“And it’s great. It’s the best sex I will ever have in my life, okay?” she said quickly. “But then, the next morning, he tells me he loves me and he even wants me to move in with him, right away.” She stopped, letting the idea work on him, and then asked Darcy in a soft voice, “Would you want me to move in with him? Even if he was a great guy?”
Darcy frowned and shook his head. “Of course not.”
“Then how could you expect this of Elizabeth?”
Darcy looked away. “It’s just that I was happy. I didn’t want that happiness to end,” he said softly.
Georgiana put her arm around Darcy’s shoulder. “I know. And she probably didn’t either, but that’s really, really fast. She probably needed some time. Did you give it to her?”
Darcy snorted. “She walked out. How could I not give it to her?”
“So what happened next?” she asked gently.
“I got mad, and when she came in at rehearsal for the show, I tricked Charles into playing ‘It’s All a Joke.’”
Georgiana put her head in her hands for a moment then laughed and kissed her brother on the temple. “Only you, Will.”
Darcy smiled at himself. “I might have overreacted just a little bit.”
“Just a bit,” Georgiana agreed. “So then what happened? Did you talk to her?”
“I tried to, but she wouldn’t have it.”
“I can’t really blame her.” Georgiana took a moment to add up everything that had happened. “So what did you do then?”
“We changed our song. We played ‘Feel Me’ for them.”
Georgiana nodded. “I remember. Did it work? Did you talk to her after the show?”
Darcy shook his head. “No, I just left.”
Georgiana lightly slapped the side of her brother’s head.
“Ow!”
“Will!” she whined. “I can’t believe you. You’ve got to give her a chance to talk to you. That poor girl probably doesn’t know what to think.”
“I thought that if she loved me, she wouldn’t have walked out like that.”
She frowned. “Did you ever think that maybe Elizabeth just needed some time to think, and she was going to come back to you? After all, you played this song for her. Don’t you think you might want to see what she thought?”
“I thought she didn’t want to see me again. She said she was done. They played that ‘Good-bye’ song.” Darcy pushed away from his sister and stood up. Slowly he walked to the huge window overlooking the Berkshire Mountains and put his forehead against it.
“But that was before you played your song, right? Will, I really think you screwed up here.”
“You’re right, Georgie,” he said in a defeated voice.
Georgiana put her hand on his shoulder. “Before you make yourself crazy hating yourself, you might want to instead think about what you are going to say to her when you see her again.”
Darcy turned and pulled her into a close embrace. “I will,” he said. “Thanks, you give good advice, you know that?”
Georgiana looked into her brother’s eyes. “So do you,” she smiled lovingly.
Elizabeth looked with sympathy at her sister. Jane had dark circles under her eyes and despite the kind and gentle way she was dealing with the three children, Elizabeth could tell she was deeply anxious.
Jane seemed to be functioning, albeit slowly, as she brushed and braided the hair of the little girl who sat in her lap. “Lizzy,” she said softly.
“Yes?”
“I want you to stay with me when he comes.”
Elizabeth nodded. “When do you expect him?”
“I don’t know,” Jane said, her eyes once again losing focus.
“What are you going to say to him?”
“I guess that depends on what he says to me.”
“What do you want?”
“I want the hurting to stop, Lizzy. I just want to be happy.”
It was at that moment that their cousin, a nine-year-old boy named Erik, came running into the kitchen. “Jane, come here, quickly!” he exclaimed.
Jane and Elizabeth followed the boy into the living room where the television was on. MTV was positioned between Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and the children found something that stopped their channel flipping. Jane was on the screen singing “Everything You Are.”
“Jane,” the eldest child said, “Erik said this was you on the TV, but I told him it couldn’t be you.”
“Actually, Steph, it is Jane,” Elizabeth answered cheerfully. “Look, see? There’s me and Aunt Charlotte.”
Jane was watching the TV, a sad smile on her face.
“Oh,” said Stephanie, “I just thought it couldn’t be you. I forgot you are famous.”
Jane smiled and pulled the girl close. “That’s me,” she said, “your famous babysitting cousin.” They laughed and watched the TV some more.
“You look pretty there,” Stephanie told Jane, with the typical honesty of a child.
“Thank you. I had a lot of people working on me to make me look pretty.”
“You know, that’s the third time this morning I’ve heard that song,” a deep voice said. “I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a sign.”
Elizabeth and Jane turned around quickly. Behind them stood Charles, holding the hand of the seven-year-old girl.
“Jane,” said Michaela, “I answered the door. This man was looking for you.”
The color drained out of Jane’s face. “Thank you, dear,” she replied automatically.
“Why don’t you all watch TV, and a little later I’ll take you swimming,” Elizabeth told the children.
The young cousins gave their general assent, and Elizabeth led the adults into the kitchen. Automatically, Elizabeth found herself pouring a cup of juice for Charles, knowing it was his morning preference. She smiled bitterly at the ironic situation they found themselves in, and brought the cup to him, sitting at the table with Jane.
Jane stared at her cup, unable to speak as Charles looked at her nervously. “How have you been, Charles?” Elizabeth asked conversationally.
“All right, I guess,” he shrugged. “How are you? I was surprised to find you here.”
Elizabeth smiled. “You know our glamorous life.”
“We’re giving Lydia and Kitty a week off,” Jane explained.
Charles smiled warmly at Jane, carefully examining her with his eyes. “I’m not surprised. You’re so generous and kind.” Then he paused and looked away.
“How has everyone been?” Elizabeth asked, trying to keep the conversation going. “Caro, Richard, Will?” Her voice was a trifle unsteady on the last name.
“Oh, Caro is fine. Faust is coming back from London tomorrow, and she is going to spend the last week of the break with him. Richard’s been hanging out at his family’s place on the Cape.”
“And Will?”
“I haven’t spoken to him,” Charles said simply. He turned to Jane. “Could I speak to you—alone?”
Jane looked from Charles to Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s eyes told her she would do whatever Jane wanted.
“Please,” Charles added softly.
Jane nodded and moved to the dining room. There they could speak softly without being overheard, but they were still close enough to Elizabeth. Elizabeth kept herself busy by washing the morning dishes, then by finding random chores to do. She wanted to keep her promise and stay with Jane, and the work helped her think. She wished Charles had some news about Will; she was starting to worry about him. Elizabeth set up her laptop on the kitchen table and was disappointed to find there was still nothing in her email box from either Will or Caroline.
“You look tired,” Charles said gently as he sat down at the table with Jane.
Jane’s mouth curled up in what could have been a weak smile or a grimace. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
Charles smiled gently. “I understand. I haven’t slept well in over two weeks.” His hands were restless. Instinctually, they kept reaching for Jane and he had to keep reminding himself not to touch her, not to hold her the way he wanted. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How much can change in two weeks?”