Sentence of Marriage by Shayne Parkinson Page A

dried up old spinster like her?’
    Amy stared at her in fury. She clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to control herself, then her anger boiled over.
    ‘You’d know all about that,’ she spat at Susannah, who stared at her in shock. ‘Dried up old spinster yourself! Had to take what you could get, didn’t you?’
    She turned and rushed out of the house. Miss Evans’ little gig was already disappearing down the road, too far away for Amy to follow. She heard Susannah call her name as she ran, half-blinded with tears, until she was around the hill and out of sight of the house in a small grove of trees. She flung herself down on the ground and gave way to racking sobs of anger and disappointment.
    It was an hour later by the time she had composed herself enough to return to the house and face the consequences of her outburst, and with a sinking heart she recognised her father’s boots outside the kitchen door. For a moment she was tempted to slip away again and hide, but she knew it would be more sensible to get it over with. She steeled herself and walked into the house.
    Jack was in the kitchen with Susannah. He turned a troubled face towards Amy as she walked in, and she felt a stab of guilt.
    ‘There, you see if she can deny it!’ Susannah said to him in a passion. ‘She abused me to my face—called me names I wouldn’t repeat in front of you—then ran off and left me to do everything by myself—all because I wouldn’t let her have her own way about that teaching nonsense. Do I have to put up with that? Or are you going to do something about it?’ Her eyes glittered dangerously.
    Jack sighed. ‘Is this true, Amy?’
    Amy looked at her father, at Susannah’s wild-eyed face, then back to her father. She thought of the things Susannah had said, and she felt angry all over again. But it would be too hard to try and make her father understand just how much Susannah had hurt her, especially when she was standing full in the glare of Susannah’s vengeful gaze.
    ‘Yes, Pa, it’s true. I did say…’ she realised abruptly just how insulting to her father what she had said was, ‘bad things to her. And I ran away, and I stayed away for a long time,’ she added, not wanting to spare herself any blame she might deserve.
    ‘You see!’ Susannah said in triumph. ‘She doesn’t even try to deny it.’
    ‘At least she’s honest about it,’ Jack said in a heavy voice. ‘Go to your room, Amy. I’ll be along to see you shortly.’ Amy went, a feeling of unease joining the hurt and anger.
    ‘What are you going to do to her?’ Susannah demanded, sounding almost hysterical.
    ‘I’m going to do what you want me to,’ Amy heard her father say as she left the room.
    She sat on her bed waiting for her father. It seemed a long time before he came, quite long enough for her to ponder what he had meant by his last words, though in fact it was only a few minutes until he walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Amy in silence for several moments before speaking.
    ‘Why did you do it?’ he asked. ‘You told me you’d try not to upset your ma, and now see the state you’ve got her in. She’s just about made herself ill.’
    ‘She made me angry,’ Amy said, trying to defend herself despite knowing she was wasting her time. ‘She was rude to Miss Evans, and she said… she wouldn’t… she doesn’t think it’s worth anything to be a teacher, even though it’s what I want…’ She trailed away feebly, knowing she had not put up much of a justification for her transgression.
    Her father looked at her sternly. ‘Amy, I’ve already said you can’t do that any more, and I expect you to obey me. All your ma did was back up what I’d said—that’s no excuse for you to upset her. I expected better of you.’
    Amy hung her head. ‘I’m sorry, Pa.’
    ‘It’s your ma you’ll have to say you’re sorry to, not me. It’s not good for her to