Prude & Prejudice (10 page)

“Was I really that bad?”

“Worse.
Y
ou drunkenly proclaimed your opinions for all to hear
on immigration and
then added your views on
gay marriage
for good measure. You basically
made a
complete spectacle of yourself.” Her mother groaned softy
,
and
although
Prue
remembered what a hard time she had given he
r so recently
over her own drunk outburst,
she
could not help feeling sorry for her
.

“
D
on’t worry
too much about it
,
Mum, people will forget soon enough. I should know.
We’ll survive without their contract
with all these new people in town
,
and if
Charles
Bradley is going
to be turned off by
this then Cate deserves better than him
. Can I fix you something for breakfast? You’ll feel better.”

Her mother looked up in surprise.
“
Aren’t you going to give me a lecture about my intolerance
and racism
?”

“Would it make any difference?”

“Probably not.
I’m really not a bad person
,
Prue. I just don’t like the way things are changing so fast. When I go
into the city sometimes I cannot
even see a white face
in the crowd
, and that scares me.
”

“
I know, M
um. I once
thought that opinions like yours came from hatred, but now I realize that it’s
mostly
fear. I just wish
you would try to keep an open mind because
there are people out there who exploit your fears to create real hatred and violence. Dad’s right, the whole of human history is the history of immigration. That’s not going
to change now, especially with technology breaking down borders so fast. I think you need to judge people for themselves, not their race, and accept the fact that no one owns this country or any other country just because they happened to be born in it. There’s more than enough to go around in this world and the real crime is that some countries have so little that people are forced to leav
e so their children can have
a decent quality of life.
I wish that’s what people would get angry about.
”

Her mother sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I’m just getting too old
. I
t’s easier for you young people to adapt to all these chang
es
and understand what’s going on
.” To Prue’s
surprise sh
e reached across and took her
hand. “
I think I was far too harsh on you when you had that littl
e episode at the pub. I’m sorry, Prue,
I sho
uld have been more supportive
. You girls are adults now and you’re going to make mistakes, but it’s not my place to judge you. From now on I’ll try and remember that
and be
less critical
.” Prue was stunned to the core. Never in her life had her mother apologized to her or admitted
she was wrong.

“Wow
,
Mum, I don’t know what to say. Maybe you should get drunk more often if this is what it does to you. Now
,
what can I get you for breakfast?”

Prue made
a full English breakfast
for her parents and sister,
and
they lingered over it as they shared the Sunday papers. They had
just finished eating when the phone rang and Mary answered it.

“It’s Cate.”

“Tell her I’m asleep,” said Mrs
Higginbottom
. “I can’t face her just yet.”

“She wants to talk to Prue.”

“How are you feeling?” asked
Prue when she picked up the phone. “What? Today, are you serious?”

“What is it?” demanded their mother as soon as she got off the phone.

“Cate just got a call from
Charles
Bradley and he wants her to go around there for lunch today.”

“That’s great news,” said Mrs
Higginbottom
, jumping up from the chair, and then sitting back down abruptly as the blood rushed to her head. “Obviously he still likes her.”

“He’s invited me too.”

“Why on earth would he want you there?” said their mother indignantly, but Prue’s look reminded her of h
er promise to be less critical
. “That’s lovely dear, I’m sure you’ll have a very nice time
and you can tell me all about it when you get back
.”

Prue
was still in shock at the turn of events when Cate
picked her up a short time later.

“How’s M
um?”
she asked as soon as Prue got into the car.

“Strangely humbled by the experience.
  What did
Charles
say on the phone?”

“Not much. He just asked if we were free for lunch.”

“Why has he invited me do you think?” Cate glanced at her briefly before turning her eyes back to the road.

“For the sake of his friend
,
Mr Darling of course.
Last night before Mum got
hold of him I was talking to him for a while and he asked
all sorts of questions about you.”

“Really?
When I went back to clean up after the party I overheard him and one of those cows talking in the kitchen, and
it seems like he’s not as bad as I thought he was.
I’m just so confused about him because I heard him saying those vile things
about immigrants
with my own ears.”

“Maybe you misunderstood what he was talking about. It pays not to jump to conclusions.”

