Beginning, Previous Section, Section XI, Next Section
"What was that all about?" Charlie asked when Elisabeth reappeared in the store. She had just finished giving a customer change for a fifty. She didn't glare at Darcy, which led him to believe that Jack had already told her the truth about what he'd told Chazz.
"We were just ironing out a misunderstanding," Elisabeth said. "Jack misinterpreted Darcy's meaning."
"He did?" From the surprise on Charlie's face, Darcy realized that no, she hadn't heard the truth from Jack. He then realized that while she hadn't glared at him, she hadn't looked at him, either.
"Yeah. Darcy told Chazz to do what he knew he'd end up doing in the end. Chazz took that to mean 'break up with Jenna' instead of 'forgive Jenna.' Trust Chazz to screw up even the simplest of advice."
"Trust me to be ambiguous, you mean," Darcy corrected. "I should've said it straight out."
Charlie's cheeks got a bit flushed. "Then...Darcy wasn't to blame. Oh, God," she groaned. "Oh, no...and I told Caroline everything."
"It would've gotten out eventually anyway," Darcy said. "News like that always does."
"Yeah, but I'm not usually the one telling Caroline much of anything. So...why did Jack lie about this?"
Elisabeth and Darcy exchanged a brief look before shrugging their shoulders at the same time. "Hard telling," Elisabeth said.
"You'll have to ask him. I have to run over to Terre Haute and buy...a gift, and it looks like I have just enough time to do it."
"Oh, of course, don't let me keep you from it." Charlie leafed through the envelopes and pulled Darcy's out. Darcy was about to take it from her when she pulled it out of his fingertips. "But before I give it to you, I'm sorry."
Darcy shook his head. "It was just a misunderstanding. You have nothing to be sorry for."
"Yes, I do. I could've kept quiet about the whole thing. If I hadn't told Caroline, the whole town wouldn't know now."
"It's all right. If you hadn't told her, someone else would've." Darcy signed the sheet and took his check from Charlie. "I'll see you later."
"Yeah." Charlie still looked guilty as Darcy left. "I can't believe Jack lied about this," Charlie said, abandoning her post at the register and getting to work on the silverware. She plunked down a stack of napkins, then picked up a fork and a knife and started rolling them up in the top napkin.
Elisabeth, having finished the invoices, cash count, and all other paperwork, was staring out at the now-empty restaurant. "I don't know if you can technically consider it lying, when all he did was mix up the truth a bit," she replied.
Charlie picked up more silverware. "He claims that Chazz told him that Darcy was directly responsible for the break-up, when in reality Darcy just made a few murky statements that Chazz took the wrong way. I consider that lying. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why."
"Can't you?" Elisabeth stared at Charlie, a bit surprised. Did Charlie really have no idea how Jack felt about her?
Well, hell, why not? Look how long it took Chazz and Jenna to get their acts together.
"Unless he thought..." Charlie stopped for a second before shaking her head. "Nah. Silly thought."
"What is?"
"Well, I didn't want to mention this to you, but Lucy asked me the other day if I'd noticed how close you and Darcy were getting. Jack was hanging around at the time and he probably heard her question. Maybe he thought something really was going on."
Elisabeth's heart lurched, but she did her best to hide it. "So your theory is that Jack's in love with me, he thinks I'm with Darcy so he made up a rumor to make Darcy look bad?"
"That's why I said it was a silly thought."
But closer than you think.
"Jack's smart. He should've known the truth would come out eventually and then we'd all be mad at him," Charlie continued.
"Are you mad at him?"
"I'm undecided, subject to figuring out why he did it. I don't suppose he told you that along with the truth?"
"No."
"Didn't think so." Charlie took the stack of rolled silverware and set it aside. "Aah, I'll probably forgive him, anyway. But before I do, I'm going to find out the one thing I've never been able to find out about Jack 'No First Name' Middleton."
"Oh, Charlie, get over that already. Just because he made you admit what your full name is----"
"It's got to be something really bad, otherwise he would tell me. And besides, paybacks are hell. Jack knows that. I've just been waiting for the right time to get something on him so he'd have to tell me. This seems like a perfect time."
"This seems like someone's taking their obsession with first names too far."
"Hey, quit picking on my obsessions."
Elisabeth swiped a few of the napkins and started helping Charlie with her work. She hesitated before asking, "So, the new rumor going around is that I'm going out with Darcy."
"Sounds like it. You two have been friendlier to each other than you were when he first arrived." Elisabeth felt a rush of relief when Charlie rolled her eyes. "You can't even be nice to someone around here anymore without having half the staff thinking something more is going on."
"It wouldn't take much for Darcy and me to be nicer to each other than when we first met," Elisabeth said quickly. "We were probably ready to shoot each other at first."
"Well, after the first few days, things eased up between you and then it seemed like you cooled off again and lately you've been...I don't know. Nicer to each other."
Don't change the subject. Don't change the subject. Don't change the subject, Elisabeth told herself sternly. You do that and Charlie will know something's really going on.
"We have to do something about this situation," Elisabeth announced, her mouth obviously deciding that it had a brain of its' own. "It's ridiculous that Chazz and Jenna should be apart because Chazz is a Grade-A idiot."
"Stranger things have happened," Charlie replied, not bothering to look up from rolling silverware.
"I know. Like Jack Middleton asking a certain person out on a date----and said certain person turning him down, like she had something better to do that evening."
Charlie's fingers stilled. "It wasn't a date."
"Then what was it, exactly?"
"Nothing, because I didn't accept his offer. He asked me if I'd like to meet him for dinner and a drink after work one day, a few days after my test results came back positive. I told him that it was a nice gesture and I really appreciated it, but I didn't need any pity."
"You really think he only asked you out because he pitied you?"
Charlie turned to face her. "What other reason could there be? We've been working together for four years and not once has he shown any interest in me. We're just good friends, and I kind of prefer it that way. Besides...I don't get any sort of special feeling when I'm around Jack."
"Special feeling? What the hell are you talking about?"
Charlie returned to her silverware, cheeks starting to turn red. "I always imagined that I'd know when I'd met the man I could consider falling in love with. He'd be someone I could talk to, laugh with, and not have to worry about being perfect all the time. He'd be supportive when I need him to be, understanding when I don't want someone around to bother me...and when I met this person, I'd have some sort of instinct that he was the one."
Elisabeth groaned. "I remember you telling me a while back that you feared turning into someone who believed romance novels happened in real life."
"Yeah, so?"
"Listen to yourself, Charlie! You think that the minute you meet someone, you know whether or not that person is the one for you?"
"I didn't say I would know the minute I met him. I just think I'll have an idea. And while Jack is a nice guy, I've been around him for four years and I don't think it's him." Charlie stopped rolling silverware for a moment. "I thought maybe it would be Darcy, but...but then it wasn't."
Elisabeth's heart lurched, but she was able to keep herself from asking more about Darcy. "Have you ever stopped to consider that you've pretty much described Jack? You talk to him all the time. Half the time, you two are laughing over something. While I think it's stupid, you two are forever launching into various versions of 'Kyle's Mom' from South Park that are kind of funny. He knows you're human. Why not Jack?"
"I don't know, okay? I don't have to know right this minute. But for God's sake, I'm not about to fall in love with someone here!" Charlie snapped angrily, abandoning her silverware and storming to the back. A moment later, Elisabeth heard the walk-in door slam into the wall, telling her where Charlie had gone.
A second slam caused her to jump. She groaned again when she saw Jack standing at the make table, staring blankly at the box of pepperoni he'd just lugged from the freezer.
"Jack," Elisabeth murmured, walking over to him.
He put a hand up to stop her. "Please don't. I don't need your sympathy right now," he said.
"I know she didn't mean that the way it sounded. She's just a little mad at me."
