Free A Mother's Spirit by Anne Bennett

for months?’

    ‘Gloria, you really have no right to speak so to your father,’ Norah said. ‘As for not caring about your happiness, you know your father and I have tried to make you happy since the day you were born.’
    ‘Then let me marry Joe!’ Gloria demanded.
    Brian rubbed his chin while he looked at his defiant daughter. ‘It’s such a surprise,’ he said, ‘the last thing I had expected, to tell you the truth, and judging by your behaviour of the past months.’
    Gloria sighed. ‘I went about with those boys to try and erase thoughts of Joe from my mind.’ She shook her head. ‘It didn’t work, though, and in fact it only made me love him more.’
    ‘And you say you truly love this man?’
    ‘Oh, yes, Daddy, with all my heart and soul. I ache with love for him. He feels the same, though he would say nothing at first because he is so much older than me and employed by you.’
    ‘What do you make of it, my dear?’ Brian asked Norah, who was looking at Gloria with a slight frown puckering her brow.
    She often thought afterwards that had Gloria not been so wild for almost a year, not in the least circumspect or prudent as became a young lady, her reaction might have been different, for all she liked and admired Joe greatly. She feared that Gloria’s antics with hosts of young men had laid her wide open to ridicule and scorn, and possibly damaged her reputation. If that had happened she knew the doors to any form of respectable society would be closed to her and an advantageous marriage out of the question. Far better surely to have her safely and respectably married before more damage was done. However, marriage was a big commitment and not one to be entered into lightly.
    ‘You are still very young, my dear,’ she said to her daughter. ‘Are you sure this is what you want?’

    ‘Absolutely sure,’ Gloria said determinedly. ‘In fact, if I don’t have Joe then I will not have anyone.’
    ‘Do you not mind, though, that Joe is many years older than you?’ Brian asked.
    ‘No,’ Gloria replied. ‘Whatever age he is, Joe Sullivan is the man I love and the man I want to marry.’
    Norah thought of the often brash and rootless young men that had been Gloria’s companions of late. They seemed to have no aim in life other than the pursuit of pleasure. She doubted that any one of them had ever done a day’s work in his empty life. She would have hated her daughter to have married one of those people.
    Joe was different. He was the sort of man that could be relied upon, one who knew what hard work was and thrived on it. It didn’t matter a jot to her about the age difference. In fact, she saw it as an advantage. Joe had his feet firmly on the ground and she felt Gloria would be much safer with someone like that.
    ‘Well, at least we can’t say we don’t know the man,’ Brian said. ‘We have had years of getting to know him.’ He gazed at the daughter he loved so very much and felt a lump form in his throat as he realised that another man was now more important in her life than he was, and so his voice was husky with emotion when he said, ‘If this is really what you want, my love, then you have my blessing.’ He gazed at his wife, saw her smiling and relieved face, and added, ‘And I can see your mother approves too. Now where is the man in question hiding away?’
    ‘In his room,’ Gloria said, leaping up from her chair. ‘I’ll tell him now.’
    In the cold light of morning, Joe had gone over the scene of the previous evening in his bedroom and regretted it bitterly for he had no doubt that Brian would send him packing now and he had only himself to blame. If he didn’t love Gloria so very much, he could have parried her questions. Too late now. With a heavy heart he dragged his casefrom the wardrobe and began putting his clothes in it while he waited for the summons from Brian.
    He had almost finished when Gloria burst through the door. He could hardly believe his ears when she