Unrequited Love

d known Ryan all his life and had watched the young boy grow up to be a fine upstanding gentleman of means any father would be proud of. He knew he could trust Ryan with his life, but still something stopped him from taking him into his confidence.

“Nobody can help you if you don’t tell people what’s wrong,” Ryan warned. “This can be sorted out, Arthur. Tell me, is the bailiff about to call?”

Ryan half expected the man to keep denying the problem was that bad. Instead, Arthur looked almost saddened. “He will if I cannot clear the latest round of bills.”

“Oh, God no,” Mabel whispered, slumping in disbelief into the chair closest to the door.

“You need to sell the shares to pay the bills.” It wasn’t a question. “How much do you intend to make from them?”

Arthur named a sum that was a fair price, if a little under their true value.

“What do you intend to live off then? How much do you owe?” Ryan squinted when Arthur slowly opened the top drawer to his right and removed a sheaf of papers that was shockingly thick. He threw them onto the desk and leaned back in his seat. Ryan, at Arthur’s nod, picked them up and rifled through them. “Why are these for shops in London? Do you not shop locally?”

“London?” Mabel picked the papers up when Ryan dropped them back onto the desk and rifled through the papers herself. “These are Wilhelmina’s bills.”

“We have been supporting her for years,” Arthur told her. “You know that. What am I supposed to do, see her in the poor house?”

“You have been spending what is left of the family’s money on supporting your sister?” Mabel slapped the papers onto the desk in disgust. “No, you wouldn’t want to see your darling Wilhelmina in the poor house. You wish to see us all in the poor house instead.”

“It won’t come to that,” Arthur tried to assure her.

“Nearly all of those bills are hers. She spends more in a year than all five of us do,” Mabel cried. “At this rate we are all going to be bankrupt because we are keeping her in a life of luxury we cannot afford. Why have you not told her that we cannot afford it?”

“I have tried, but she won’t listen,” Arthur sighed.

“She has always walked all over you,” Mabel snapped. “What are you afraid of? Why don’t you stand up for yourself around her? This is the family home at risk, Arthur.”

“Have you entered any arrangement with Wilhelmina about Sian? Or any of your daughters for that matter?” Ryan interrupted when he sensed a full-scale argument was about to break out.

“No.”

“Sure?”

“Yes.”

“Wilhelmina has mentioned it, though.” Again, it wasn’t a question.

“Yes, but I have said that I am not going to marry them off just yet.”

Ryan frowned at that. “But Sian said you two had an argument last night whereupon your daughters heard that they were to be married off because you couldn’t afford to keep them any longer. Is she wrong?”

“No. We are both aware that our daughters heard our conversation last night,” Mabel said coldly. “It was a private conversation that became heated and, unfortunately, was overheard. But I can promise you now that I am not going to allow any of my daughters to be sold off while that harridan is living the life of luxury. It is going to stop. Do you hear me, Arthur?”

Mabel was positively shaking. Ryan ran a hand down his face. While he didn’t want to get embroiled in the family problems, this did concern him because it involved Sian, and the mill. Sian was what was important, so much so Ryan was positively compelled to get up and go after her.

God only knows where she is now.

“What do you think we should do then? Eh? Do you want to force Wilhelmina to curb her spending?”

“Do you give her an allowance?” Ryan interrupted.

“Yes.”

“So, where are those bills coming from then? If you give her an allowance, that should pay her bills as well as provide her upkeep,” Ryan argued.

Arthur, a little defensive now, glared at him. “Does your father have family to look after?”

“Yes. An aunt of ours is under his protection. She has an allowance which pays for her upkeep. She then pays all her bills according to that allowance. It is the way it has always been. If you would take a word of advice from me? Make it clear to Wilhelmina that her allowance must pay for her bills as well from now on. You must make sure all her bills are returned to the senders who can then forward them to her at her home address, duly made out in her name. Her bills; her responsibility. Do not veer from it.”