"Why did you bring it up at all, Elisabeth?" he demanded. "I didn't ask you to plead my case before Charlie. If she doesn't want to go out with me, that's her choice and I can accept that and try to move on."
"You hardly gave it a try," Elisabeth pointed out. "You only asked her out once, at the worst possible time. Maybe if you'd kept trying..."
"I'm not stupid. What I said at your party a few months ago was the truth. As soon as she possibly can, Charlie is going to get a job that's going to get her out of this place for good. And when that happens, she's not going to look back. You remember how she used to joke a couple years ago that if she was still waiting tables in the year 2000, she was going to shoot herself? I knew she was only half-joking. She hates this place with a passion."
"If she really hated this place as much as she protests, she would've left long ago. There are other places she could work at if she really wanted to leave, but she hasn't gone yet."
"Which isn't to say she won't eventually."
"You honestly think she's going to leave and never speak to any of us again? She can't do that."
"Maybe not with you, because you're related and you're roommates. But with the rest of us? She'll come in occasionally and make friendly chitchat, but that'll be it." Jack took a knife and opened the box, pointedly working in order to avoid further conversation.
Charlie emerged from the walk-in five minutes later, looking slightly subdued but still upset. She immediately marched up to Elisabeth, who was finishing up the last of the silverware. "Look, I'm sorry for blowing up like that."
"It's okay. You've forgiven me for worse," Elisabeth said, setting the rolled set with the others. She arched her back, trying to rid herself of a nagging ache that had settled in for the day. "But I don't know why you got so mad."
"Because it felt like you were trying to make me feel bad for turning Jack down. It wasn't like he was actually asking me out on a date when he asked me to dinner."
"Dinner and a drink? I've done that a time or twelve with a guy. It usually winds up leading to some sort of relationship."
Charlie sighed. "When I...uh, told him, about the cancer, he asked me if I needed a shoulder to cry on. He said he'd treat me to dinner and a drink and I could use his. I told him thanks for the shoulder but I didn't think the dinner was necessary. Jack didn't look disappointed when I said no, so I obviously hadn't hurt him."
"You don't have to defend your actions to me, Charlie. I only wondered why you're always grumbling about your lack of a social life when you're turning away perfectly good offers for a date. Or what seems like a date."
"I know, I know. I'm a twisted, sick individual." Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought about what you said while I was in there, about Jack maybe being the one."
"And?"
"And while we get along great and we have a lot of laughs, I just don't see it happening. I think I would've known by now if something...you know." Charlie gave Elisabeth a secretive smile. "Besides, I think he's got someone else in mind. I'm not going to mention any names, but she's someone I know well." Charlie left Elisabeth to seek the cooler climate of the dining room.
"Yeah. Her name is Charlotte Lucas," Elisabeth muttered under her breath before turning to head back to the office. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone shuffle away from the entrance to the kitchen, and her heart sank again.
Jack.
"I've been thinking about you wanting to get Chazz and Jenna back together, but I don't think we should interfere, El," Charlie called from the dining room. "Look what happened to Darcy when he did."
"We're not trying to fix them up with each other. God, we could've done that a long time ago and we never did," Elisabeth replied, deciding to give Jack a little privacy. She joined Charlie at the front nonsmoking table. "They've been together. We know they're in love. We're just helping the course of true love run a little smoother, that's all."
"We don't know that Chazz wants to get back together with Jenna. For that matter, we don't know if Jenna wants to get back together with him."
Elisabeth fixed her with a look. "You don't seriously think they'd screw up a second chance, do you?"
"Weren't you the one calling Chazz Bingley a Grade-A idiot not five minutes ago?" Charlie shot back.
"That's different. He can be taught. In fact, if we were all to gang up on him when he shows up for his paycheck, tell him what a wreck Jenna is without him, and tell him to stop by because she's living with us now, I'd be willing to bet that he'd be there when we got home. And Jenna's still crazy about him. That isn't going to change any time soon."
Charlie still looked skeptical.
"Come on, Charlie. Do you really want to have to spend eternity listening to 'Nothing Compares to You' and hearing Jenna wail about how she misses him?"
"I get your point. What do you think we should do?"
"Lock them in a room together until they make up," Jack suggested as he walked into the dining room. "Four or five hours of being in each other's company should do the trick."
"That's a little extreme, don't you think?" Elisabeth said. "I was thinking more along the lines of talking it over with Chazz, making him realize that Jenna really does love him, and letting nature take its' course."
"With a little nudge from you?" Jack was looking as skeptical as Charlie.
"I might arrange a meeting between the two of them so they can talk this over. You watch and see. By Monday afternoon, when we're all on our way to that baseball game, Chazz and Jenna will be back together."
"We're about to find out," Charlie commented. "Chazz just pulled in."
"Does he work tonight?" Elisabeth asked.
Jack shook his head. "I still think my idea has merit. You shouldn't dismiss it altogether."
"Why? They don't hate each other. They love each other. And they're mature adults who can discuss their problems rationally and move on from there," Elisabeth said.
"Well, Jenna is, anyway," Charlie muttered. "I have my doubts about Chazz." She gave Jack a dark look. "And about certain other people I know."
Jack was looking distinctly uncomfortable. "I said I was sorry, Charlie. What more can I do?"
Elisabeth chuckled at the light in Charlie's eyes when Jack asked that. "I think I'll cut him off at the pass and let you two discuss the matter," she said, standing up as Charlie gave Jack her terms of forgiveness.
She got as far as the front door when Charlie shrieked, "Ashley?!"
Chazz took three wary steps back when Elisabeth appeared.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said abruptly.
"You may not want to talk about it, but you're going to anyway," Elisabeth said. "If you expect to get paid, that is."
"You can't keep my paycheck away from me. That's against the law."
"I'm not keeping it away from you. I'm giving it to Jack. I'm sure he'll find some good uses for it. No matter what you try to do, you're telling me why you did such a nasty thing to Jenna."
"I didn't..."
"Such a rotten, sleazy, low-down horrible thing."
"I just broke up with her! Why is that suddenly an act comparable to declaring World War III?"
"Because you did it before she could break up with you. You thought that was what would happen. You never once asked Jenna about it."
"Look, I'm sorry. Okay? Is that what you want me to say, El? Will that get you off my back?" Chazz snapped.
Elisabeth was taken aback by the fury in Chazz's voice. Charles Bingley was often annoyed and frustrated, but she'd never seen him this upset before.
"Jenna loves you," Elisabeth said softly. "She's loved you for years."
Chazz didn't speak, his jaw set in such a way that Elisabeth could almost hear him grinding his teeth. "I know," he muttered.
"And I know that if you explain the situation to her, she'll forgive you and you can get back together with her." Elisabeth paused. "Unless you don't want to, that is."
Chazz looked doubtful. "Do you think that, or has Jenna actually said it herself?"
"I know that because I'm her sister and I've watched her suffer over the past few days."
"So she hasn't actually said the words."
"Are you deliberately being difficult or are you just dragging your heels because you don't want to apologize?"
"I want to be sure that before I admit to doing something foolish that she's going to forgive me."
"What do you think your relationship is? A car with a money-back guarantee? I can't say one way or the other whether or not she'll forgive you. She definitely won't if you don't go and talk to her. That I can guarantee you."
Chazz chased a pebble with his left foot. After kicking it around for a minute, he asked, "Does she...miss me?"
"She's been playing 'Nothing Compares to You' for three days straight. She sometimes spices that up with 'Don't Speak,' but that's about it. She mopes around the house and sighs heavily. She slouches around eating junk food, which she never does. She's living with Charlie and me again, by the way."
"She is?" Chazz perked up.
