A/N: As always, my warmest thanks to Jan and Barbara for straightening out my many mistakes and screw-ups in this chapter. Any screw-ups that remain are the result of my resisting their good advice.

Chapter 10

January 2007

In late January, Jane called Lizzy to give her some great news. She and Charlie were engaged! He had asked her to marry him while they had been at the top of the Empire State Building! It had been just like "An Affair to Remember," except that nobody had gotten hit by a car! He was so romantic! She was ecstatic! They were going to have an engagement party. Will was going to throw the party for them at his place, because it would be tacky for them to host their own engagement party, even though they wanted to share their joy with THE WHOLE WORLD! Lizzy had never heard Jane sound so happy. Hearing this, and hearing Will's name, and thinking about going back to his apartment for the first time since the breakup, just made her feel even more morose. But she knew that was selfish, and also unkind to Jane.

So instead of whining or crying, she bucked up and said, truthfully, "Oh, Janey. I am so happy for you and Charlie. What can I do to help?"

"Not much, I think. Will is having his social coordinator take care of most of it."

"Right...So, Will. I haven't seen him in a long time. How has he been?" Lizzy asked. She had never told Jane about her involvement with him, and she didn't think this was the right time to bring it up. But she really wanted to know.

"Oh...He seems to have been having a really hard time of it, I think. Maybe a woman? You know, he plays his cards really close to the vest. Charlie and I have barely been able to get him to go out at all since...hmmm...Thanksgiving, maybe? Maybe even longer ago than that."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Well, that's why it's so great that he's hosting the party for us. Hopefully it will do him some good, get him circulating again," said Jane sweetly.

Lizzy knew that was probably true, but boy did she wish she didn't have to see it.

A month later, on a Friday night, there she was at the party. Jane had found her a beautiful dress and dolled her up, so she knew she probably looked great. But she didn't feel great, not walking back into Will's building again. She said hello to the doorman, an elderly Dominican named David, and he said, "Nice to see you again, Lizzy," as she and Jane headed toward the ornate brass elevator doors. Jane gave her a funny look, but was apparently too excited and preoccupied to ask what that was all about.

The higher they rose, the sicker she felt. By the time they got to the eleventh floor, she was ready to throw up into her little clutch. Will met her and Jane at the door, taking their coats and looking so handsome in that way that tall, rangy guys in designer suits do. He gave Jane a kiss on the cheek, and told her how beautiful she looked, and she tripped off to go find Charlie, while Lizzy looked on, now feeling as if she might burst into tears.

Will turned to her, and not really knowing what else to do, she took a big breath, smiled a big fake, bright smile, and stepped forward to do the European kiss-kiss-kiss routine.

"Hi Will. How have you been?"

She thought maybe he looked a bit tired around the eyes, but he said, "Oh, pretty well. How about you? It's been a long time."

Really, she couldn't stand it. She wanted to grab him and shake him and yell at him for not wanting her, but also to tell him how much she missed him, and to beg him to give her another chance, even though quite honestly she couldn't imagine how they could possibly work things out between them.

So instead, she gave him a more genuine smile, and said, "I'm doing all right, just working all the time as usual. Anyway, thanks for hosting the party. It really means a lot to Jane and Charlie that you wanted to do it."

"Well, it's the least I could do. I've got the space, anyway," he said, leading the way into the living room before heading off to put the coats away. Lizzy was shocked to see that some double doors she'd never paid any attention to before led into a second, very large, and even more formal space with gilt mirrors and all sorts of art nouveau decorations, now set up specially for the party and full of bustling catering staff. How could she have missed this? Apparently the apartment was a lot bigger than she'd realized, in spite of all the time she'd spent there. She wondered what else about him she had simply failed to notice back then.

Before long, Lillian, Tom, and Lydia arrived, along with Maddie and Ed, Sadie and Hannah. They were all staying at a hotel not far away. Ed and Maddie were every inch the stylish urban couple, and Sadie and Hannah looked adorable. Lydia was, naturally, dressed in black and was sulking. Tom, on the other hand, seemed hardly to have dressed up at all, except that he was wearing a tie along with his usual tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. And Lillian was a big shiny column, her stocky body sheathed in champagne silk shantung and various dangly, glittery baubles clanking around on her arms and neck. One of them was her little video camera.

Mary had canceled at the last minute because she'd had another fight with Tom while they were discussing travel arrangements. He had said something snide about how ironic it was that Mary was going to take Amtrak from Rochester, when one of the main plot points in Atlas Shruggedwas that the U.S. railroad system would grind to a halt due to socialism, mediocrity, and incompetence. Mary had hung up on him and emailed her insincere apologies to Jane. Jane hadn't taken it personally. Mary and Tom had been doing this particular dance for years.

