Page 51 of A Lady's Beloved Novelist
She noticed the glass next to his plate. At first, she had mistaken the burnt orange-coloured beverage for some iced tea. However, she could smell it from across the table. It did not smell like any tea she had ever drunk before.
“I think you should perhaps think about going back to see your parents soon then,” Andrea advised carefully. “They must be missing you, and I am sure they would be delighted to hear the news.”
Cecil was laughing at her words, though Andrea had not thought she had said anything funny.
“I am not sure if you have gathered yet, but I do not particularly like my parents,” Cecil remarked after taking a large swig of his drink. “I am sure that they would love to hear that I am no longer going to be their burden.”
Andrea grimaced once more. It seemed to be the default expression that she wore whenever Cecil was in the room. She was constantly bracing herself for what he would do next. Andrea was growing sick of it, and she knew that something was going to have to change.
Chapter 22
“No Cecil joining us tonight then?” her mother asked from across the dinner table as Andrea tried not to sink down into her chair too much. She had been trying to shy away from questions about him, but she knew there was no point in avoiding it any longer.
“I am not sure where he is,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. It was not exactly a lie; Andrea had heard from one of the maids that he had been last seen walking off in the direction of the town. She was not sure where he was going or why, he had not given any details. But—if she was being honest—Andrea was not sure she even cared anymore.
“He came to me earlier asking for money,” her father grumbled from the head of the table. “I gave him a stern talking to about it.”
“Did you give him any money?” Andrea asked. She was already bracing herself to hear an answer that she would not like.
“I did not feel like I had much of a choice. But I told him that I will not give him anything until the two of you are married.”
The statement caused her even more concern. It would only cause Cecil to pressure her to bring the date of the wedding forward. That was something that she could not even bear to think about doing.
Andrea was not sure how much Cecil was needing the money, she felt that it was just another lie in the thick web that he had created.
“I am sorry, I did not think he would actually ask you,” Andrea said. “He is certainly not the man that I thought I was getting engaged to.”
She caught her mother making a face at her words, but neither of her parents said anything.
“There is still time before the wedding,” her father finally said. Andrea wanted to laugh at his words, unable to believe that he still wanted to go through with it.
“I am not sure that I want to marry him anymore,” Andrea said in plainer terms.
“Well, you are already engaged, and that is not going to change,” her father responded. His tone was not harsh, but there was a warning edge to it that told her not to argue.
Andrea, however, was not going to listen to it.
“But why do I have to? I will be dooming myself to a life of unhappiness if this engagement continues.”
Her father let out a sigh of frustration, his head shaking slowly.
“You are not going to cause a scandal by doing such a thing,” he said firmly. “I will not have my only daughter known for stringing along a match before dropping him as the wedding nears.”
Andrea thought of her aunt and how she was regarded in a similar matter.
“It will not be much of a scandal, I am sure people do not even care about me out here anymore,” Andrea tried to reason. She was hardly going to be the talk of the town from their estate in the countryside. She was almost positive that the ladies in the capitol would have much more interesting stories to tell than Andrea breaking off an engagement that she was never fully invested in in the first place.
“You are to marry Sir Blakewell,” her father reiterated. “The social consequences would be too great, Andrea, and I do not fancy risking the Pitt name just because you are not sure of the man you have already agreed to marry.”
“Sheldon, perhaps we should be a little more lenient,” her mother tried to reason with her father. “I am sure there could be someone else that Andrea could find in enough time. We could keep it all very discreet that she is calling off the engagement.”
Andrea was incredibly shocked to see that her mother was coming to her defence. However, it was a nice surprise indeed.
“Oh yes, if you were to have another man lined up to take the place of Sir Blakewell, then I would consider cancelling the engagement. But I do not see any avid suitor ready to take his place, and so you will stay engaged to him.”
“But you do not think he is a good man either,” Andrea pressed. “Would you really want a man like Cecil taking over the family name and estate?”
She could see him hesitating. It was a tough position that they had all been put in; they were going to have to choose between starting a scandal or risking the family name with an unstable marriage.
