‘I will go with pleasure, but before I do, you are to promise me you will never see my son again.’ Mrs Drummond stands menacingly close to me, like a threatening black cloud in her fur coat.
‘I’ll do nothing of the sort. In spite of never having read about them, you seem to be under some misunderstanding, Mrs Drummond, that we are still in Regency times, but we are not, you can’t threaten me and tell me who I’ll speak to and what to do.’
‘You are a rude, insolent little social climber,’ Mrs Drummond hisses. ‘Very well, if that’s how you want to play it, you’re on.’ With that, she sweeps out the door to a waiting Daimler driven by a miserable-looking chauffeur.
I shut the door quickly and sink down on the sofa, totally confused about what just happened.
Chapter 35
‘Have you seen, your Jane Austen Dating Agency’s in the paper?’ Dad remarks, munching away on his morning toast and marmalade.
‘No?’ I feign ignorance as I peer over his shoulder. (I’d come clean about the agency a few days ago and my parents have been surprisingly upbeat about it.)
‘What a mess!’ he says, looking at a picture of Natasha in her mink coat and diamond earrings, obviously at a premiere of some kind or other and looks fabulous. ‘These rich girls, they have it all, yet it’s never enough, they always have to go and screw it up.’
‘Money isn’t everything,’ I say philosophically, helping myself to more bread and jam. I don’t know why, but Mum and Dad’s homemade bread always tastes so much better than the stuff we have in London, for all the smoked salmon blinis and glamorous dinners.
‘There’s a picture of Digby Drummond, or whatever his name is. He says he has no comment over the illegal gambling run under cover of the genteel dating agency. I bet he hasn’t. These rich guys think they can buy people off and get away with a different set of laws from the rest of us. Wasn’t he the one who diddled that Daniel you were going out with out of a job?’
‘Actually, that turned out to be lies, Dad, and anyway Daniel was also caught up in the gambling ring; he’s run off with the profits of the agency with Jessica Palmer-Wright.’
‘Good grief. What a tangled web this lot do weave. I can’t help but think you’re better off here without them, Soph.’
I keep silent, munching my toast. London, Mel’s triumphant show, Darcy, they all seem a million miles away since I’ve run home to sleepy old Bampton.
‘Have you seen this?’ Dad says eagerly. ‘Look, Chawton House – the original home of Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight, where she spent many happy hours and is said to have written some of her work – is under threat as the previous backer, businesswoman, Xavera Merinata, has pulled out to invest in other causes.’
‘Huh, why doesn’t that surprise me?’ I say bitterly.
‘No, actually,’ my mum enters the room and conversation unexpectedly, ‘she had invested a great deal of money in the property and it was thanks to her the women’s library was set up in the first place.’
‘I know that. The collection of women’s writing there is amazing.’ I’ve really enjoyed wandering the grounds and visiting the library. ‘You remember, Mum, I went to some study courses there. What are they going to do about it? ‘
‘They’re doing everything they can to raise funds,’ Dad says. ‘There’s a donate page linked in with Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. Why don’t you write an article for the local mags to increase awareness, Soph?’
‘Good idea,’ I say enthusiastically, although I know this will only be a small help. I wish I had loads of money so I could invest in something as amazing as this. A real piece of our heritage which celebrates the work of so many women writers. Mrs Drummond doesn’t know the half of it. It’s nice my parents seem to have understood that I want to take this writing seriously, on the surface of it anyway, and I’ve finally made a decision about work once and for all.
Chloe walks in looking tired. ‘Chloe!’ I jump to my feet. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’ve been better,’ she says quietly.
I can see she’s looking pretty shattered. ‘Any more news on Kian?’
‘Not any that I’d like to hear, we’re a bit past all that. After how he’s behaved, I don’t want to ever hear his name again.’
‘No, we don’t,’ Mum agrees. ‘He really is the lowest of the low. And he’s going to get his comeuppance now.’
‘Don’t you believe a word of it,’ Dad says. ‘He’ll be off on bail in the next five minutes scot-free and able to annoy the next poor victim.’
‘It won’t be me,’ Chloe says in a firm voice, which thank goodness sounds much more like her old self. ‘I’m going out later, Soph. Fancy coming up to help me choose something to wear?’
I follow her into her old room, which she seems to have taken over once more. It’s like going back to the old days when we were kids; there are clothes all over the bed and floor, perfume bottles, hairspray, everything strewn everywhere.
‘You’d better watch out or Mum will be after you to tidy up this mess,’ I joke.
‘Yeah, I’ll do it later.’
‘You always said that and never do.’
‘Shut up,’ says Chloe good-naturedly. ‘Look, I need to talk to you about something exciting.’
‘Exciting, that’s sounds good after all the crap we’ve been through lately.’
‘Guess who phoned me last night.’
‘Please not Kian.’
‘Of course not.’
‘Your old school friend, Jazz?’
‘No, you’ll never guess so I’ll tell you. It was Nick.’
‘Really? Nick?’
‘Yes, Nick Palmer-Wright.’ Chloe’s practically squealing with excitement.
‘Oh yes, Emma said he was back from New York. She was getting his number for me.’
‘Thanks for telling me. Anyway, he got my mobile number from Mel and has asked me out tonight.’
‘That’s the best news ever!’ I’m so excited I nearly fall off the bed.
Chloe and I spend the rest of the day shopping and picking out clothes for her to wear for her night out with Nick. ‘I don’t know where this is going to go,’ she confides in me shyly, ‘but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.’
‘You need to learn to accept that you deserve a genuinely nice guy, instead of an idiot. You always pitch yourself too low and get total morons. Now, for a change, you’ve bagged yourself a handsome prince, make the most of it!’ I say meaningfully.
‘What about you though, Soph? It sounds just like you, always settling for second best?’
‘Not anymore,’ I say firmly, and I mean it.
Chapter 36
On Monday morning there is a grim job to be done. I’ve finally decided to grow up and follow my dreams instead of waiting for them to magically happen. Bizarrely I put on a decent outfit, a bit of lip gloss, and make sure I look businesslike. I know it’s strange to feel the need to look smart when you’re going to be on the phone rather than meeting someone face to face, but I need every bit of poise I can get. With steely determination, I pick up the phone.