know that you disapprove of the Earl of Glauston –”
“Oh, no more of that nonsense. I have already told you that I forbid it from ever becoming a courtship of any sort,” he told her, dismissively.
“Well, that is just the thing, Father. You have forbidden it. But I have disobeyed…” she admitted, quietly.
Mr. Digby turned his head to face her directly, but Olivia could not look up at him. She knew what anger he must be feeling and it was too much for her to handle. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, to see the hurt in his eyes over this betrayal.
“You have chosen to disregard my demands?” he asked in a terse voice.
“I have chosen to follow my heart and pursue the possibility of happiness with the man that I love,” she replied.
Finally, Olivia looked up at her father and saw the anger in his eyes, although it was now he who could not look at her. She thought for a moment that he might throw his plate to the ground, his muscles tensed and ready to do so. But she knew that even he understood the value of the meal and would not waste it in his anger.
He stood and set the plate on a small bench before raising himself to his full height that he might be able to lord over her with all of his manner.
“You lied to me? You lied to me and you disobeyed me? Was I not clear? Or do you think yourself too good for my rules?” he bellowed.
Olivia was frightened by his response, but she also knew that she could not give this up. She had fallen for the earl. She would not lose her opportunity to live a happy life with him, not even if it meant that her father yelled and screamed at her.
“Father, I love him,” she said firmly. It was a small defence, but the best she had. In all of this, Olivia had never expected that her father would fully support the union, but she hadn’t imagined that he would be this firmly against it. Whatever it was that had led him to this disapproval, she thought it must be his own envy of those who had more than they.
“And what does that matter? I have forbidden it. Perhaps if you had obeyed me from the start, you would not have engaged in such folly as falling in love with a man who is not good enough for this family or for my daughter who, until today, I believed to be wise,” he spat.
“I am a grown woman, Father. I have been present in raising my sisters ever since Mother passed away. Am I not allowed to choose a little joy for myself? And if that joy should keep our table full, if it should give them a chance at a better life, is it not the better that I pursue it?” she challenged him. Olivia could not help the rage that was boiling within her.
It felt that she might burst at any moment. How could her father be so cruel as to forbid her to fall in love? How could he not see what a benefit it was for the entire family?
“You are a fool,” was his only reply, looking away in disgust. Olivia balled her fists and tried to remain firm.
“Then I am a fool. But I am a fool who can make her own decisions and handle the consequences of them. And that is something, Father, that I’ve yet to see in this home,” she said, rather disrespectfully, before storming from the room.
The fight had been a disaster. Everything that Olivia might have wanted her father to say, he had said the complete opposite. She was heartbroken. It was unfair that her father could not trust her.
She was not Gemma. Olivia was a young woman in her own right, old enough to wed, old enough to be free and make her own decisions. It was wrong that her father should try to keep her from them. It seemed entirely wrong that he would refuse her such an opportunity as this.
But mostly, it hurt knowing that he could not believe she knew what was best for herself.
Chapter 24
