Society Girls by Sarah Mason

Author:Sarah Mason [Mason, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780345484734
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2005-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Over dinner and a sneaky white wine spritzer that my mother manages to coax Emma to drink, she, my father and Sam hear Emma's story for the first time and I think they are suitably shocked. Well, at least Sam and my father are. In fact, when Sam, my mother, Morgan and I walk down to watch the Calamity Jane rehearsal, Sam can talk of nothing else apart from how sorry he feels for Emma. Holly has opted to stay at home as I think she is feeling far too depressed about James to face the am dram society.

Emma didn't seem at all surprised that we're off to France so she must have been abreast of the plan all along. You know, I do feel really sorry for her. I think of how she was planning to marry the man she loves and then the next minute she's pregnant, her fiancé's turned out to be a lunatic and she's being packed off abroad. That's pretty tough. But then she does something really aggravating and all my sympathy evaporates within about a millisecond. For instance, she has taken an extreme dislike to all the animals. Now, I know this is hypocritical of me because I am hardly a founder member of the Norman and Morgan fan club but at least they are family and I have a completely legitimate right to dislike them. Emma has developed a nasty habit of snitching on them, so she'll squeal loudly that Morgan has been jumping up at her when she has probably been baiting him with bits of bacon. I might have to tell her that Morgan will pee on her if she stands still too long.

I watch Morgan's baboonlike bottom as he disappears into the darkness in front of us. Yet again I have had to take charge of the torch because every time my mother wants to make a point about Emma and her story, she waves it madly around.

“My God, I wonder how she must feel about having his child,” Sam is saying.

“Well, I don't think Charlie, I mean Martin, is like Dr. Crippen or anything. The child isn't going to inherit bad genes. If you know about the case then I think Martin had a really raw deal in all this.”

“I remember the case really well and I agree with you, I think the system was very harsh on him, but what he has done to Emma cannot be excused. How on earth did you and Holly get mixed up in this?”

“It was all Holly,” I announce again.

“Well, she is a reporter,” says my mother idly. “I suppose it's an occupational hazard.”

“She probably thought she was helping,” Sam adds as an afterthought.

God, he has such a soft spot for Holly. He's always sticking up for her. The best you can say after he's finished with me is that I've never set fire to anything or run anyone over.

I open the village hall door rather grumpily and we all waltz in.

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