"MRS. HORWOOD, I DON'T CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE NOSY, BUT I'M going to take the liberty of being so today."
They were walking back to the Bed & Breakfast after the early shopping at the local market. It was again a sunny day. The island had bright Septembers. Kathy's a priori perfect place was even better when experienced.
No matter what the future brought, she'd had this soft warm breeze caress her skin.
"Go ahead, then."
"Well, you once mentioned that Mrs. Sloan had her reasons not to trust her sister, and I was wondering what you were referring to."
Mrs. Horwood gave her the same hesitant look she herself had given Jesse the night before, so no offence was taken. Then, the woman closed her eyes for a second and pressed her lips, after which she decided that Mary Anne wouldn't have minded her telling Kathy.
"What do you know about Mrs. Sloan's first marriage?"
"Not much. Actually, I know she was married twice because Jesse mentioned it. Otherwise, I would have thought Mr. Sloan had been her only husband. She and I never got to talk about that part of her life."
"It wasn't her favourite subject," confirmed the older lady. "But we need to pour our heart out from time to time. So, one afternoon, our teatime conversation revolved around her sister's role in the breakup of her marriage."
Kathy arched her eyebrows.
"Do you mean…?"
"She contributed in every possible way. First, she told her family about Mary Anne's relationship, which upset everyone and forced her to leave."
"They didn't like him?"
"They didn't even meet him. Mary Anne's family was so conservative, and she, though still very young, had rebelled against their prejudices more than once. She wanted to go to university, but only her brother was given that opportunity."
"Women were to stay at home and get married."
"The olden ways."
"But she was going to get married."
"No. She was seeing that boy. She was having pretty much the sort of relationship young women nowadays are allowed to have, which means getting to know the person first and then deciding whether or not to marry. But when Frances painted her sister as well-nigh a whore, her parents saw it as another sign of her rebelliousness - she'd had a violent argument with her father when he'd refused to send her to university a short time before - and so they more or less told her she wasn't welcome at their household anymore."