CHAPTER 10.

She barely remembered the drive home, or even going into the house, it was about 2am when she became aware of her surroundings and realised she was cold, hungry and sitting on her bed in the pitch dark. She realised that she had fallen for William Darcy, it was infatuation, attraction, lust but she did not know him, his inner workings. Yes, he was rich, and famous and for some woman that is all they needed to know; but she knew herself, especially after George, she was not about to offer her heart on a platter to someone who could just kick her to the curb at the drop of a hat.

She grabbed her phone, opened WhatsApp and check if Wills last online status showed anything. He was on line NOW? it was 2am.

[Hello] she typed, her heart beating so loudly in her chest, she wished she could think of something witty to say.

[Hello, I did not expect to hear from you, at all, let alone past 2am. Is everything okay?]

[No, not really]

Will had been playing the events of that evening through his mind, the picture of George holding Elizabeth so close and intimately physically hurt him, made him feel sick. He wondered if he should go and see a doctor, he could not recall ever feeling this way about another person, not even Georgiana. His phone lit up, it could not be Georgiana, they had said good night ages ago.

Elizabeth! Part of him wanted to just ignore it, but he could not, he decided to just go for open cards.

His heart skipped, she was not okay but she was messaging him, not George, not one of her sisters, him.

[You want to meet at the 24 Hour and grab a coffee? I might not be able to fix anything but I can listen] he was going out on a limb, he really had nothing to lose other than her.

[10 minutes?] she replied

[See you there in 10] He air punched, jumped up, pulled on some sweatpants, a white tee, a fleece, socks and trainers, and his beanie.

He drove up, there she was, standing just inside the 24 Hour, her arms wrapped around herself, her face pale and drawn; but there was a slight expression of hope? Anticipation?…on her face. The black leggings and over sized black sweatshirt seemed to dwarf her small body making her look more vulnerable than ever.

"Hi" he breathed, taking in her beautiful face, she looked tired. "You looked exhausted"

"I think I am; I am running on fumes. I need coffee and something to eat"

"You find a table and I will order, what do you feel like?" Will decided to take charge, just something about the way she looked, so vulnerable, made him think that she needed it right then.

"Latte no sugar and a toasted chicken mayo on white with fries" her face seemed to light up at the thought of food, he chuckled and went to order.

He placed her drink and food in front of her, she seemed to have spaced out and shook her head as he sat down. He was concerned, this was not like Sunday at the barbecue, this was more intense.

They ate in companionable silence, surreptitiously looking at each other, hoping the other would not notice. She packed up their empty cups and packaging and deposited it into the bin, returning to the table.

"I am going to get us each another Latte, and then we can decide if we are going to talk here, in the car, back at Charlies or at your place, or anywhere else you want to go to. My ears are all yours for the next few hours." She smiled, and walked with him to the counter.

As they walked out of the 24 Hour, she said "Can we go somewhere else? Somewhere away from this" sweeping her hands to encompass Merryton.

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

"I will give you directions, it's hard to explain without sounding dodge" she smiled shyly, and slid into the passenger seat in his car.

They had been driving for thirty minutes, not talking, she had been concentrating on the road.

"Turn left here" she said suddenly. They had left the town quite a while back and were literally in the mountains. He turned down a well maintained dirt road, trees on either side of the road. They drove deeper into the forested area.

"Is this the part when I start getting concerned that you might have concealed a large knife or chain saw on your person?" he said to lighten the mood.

"It's a bit late to start worrying about that" she snickered back at him.

The road forked, "Turn right here and park over there on the right" she indicated with her hand, it was so dark he almost missed it.

"Damn, I forgot how dark it can get up here" she cried out, "We are going to have to be careful"

"Bears?" he asked, smiling in the dark.

"Tree roots" she was laughing at him.

They got out the car, he walked around to her side and she slipped her small hand into his, and started walking further into the woods. He wanted to ask if she was sure she knew where she was going but that would have been insulting, so he just held her hand and followed.

"There are stairs here" she suddenly said after they had walked a short while, she climbed up the stairs, her hand still in his, at that point the clouds moved out from in front of the moon and he could see a cabin in front of them. It was quite big, looked like it was made of wood and Elizabeth had obviously been here before.

