The following story has been inspired by the song Looking for you by Paul McCartney.
"I thought I saw your shadow in an old doorway
But when I looked again I thought I made a big mistake
It was someone who looked a little like you,
But now I know ah-ha-ha, ain't no-one like you.
I'll tell you why I know, Babe,
Hey, 'Cause I'm looking for you, Looking for you."
Bill Darcy walked into the retail furniture store with a scowl on his face because he couldn't believe that he had to waste his time by picking out furniture for the model home on his new subdivision project. He had little enough time to spend with Anne Marie and this was the last thing he wanted to do when he should be home with her.
He looked at his watch and cursed because his job supervisor Charles Bingley was late as usual. He saw the sales woman on the other side of the showroom as he looked around and he was stunned. The dark haired woman made eye contact for a moment before she excused herself from her customer to greet him properly.
He couldn't take his eyes off her because she reminded him of someone else. No that wasn't the right wording because that someone else reminded him of her even thought this was the first time he had ever laid his eyes on this woman. No it wasn't the first time he had seen her but that had been in his dreams.
"Good evening sir." She said and the timber of her voice was pleasing to his ears, "I'm Elizabeth Bennet and I'm the only salesperson here right now." She glanced over her shoulder, "I'm helping another customer at the moment but look around and if you have any questions or need anything just wave at me and I'll come to help you."
She wove her way through the furniture to the other couple who were there. Darcy saw that she was very shapely with her womanly curves in all the right places. Her curly dark hair bounced as she walked and he saw that it reached half-way down her back. As he stood there contemplating the woman, Bill heard a sound behind his shoulder.
"Wow, she is one fine woman." Bingley whistled quietly, "So are you ready to pick out furniture, boss."
"You're late." Darcy growled at him.
"I'm just a few minutes late and you seem to have found a distraction." Bingley countered as he had known this man for so long he knew how to deal with his moods. "Don't make an issue out it."
It wasn't long before the salesperson was back after she had finished with her other customers, "So what are you looking for?"
It was Charles Bingley who explained that they were furnishing a model home. He flirted with Elizabeth Bennet outrageously and she laughed at his advances.
Darcy glared at his friend as he made a play for the woman he… He couldn't even admit to himself what he was feeling about this stranger who he seemed to know. Plus he had Anne Marie at home waiting for him and he loved her more than anything in this world.
"Darcy can I borrow your cell phone?" Bingley asked.
Bill handed him the phone without even thinking about it. A few minutes later Charles gave it back but Darcy's mind was more agreeable engaged and he didn't even notice.
Elizabeth was able to find the suites of furniture that suited their needs beautifully and before Darcy knew it they had finished the transaction and the delivery of the furniture was scheduled for the next day.
Bill got take-out pizza for dinner and within a half hour was at home and greeted at the door by his beloved Anne Marie, "Daddy." She called out to him and rushed to him as she threw herself upon his feet. This was her favorite game at the moment because then he would haul the five year old around on his feet.
This went on for a few minutes until she noticed the pizza box in his hands, "Pizza, did you get my favorite?"
He put the pizza down and scooped up his daughter. "Why of course my darling, I got cheese pizza just for you."
"I love you, Daddy."
His heart just melted when he heard those words and it made everything else worthwhile for him. "I love you too, baby."
This was the best part of his day and he hated to give up any part of it. He paid the babysitter and she left for the day.
He had enough money to hire a nanny to look after his daughter but he refused to do that. He loved taking care of her himself.
His wife Sarah had left him when Anne Marie was a baby when she had found that she didn't like living in a home where she was expected to behave as a mother and a wife. She had been pampered and spoiled by her rich parents and had gone after Bill Darcy with a passion when they were in college.
He sighed as he removed his tie and sat down at the table with his daughter. Once they were married, she had gotten pregnant right away and realized that life with Darcy was not going to be what she wanted. Sarah had wanted to be a spoiled, pampered princess who had a nanny and shopped for a living.
Bill Darcy had other ideas and wanted to be an active part of their daughter's life. When his best friend from Harvard, George Wickham had come into their lives, Sarah saw another means to latch onto a rich man. She had left her 3 month old daughter for a man who had been her husband's friend in school. She had died a few months later in a car accident and Anne Marie had never known her mother.
He picked up the picture from their wedding day and looked critically at the woman who had only been in his life for 18 months. He made sure that he kept pictures of Sarah around the house so that his daughter would always know her mother. He studied the picture and wondered why he had never seen that she had been empty on the inside. All she wanted to do was party and have a good time. Just like the woman Elizabeth Bennet, Sarah had long dark curly hair, a fair complexion and their figures had been very similar. Their features were amazingly similar but there was a life and vivacity in Elizabeth where Sarah had been cold, empty and lacking in warmth.
He thought back to the time when he had met Sarah and he had felt that he had known her from somewhere. All of his life when he thought of his perfect wife, one image had come to his mind, from his dreams and when he met Sarah she looked so much like the woman in his dreams that he had ignored the warning signs that should have told him that she was the wrong woman for him.