"Yes. Ma gave her the 'I told you so, I can find you someone better' speech, and Jenna decided she'd had enough. She's gone. This is your best shot, because once Jenna's had time to think about it----and once someone other than you has told her why it happened----she's going to be less likely to forgive you."
"All right, all right, I get your point."
"So you'll be coming over tonight?"
Chazz nodded.
"Good." Elisabeth smiled, a triumphant rush coming over her.
"El? Do you think she'll forgive me?" Chazz asked.
Elisabeth thought it over. "I'd say the odds are in your favor," she told him. "See you tonight." She started to walk back into the store.
"Elisabeth, wait!" Chazz called. Elisabeth stopped walking. "Would you...um, would you help me out?"
Elisabeth frowned. "I'm not about to tell her what you did. I'll drive over there with you if you'd be willing to wait until my shift is over, but that's it. You've got to do this on your own."
"Being there is good. That's all I really wanted," Chazz said quickly.
"I can't believe we're doing this for you, you contemptible little worm," Charlie muttered as they walked up the three short steps to their apartment building and into the hallway. "You're lucky you got to talk to Elisabeth and not me, because otherwise you would've done this on your own. In fact, I don't know what you expect us to do, except get you in the door when Jenna sees you."
"You're not helping this situation, you know," Chazz griped.
"Was I supposed to do that? Sorry. Must've left the 'how to deal with your cousin's slimy ex-boyfriend' manual at home." Charlie unlocked the apartment door and opened it. "We're home!" she called. When there was no answer, she looked around. "Jenna? Jen-na!"
One of the bedroom doors opened, and then Jenna appeared. She had just gotten off work if her appearance was any indication, for she was wearing a white dressy top with khaki slacks. She wore matching sandals on her feet and her hair was still in an elegant French twist.
She opened her mouth to greet Charlie when she saw Chazz. She stared at him for a minute, then at Charlie and Elisabeth. "What's he doing here?" she asked softly.
"He's got something to tell you," Charlie replied. "So we're going to my room to watch TV and do our best to give you some privacy."
Jenna nodded slowly. Elisabeth had had no intention of going anywhere, but Charlie grasped Elisabeth's arm and propelled her into the hallway.
"We're going to miss all the fun," Elisabeth complained in a whisper as Charlie shut the door to her room. "Besides, Jenna's going to need witnesses to the fact that Chazz is going to beg her to take him back."
Charlie gave her a dirty look. "Would you want someone listening in on your private moments?"
"You really don't want me to start in about the night George and I broke up, do you?"
"I gave you privacy."
"And then sat in your room listening in the whole time." Elisabeth took a seat on Charlie's bed.
Charlie grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV. "I was not listening the whole time," she objected, flipping through channels. "I couldn't hear all of it." She stopped when she came to a Friends rerun. "But what happened with you and George was inevitable, so it didn't really bother you that I was listening."
"So is this! Chazz and Jenna are going to get back together. We both know it, so why shouldn't we be around?"
"Because they're probably going to engage in some serious kissing on the couch. Would you want someone to be around when you're doing that? I wouldn't."
Elisabeth huffed. "I suppose you have a point."
The two sat in silence, pretending to watch the show but all the while straining to hear what was going on in the next room. Elisabeth could hear Chazz's voice, which spoke for quite a while, but she couldn't hear Jenna.
That's probably a good thing.
"I can't hear anything," Charlie whispered. "Think we should turn this down a little more?"
"What if they're engaging in that serious kissing you were talking about?"
Charlie shook her head. "I can hear Jenna's voice, but not what she's saying."
Elisabeth frowned and gave herself a mental reminder to get her hearing checked. "Just a little," she agreed. "But not too much."
It turned out not to matter, because just then, Jenna snapped loudly, "I can't believe you!"
Charlie and Elisabeth exchanged a look. "Uh-oh," Charlie murmured, turning off the TV.
"I said I was sorry, Jenna," Chazz said plaintively.
"You really think Darcy wanted you to break up with me? You thought that's what he meant?"
"No, I knew he didn't mean that."
"Then why? Why did you do it?"
"Because I was scared! I've never felt this way about anyone in my life and----"
"What kind of excuse is that? That's about as bad as your reason for breaking up with me in the first place!"
"Oh, no," Elisabeth groaned, falling back onto Charlie's bed and covering her head with a pillow. She screamed in frustration before putting it back.
"I was afraid that eventually, you'd realize how wonderful you are and how ordinary I am and that you'd leave me," Chazz said.
"So you decided to leave me first! You idiot!"
"You know, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of everyone calling me an idiot!" Chazz snapped. "It's not like I was getting a lot of encouragement from you, you know!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Think we should go in there and straighten this out?" Charlie whispered.
"Too late now, I think," Elisabeth replied.
"I'm talking about the fact that you wouldn't introduce me to your mother as your boyfriend!"
"I told you why----repeatedly!"
"But those reasons were about as idiotic as mine for this, wouldn't you agree?"
"No, I would not agree! I told you that I was only trying to protect you from my mother."
"What was she going to do? Grab a shotgun and shoot me? The only thing she did was what I anticipated her doing anyway, which was to insult me and call me a lazy slacker. I could handle that! In fact, I probably could've brought her around, but I was never given the chance, was I?"
"You overestimate your charm," Jenna said coldly.
"You overestimate your beauty," Chazz shot back.
"If you feel that way, then why the hell are you here?"
"Damned if I know now!" Chazz roared. A moment later, the front door was opened and then slammed.
Charlie and Elisabeth sat on the bed in stunned silence. While Elisabeth had expected some arguing and disagreement, she had figured that their feelings for each other would overcome it. Instead, she wouldn't be surprised to discover that Jenna was refusing to speak to them for bringing Chazz over.
Their silence was ended as the cousins were jolted by the stereo blaring out one of the songs that was to become part of Jenna's daily repertoire----Pink's "You Make Me Sick."
"So much for Chazz and Jenna talking it over like mature adults," Elisabeth said.
"Yeah. Maybe we should've used Jack's plan after all." Charlie stood up and opened the door to go talk to Jenna about what had just happened.
A break in the weather came, at long last, on the Monday afternoon of the baseball game. Although it rained that morning, the skies cleared up at noon and the sun came out. The temperature was in the mid-eighties, the humidity wasn't as bad as it had been of late, and it appeared it was going to be a great day to see a baseball game.
If it weren't for the fight which sprang up because of Chazz, things might've been perfect. Chazz insisted on going to the game. Jenna had already made her wishes on the subject clear. If Chazz went, she stayed home. When Charlie and Elisabeth heard that Chazz intended to go, they pounced on him.
"But you don't even like the Cardinals," Charlie pointed out.
"I love baseball games, though. I don't care who's playing, as long as I can go."
"You're doing this just to be a jerk, aren't you? You know that Jenna won't go unless you're not around, so you're insisting on going," Elisabeth accused.
"I don't give a damn what Jenna does or does not do. If she doesn't want to go because I'm going to be there, that's her problem."
"We should take a vote on who should go----Chazz or Jenna."
"This isn't bloody Survivor," Jack growled when presented with this idea. "If Chazz and Jenna can't set aside their differences for one night, that's their problem. Chazz wants to go. If Jenna doesn't because he'll be there, then she doesn't go. It's her choice."
There was nothing more to say after that, so Chazz was in. Jenna was not.
"It's just as well," Jenna said when Elisabeth called to tell her. "I got conned into working late tonight for a friend, so I couldn't have gone anyway."
"We'll miss you."
"Thanks. Look...promise me you won't give Chazz a hard time, okay?"
"What? Why?"
"Because I've been thinking about what happened the other night and I realized how childish I acted. He wasn't much better, of course, continuing to throw the past into my face, but I shouldn't have screamed at him like I did. So while you don't have to be nice to him if you don't feel like it, don't be mean."