After the family had all been introduced to Will, and met or said hello to Charlie, whom Lillian and Tom had met at Jane's graduation, Lillian wandered away a little and started exclaiming about the apartment and how magnifique it was. Grabbing a glass of red wine, she flipped up her camera and started filming.

As soon as Lizzy saw it, she walked straight over to her and put her hand over the lens. In a low, furious voice, she said, "Mom, no. You will put that goddamn thing away, and you will not take it out again all night. You will not make Janey's engagement party part of your circus."

Ed agreed and hustled Lillian off to the coatroom so she could put the camera away.

Tom said in an ironic tone, "She's having just a little trouble putting that project of hers down at the socially appropriate moment." He didn't look too bothered about it, though.

Lydia turned to Lizzy and seethed, "It's really fucking annoying. I told her if she didn't get that fucking camera out of my face I'd fucking break it." She crossed her arms and turned away from the rest of the group. Jane made soothing noises, and Maddie tried to smooth things over by asking Will about the history of his building.

Throughout this display, Will had stood stock still and silent, observing, looking increasingly like a cat freaked out by a vacuum cleaner: eyes wide, whiskers at attention, ears back. At least he didn't arch his back and hiss, or run and hide under the table, thought Lizzy. Really, it was too much. She knew that now he could see extra-clearly why she could never be the kind of wife he needed, coming from a family like that. Hopeless.

However, much to Lizzy's surprise, Will quickly pulled himself out of freaked-out mode and answered Maddie's questions with great cordiality.

"It was built in 1916. It was one of the first apartment buildings in the area, stuck in here among all the mansions along Fifth Avenue."

"If you don't mind my asking, has the apartment been in your family for a long time?"

"Not at all. Not too long-my grandmother bought it in the 1960s after she was widowed." Lizzy hadn't known any of this. Why hadn't she asked? Will continued talking about the apartment for a little while, and then he asked Maddie about the girls and about her work. He seemed genuinely interested in her family counseling practice and asked smart, informed questions- probably, she realized, because of the time he'd spent trying to work things out with Georgie.

Eventually Lillian, looking chastened, came back in with Ed and they all made polite conversation until the rest of the guests arrived. Maddie and Ed took on the job of keeping Lillian somewhat contained. Before too long, Tom and Lydia wandered off to look for a room with a TV, where he watched old movies and she texted her friends. Shortly afterward, the guests began to trickle in, an interesting mixture made up on the one hand of Jane's counter-cultural grad school and college friends, and on the other of Charlie's straight-arrow business school classmates and advertising co-workers

Nearly an hour late, Caroline, Louisa and Gil finally came blowing in. Caroline was complaining loudly about taxi drivers and immigrants and movie crews and various other things. After the newcomers had been introduced to the members of the Bennet family who hadn't gone into hiding, Lizzy noticed Charlie, who was standing on Jane's other side, giving Louisa a Very Significant Look.

When Caroline turned to Will and opened her mouth to say something, Louisa took her by the arm and said, "Look, Caroline, I see Mitzy Goodbody over there! Let's go say hi," and dragged her off. Gil followed behind, nipping at Caroline's heels and herding her back in the right direction when she seemed about to escape. This was interesting.

"Charlie?" she asked, peering around Jane to look at him questioningly.

He glanced at Will and said, "Um, I promised Will I'd do what I could."

And indeed for the rest of the evening, Louisa and Gil kept Caroline penned in the corner. Lizzy hoped they would at least let her go to the bathroom if the need arose.

Lizzy watched Will move around the party, sometimes standing near Charlie and Jane, and other times off acting as host and checking in with his guests as they came in. He talked more with Maddie and Ed and the girls, although she noticed not so much with Lillian. He also seemed reluctant to talk to her. And no wonder, she thought, after the things she'd said to him.

Women came up to him alone, making eyes at him and looking for excuses to touch his arm or shoulder. Every single one of them. And every single one of them got the same treatment: he slowly and unobtrusively guided them over to someone else, usually a single man. He stood there for a brief moment, and then walked away. Once she even got close enough to hear him say, "Marie, have you met my friend Sean? He's a co-worker of Charlie's at ABG." And then he casually wandered off toward the bar, again, although she noticed he was drinking ginger ale. She could see he was an expert at this, and she realized that this was a big part of his life, both at work and probably with his family. Much more significant, probably, than the other little bits of his life that he'd shared with her.

Once, he finally did come stand next to her, and they stood silently together for a moment before he said, "So, Lizzy, how are you? Are you doing well?" Of course they'd already covered this territory, but she didn't know what else to say, either.

"Yeah, I'm doing well. Of course work has been really busy. Major trainwreck of a case around Christmas, a bunch of unexpected motions as usual-the Iron Law of Litigation. How about you?"

"Yeah, me, too. It's been really busy."

