We Could Be Happy
By: knockedoveralamp (Miss Phyllis Baxter)
Ship: Isobel/Dr Clarkson; Merton/Isobel
Word Count: 804
Summary: Dickie Merton visits Isobel and breaks off the engagement to her, before recommending what she do next.
Author's Note: I like Dickie when he's not following Isobel like a lost puppy, and I don't dislike him as much as I do with some other characters, because I do think that he loves Isobel, just as Dr Clarkson does. Sometimes I hate him though.
Isobel sat on the settee in her drawing room as the door opened revealing Lord Merton wearing a sad expression on his face. "Is something the matter?" Isobel asked, genuinely concerned for that well-being of the man who was her fiance. She didn't love him as much as she had loved Reginald, but she didn't want to be alone anymore. In fact, if she had been able to be completely honest with herself, she'd find that she didn't love him as much as she did Dr Clarkson. But she refused to think about that, and she wouldn't let it distract her, especially now that she was engaged to someone else. She and Richard Clarkson had never even courted, and she didn't even think that he had ever wanted too. Friends was all they were and all they needed to be.
Dickie took a deep breath before looking at her again. "Yes, something is the matter Isobel," he replied, the expression on his face the same as it had been when he had entered the room. "I want you to be happy, and I feel that you and I could be happy..." he trailed off at the end as if he wanted to add something but didn't know quite how to put it.
"Of course you want us to be happy, and I know we will. We get on so well after all," she said, unsure of why he sounded, and looked, so upset when he was discussing their happiness together. Removing his sons from the equation, she knew that they could be happy, that they would be happy together. Larry and Timothy posed a problem, but they could easily have been dealt with as they rarely visited their father. The only problem that existed was that she'd have to live with the burden that her husband's sons hated her and didn't want the two of them to be happy with one another. "And we love each other, don't we?"
"We do, yes. We love each other which is more than most can say, but I have a feeling, well I know that you'd never be truly happy married to me, and that would make me very unhappy on the basis that I love you with all my heart. I don't want Larry and Timothy to be the cause of your unhappiness. I couldn't bear the thought of you being unhappy because of me," he said, approaching her slowly to sit down across from her. He gestured to the settee before sitting. "May I?"
Isobel nodded slowly and tried to take in what he had said. She tried to reach a conclusion as to what he was saying, so that she wouldn't look silly having to ask. He can't be calling off the engagement. He said he loves me and wants me to be happy. How would breaking it off make me happy? she thought. I know that some people would be made happy by this news, but I certainly am not. Ultimately, she determined that she was unable to reach a conclusion that made sense to her, because ending their relationship and calling off their engagement made no sense at all to her. "What are you saying?" she asked. "What do you even mean by all of this?"
"I mean that if we were to be married, the two of us on our own may be happy, but there's still my sons and they would be a constant upset to you and I, no matter how little we see them. I don't want you to have to live with any unhappiness, so I'm ending our engagement on the basis that I love you," he said.
Isobel looked up at him and nodded. "If you're sure," she said. "But I would like to end this engagement as friends. We can still be friends right?"
"We can always be friends, and do tell Dr Clarkson how you feel about him. You may have been content with me, but you look better with him. Even a fool can see it," Lord Merton said with a small smile. "He's a good man. And I hope that he and I could be friends."
"I'm sure you can," Isobel said, not commenting on what he had said about Dr Clarkson loving her.
"Good day my friend," he ended, bowing his head and opening the door for himself.
"Good day, Lord Merton," she replied. "Unless I can still call you Dickie?"
"Of course you can, Isobel," he said before leaving. Isobel stayed silent for a moment, wondering why she didn't feel as sad as one should at having their engagement ended, before it came upon her that Lord Merton- Dickie, had been right. They would be happier as friends and she might just be able to become happy with Dr Clarkson.