That was one of many reasons she had moved out of the manor... Olivia's obsession with the man who jilted her. Sometimes it made Pearl feel angry on her sister's behalf because it was clear that Olivia wouldn't be angry any time soon at her former fiance. Pearl scowled, "I said I was sorry... Nothing's happened to me, though... other than a terrible cold." She repeated that last part flatly, irritated. With a wheeze, she did sit up, stood, and shuffled over to the cheerfully crackling hearth where she threw another log on.

Olive began to blather on about her beloved and how she had to look for him when she knew very well that the boy was not coming back. "Yes, because you are a hostage to an unworthy fellow," she muttered under her breath as she always did, but then she did something she never attempted and was blunt with the older woman for once, saying in sheer exasperation, "He isn't coming back, Livvie. He didn't come back yesterday, he didn't come back a month ago, and as far as the letters I received while I was in school told me, he didn't come back the day after you were to wed. He jilted you, yet you want him back! Ugh, I can't stand the way you pine after the bastard." There, she had said it... And it made her feel a little better, lighter....

She sat in her rocking chair and sighed, knowing one of two things were bound to happen and hoping to God she was wrong on both counts. Maybe Olivia wouldn't fly into denial or yell at her for suggesting the boy wouldn't come back. She went on to say anyways, "I am tired of pretending everything is alright for you when you're clearly stuck on a foolish boy who never deserved you. I suggest you throw that stupid ring down a well and never look back... or I can do it for you. When I am not feeling terrible. You don't deserve any of what he's put you through."