Chapter 8

I knew roughly where the Thomas' lived but needed Amanda to guide me to the actual house.

Once there she grabbed my hand and dragged me to meet her mother. I had seen Mrs. Thomas on a few occasions but had never been introduced as up until then I'd been a little down the food chain. Too far down it seemed for Mrs. Thomas' taste.

Her opening words set the tone for the meeting. "Why him? Are you pregnant? If you are then we will still stand by you; you don't have to marry him."

This was obviously addressed to Amanda.

Amanda laughed. "No Mother, I am not pregnant. I chose David because he asked."

Not the ideal reason for getting married I thought, nor the one you want to hear from your prospective bride. I hoped that she was just winding her mother up a little.

"Hmmph!" Her mother responded. "I thought he was just another plaything, something to annoy Mark with, I never expected you to get serious about him. Have you spoke to Hamish, if you insist on getting married than I am sure that he will ask you given him the chance. At least he isn't staff." She spoke the last word as if it were the most distasteful word she could utter.

There followed a heated discussion on Amanda's decision. Her mother had and continued to ignore my presence completely and Amanda seemed to forget I was there. Her mother's main argument other than I was working class was that I could not afford to keep her in the style Mrs. Thomas thought appropriate for her daughter. Love, happiness nor any other normal reason for marriage were even mentioned. I finally reached the stage where I had to leave or say something that would surely upset Mrs. Thomas but maybe Amanda too. I chose to bite my tongue and leave, an occurrence totally missed by the two women. Feeling very upset and angry I still managed to wait for nearly an hour in my car before driving home alone. To my immense disappointment I did not see or hear from Amanda again until about eight o'clock that evening.

As soon as she walked in she shrugged her shoulders and said 'sorry' before launching herself into my arms and giving me a very passionate kiss.

"Come on lover, take me to bed. I need something to remind me of you whilst I'm in Scotland." She told me huskily after breaking the kiss.

"Ugh!" I grunted pushing her away. "Scotland! Why are you suddenly going to Scotland." I asked totally confused.

"To see Hamish of course." She said patiently.

During the earlier argument I had worked out that Hamish was the son of family friends whom Mrs. Thomas believed was in love with Amanda. Amanda seemed to think of him as the brother she should have had in place of Mark.

"Why?" I asked, still not following the logic.

"Mother believes that I should give him a chance."

It was only then that I noticed that she was not wearing the ring that I had given her.

"Why aren't you wearing your ring?" I demanded.

"That wouldn't be fair to Hamish would it. Now David, don't get upset, I'm only doing it to keep the peace at home. Nothing is likely to happen up there." She said as if explaining to a five year old.

I totally lost it. "Likely? Likely is not good enough. I find it incredible that you talk of visiting another man as if it doesn't matter. I'm not sure that I'm big enough to live with that but I find it totally unacceptable that you have removed my ring. I can only presume that you consider us no longer engaged." I practically screamed at her.

"There's no need to shout. If I'm to do as mother wants then I have to give him an equal chance. It's not as if we are actually married yet." She answered calmly.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I said completely bewildered. As we were still standing by the door, I opened it. "Now if you'd please leave, I have things to do." I said as politely as I could manage, which actually wasn't very.

Amanda looked stunned by my reaction. "But..."

"No buts, you made your decision when you removed my ring." I said easing her out of the door before adding sarcastically. "Enjoy Scotland."

I closed the door and locked it, then went and collapsed onto my sofa and crying for the first time in my adult life.

I ignored the banging on the door until it finally stopped. Half an hour after that the phone rang which I also ignored.

I felt stupid, pitiful, angry, hurt but mostly lost. My immediate and long-term future had changed in almost an instant. I felt that I had no alternative. People talk, in similar circumstances, about having your heart torn out but I felt no physical pain, just the opposite in fact, I seemed overcome by numbness. I dragged myself to bed early but after an hour was back up again. I checked the house for alcohol hoping that would help me sleep but could only find an almost full bottle of scotch, a drink I hate. I found a strange irony in that, given where Amanda was headed, but still managed to drink nearly half of it rather than go out and buy something more palatable. It worked to a degree as it enabled me to get to sleep quickly but it was a very restless and short sleep.