Consequences

Part 32

As they walked slowly toward the front door Doug asked much to his own surprise, "Why haven't you married?" A flush crept up his neck as the blunt question had him questioning his lack of composure and degree of sophistication.

His direct question brought her voice back. "Sorry?" She tipped her head to look at him. Had he really just asked her that? And now of all times?

"I just wondered why you weren't married." Doug said quietly, the red hue now suffused his cheeks. Isabelle hesitated as she wondered what to say. Doug carried on, feeling as he had broached the subject he might as well pursue this line of questions. "You're beautiful and rich, both of which I would have thought would have brought offers." He grinned at her hoping to lighten the situation and redeem himself, "And you appear to be in control of your faculties."

"True." She agreed softly not really sure what to tell him. She could tell him the truth but that would signal taking a huge step.

"But none appealed?" Doug queried. "Still waiting for Mr Right?" He wasn't sure why he was asking her these rather personal questions. It wasn't as if it mattered why she hadn't married. These questions were personal. He knew that. She could take umbrage. He knew he would not appreciate someone asking him why he was still single. But he wanted to know a bit more about her, and unless he asked the questions he wasn't going to find out what he needed to know. Infact, now that he thought about it, he hadn't really considered the fact he might be derailing her plans to get involved. He had teased her about it, but until now, he hadn't thought about the impact this broken engagement would have on her future relationships. He nearly smiled. This engagement was not going to be broken!

"Until two years ago, I'd have had to explain that we, the Sojour D'Sa family, were paupers." She told him quietly. Though, in reality she knew the excuse she was going to use was just that, an excuse. "I wanted to keep our reputation intact."

"I see."

"If I got involved, I'd have to tell him everything." She said knowing that she could not pretend that all was financially sound if she got involved. But she also knew as her sisters constantly reminded her, that wasn't the real reason for her single status. "And if he opted out, when we broke off, then well who knows what might become public."

"So you haven't got involved?" He found that rather sad. She was a young girl. Just out of her teens. A perfect time to have a busy social life, and built relationships.

Isabelle shrugged, looked like he was buying into her excuse. She took a quick breath, "We were bailing as fast as we could, but for many years we were just skirting the breadline. No-one knew. Well, no one except the family solicitor, his wife is my godmother."

"But your sisters got married." He pointed out the obvious. If they did not want the outside world knowing their situation, how was it ok for her sisters to risk that, but not ok for her to risk revealing their circumstance?

Isabelle smiled, ok, the man was a touch smarter than she had anticipated. But still, she had her excuse well rehearsed. "Yes, Georgiana is a year younger than me. She took off to do her OE when she was eighteen, went to Australia, and was working for a vintner in the Yarra when she met her husband to be just before her twentieth birthday. He didn't know about our family. Hadn't heard the name! Didn't seem to care much for it! Much to G's annoyance, I can tell you! Money, social status, this whole scene wasn't important to him. They did not get involved for a while. Again much to her annoyance! But when they did, she told him about our situation of course. Luckily for her it made no difference. He wanted to marry her. They run a boutique vineyard. And Marina, well, she and Rafe rubbed each other up the wrong way for years. He's known the family for years. Or knew of us. He is older that Rina and he had a rule apparently. He'd decided never to date an 'it' girl. No substance according to him!" She hoped this story would be the perfect distraction. And his response suggested it was. Great. She nearly breathed a sigh of relief.

"It?"

"Society pages deb." Isabelle laughed quietly. "And Marina was definitely doing her society bit."

"Doing her bit?" He picked up on that subtle clue. "As in?"

"We'd agreed that the only way we would be able to convince everyone that we were still minting money was if we acted as if we were carefree and without any money woes." That much was true. She'd heard that the best way to spin a lie was to stick as closely to the truth as possible. "But we all couldn't do that, as it would eat up into what we didn't have! So Marina was voted in!"

"Sounds like you set yourselves quite a challenge keeping things quiet." And the fact they had managed to do it was telling. What was even more telling, in light of her earlier statement, was the fact she was revealing so much. Yes, of course he knew they had no money. But as she said, when a relationship went sour, the word might get out. So why give him more ammunition? Why tell him how they made things work, how they covered up the fact they family were all but destitute?

"Yes. We did."

"And made it." He told her, proud to be associated with this strong, compassionate woman.

Isabelle sighed in remembrance and relief as it appeared she had indeed convinced him with regard to the veracity of her statement. "We sold a couple of heirlooms, and invested in shares, turning over as quickly as possible whenever we felt they had peaked." We was more a case of the royal 'We', for the person making those decisions had been her. The decision when to sell, what to buy, how much to spend had fallen on her shoulders. But she did not tell him that. Isabelle glanced at her ring and waved it in front of him. "This is one fifth of our first clear thousand profit." It wasn't a large emerald, but it gleamed as she looked at it. It reminded her about their success when they climbed out of debt for the first time.

"What do you mean?" He looked at her fingers and the ring she had considered passing off as an engagement ring. It was nothing more that a slither of a ring. Nothing close to what this society would expect to see on her finger. But clearly this ring had some significance.

"Two years ago we paid all our bills and still had 1000 available." She smiled and said proudly, "So we split that sum between us. Rina, G, Cara, Gran and I each got a share of that one thousand." Thank goodness she was back to the truth. Hopefully he had forgotten his original question about her reason for not being married.

Her reason was simple, though she wasn't sure he'd see it that way. She was choosy. Her sisters thought she was picky! She was. She was not settling for simply being settled. And that was all there was to it. Though she doubted most people saw her as romantic, she was. And until this man had stepped into her life she had not met anyone she had even considered a keeper.

His eyes flashed at her with pride. "You bought the ring." He murmured as they approached the door. He brought her fingers up his lips. "You Isabelle Sojour D'Sa are a priceless gem."

Isabelle smiled. Her heart fluttered. Her eyes sparkled.

Then a couple stepped toward the open door and smiled at Isabelle and Doug. The two couples greeted each other and after Isabelle introduced Doug to the outgoing couple, they congratulated Doug and Isabelle but went on to explain they had an emergency at home which is why they were leaving.

A second later Isabelle and Doug stepped up the two stone steps and holding hands they walked into the open hallway where they were greeted by their hosts. The party was already in full swing.