“I don’t care who told you!”a loud bellowing voice cried front the front hall. “What the blooming hell is going on?”
Silence fell upon the small ballroom as we all turned to the source of the unfamiliar voice.
“Oh, my,” Matthew muttered from a nearby table.
“Is that...?”Darling said.
Matthew nodded. “I believe so.”
My heart raced as I tried to decipher their confusing exchange. They seemed to be the only ones to recognize the voice of this intruder.
After a dozen pounding footsteps, the source of the bellowing voice arrived at the threshold of the ballroom.
“What in the bloody hell is going on here?”the man growled.
The room was silent in front of the tall and imposing older man. But then Matthew rose to his feet.
“Father.”
“Father, indeed.”
“I wasn’t expecting you.”
He huffed loudly. “Well, that’s plain to see.” He looked around the large room. “Who the hell are all these people?”the older man went on, unimpressed by Matthew’s greeting.
Darling also stood up. “Lord Barry. Welcome home.”
“I thought you were staying in California for some time longer,” Matthew said.
“Indeed, you did,” Lord Barry said. “And you took it upon yourself to hold a feast for a hundred or so strangers?”
“If you’ll allow me, Father, these people are...”
“I don’t give a fig who they are or what they do or why they’re here! I want everyone out! Out, I say!”
“I do apologize for the misunderstanding, Father. I believed you’d be in America a few weeks longer.”
He waved his son’s comment away. “Kenneth was to return and join me, but he never came back. I had no other choice than to come to see what was happening with him. I don’t need to tell you that...this! This is not what I expected!”
“I can tell you, Lord Barry,” Darling said through the crowd, but he seemed not to hear her. “Kenneth is doing much better. His fever is down and he’s resting peacefully.”
Lord Barry looked at the people in the room, at times with a grimace and occasionally, when his gaze fell upon an attractive actress, with a genuine smile.
Darling went up to him, her quiet demeanor sure to calm his ferocity. The older man turned to her, then looked her up and down and an avuncular smile took over his face.
“Darling. Is that really you?My dearest little girl. What a lovely woman you’ve become.”
“Thank you, Lord Barry. That’s very kind of you. I would very much like to introd...”
“You’re all grown up now,” he cut in. “I must admit, I didn’t expect you to become such a beauty. You were always a rather plain looking little girl. But look at you now.”
She blinked for a moment, no doubt caught off guard by the unnecessary comment about her youth. She then swallowed and smiled. “Thank you, Lord Barry. That’s very...very kind of you. But if you’ll allow me, I would just like to...”
The older man turned to his son. “Isn’t it wonderful how our little Darling has turned into a true lady. Just look at her.”
“Yes, indeed, Father.”Matthew smiled at Darling without truly looking at her.
“In fact,” Lord Barry went on. “Once these mongrels have cleared out of my home, we should throw a party in honor of our beloved Darling. Wouldn’t that be nice, dear. Right here in this ballroom, in fact.”