"But...but he hurt you!"
"And I hurt him in return. Maybe Chazz was right after all when he followed Darcy's advice. Maybe our relationship would've ended in a nasty break-up."
"Don't be silly," Elisabeth said automatically. "You two were crazy about each other."
"Or just plain crazy," Jenna said ruefully. "I don't know. Just take my advice."
"It's not going to be easy. Charlie and I have already kind of been ignoring him all day. We even suggested to Jack that we should vote on whether or not Chazz should get to go."
"You what?" Jenna groaned. "Oh, El. That's silly. Jack is Chazz's roommate. It wasn't likely he would agree to anything like that."
"So we found out."
"Don't make him a pariah at work, okay? I wouldn't want that to happen. It seems...petty, somehow."
"Okay, okay. We promise."
"Are you sure you're speaking for Charlie?"
"No, but I will be."
Elisabeth informed Jack of Jenna's decision.
"I'm sorry to hear it," Jack said. "You really should've taken my idea and locked them in a room together. I guarantee you that if you had, we wouldn't be having this discussion."
"We're still debating whether or not to do it," Elisabeth said. "When we decide, we'll let you know. In the meantime, what are we going to do with Jenna's ticket? She paid for it, after all."
"I don't know. If this were a weekend series, we could sell her ticket to someone. I don't think there would be much interest in a ticket to a weeknight game, though."
"So who's left?" Elisabeth asked.
"You and me, Charlie and Darcy, Chazz and Sean. You were right----Rachel asked to be excused from the game. She said she planned to go shopping with her mother. It sounded like a made-up excuse to me."
"Maybe if you offered her the ticket and explain the circumstances, she'd take you up on it," Elisabeth said, feeling about as tall as a bug.
Jack shook his head. "Don't feel bad about that, El." He put a comforting arm around her. "You didn't plan on getting pregnant any more than Rachel planned on not being able to have children."
"I know, I know. But I still feel guilty about it."
"Have you heard anything more from George since he found out?"
Elisabeth shook her head. She hadn't been able to confess to anyone but Charlie and Darcy that George had seen a lawyer about terminating his parental rights. "He seems determined to keep as much distance between us as he can. Just as well, I suppose."
Jack gave her a probing look. "Still planning to give it up for adoption?"
"Uh-huh."
"Even though things are..." Jack glanced around. It was nearly three-thirty, so the store was practically deserted. "Things are going well between you and Darcy?"
Elisabeth didn't answer for a moment. "I never gave that any thought," she admitted. "Things aren't anywhere near that point yet. I suppose, if things do get that far before the baby's born, I might reconsider giving the baby up. But for now, I'm still committed to adoption." She looked out the window, lost in thought. She noticed a slightly battered pale green truck pulling into the parking lot. "Sean's here," she said.
Jack rushed into the back and shouted, "Sean's here! Everyone look busy!"
Elisabeth thought she spied someone with Sean, so she walked over to the foyer window to see who it might be. She was puzzled when she saw it was a small child. Sean unbuckled the child's seatbelt before getting out of the truck. He opened the child's door. Seconds later, Elisabeth was able to determine that the child was a little girl with curly red hair. Sean opened the door for the little girl, who ran inside and came to a stop in front of Elisabeth.
"Hi!" she said cheerfully.
"Hello," Elisabeth said, a warm smile on her face.
"I'm Tasha. Who're you?"
"I'm Elisabeth. It's nice to meet you, Tasha." Elisabeth looked up as Sean walked in, a huge smile on his face. "Hi, Sean."
"Hello. Did Tasha introduce herself to you?"
Elisabeth nodded. "She did."
Sean reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out two quarters. "Here you go, honey. Here's the money for that video game I told you about."
"Thank you, Daddy." Tasha gave him a kiss on the cheek before rushing over to the bowling game. She was a bright little girl, knowing she would never reach the controls of the game without a chair. She had a little trouble getting started, so Sean went over to help her before Elisabeth got over the shock of hearing her call Sean 'Daddy.'
Once Tasha's game got underway, Sean turned back to Elisabeth.
"Did she just call you 'Daddy?'" she asked.
Sean nodded. "Rachel and I have become foster parents. If it becomes possible, we'd love to adopt Tasha. She's a wonderful little girl. Considering what she's been through, it's amazing how well she's adjusted."
"But I thought you said that Rachel had rejected the idea of adoption."
"She did, which is why it took me forever to convince her to become a foster parent. Tasha survived a car wreck which killed her real parents. The authorities are trying to find out if she has any relatives, but so far no one's come forward to claim her. We told them that if no one ever comes forward, we would adopt her."
"I would think the idea of taking in a child knowing you might eventually lose her would be difficult."
Sean shook his head. "I thought so, too, but Rachel doesn't see it as having a child. She sees being a foster parent as helping a child in need for a time. Not that she isn't as crazy about Tasha as I am, of course."
"Of course," Elisabeth echoed. "Well, I'm happy for you both. I hope things turn out the way you want them to."
"So do I. It would be nice for a change." Sean's face got serious. "El, I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but Rachel does intend to apologize to you for what she said that night."
"I told you then, I understand why she had that reaction."
"Yeah, but that doesn't make you feel any better, I wouldn't think."
Elisabeth didn't reply. "Are you still planning to go to the game?" she asked.
"Oh, that's tonight, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh."
"I hadn't thought of that. Rachel's out with her mother already, so she can't take care of Tasha."
"Well, why don't you bring her along? Jenna backed out at the last minute, so we have the extra seat. All you'd have to do is reimburse Jenna for her ticket."
"Why did Jenna back out at the last minute?" Sean asked.
"Because certain..." Elisabeth bit back the sarcastic comment she wanted to make. "Because Chazz is going. Jenna made up an excuse that she had to work late for someone else, but in all likelihood she'd volunteered to do it."
"Ah. That would be great. Is she still with you and Charlie?"
"In spite of the numerous phone calls my mother has made begging her to come home, even to the point of saying that she would accept the fact that Jenna wants to 'waste her life with a pizza delivery boy,' Jenna's still with us."
Sean reached into his back pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a ten and a five. "Here. Give this to her when you get home tonight."
"Are you kidding? I'll spend it on a soda and hot dog at the stadium."
"That's probably not going to be enough," Sean said, laughing. His attention was soon diverted by a frustrated noise Tasha made. "Need some help, Tash?" He walked over to the video game to help the redheaded girl with her game.
Elisabeth watched him with Tasha for a few minutes, absently rubbing her stomach. Her doctor had asked her on her last appointment if she'd wanted to know the sex of the baby. Before she could stop herself, she'd said yes and found out that she was having a girl.
Seeing Sean with the little girl who might become his adopted daughter, she couldn't help but wonder if, in a few years, that could be Darcy with her daughter.
You're getting ahead of yourself, Elisabeth. Besides, if you start thinking of the baby in those terms, it'll be that much harder to give her up when the time comes.
Forcing herself to banish the image out of her mind, she wandered over to one of the window tables to wait until everyone else arrived to leave for the ball game.
In the dim recesses of his mind, Darcy could vaguely remember going to an actual major league baseball game with his father. He couldn't have been more than six or seven at the time, and for the life of him, he had no idea where they'd gone. He remembered that they'd sat right behind home plate, because a catcher had nearly collided with the screen in front of them trying to catch a foul ball. He remembered that there was ivy covering the outfield walls, and at one point in the game, everyone stood up to follow along with some crazy guy leaning out of a booth that seemed to be halfway in the sky to sing a song. Darcy hadn't known the words, although his father and his friends had.