They stood in silence for a while longer. This is what we've become, she thought. At one time we could have talked for hours, but look at us now. What is there to say? She thought her heart would break.

Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore. After first checking to be sure that there was nobody nearby to overhear, she quietly inquired, "How's your sister?" She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, but she wanted very much to know.

"Not too well, I'm afraid. She called me again last week, same old story."

"Oh, Will. I'm so sorry," she said, putting her hand on his sleeve.

He smiled a little sadly. "Yeah, it's tough. How's your sister? Is this the one you mentioned, the one who was having a hard time?"

"Yeah, she's the one. Not doing great. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised she agreed to come at all, considering how much she's been acting out lately." She shifted from side to side, a little uncomfortable at talking with him about this kind of personal stuff, even though she'd brought it up.

"Teenagers are difficult," he said, knowingly. "Hang in there."

"I'll be OK. It's my parents I worry about. Something's got to give in that house, and unfortunately I don't see them changing their ways any time soon. Hopefully they can keep it together until she graduates this spring..."

"Yeah. I hope so, too, for all your sakes."

Some more guests came in. "Sorry, I have to go say hello," he said regretfully, although she couldn't really imagine why after their maudlin, awkward conversation.

After a few minutes, she pulled herself together enough to talk to some of the other guests. At one point she drifted into a group of women her age and a little older. They were professional women, talking about their jobs, and in particular how things were for women at their firms, which all seemed to be in business of one kind or another.

"There's just this locker-room atmosphere that drives me crazy. All these different ways of letting you know that you don't belong." So said a round, matronly white woman in her 40s.

"Right, it's not like there are posters of naked women up in the break room or anything. More like little comments about how women aren't serious about their careers, especially if they have children. That spells the end of your career at my firm. No woman with children has ever made partner." A small African-American woman with fabulous, spiky, natural hair, shook her head as she said this.

A tall Hispanic woman said, "The sad thing is that it doesn't have to be like that. You know, I'm working at WPD, and Will has really led from the top that way. Zero tolerance for sexist crap."

Naturally this got Lizzy's attention. "Really? What kind of stuff is going on there?"

"Forty percent of the associates are women, which is unusual in our sector. And over a third of upper management is women, too, if you can believe it. Less emphasis on hours put in and more on actually accomplishing things and delivering the goods. A real maternity leave policy, not the kind where you phone into work from your hospital bed. There's a short-term part-time track where you can cut down on your hours while your kids are young and then ramp back up without losing seniority."

The women all oohed and aahed.

"How long has all of this been going on?" asked Lizzy.

The tall woman said, "Some of it for a long time, but they're also starting some kind of new initiative this year, connected to WPD's restructuring." What was that? Lizzy wondered, but before she could ask, one of the other women, a pale redhead with long curls down her back, jumped in.

"That's really interesting, especially in a firm like WPD. Do you know how it all got started?"

"Well, I wasn't there myself, but I heard that right after Will took over the firm, there were a whole bunch of women associates who decided to quit, including one of the top performers in the firm. He knew the firm couldn't afford to lose them, so he took aside that one woman and asked her what he needed to do to keep her. She really had guts. She read him the riot act, and told him that it wasn't only more money, or more perks, that would make the difference for her or any of the other women, but better work policies and other things that would let them lead the same kind of full lives as the men. So he hired a great new head of HR-"

The other women murmured in disbelief at the idea that there could such a thing as a great head of Human Resources.

"I know, I know, but he did, and they did this whole 'Great Place for Women to Work' initiative. It's amazing, and it's made a huge difference for the women in the firm."

Then conversation turned to how poorly everyone else's companies were supporting them as they'd begun to have children, and Lizzy drifted away.

How could this be? Could she have so thoroughly misunderstood him? Although it was clear his motive in making these policies was primarily about keeping his most talented employees, he'd never said he objected to women working, in general. He'd only said he objected to his own wife working. Hopeless, really.

But what was this about WPD's restructuring? What did that mean? She needed to find out. She knew she shouldn't do it, but for just a minute she sneaked out of the party and into the spare room where the coats were being kept on several big racks. She grabbed her BlackBerry out of her coat pocket. She slipped into the room next door, Will's office, to Google it.

And right there in The Wall Street Journal-how had she missed it?-she saw the article:

January 20, 2007

WPD Capital to Change Directions, Fund Green Startups

New York-WPD Capital CEO William Darcy announced today that WPD would be changing the focus of its activities beginning this quarter. Abandoning the firm's longstanding position as a private equity firm acquiring and restructuring struggling businesses, the firm will transition over the next six months into venture capital, funding high-tech startups with a focus on innovative green technologies. Mr. Darcy said that this change might lead to the loss of a small number of jobs at the firm, but that most associates would remain on staff. When asked what motivated the firm's change in direction, since it reported over $300 million in profits in 2005, Mr. Darcy said simply, "I'm tired of being one of the bad guys."

