Chapter 12

One week later…

Anne huddled the milk jug into the palm of her hands. On a sunny May weekday, she enjoyed a quiet cup of tea in the morning before coping with the stresses of the day. She was interrupted when her sister came charging into the dining room.

‘Wait! Take your tea black for now.’ Wilma gasped.

Anne gently set the milk jug back onto the table and almost laughed at her sister’s randomness.

‘Oh come on Wilma, who takes tea black? What has gotten into you this morning?’ Anne asked curiously.

‘Have you not taken the time to keep up to date with news lately? Milk is tainted!’ Wilma cried.

Anne almost didn’t believe her. Then she recalled two women at the market stall yesterday afternoon discussing the same thing. Most people were being told to stay away from milk but it was an ongoing debate across the whole country.

‘Oh of course. The milk inspector Thomas Grady, I had almost forgotten. Is there not a plan to ban the dangerous additives from the milk or something?’ Anne responded.

Wilma nodded and squinted as she tried drinking black tea. She pretended it wasn’t bothering her.

‘Yes the American Mr. Grady. He is our only hope it seems. They are saying the toxins could be removed globally which will help. I have no idea who thought it was appropriate to put the toxins in the milk in the first place!’ Wilma cried. She stared into her half empty cup of tea with wide eyes.

‘You do understand that this has been going on for some years, Wilma? Stopping drinking milk now is no use when the toxins have been present for a good few years. But I shall stop if everyone in the household is doing the same.’ Anne smiled awkwardly and pushed the milk jug to the other side of the table.

Wilma stared at her sister and began tapping her leg under the dining table. Anne could tell that she was heavily distressed. The events of last week hadn’t been spoken about since.

‘Anne, I was supposed to tell you about an incident that occurred this morning. I was in the town having my wedding dress finalised when I noticed a lot of people whispering and staring over at me. When I left the dress maker’s shop, I walked down the high street and it continued.’ Wilma said, looking very traumatised.

‘Yes, so what happened?’ Anne asked.

‘A random man who I did not recognise shouted something awful, I would hate to repeat it but I feel you deserve to know. He called me the Winchester whore. Apparently, everyone in Oxford is calling me the same. This wedding of mine tomorrow will not be what I imagined. It will be doomed from the start.’ Wilma cried. A tear finally left her eye and trickled down her cheek. Anne gave her that same sympathetic look.

‘Oh Wilma, I am sorry that this happened to you. I have no idea who could have spreaded such gossip around when only Bertha and I knew. Unless.’ Anne realised that the sentence that just came out of her mouth explained everything.

‘Unless what? I hope you are not suggesting that Sheldon would put his own bride through this! No, he would not! He loves me. I can see how much. Neither would Aunt Bertha. Someone else must have found out somehow.’ Wilma tried explaining. But it was no use. Anne had already made up her mind.

‘I am suggesting that I am right about Sheldon, as I have been all along. Why marry a man that blackmailed your sister into unthinkable things? He is a bad man, Wilma! I know the wedding is tomorrow but you still have time to back out. I sense that everything that is happening is all a part of his grand plan.’ Anne stated.

‘You are wrong! Not everything is about you. Everybody knows that you are the older, prettier, wiser sister but this is finally something for me! I am in the spotlight for the first time in my life and I want to enjoy it and still you are trying to bring me down!’ Wilma pleaded. She wanted her sister's approval a lot more than she cared to admit.

‘Calm yourself, Wilma. I will not have this fight with you again over that wretched man Sheldon Winchester! I have told you my experiences with him and still you walk straight into his traps. I can see it now. Your wedding day will be a disaster and everyone gossiping about you is his doing! I do not want my sister to be known as a whore, especially not for that awful man!’ Anne exclaimed.

‘I have explained this, he loves me! We will be wed tomorrow and then we are bind together for life and he will be your brother in law. There is nothing you can do to change that!’ Wilma got up and stormed out of the dining room.

Anne sat and sighed as her sister left the room. She wondered what she would have to do to make Wilma see sense but 24 hours wasn’t long enough to come up with a good plan. She never thought a man would come between her and her sister. Anne placed her empty cup back onto the floral saucer and marched out of the dining room not long after Wilma stormed out. To Anne’s surprise, George was standing in the hallway admiring the paintings on the wall. Anne plumped her hair up and approached him.

‘Goodness, George. It is a little early to receive visitors. Are you here to see my Aunt Bertha? I am afraid she has a meeting at the bank. Something to do with my father’s money, I did not dare to ask.’ Anne said. She felt her heart melting once again when she saw him standing handsomely proud.

‘No Anne. it is you that I came to see. I need to speak to you about the wedding, it is urgent. The butler let me in.’ George said. His face was a picture. A look of deep misery mixed with dying hope.

‘Heavens. Urgent you say? It must be serious. Let me guess, Sheldon is having trouble finding the perfect tie because he is tied to other women?’ Anne sniggered at her own joke. George almost laughed at her wit but his troubles stopped him.

‘I am afraid you will have no room for jokes once you know what I have come to tell you. My son, Sheldon. As you know, he is due to marry your very young sister tomorrow.’ George said, he swallowed hard at the end of his sentence, making Anne rather nervous.

‘Yes, that is right?’ Anne responded. Her eyebrows narrowed as she tried to search for the point he was trying to make.

‘I happen to know that the wedding will not be as Wilma imagines it at all. In fact, he plans to humiliate her. I did want to tell you before but he swore me to secrecy.’ George said.

‘You mean you knew about this before today? And you think to tell me a day before the wedding? How exactly does he plan to humiliate her?’ Anne asked. She folded her arms and tried to put her anger for George aside and think only of her poor sister.

‘She will be a laughing stock to the whole of Oxford because my son - well, my son, he has blood stained bed sheets to prove Wilma is no longer pure.’ George blurted out. Anne froze on the spot. This time, Sheldon had gone too far.