The life of Eve De La Cruz

Chapter Fifteen

Sybil then went on to tell everyone what is going on and Mary was the first to speak up, admitting that she had known about it.

"What do you mean, "you knew"?" Robert asked.

"I hoped it would blow over. I didn't want to split the family when Sybil might still wake up," She explained.

Robert turned to Branson, "And all the time, you've been driving me about, bowing and scraping and seducing my daughter behind my back?"

"I don't bow and scrape! And I've not seduced anyone!" Branson spat, "Give your daughter some credit for knowing her own mind!"

"How dare you speak to me in that tone. You will leave at once," Robert demanded.

"Oh, Papa!" Sybil whined.

"This is a folly! A ridiculous, juvenile madness!"

Violet holds up her hand to silence her son, "Sybil, what do you have in mind?"

"Mama, this is hardly—" Robert began before Violet holds up her hand, again.

"No. She must have something in mind. Otherwise, she wouldn't have summoned him here tonight."

"Thank you, Granny. Yes, we do have a plan. Tom's got a job on a paper. I'll stay until after the wedding; I don't want to steal their thunder. But after that, I'll go to Dublin."

Cora's eyes widen with every word her daughter spoke and asks horrified, "To live with him? Unmarried?"

"I'll live with his mother while the bans are read. And then we'll be married..." Sybil and Branson gaze into each other's eyes, "And I'll get a job as a nurse."

"What does your mother make of this?" Violet asked.

"If you must know, she thinks we're very foolish," Branson replied.

Violet chuckles, "So at least we have something in common."

Robert, who has been facing the wall, whips around and storms into the center of the room, "I won't allow it! I will not allow my daughter to throw away her life!"

"You can posture it all you like, Papa, it won't make any difference!" Sybil responded.

"Oh, yes, it will."

"How? I don't want any money and you can hardly lock me up until I die! I'll say goodnight. But I can promise you one thing, tomorrow morning nothing will have changed. Tom?" Sybil gives him a look to follow her out, leaving the rest of them in a state of shock.

The next day, Eve was in the drawing room with Edith sorting out the wedding presents while Hera lay under the table.

"Hello dears," Violet greeted.

"I've left space at the front for jewels. I know Lavinia's getting something from Papa," Edith said.

"And from me. Though she's so slight, a real necklace would flatten her," Violet quipped. Edith, Eve, and Violet chuckle, "What news of Sybil?

"Uncle Robert is with her now," Eve informed her.

"I'm afraid it'll end in tears," Violet said.

"Maybe," Edith agreed, "But they won't be Sybil's."

"I used to think that Mary's beau was a misalliance, but compared to this, he's practically a Hapsburg. Oh, don't worry. Your turn will come," She told Edith.

"Will it? Or am I just to be the maiden aunt? Isn't this what they do? Arrange presents for their pretty relations?" Edith inquired.

"Don't be defeatist, dear, it's very middle class. Now, I better go up and support your father," Violet left the drawing room.