So in spite of the fact that the tension was bound to be high because of Chazz's presence, Darcy was excited to be going. At the moment, Chazz was driving Sean and the little girl who was living with him while Jack drove Darcy, Elisabeth and Charlie to the game. Darcy's excitement was increased by the fact that Elisabeth was sitting less than two feet away from him, behind Charlie. Of course, the excitement was also a form of torture----Charlie was present, therefore he couldn't even hold Elisabeth's hand.
"Have you ever been to a game before, Darcy?" Charlie asked politely.
"I remember going once, although I have no idea where it was. My father and his friends took me. I was just a child then," he admitted. "I do seem to remember ivy on the outfield walls, though."
"Wrigley Field," Jack said. "Unless there's another outfield of ivy...Charlie?"
"I think that's the only one," Charlie replied. "So you went to a Cubs game?"
"I...I guess I did. My parents lived in Chicago for a few years when I was younger. I remember the walls and someone with a microphone singing along with the crowd."
The other three chuckled, meaning they knew what he was talking about. Darcy waited for one of them to share the joke.
"Good old Harry Carey," Charlie said. "The seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field hasn't been the same since he died."
"You're supposed to be a Cardinals fan," Elisabeth accused.
"I am, but that doesn't mean I never stuck around after the top of the seventh inning just to hear Harry sing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' when I caught a Cubs game on TV."
"Traitor," Elisabeth teased.
Darcy smiled as Charlie's twisted around in her seat to give Elisabeth a dirty look. "He used to be a Cardinals' announcer, you know. Grampa Roy used to listen to him."
"Yeah, and according to Granny Bess, he refused to listen to him after he started broadcasting for the Cubs. Hated him, in fact."
"That's a silly reason to dislike someone," Charlie said.
"This coming from the woman who boos Mike Hampton to this day because he turned down the Cardinals' offer to pitch for them?" Jack asked.
"That's another matter altogether. He was only chasing money and tried to hide it by coming up with asinine reasons for playing in Colorado. Not that it's not a beautiful place to visit or even live, but give me a break. It's an ERA graveyard."
Darcy laughed silently as Charlie faced the right way. "I'm looking forward to the game," he said.
"Good. I wish Jenna could've been here, though," Charlie said wistfully.
"As I told Elisabeth, you really should've locked them in a room together," Jack said, maneuvering around a slow-moving semi. He never took his eyes off the road. "My plan would've worked."
"How many more ways are you going to say 'I told you so' before you get it out of your system?" Charlie snapped, having heard many different versions of it over the last four days.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop. I promise. But it does seem to me..."
Darcy decided to come to Jack's rescue----because it was certain Charlie would kill him if he continued, and Jack was driving----by kicking the back of his seat. Elisabeth choked back a snicker and turned her attention to what little scenery there was to be seen on the interstate.
The two cars met at the Fairview Heights stop of the Metrolink. Chazz had driven far too fast and had arrived ten minutes before Jack's car, something Jack didn't stop castigating him about as they purchased their round-trip tickets and waited for the next available train to take them to the ballpark.
There was little conversation as they boarded the train and rode from the Illinois side of the Mississippi River to the Missouri side. Charlie and Jack exchanged some information about the starting pitchers for the game. Darcy asked if the Cardinals' pitcher was any good, and was assured that he was. (Chazz's only reaction to this was a derisive snort, which earned him a quick "shut up" glance from Charlie.) Elisabeth talked with Tasha for a few minutes, and was surprised----and saddened----to hear the little girl say that Elisabeth's "tummy was big like Mommy's was." Tasha had gotten a little sad after that and clung to Sean.
"Next stop will be Busch Stadium. Doors will open to my right. Next stop, Busch Stadium," the driver announced over the loudspeaker as the Metrolink train started to slow down.
Jack checked his watch and said, "I think the gates should be opening soon. Maybe we'll get to see batting practice."
"Great," Elisabeth muttered. "The kids will be knee-deep and standing on the bleacher seats. I didn't bring anything to sit on."
"Your clothes will wash out fine," Jack replied. "Did everyone get their ticket?"
Everyone gave him an affirmative answer as the train came to a stop. Just about everyone riding got out with them. Sean told Tasha to make sure she kept a good grip on his hand so she wouldn't get lost. Darcy couldn't help taking advantage of the opportunity to grab Elisabeth's hand under the same pretext.
"If I lose sight of you, I won't know where I'm supposed to go," he said when she gave him a startled look.
"We're right across the street from the stadium," Charlie said, as they started up the steps. "I'm sure you'd catch up to us eventually."
"I'd rather be sure I know where everyone else is at."
"He's got a good point. There's safety in numbers." Jack grinned and took Charlie's hand. Elisabeth's eyebrows rose when Charlie didn't immediately snatch it out of his grasp. "I might lose track of you."
Although Charlie's back was turned to her, Elisabeth knew instinctively that she was rolling her eyes. "You've been here more often than I have in the past year and you're not sure you'd know where to go?"
"I wasn't thinking that I might get lost. I was worried that you might."
"Have the owners radically changed the layout of the stadium?" Charlie asked.
"No."
"Or the location of the bleachers?"
"No again."
"Then I'll know where I need to be----the left field bleachers." Charlie and Jack reached the top of the steps and moved aside to wait for the others. "Sheesh."
Elisabeth noticed, however, that Charlie still hadn't pried her hand free of Jack's. Maybe there's hope for Jack after all, she thought.
At the top of the steps, they had a choice between crossing the street directly in front of them, which would mean climbing a flight of stairs and going across the bridge, or just crossing the street to their right and walking around the stadium until they got to the bleacher entrance. With a crush of people walking about at the same time, they had little time to make the decision. Jack made it unilaterally by crossing the street in front of them, dragging Charlie along with him.
"Not more steps," Charlie groaned as they reached the other sidewalk.
"Yes, more steps. Come on. You walk miles every day around the store. You can handle another flight or two of stairs."
"No, I can't," Charlie whined.
"I tell you what. We'll give you a boost from behind," Sean teased. "Of course, this will mean Chazz will have to watch out for Tasha...on second thought, scratch that. You're on your own."
"Hey!" Chazz protested weakly. "I'm trustworthy."
"Never said you weren't."
"If I can do it, Charlotte, you can," Elisabeth said, although she was huffing her way up the stairs. "And I'm pregnant."
By the time Charlie was done whining about having to climb the stairs, they'd reached the top...in time to see a group of people stepping off of an elevator. Charlie didn't say a word, because a look was more than enough.
Darcy's head was still spinning somewhat after taking a tour around the ballpark with Charlie. He'd seen the banners overhead, listing the years the Cardinals had won the World Series. He'd read the accomplishments of the past as they'd made their way to the entrance. He'd looked at more pictures than he would ever remember. He didn't know that he would ever be as big a baseball fan as Charlie Lucas was, but what impressed him about this place was the sense of history he got from it.
"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Charlie grinned.
"Nice," he concurred.
"I remember my first game here, when I was eleven. My dad took the family. We sat in the nosebleed seats, but it was still fun. It was 1987...that was a great year." Charlie's eyes went hazy with the memory.
"I'll bet it was," Darcy said, for lack of anything else to say.
Now, sitting in the bleachers next between Elisabeth and a woman wearing a Cardinals jersey, Cardinals hat, and a necklace made of beads and little stuffed baseballs, Darcy was ready for this game to begin, even if he felt a little out of place. He noticed that he was one of the few people not wearing red. The only other person who wasn't wearing red nearby was Chazz, who had defiantly worn blue.
"Don't you say a word," Charlie warned Chazz as the Cardinals took the field.
"I didn't plan to," Chazz replied sullenly. He was obviously still upset with Charlie because of Jenna.