She felt around the window box, exclaimed "Yippee" softly and then proceeded to unlock and open the door. He was greeted with the smell of old smoky fire, wood and something else, very pleasant.

She let go of his hand and moved deeper into the dark cabin, feeling around. A few minutes later he heard a match strike and she was lit up, as she started lighting lamps around the cabin.

"Get a fire started" she instructed pointing towards the fireplace that had just become visible as she lit the two lamps flanking it. There was a huge pile of wood next to the fire place and the matches were in her outstretch palm. "There is kindling in the grate"

As he got the fire started, she came out of a doorway carrying a kettle which she hung on a hook above the fire, and she pulled the fire guard in front of the blaze. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the big soft couch in front of the fire.

They sat next to each other, centimeters between them, in companionable silence. Neither one feeling any pressure to speak or break the silence until the kettle started to boil, and the water splashing out made the fire hiss. He got up and took the now scolding hot kettle off the fire, making use of the rather large oven mitts he found on the floor next to the fire place, and placed it a heat proof mat on the table behind the couch. Whilst Lizzy disappear back into the same dark room as before, reappearing with cups, and some containers.

"There is no fresh milk so we will have to do with UHT milk" she announced

"I am fine with that" Will smiled at her "What are we having tea or coffee?"

"Hot Chocolate" she replied, sounding joyful and happy.

He watched as she prepared their drinks, gratefully taking his as she handed it to him and they returned to the couch. Drinking their hot chocolate and staring into the fire.

She placed her empty cup on the floor "Thank you for being there for me Will"

"Always, and it's a pleasure Lizzy" he picked up her cup and place it on the table, along with his own.

She turned to face him, her legs curled up under her, at some stage she had removed her trainers and only had socks on her feet. Her eyes seemed to search his face for something, he was not too sure if he should say something, but his instinct was to just wait for her.

"I was not sure if you would respond to me when I messaged you earlier" her voice was low and filled with emotion, the shadows from the fire making it hard for him to make out her expression.

"You looked so angry when you saw me with George at the Grinder, I was not sure what to think. And then after I heard what George had to say about you, I was even less sure of what to think. I totally zoned out when I got home, just mulling over what he said and what I knew about you, which in all honesty is not much at all. When I saw you on line I decided that the only way to get answers was to talk to you directly, so I was relieved when you agreed to meet"

She looked directly at him, her anxiety very obvious in her expression. He just nodded, encouraging her to carry on.

"He told me that his father and yours were best friends, your father was his godfather and when his parents died he stayed with your family. He spent a lot of time with your father because you were too busy studying to spend any time with your family. After your mother died he took over raising your sister, when your dad died you sent her away to boarding school, evicted him from your home; and counter to your father's wishes withdrew all financial aid for his studying further, all because of your jealousy. "She watched his face turn to stone, even worse than at the event. His jaw clenched but he did not say anything. His eyes watched her face, the only thing not hard, they were soft, and hurt, very hurt.

"He said that when your sister was diagnosed he was there to support her, he was fund raising for cancer research, but you had him thrown out of the hospital and had a restraining order taken out against him, you accused him raising money on false pretenses, that he had to leave her because she was so stressed out" She did not think the hurt in his eyes could get worse but it did, and it looked as if he was going to cry; her heart felt as if it was in a vice, but she had to go on.

"He said that you do not know how to love, you only date girls until they sleep with you and then you move on." Her voice had gotten quieter and quieter as she told the last part of Georges story. Her eyes and head had dropped to look at her la,she was wringing her hands, dreading his reaction.

"Lizzy, I am going to ask you to trust me, and in return I am going to trust you" His voice was low, and serious, His eyes searched her face this time.

"Of course Will, I would not intentionally betray you"

"The first part of what he said is true" he started, pausing as he heard her drawing her breath in. "but he is wrong about my studying, my father did not want me to be distracted, he pushed me to study hard, it was his biggest dream to see me become a doctor, but he was also very possessive about us spending time as a family, and this excluded George; on the nights George was out doing other things my family would gather for supper and just catch up, even tiny Georgiana; this happened at least once a week, and my father insisted they continued after mom died, I would have lost my mind if it were not for those nights. Every night after everyone else had gone to sleep he would come to my room and we would talk about our day, about my studies, his dreams for me, and George, my father found him amusing, so different to Mr Wickham senior, but he was not blinded to some of Georges less desirable behaviours, the drinking, drugs, gambling and women. My father tried to steer him right but whiling showing my father the good son routine, he was still carrying on the same behind his back, and my father was very aware of this.

