Prude & Prejudice (9 page)

“
I really don’t know what you’re talking about
,
Mrs
Higginbottom
.
”

             
“You don’t have to pretend with me.
We were
all relieved to see that there were so few foreigners amongst you
when you arrived
. It means
we can talk freely amongst ourselves and say what we really think.
They are not welcome here. Show the door to the lot of them, I say. Keep England for the English and preserve what civilization we have left.
I’
m sure it must be foreigners who are
behind the push for
gay marr
iage
because it doesn’t seem very British.
It’s not enough that the gays
have civil partnerships, but now they want to sully the most sacred institution we have.
I’ve read the bible, I know all about Sodom and Gomorrah. It goes against all the teachings of the church and it’s an absolute travesty.”

It
seemed all conversations had stopped and everyone in the room was staring at them.
Prue was beyond mortified as she too
k her arm again and tri
ed to lead her to the door. Her little speech seemed to have taken the wind out
of Adelaide
Higginbottom’s
sails
because this time
she
yielded
, but not before
grabbing a bottle
of wine from the nearest table
and stashing it in her bag
as they passed. Prue
was relieved when Cate
appeared beside them and
took her mother’s
other
arm.
They were almost at the door when
she heard a snide voice
she recognized from earlier in the evening.

“That’s the little cater
ing girl’s mother.
What a family they make.”

“
No class whatsoever. That’s what you get for inviting the hired
help to a party.” This time Prue
could not hold herself back and she turned to face them.

“Excuse me
,
but
my sister
happens to be a part owner in the business, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for you.
She also has a
Masters
degree in marketing and runs her o
w
n public relations company on the side.
And what are you?
G
lori
f
ied secretaries
.
Not only is she more successful and attractive than either of you will ever be, she als
o has more kindness
and decency in her little finger than you have in your entire bodies. You are not fit fo
r her to wipe her feet on. Why don’t you go
back to London
since you hate it here so much
,
and take your bi
tchiness and negativity with you
?
” Both women just stared at her with their mouths open and seeing that her mother wa
s about to add her own pence
worth, Prue quickly ste
ered her out the door.

With the help of Charles Bradley
they got her into the car,
but poor Cate was so embarrassed she could not even look at him as they drove away
,
and she buried her head in her hands and refused to speak for the whole trip
home
.
Their mother was snoring loudly by the time they pulled up at the house, but somehow they managed to bundle her
up the stairs and into bed
next to thei
r father
. Mr
Higginbotton
was
suitably horrified to see his wife
in such a state.

“
Please don’
t tell me she’s been drinking
. God help us all.”

“I’m afraid so. It was so much worse than you could imagine
,
Dad,” said Cate
,
“
but now one of us has to
go back and finish clearing up,
”

“Damn it, I forgot about that,
”
said Prue.

“I can
’t go
,
Prue, I can’t face Charles
again after what just happened. You should have seen the look on his face when Mum started going off.”

“I’ll do it. You go to bed and try to sleep. Things won’t look so bad in the morning. He’ll just think you come from a family of lunatics.”

“He wouldn’t be wrong.
”

“I’m really sorry if I e
mbarrassed you by telling
those women
what I thought of them,
but I couldn’t just let them say things
like that about you
and do nothing.”

“You don’t have to apologis
e. I
t m
eans
a lot
to me that you stood up for me
, and Mum had already done all the damage by that point anyway
.”

“You know I’ll always be on your side
,
S
is.”

“I know. Now you’d better get back there and clear up the mess.’

“I thi
nk it’s far too late for that.”

****

Prue waited for
a few
hours
before retu
rning to the house
.
She was relieved to find
that
the party had dispersed and
the downstairs rooms were empty. S
he
used the key
Charles
Bradley had given them to let
herself
in and start
clearing up in the drawing
room. It was only
when she made her way to the kitchen
to dispose of the rubbish that she noticed a light burning and she heard
voices
. She was about
to turn back around when she heard Cate’s name mentioned.

“It’s better that he find out now how completely mad her famil
y are
before he gets too involved. I mean who wants to be stuck with i
n-laws like that?
” It was the woma
n from the party, and
she was still running Cate down! Then she heard William Darling’s voice.