Elisabeth was a bit worried about the situation, not so much because of what she feared Charlie might say or do to Chazz but because he was not acting in his usual insane manner. He hadn't rushed to the nearest beer seller and ordered "two because I need them to get through this disaster." He hadn't mocked the organ player's rendition of "Meet Me in St. Louis." He hadn't yelled insults at the Phillies' starting pitcher while he was taking his warm-up tosses in the bullpen. (He didn't like the Phillies any more than he did the Cardinals.) He hadn't even bought a scorecard.
All in all, he wasn't acting...well, like Chazz. And while he might be embarrassing to be with when he did all those things, it was disconcerting to see him as he was at the moment.
In fact, as the game started, it was even more bizarre to see Chazz sit in his seat and not react to what was going on around him. It was as though he'd been hypnotized or something, which worried Elisabeth as the game began.
"This is gonna be a good game. I can feel it," Charlie said. She was practically bouncing in her seat. Another thing that amazed Elisabeth, although this always amazed her, was the fact that Charlie couldn't go anywhere and just sit without a book to read or something to do. Take her to Busch Stadium and she could sit and watch the scoreboard for hours until the game started.
"You always say that," Jack reminded her. "Last time we were out here, you had that same feeling and they lost."
"Only because the relief pitcher was an idiot. The starting pitcher was brilliant. They should've let him finish the game."
"So it's not so much that the relief pitcher was an idiot. The manager was," Sean said.
"Well, I'm not going to debate that. I lost the last debate about him, but he didn't throw that hanging curve ball to what's-his-name from Houston who hit that upper deck home run."
"You were at that game?" the woman next to Darcy asked.
"Yes," Charlie said. "Freezing my behind off the whole time, of course. It would've been worthwhile if they'd won."
"I heard that," the woman agreed.
How did she know what game Charlie was talking about? Darcy wondered in amazement. He was certain that St. Louis had played Houston on a number of occasions in which one of the opposing players had hit a home run off the pitcher, yet this woman knew exactly which game Charlie was talking about.
For that matter, how had Charlie known the woman was referring to the same game?
"Don't worry," Elisabeth whispered. "You'll get used to it. Just be careful that you don't catch it, because once you're a member of Cardinal Nation, you're a member for life. Just ask Charlie."
Cardinal Nation? Darcy thought, confused.
"I don't care if I ever get back...and it's root, root, root for the Cardinals! If they don't win, it's a shame...for it's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game!"
Elisabeth, Charlie and Jack sang enthusiastically. The Cardinals were ahead 4-2, so they were happy. Darcy sang with slightly less enthusiasm, but only because he wasn't completely sure of the words. Sean was trying to get Tasha to sing, but Tasha was stuffed full of peanuts and cotton candy and wasn't feeling up to singing anything. Chazz wasn't singing at all. He was sober, depressed, and sitting with crossed arms and a glum look on his face. Even when Chazz was unhappy about the score or something, he managed to sing along, mangle the words, and insult the home team.
"That does it. Charles Woodrow Bingley, I've had enough of this moping," Jack said. He continued to stand even though most everyone else had taken a seat. "You didn't spend thirteen dollars to just sit there staring at the playing field like it was the white light at the end of the tunnel."
Chazz blinked several times. "Maybe I'm thinking of changing allegiances," he mumbled.
"Anyone else in the world, I might've believed them. Not you. You've been a Cubs fan since you could toddle after a baseball."
"Leave me alone, okay?"
"Can't do it. For one thing, I live with you and if I have to hear 'The End of the World' one more time, I'm going to have to kill you."
"Well, excuse me for not feeling like putting on a happy face and doing my usual impersonation of a complete idiot. If you came to this game expecting entertainment, you should keep your eyes on the field because I'm not going to provide it for you."
"That's not what I'm saying and you know it, Chazz." Jack sighed and sat down. "I know this situation with Jenna is frustrating."
"And his own damn fault," Charlie mumbled. Elisabeth, sitting next to her, gave her a quick elbow to quiet her.
"That's right. I screwed up and Jenna's not here as a result. I'm a complete idiot. I'm not fit to be seen in human company."
"Tell Father Jack your troubles," Elisabeth said in a mock accent.
"You're making a scene," Sean said quietly. "And not a good one."
Chazz had been about to continue his rant, but all he said was, "Just leave me alone, all right? All of you leave me alone. You might think this is a perfect place to hound me about what happened, but this place isn't a church, these seats aren't the confessional and none of you are priests. So butt out of my life for once."
After that, the game lost some of its' fun as they sat in silence, watching the Cardinals win. The silence lasted until they split up into separate cars to make the trip home.
Elisabeth had never considered herself to be a particularly sneaky person. She wasn't fond of deceit and lies because she knew how much they hurt. She preferred being up front about things and always had been. It was just her nature. So it worried her that her new relationship, which she felt might be "The One" to borrow a term from Charlie, was being carried out in such secrecy. It seemed as though no one knew about Darcy and her. She'd even dropped a couple of hints here and there, just to test the water for reactions, but no one seemed to bite. Even Charlie had written off the hand-holding incident at the ball game as something innocent. "If I'd been standing near him, he would've taken my hand," she commented without batting an eyelash.
It was starting to get to the point where Elisabeth wanted to take out a full-page ad in the Effingham Daily News proclaiming that Elisabeth Bennet was dating Darcy Williamson and was damn proud of it. She understood Darcy's reasoning behind not telling people about their relationship. She'd agreed with it in the beginning and still did to a good extent. Her reasons were slightly different than his, though. He worried about hurting Charlie. She worried about that as well, but her main concern was that something would go wrong. If no one knew they were dating, no one would know if they broke up. Elisabeth had suffered too much pain at the hands of gossipy co-workers to go public with something that seemed special but fragile.
Still, it was getting frustrating to sneak around to do things with him. They didn't go out in public much together, for fear that someone from the store would see them. They'd been to see one movie at the mall cinema, and even then they'd shown up separately and "bumped" into each other, as though they hadn't planned to meet. Louisa's husband Drew happened to bring Valerie to the movie (not that it was appropriate for a small child, but Drew was an idiot) and nearly caught them holding hands. After that, Elisabeth and Darcy agreed that it would be best to keep their dates private.
Weekends were the best, because they both got off work early. Darcy would pick up a couple of movies and Elisabeth would cook supper for the two of them. They always went to his apartment because since her big blow-up with Chazz, Jenna was camped out in the living room when she wasn't working. Unlike Elisabeth, who would've been pigging out on anything edible in the apartment, Jenna ate nothing. She was usually to be found listening to her anthems (which now included "I Am Woman," which Charlie said was a cliché, and "I Hate Myself for Loving You") or watching movies such as The First Wives' Club. She'd already lost six pounds.
Elisabeth and Darcy would spend the evenings snuggling on his couch, occasionally talking about work or what was going on in their lives. She sensed, however, that there was something Darcy was keeping from her, which was troubling but not surprising. She knew he would tell her eventually, so she tried not to let it bother her. Besides, she wasn't keeping him updated about how things were progressing with George and his decision to give up all rights to the baby, so she supposed they were even. Maybe when they'd been dating a little longer, they'd be able to talk about the important things.
All dates ended at eleven, of course, because that was when Charlie came home. Elisabeth would have to make the quick trip downstairs before Charlie pulled into the drive, because what reason could she give for being at Darcy's? Anything work-related could wait until she saw him at work and anything else would arouse Charlie's suspicions. Elisabeth hated the subterfuge, but she went along with it...for now.
It was nearly ten-thirty the Saturday night after the ball game when Elisabeth got up the courage to ask a question she'd been wanting to know the answer to for a long time. They were sitting on his couch, her feet in his lap after he'd given them a nice massage. One thing she'd come to hate about being pregnant was the fact that parts of her body that she felt should not be swelling had swelled anyway.
"Darcy?" she started.
"Hmm?"