“Possibly
, but there are some other things I found out a
bout him as well. I did a
search
online
and
found that
his former assistant
has put a
post
on a cheating website. S
he says he cheated on his fiancé with her, and then when the fiancé found out and
left him he told her
he loved her and then cheated on her.
He fired her
when he moved onto his next conquest
and wouldn’t even give her a reference.
I know it was
definitely
him because
there was a photo.
”

“My G
od
,
Prue, you don’t actually believe everything you read online do you?
” said Cate incredulously.
“
Charles
told me all about this
Georgina Wickham
. Apparently she’s a real piece of work
who tried to
hit on both of them, and when they
rejected her she took them to court for sexual harassment.
She has a history of making these types
of claims with other employers. She was laughed out of court.”

“
Oh,” said Prue, feeling
a little
ashamed at her naiveté and readiness to be
lieve the worst of the man who had insulted her
. What if she really had taken his comments at the function out of context and completely misunderstood him?
By this time they had reached the house and as they pulled up
Charles
Bradley came down the front stairs to greet them. He did not look in the slightest bit angry or upset as he kissed the
m
both
on the cheek
.

“How’s your mother feeling this morning?”

“Listen Charles
, I’m just so sorry about
everything. Mum’s very opinionated but she’s not usually that bad,
” sai
d Cate.  He waved her apology a
way.

“Don’t think anything of it. My mother is exactly the same and w
e have arguments over that kind of stuff all the time. Come inside, lunch will
be ready soon.” At that moment William Darling appeared on th
e terrace and he looked at Prue
. S
he tried to return his gaze, but it was hard when her heart was pounding and her cheeks were blazing. He
really was
a very good looking man,
and she was flattered that he seemed so interested in her despite
everything that had happened. S
he could not afford to get carried away
with her feelings
,
though
,
when she still did not know exactly what
kind of person he was.
As he walked towa
rds them
he greeted Cate
first
.

“Hello
,
Cate, g
ood to see you again,” he said before turning to her.
“Would you like to go for a walk with me until
lunch is ready?”  Prue’s
heart began pounding even faster
.

“Okay,
why not,
”
she shrugged, trying to act casually. She glanced
at Ca
te, who smiled
her encouragement
and exchanged a meaningful look with Charles
.
They set out
in silence
across the green expanse of lawn towards a shady clump of trees
in the distance
. It was a beautiful sunny day and Prue relished the feeli
ng of warmth against her skin and the sight of colourful butterfly’s dancing across their path
. When the silence became
uncomfortable William Darling finally spoke.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve asked you to walk with me.
”

“I just thought you wanted to give Cate and Charles some time alone together. I’m a bit surprised
I was invited to lunch at all
.”

“I asked Charles to invite you because I want to get to know you better.  I think we got off on the wrong foot and I just want to find out why.” They had reached the trees now and he leaned up against a trunk and looked up into the branches above his head while Prue stood in front of him.

“Yes, I agree we did get off on the wrong foot.
”

His eyes returned to her face.
“F
rom the moment we met you
seem to have taken an
instant dislik
e to me, and I’m not
sure why. Have I done something to offend you?”

Prue took a deep breath. “Well, yes, actually. You were extremely rude to me at the
first
function
we catered for your company
. You made fun of my name and then you insulted my appearance
by saying I wasn’t a delicate flower
. I
t really did not
do much to end
ear you to me.” To his credit William Darling
looked very
embarrassed
.
He pushed himself away from the tree so he was standing directly in front of her.
He was quite a bit taller than her and she had to tilt her head to look up at him.

“Oh
,
man
,
I was just having a joke with Charles.
I had no idea you heard me. I’m really sorry, that was horrible of me.
I was in a foul mood that day bec
ause I had spent
the morning help
ing the caretaker
clear out the function room
, and when Charles
as
ked me to help you I
was fed up. T
hat’s why I made that crack about the hired help,
b
ut that’s no excuse.
As for your appearance, you looked so ridiculous in that oversized jacket that I just
couldn’t resist trying to be funny
.
Please accept my
sincere apology.
”

“There’s one other thing. On t
hat same day I heard you talking about immigration, and how much you were opposed to foreigners coming into this country. You said they were taking jobs and destroying our way of life.” He looked puzzled.

“I don’t recall saying anything like that. Are you sure you haven’t got me confused with someone else?”

“It was definitely you. You s
aid you wanted to start a grass
r
oots movement in this town because governments weren’t listening and people needed to take things into their own hands.
” Recognition dawned on his face and he began to laugh.