After bailing George out of jail for the third time for possession, my father gave him a choice – clean up his act and my father would support him in any career he wanted, or carry on his path of destruction and my father would withdraw all support. George promised to change and do the right thing, and for a while he seemed to turn his life around.

My mother never wanted George around Georgiana, she never said why but she was never comfortable with him staying with us, but after she died George seemed to really try hard to make friends with Georgiana, playing dolls with her, reading to her, watching endless Barbie movies, my father was grateful, he did not know how to cope with my mom's death, me and my sister.

Then my father had his heart attack, George and I were with him when it happened, we were about to go to a business dinner when he got a phone call, during the phone call he looked up at George, for the rest of the phone call he kept his eyes on George, he ended the call and started to speak to George, he told him that he would not be taken for a fool, there would be no second chances this time around, he would not bail him out of jail or sponsor his lifestyle anymore. I have never seen my father that angry before, and then the heart attack started. I tried to save him, I did CPR right up until the paramedics took over, I used every bit of medical knowledge I had but it was not enough, he died right there in front of us. The next day George started to taunt me about all my studies amounting to nothing, I could not even save my own father, he just went on and on and on.

Two days later, I came home early from university and I found George taking photos of my sister in provocative poses, the kind you would see in an adult porn magazine, all she had on was a small pair of knickers, she was 10 years old and so innocent. I threw him out of the house immediately. In accordance with my father's wishes, I transferred $500 000,00 into his account and ended the relationship there and then. It would cover his veterinary studies and accommodation." Will was crying at this stage, and so was Lizzy, she had reached out to hold his hands and their tears were falling onto their joined hands. "Georgiana does not remember any of that, she blacked it out and I did not have the heart to tell her, and that was my biggest mistake. I let her down."

"I thought that was the last of it, I finished my medical degree and qualified but my heart was not in it. I had the family business to fall back on, and stepped up into my father's shoes. But then Georgiana was diagnosed with leukemia, and somehow he found out, we tried really hard to keep it out of the press, we actually created false news that she was undergoing plastic surgery which is apparently the thing in our circle of acquaintances. I was contacted by one of our clients who had been approached by a James Wickman, who claimed to work for the fund raising arm of Pemberley Corp, my company, looking for sponsorship towards cancer research in the name of Georgiana Darcy; it did not take long for me to figure out it was George. I spoke to Georgiana who told me that he had started visiting her, because I chose to not tell her what he did before she had no reason to not trust him. So she accepted him as a friend. He turned on the charm and tried to make her fall in love with him, luckily she was so wiped out from the treatment that she did not have the energy to engage emotionally. He also kept trying to derail her treatment, hoping from one miracle cure to another, telling her how the doctors treatment was poison. He convinced her that he wanted to raise funds towards research, and got her sign documents giving him authority to raise funds on her behalf. He also managed to get our clients list, I only figured out afterwards that he had seduced one of our secretaries, Jenny Young, and convinced her to give him a client list. She died from an overdose two weeks before he reappeared in Georgiana life. I had to contact all of our clients to find out who he had approached, and how much they had donated, I reported him to the authorities who took the investigation further, and based on that I got the restraining order. Georgiana was so stress out and distressed about the whole thing her treatment took a great set back and we had to basically start all over again, even now she is still physically weakened, and emotionally so wary of people. She does not want me telling people about her illness, or what he did to her as child or adult."

Lizzy was sobbing, her whole body was wracked by the sobs, she could not imagine anyone going through what Will and his sister had been through, at the hands of just one person. She felt his arms go around her, he lifted her up onto his lap and cradled her there, rocking and soothing her, little kisses on the top of her head. She got quieter and calmer, they sat there, him just holding her.

"Tell me about you and George" he asked, gently, hoping she would trust him enough to share her heart.