Banished Love Read Online Free Page A

“You should never have been out in such weather. And then to stumble into a store?” she asked with a hand to her breast. “One must always exude calm and a sense of grace.”
    Colin snickered. “I doubt Clarissa is on very good terms with grace, Mrs. Sm…Sullivan. She probably has trouble spelling it.” I poked him in the side, but he just winked at me.
    “And to think they let her teach impressionable children,” Mrs. Smythe said.
    “Yes, Rebecca,” Da said. “You know Clarissa has my approval until her wedding.”
    “Whenever that may be,” Mrs. Smythe muttered.
    “She has the right to work, like any man,” Da insisted.
    I smiled at him as he sat at the head of the table, thankful some of my suffragist lessons had been effective.
    “What would her mother think?”
    “Mama would…” I began but was interrupted by Da.
    “She’s not as fortunate as poor Agnes. You know that, Rebecca,” Da said. “Clarissa doesn’t have a generous dowry like her mother.”
    “Well, walking about the streets without the sense to use an umbrella does not improve…”
    “Enough,” Da said in a firm voice. He rubbed a hand through his thick brown hair in agitation. “Be thankful we have the smithy.”
    “And Colin to work in it with you,” I said.
    “Of course,” Da said. “I inherited it from my da. We moved here from the old country when I was a young lad. My da, a poor farmer, God rest him, learned all he could when he arrived. He was fortunate enough to work as an apprentice for such a man as Mr. Wayland. An unbiased man, willing to teach my da all there was to know. And now, I have a good trade, one I can teach my own son. One day Colin will inherit it from me.”
    Colin turned toward me and rolled his eyes. He leaned back in his chair stretching out his long legs. “Da, you stole Patrick’s job. He generally makes every conversation as boring as the ash pile with talk of his architect work.” He flashed Patrick a quick smile.
    “Ah, ’tis grand to see us so well settled,” Da said with a fond glance toward Mrs. Smythe. She sat with impeccable stillness, her back poker straight.
    “Yes it is, Sean,” Mrs. Smythe said. “I am very relieved we have finally returned to the dining room from the wretched eating area in the kitchen. I can’t imagine what you were thinking, eating in there when you have a perfectly functional dining room.”
    I glanced toward Colin and he rolled his eyes again at me.
    She asked, waving in the direction of the sideboard, “Do you like the new vase that was delivered today?”
    We all glanced toward the large, ornate oriental vase with a blue-and-red scene glazed on the front. It was the exact antithesis of my mama’s style, clashing with the room’s other simple furnishings. “It’s, ah…exotic,” Da said after a long pause. He continued to frown at the vase as he studied it.
    “Of course it is!” she responded with enthusiasm. “I am greatly looking forward to bringing the home and the furnishings up to modern standards. It is 1900 after all. The turn of a new century.”
    “I always loved how well Mama decorated the house. She had an unparalleled ability for both thrift and beauty,” I said.
    “Pshaw…who need concern themselves with the budget? The smithy is successful, and I couldn’t possibly entertain in such shabby rooms. You wouldn’t want to humiliate me in such a manner, would you, Sean?” she asked, her brown eyes full of tears.
    “Now, Rebecca, don’t fret so,” he said. He glanced around as though trying to discover a new topic.
    “Not wanting to sound too much like Patrick, but I believe there is something serious that needs to be discussed,” Colin said, watching me with grave blue eyes.
    My fork clattered out of my fingers, my hearty appetite fleeing after only finishing half my supper. I watched Colin with dread. Colin was rarely serious.
    “I have heard, though it’s not confirmed, that Cameron is back,” Colin said, watching me