Pony watched her and threw up his hands. "I didn't think it was a problem. I was being a complete gentleman and you'd grandmother was just about always there. There couldn't have been rumors the way we were, I wouldn't have done that to ya." He said, some of his Irish slipping through.

"And I feel I have a right to be angry, it is my feelings in't it? Just as I feel like I have a right to clear my head. And I'm not using my father as an excuse. You didn't know him like I did. He is the reason I didn't want her to love no doctor. And he was more than a swine. You never probably spent a day in an institute like I did. I didn't want her to end up in a bad situation. And she could but like I said.. it doesn't matter now, does it? You can say yer right and that I drove her away or that it is all my fault. I shouldn't have cared what she did and let her end up with any Tom she found. It's fine then. It's been done. And you csn say you care about me, but this is me. I'm someone who wants to protect even when I don't know how. And the frustration when I can't haunts me. But that is a burden I try to bear alone because I am not gonna lock someone away or anything. All I have is my words and my wishes. And what good are those? Even you are mad at me when all I had hoped for was a sympathetic ear. But I am in the wrong since I wasn't here. Did ya even ask me ta stay? You might have hinted that you wanted me ta, but I am not gonna make plans on something that might just be talk and not what comes from the heart."

He turned away from her to go back to his seat. He took another drink and squashed his embarrassing accent. "I have no plans now so I am simply needing to figure out what to do with myself. And you can be angry at me or forgive me. But either way, you need to be clear. I don't like playing games."