"Why are you here?" Elisabeth asked. "I mean, the day I interviewed you, you looked like you'd rather be in hell than working for Planet Earth Pizza."
"You weren't far off," Darcy admitted.
"Then why did you stay? You didn't have to stay, you know."
Darcy stared at her feet for a second. "Yes, I did."
"But why?" Darcy continued to look hesitant. "Please tell me," she said. "I'd like to know."
Darcy looked at her, wondering if he could trust her with the truth. This new-found relationship that had blossomed between them was still tentative to him. Probably to her, too. What the heck. He was more than a thousand miles away from his therapist and he had a feeling she would understand everything.
"I'm here because of my sister," he said quietly, putting the breadstick down.
"Ginny?"
"Ginger," he corrected, staring at the opposite wall. It seemed easier than looking at Elisabeth. "It's kind of a long story. You see, Ginger's all I've had since our parents died."
"I'm sorry." Elisabeth sighed. "You must want to smack me every time I complain about my mother."
"It's okay. I imagine if my mother had lived, we'd be much the same way." Darcy hesitated before continuing. "Elisabeth, promise me something."
"What?"
"Promise that what I'm about to tell you will go no further."
"Of course."
"You can't even tell Charlie. This stays between you and me."
"I promise."
He waited a minute. "My aunt is Catherine de Bourgh."
When Elisabeth didn't say anything, he raised his gaze and looked at her. She looked stunned.
"You mean Catherine de Bourgh, as in De Bourgh Enterprises? As in the De Bourgh Enterprises that owns Planet Earth Pizza?"
"Yes."
Elisabeth whistled. "Damn."
"You can guess why I don't want anyone knowing."
"Not exactly, but I'm sure you're going to tell me."
He smiled for a moment. "Like I've said before, my aunt took my sister and I in after our parents were killed. She's been trying to run my life ever since, with better success that she should. She's been less successful with Ginger. Whereas I tried to accept things the way they were, Ginger never could. I never understood why, considering that Ginger was only two when our parents died and I was ten, but that's what happened." He frowned. "My aunt's attitude toward her might have something to do with it. She's never cared for Ginger."
"Why not?"
"My sister is the mirror image of our mother." Darcy took out his wallet and handed Elisabeth a faded picture of his family a few months before his parents were killed. He then gave her a more recent picture of Ginger.
"You're right. She does look like your mother. Did your mother and aunt not get along?"
"I don't think they did. Mom ran of with my father and never spoke to her family again. I didn't even know we had an aunt until she showed up to get us after the accident."
Elisabeth gave Darcy the picture back. "What do you remember about the accident?" she asked softly.
Darcy's eyes got misty. "You know that little girl Sean and Rachel want to adopt? Gin and I have a similar story. We were in the back seat of the car. I was knocked unconscious and Ginger's too young to remember exactly what happened, but apparently a truck driver died at the wheel of his truck and...and barreled into our car. I...I always hoped our parents went quickly, but I never did know. I woke up a couple days later in the hospital."
"Where were you going?"
Darcy shook his head. "I don't know. I couldn't remember anything about that day. Where we were going, what we were doing...it's always been a blur. I think we were going to a birthday party, because Mom had wrapped up a gift to take with us on the trip.
"Anyway, back to Ginger. About a year ago, Ginger decided she wanted to take a year off from college to go to work at this advertising agency Catherine's a partner in. Catherine was extremely reluctant, but I convinced her that Ginger would do well. She's always been creative...do you remember when we talked about how this place got its' name? Ginger's idea."
"Your sister came up with that?"
"Soon after my aunt bought Mario's Pizza, Ginger told her it was the best pizza on earth. Catherine happened to mention it to someone and the idea took off."
Elisabeth looked amazed. "And to think that all my younger sister does is run a cash register over at Wal-Mart."
Darcy thought of everything that Ginger had gone through and thought Wal-Mart would've been better for her.
"She was doing well and enjoying her work when she met...him."
"Him who?"
"This man----she never would tell me his name, but he ruined her life. The ad agency decided they wanted to do a series of ads featuring people who actually worked at Planet Earth Pizza. He was one of those chosen. She fell in love with him, hard. I didn't see her much when she was with him, though she kept promising we would meet soon."
"I remember that. George Wickham was one of the people chosen to do participate, if you can believe that." Elisabeth shrugged. "I suppose he is attractive and very persuasive when he wants to be. Maybe it isn't such a stretch." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I'm interrupting your story. Go ahead."
"I didn't think anything was wrong at the time----Ginger's always done things her way and I didn't want to interfere. I didn't think much of her relationship with this man until the day Catherine stormed into my office, telling me that fifty thousand dollars had been embezzled from her ad agency and it was Ginger's fault."
"I don't want to sound like I'm doubting your sister's innocence, but did she do it?"
"Unknowingly, yes. She told me that he'd asked her how expenses were handled in the agency, and she told him everything. He asked her for a small loan, just an advance against the salary he was certain would come when the commercial was done. Ginger gave it to him, then turned her back for ten minutes to take a phone call. It was enough time for him to get into the computers and add a few zeroes to the amount she was going to give him. Then he disappeared with the money, leaving her to take the blame. Catherine, of course, was thrilled to have an excuse to get rid of her for good. She fired Ginger and, in front of everyone who'd had contact with her, myself included, ordered us not to speak to her ever again."
"Why did she bother? Firing her should've been enough."
"Ginger's a sweetheart. Everyone who knows her loves her. Though her speech was delivered to everyone, it was specifically meant for me. As far as Catherine was concerned, Ginger no longer existed. She was not my sister; therefore, I should have no need to see her."
"You couldn't do that, though. Never speak to her, I mean." Elisabeth certainly hoped not.
He shook his head. "Catherine said that out of the goodness of her heart, she didn't press charges against Ginger. I was grateful, because I was able to find her a job with a rival ad agency. I faked her references so she'd get the job, but she took a cut in pay and it's not as good a job as she had with my aunt."
"Did Catherine try to stop you?"
"She didn't know until after Ginger got the job. By then it was too late. Westendorf probably would've promoted her to spite my aunt." Darcy took a drink of his Dr. Pepper, which had been sitting on the end table by his elbow. "I knew I was in for it when she called me personally to come to her office."
"You mean she got rid of you because you talked to your sister?"
"Oh, no. I wasn't so lucky. You see, I'm her only male relative. In fact, other than Ginger and our equally rebellious and therefore rarely mentioned aunt in Colorado, I'm her only living relative. She gets rid of me, she has no one to carry on her legacy." Darcy clenched his fists. "As punishment for disobeying her, I was going to learn how good I had it working for her. She decided that I needed to be taught some humility, so she sent me here for a year."
"What happens when your year is up?"
"At first, she said that I would return having learned that some people aren't worth my loyalty."
"What a witch."
"She's just had to be tough to survive in business."
"That's no excuse, Darcy, and you know it. Ginger is her niece, one of three living relatives she has left. I don't care who she looks like, you just don't toss her aside because she made a mess of things over a guy. God, I'm living proof of how bad men can screw up your life."
"You're preaching to the converted, Elisabeth."
"Sorry. I just hate the knowledge that I actually work for this woman. I don't care how bad my kids mess up. I'm not gonna kick them out and never see them again."
"Think of what it's like being related to her." Darcy put his hand over his mouth. "I shouldn't say that."
"Why not? It's the truth."
"Anyway..." Darcy looked back at her. "After I asked her what would happen at the end of the year, she told me she didn't expect me to last, but if I did she would give Ginger an allowance and not forbid me to see her. If I return early, I would essentially agree to never seeing her again."
Elisabeth reached up and grabbed one of his hands. "If you ever get the temptation to call her, call me instead. I'll talk you out of it."