That was why when he had first spotted Elizabeth Bennet he had realized that Sarah actually reminded him of Elizabeth. His heart had screamed at him that this was the woman he had been waiting for his whole life. But he had more than himself to think about now, he had to think of Anne Marie. Elizabeth was not right for him. For one thing she was young; she appeared to be about 22 or so just out of college. She also worked for a living and obviously wasn't in the same class as he was. Her family was obviously not in the same world. He needed a wife who could fit into his world but who would want to be a family and would love him and his daughter.
He tried to concentrate on Anne Marie but her beautiful face was a miniature of her mother as well as Elizabeth Bennet.
His cell phone rang and he went to answer it but his daughter got to it first and as she looked at the phone she said, "Mommy."
He took the phone and looked with shock at the picture of Elizabeth Bennet; he said under his breath, Bingley, before he picked up the phone and barked, "What."
He dreamed of the woman that night for the first time in 6 years and in the dream he had everything he loved, his daughter, his wife and the life he always imagined for himself.
The furniture was delivered the next day and Darcy found excuses to call Elizabeth Bennet to complain about every little detail. First there was a slight scratch on one of their pieces, the leg of the table seemed crooked and there was a scratch on the vanity mirror. An unperturbed Elizabeth sent the delivery men to check on every fault he found and made sure he was happy.
On Saturday, Bill Darcy decided that he needed a long overdue day off and took his daughter to Six Flags in Vallejo.
He pushed his excited daughter around in a dolphin stroller that he rented from the park. As he pushed her along to the killer whale shop where he wanted to have her picture taken he found himself looking down at Elizabeth Bennet.
Anne Marie looked up and said, "Mommy."
She seemed as surprised as Darcy did and looked up at him and said, "Mr. Darcy."
"Miss Bennet." He said before he looked down to see the toddler that Elizabeth Bennet was pushing in an identical dolphin.
Elizabeth saw him staring down at David and said, "This is my nephew David Bennet. He's my sister Lydia's son."
Anne Marie had managed to extricate herself from the dolphin and threw herself on Elizabeth's feet and was singing over and over, "Mommy… Mommy… Mommy."
"Oh." Darcy blinked quickly before he added as he reached down to pull Anne Marie off Elizabeth's feet, "This is my daughter, Anne Marie." He sat down on his knees and looked her in the eyes, "Annie, sweetie this is not your mommy. This is Miss Elizabeth Bennet."
"She's my Mommy." Anne Marie pouted and when she saw Elizabeth looking down at her, she raised her arms in the motion known the world over as wanting to be picked up.
Elizabeth bent down and scooped her up off her feet, "It's nice to meet you Miss Anne Marie, I'm Elizabeth and this is David." Her nephew David by way of introduction stuffed his fist in his mouth.
"You look very similar to Sarah, my late wife." Darcy explained his daughters behavior, "Anne Marie never knew her and has only seen pictures."
"I understand." Elizabeth said as she smiled at the little girl, "How old is she?"
"Five." Darcy answered automatically, "We were just going to have our pictures taken with the killer whale."
"We were too." She pointed down at her nephew, "He's only one so he has a lot of growing up to do before he is as old as you are." She said to Anne Marie and she smiled.
Darcy reached out for her, "We're going to take our picture now."
"I want to take a picture with Mommy." Anne Marie would not waver in her conviction and she sounded very demanding just like her father.
Elizabeth just smiled and said, "Why don't we just take a picture together." She suggested, "Does that sound good to you?"
"Okay." The girl said, "We have a deal."
Elizabeth started to laugh and repeated, "'We have a deal.' There's no doubt who's daughter she is."
Bill smiled, "She hears me on the phone a lot."
When they attempted to pose for the picture, it was made very clear that Anne Marie wanted Elizabeth to hold her so Elizabeth asked, "Would you be comfortable holding David?"
"No problem." He said as he smiled and picked up the young boy.
"My sister Lydia is only 16 and she does not like being saddled with a child so I offered to watch him today." Elizabeth explained as they sat for the picture.
When they tried to separate after the photo, Anne Marie was having none of it and insisted on being carried or pushed by 'Mommy'.
"I'm sorry." Darcy said, "Do you mind spending the day with us."
"I think we can manage." Elizabeth agreed, "If you watch David while I've got the young miss here."
"My pleasure." Bill said and he found that he actually meant it. He loved his daughter very much but with David he found the pleasure that it would be to have a son.
As they spent the day together both children loved the animal shows and it was late in the day when David fell asleep in his stroller first. Anne Marie tried to fight the tired but it soon caught up with her too.
When they got ready to switch children and go to their own cars, the children were both asleep and Bill found that he had really enjoyed the day as a family. Everyone had noticed the similarity between Anne Marie and Elizabeth and assumed that they were a genuine family. He enjoyed every moment of the day and reveled in the satisfaction of watching Elizabeth with his daughter.
His dreams that night were filled with Elizabeth as his wife and mother to Anne Marie and the family they could have together.