“She seems like a very sweet girl, and I don’t think we should judge her
too harshly because her mother is
an embarrassment.
My mother is
pretty embarrassing too, especially when she gets a few drinks under her belt.”

“But it’s not just the mother, you heard the sister tonight and the way she sp
oke to
Caroline
and me
.
And what about what she said to you at the pub?
She was way out of line.”

“From what I heard
,
y
ou deserved it. I was quite impressed that she stood up for her sister like that. It made me think more highly of her.”

“Oh,
I didn’t realize you were an admirer of hers or I wouldn’t have said anything. Don’t tell me you’re in
terested in the hired help too? It
must be going around.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as saying I’m an admirer
, although she does have very nice eyes. She’s a bit of an enigma to me
,
I must admit
. Tonig
ht she said
some interesting things about immigration but I’m not sure if she was serious
.”

“Like mother like daughter.
I’m going up to bed now. Will you be joining me?”

“I told you before
,
Louisa
, that night in Paris was just a one off thing. I was feeling lonely
after Val left
and it should never have happened.”

“Come on
,
William
, it’
s been a year since Val
broke off the engagement. You need to start living again.”

“I will when the time is right and the right woman comes along.”

“Okay then,
it’s
you’
re loss. You can retire
to
your lonely
bed and dream about Prudence
Higginbottom
and her fine pair of ….eyes.”

“Maybe I will.”

There was the sound of chairs scrapping along the floor and someone took the stairs
from the kitchen to the first floor, while someone else walked towards the door.
Prudence hurried down the hallway and back into the living room. She was just in time
too
b
ecause William Darling
was not far
behind her.

“Oh, I
didn’t realize you’d come back,
”
he said.

“I’m just clearing up. I won’t take long
.
” Her mind
was in turmoil and she did not know what to think. What did he mean
when he said she had made some
interes
ting
comments about immigration,
and why did he seem so surprised when her
mother had mentioned his grass
roots movement?
And what abo
ut what she had found out
on the internet
about his cheating ways
?
He certainly did not sound like someone who slept around and used women.
None of it made any sense and she was beginning to wonder
if she had misjudged him
.

“Take your time. How’s your mother?”

“We got her home and into bed
safely
. She’ll have a bit of a hangover
when she wakes up,
but she’ll be fine.”

“She has some strong
opinions, and from some of the things you’ve said, I take it you share them.”

“
I
don’t share my mother’s opinions at all, but l
ately I’ve dis
covered that even I can become intolerant and prejudiced when I feel li
ke things are changing too fast
. It’s helped me understand why people have such strong reactions
.
” She smiled sheepishly.

“I guess we’ve all got prejudices, no matter how hard we try to conquer them. Anyway
,
I’d better get some sleep. I’ll see you later.”
He gave her a smile and then turned away, and Prue
was left feeling
more confuse
d
than ever. Was he referring to his own racial intolerance when he said everyone had prejudices?
Was this an indication that
he was starting to reconsider his views?
She’d been on the verge of asking him
about what she had overheard
when he’d cut the conversation sh
ort, and now she might never find out. One thin
g she did know for certain;
William Darling
was far less objectionable than she had
originally
thought him to be.

****

The next morning it was Adelaide
Higginbottom’s
turn to
face up to her embarrassing drunken behaviour from the night before. Prue had not finished cleaning up
at Charles Bradley’s house
until well after three
and
she
had spent the night at her p
arents
. She was sitting at the kitchen table
drinking coffee
with Mary and their father when her mother came down the stairs with her hand shielding her eyes from the morning light.

“My G
od,
what happened to me last night?
I think someone spiked my drink.”

“That’s what you sa
id when you got drunk at the Whitley’s
sixtieth
wedding anniversary and fell onto the
cake,” said their father
.

“What?” exclaimed Mary and Prue at the same
time.

“Alright, that’s enough. I can’t really remember much about last night, but I hope the damage wasn’t too severe.”

“I think we can safely assume
that our business relations with Organic
Feasts
are herewith terminated.
Oh, and Cate’s romance with
Charles Bradley is
over before it even
started, but ap
art from that everything is dandy
.” Mrs
Higginbottom
sank into a chair and closed her eyes.