Darcy looked down at their hands before saying, "I will." When she let go, his hand tingled. He figured it must've been because she'd been holding it so tightly, but he hadn't thought it was that strong a grip.
Elisabeth sighed and put a hand to her stomach. "George is filing to terminate his parental rights," she said quietly.
Darcy whipped his head around to look at her. "When did he do this?" he asked.
"At the beginning of the month. The papers came...the night we first went out. I...uh, I haven't gotten around to contacting an attorney about this."
"It was what you wanted, wasn't it?" he asked.
"Yes, of course it was," she said quickly. "I don't want George to be any more involved with this baby than he already has been. But..." She couldn't finish.
"It still hurts, doesn't it?" Darcy finished. "He's already rejected you, now he's rejecting his own child."
Elisabeth felt her eyes getting teary again and she nodded. "I know he's an insensitive jerk and a loser and the last person in the world I would want around to be a parent to my child, but he's still technically her father."
"Her?" Darcy's eyebrows rose.
"Yeah...her. I found out that I'm having a girl. It probably wasn't the smartest thing for me to do, finding out...you know, in the circumstances."
"Right...the circumstances." Darcy got quiet. "You know, Elisabeth..."
A loud beeping interrupted them. Darcy had set his alarm clock to eleven so they'd know when she had to leave.
"Hell," he muttered under his breath.
"I have to go," Elisabeth said reluctantly.
"El...George Wickham isn't your baby's father. He just happened to be in the room when she was conceived."
Elisabeth's brow furrowed. "Where have I heard that before?"
Darcy shrugged. "I don't know. I've been watching a lot of movies lately, so I probably picked it up from there. I'm not very original about these things, but that was the truth, original or not."
"I know." Elisabeth stood up at the same time Darcy did. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her for a long, lingering kiss. "Thank you."
She disappeared before he could say anything else, leaving him wondering if he really would've had the courage to ask her to reconsider her decision to let her baby be adopted.
They'd known each other almost four months, but they'd only been dating for about three weeks. He knew she liked him a lot, and he felt the same way, but was he ready to make a commitment of this magnitude? Was he ready to become a father?
Was he in love with Elisabeth Bennet?
Elisabeth let herself into her apartment, ignoring the pointed stare from Jenna, who was watching Goodfellas and eating a bowl of low-fat, light-butter popcorn. Elisabeth walked into her room with a purpose, dragging out a binder she'd filled with all the quotes and sayings she'd collected over the years. She flipped through the pages until she came to her more recent entries, and there she found it.
"[He] wasn't [his son's] father. He just happened to be in the room when his son was conceived." ----Ben Stone from "Law & Order."
Well, that explained why the quote had seemed familiar. She'd already written it in her book. How true it is, she thought ruefully. But she smiled all the same, because it was always nice to discover that she had something else in common with her boyfriend.
Elisabeth set the binder aside and went back into the living room. "What's the point of eating popcorn if you're not going to put ten tons of butter on it?" she asked, taking a seat beside Jenna on the couch.
"It's not healthy for you." Jenna ate another fistful, swallowed, then asked, "So, how was your clandestine rendezvous with your mysterious neighbor upstairs?"
"If you're asking how my dinner with Darcy went, it was fine. As always." Elisabeth wished she could talk to Jenna about the injustice that had been done to Darcy and to his sister, but she'd promised him she wouldn't say anything to anyone and remained silent.
"You two planning to spring the news on Charlie anytime soon?" Jenna asked after eating a bit more popcorn.
"We didn't discuss that."
Jenna sighed heavily.
"Don't sigh at me like that," Elisabeth said, annoyed. "We'll get around to telling her eventually. We're just..."
"Just what? It's been three weeks now. You spend almost every weekend upstairs with him. You sneak around to avoid getting caught."
"That's just it, Jen. It's only been three weeks. Right now, we're at that stage where we're not sure what's going to happen and we'd just as soon have a little privacy in order to get it together. What's so wrong about that?"
"What's wrong? The very fact that you two have carried on in secret is going to hurt Charlie more than the fact that you're dating. Next to me, Charlotte Lucas is your best friend in this world and you've told her everything except this. Charlie considers Darcy to be a good friend, too, and I know that when you two finally get around to telling her, or she finds out on her own because she's not stupid, it's going to hurt her."
"Why? Why should the fact that we were trying to spare her feelings hurt her?"
"Because you weren't honest with her. Charlie would rather that the two of you be up front about the whole thing rather than sneaking around. You may think you're sparing her feelings, but I don't think that's going to be an issue when she finds out."
"Really? Have you heard her talk about Darcy lately? She calls him 'the one that got away.' That's not an indication to you that she wouldn't take the news well?"
"She's kidding around when she says that. She knows it wouldn't have worked between them."
"I don't think she kids around as much as you think she does. I think she's serious."
Jenna ate another handful of popcorn before replying. "I guess we'll find out soon enough, won't we?"
Elisabeth gave her sister a dark look. "What does that mean? Did you tell her anything?"
Jenna matched Elisabeth's look. "Of course not. I'm not about to do your dirty work for you. If you want Charlie to know, you're going to have to tell her."
Elisabeth snatched a handful of popcorn out of the bowl. "You know, I wish you would either get back together with Chazz or get over him already. You're turning into a real grouch these days."
"I'm over Chazz already. See this?" Jenna pointed at herself. "This is me, over Chazz already."
"Uh-huh. That's why you woke me up playing 'Blame It on Your Heart' at top volume. And that's why you're watching Goodfellas, which happens to be Chazz's favorite movie."
"I think it's a good movie. I don't like it just because Chazz liked it," Jenna muttered. "And what's wrong with a good song in the morning?"
"For the third morning in a row? Plenty."
The door opened with a bang against the wall as Charlie stumbled into the room, almost tripping over the bags she carried.
"Oops," she murmured, tossing the bags aside and checking the wall behind the door. It appeared to be sound. "One of these days, I'm going to destroy this wall by walking in here. It'll be an accident..."
"Which our landlady will never believe," Elisabeth finished. "She's still suspicious about what killed the garbage disposal."
"It was old," Charlie muttered.
"Uh-huh. And the fact that you accidentally lodged a chicken bone in there had nothing to do with its' sudden demise?"
"Oh, shut up."
"Why do you carry so much junk, anyway?" Elisabeth asked.
Charlie opened up one of the bags and pulled out a book. "If you had to spend sixteen hours in one place, you'd bring something along to keep you occupied, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah."
"That's what all this is. Something to keep me occupied. And this doesn't include the word processor I leave at work."
"Why do you have a word processor?" Jenna asked.
"Because I can hardly lug my entire computer to work, and I can't afford a laptop yet. Someday, I hope to have one, but for now, I'm stuck with a word processor. At least it came with software that allows me to transfer anything I write on it to something I can use on the computer."
"I was wondering what the point of having one would be," Elisabeth said.
"How was your night?" Charlie asked, taking a seat in her chair. "Did you run off to meet your mysterious boyfriend again?"
Elisabeth felt blood rushing to her face. Jenna, you're a dead woman. "I don't know what you mean," she said hesitantly.
"Come on, El. You've been walking around lately with that look in your eyes."
"What look?"
"The one that says 'I've got a man.' I've seen it often enough. So, who is he?"
Jenna's look at the moment said "I told you so," so Elisabeth turned away from her. "I don't have a man," she said. "What I do have is indigestion, so I think I'm going to bed." She stood up and walked away, but didn't get to her room before hearing Charlie speak.
"What's the big mystery?" her cousin asked.
"I wish I knew," Jenna lied. "He's probably the elephant man or something."
"He is not the elephant man!" Elisabeth shouted, remembering too late that she'd just said there wasn't anyone. Rather than get dragged into a conversation she wasn't ready to have, she hurried into her room and shut the door.