Industry analysts say that this is a game-changer in the VC sector, and that the amount of capital likely to be infused into the renewable energy sector as a result would help reduce U.S. dependence on carbon-based energy sources.

The restructured WPD Capital has already announced that the first project it will fund is the commercialization of an innovative solar cell technology developed by scientists at Artemis College in Artemis, New York.

Oh, God. He had actually taken the step they'd talked about all those months ago, and totally changed what WPD did. What could it mean, tired of being one of the bad guys? Those were practically her words. Had he taken them to heart that much, even if she might have thought better of them since then? What about this solar cell project? It couldn't be a coincidence that it was going to happen in Artemis.

While she was standing there staring at the screen, she heard a noise and looked up. Will was standing in the doorway.

"There you are. I was looking for you, and I thought you might have sneaked off to check your email," he said. He'd been looking for her? Why?

"Oh! You caught me. You know me, I can't put it down even for an evening." She laughed nervously. He smiled, like he knew that already.

"All right, that's not true," she said. "Actually I heard something at the party about WPD's restructuring and I just had to come and check it out. What's going on? Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, yeah, better than OK. Things are really good at WPD, in fact." He came a little closer. What did that look on his face mean? She couldn't read it, but it was intense, whatever it was.

"That's great. It's such a big change..."

"Well, you know I've been thinking about doing it for a long time."

"Right. Well...um, congratulations. Really, it's fantastic. I hope it works out great for you. And this project in Artemis..."

"Yeah, yeah, it looks like a great technology, lots of potential, and, uh, with the manufacturing base and technical know-how in the area, it seemed like a great match for our new 'Made in the USA' focus." He said this in his Captain of Industry voice.

"Wow, I'm just...amazed doesn't even begin to cover it. Totally blown away."

"Thanks." He paused. "Oh, I came looking for you because it's time for the toasts, and we're on."

"Oh, shit. I'd forgotten all about it." And she was almost disgusted to discover how disappointed she was that that was why he'd been looking for her. What the hell was wrong with her?

"I'm sure you'll think of something great to say," he said, as they headed back to the party.

A few minutes later, everyone gathered in the great room for toasts and well wishes. Lizzy was flushed, embarrassed that she had had to manhandle her mother again to get her to leave the video camera in the coatroom for the toasts. She was sure that everyone must have heard their raised voices. If they had, the hundred or so guests all had the grace to pretend they hadn't.

In his role as host, Will gave a thoughtful, well-rehearsed speech congratulating the pair and mentioning how pleased he was to see Charlie so happy and well-matched. Everyone cheered heartily and drank deeply.

Then it was Lizzy's turn to speak as the presumptive maid of honor. She was used to thinking and talking on her feet, but not, she realized, when she was emotionally twisted up in knots like tonight. She couldn't think of what to say, and this flustered her even more. She cleared her throat and looked around, which didn't help at all. Everywhere she looked were reminders of the parts of Will's life that she didn't know or understand, and of his unavailability. This huge apartment, the beautifully planned party that she could never in a million years have arranged...and even if he had changed how he did business because of something she'd said, this other stuff would never go away. She'd thought she couldn't feel any worse than she had when she'd arrived at the apartment that evening, but she'd been wrong. However, this was not the time for the nervous breakdown she so strongly desired to have.

She had to say something. With her free hand, she smoothed her hair back into its bun, and then wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. "Um...I'm Lizzy, Jane's sister. I...sorry, I'm feeling kind of verklempt this evening." Standing next to her, Jane smiled at her in support and took her hand, and a sympathetic murmur ran through the crowd.

"Ah hmm. For those of you who don't know my sister yet, Jane is the sweetest, kindest, smartest, most beautiful woman in the entire world."

Jane blushed, swatted at her with her free hand, and muttered, "Oh, stop it, Lizzy."

"Really, I mean it. But there aren't many men in the world clever enough, or brave enough, to take on a woman who's the whole package, like Janey is."

Someone in the crowd sang out, "are you strong enough to be my man?," and everyone laughed.

"Enter Charlie. Not only was Charlie smart enough to recognize how wonderful Jane is, he was brave and strong enough to just go for it, take a chance, when everything he'd ever wanted in a woman was right in front of him. And Janey-did I mention yet that she is brave and strong, too?-was brave enough and strong enough to see that he was the one for her, too, and to jump right in.

"Now, I will admit that some of us"-she cleared her throat and pointed with mock secrecy to her chest-"were concerned at first that maybe they were moving too fast." There were some scattered boos and hisses.

She scanned the crowd, and found herself looking straight at Will. Tears pricked her eyes. "But you know what? That's just fear talking. When you know, really know, that this person is the one, the way Janey and Charlie do, there's no room for fear. They're the real thing, and for the real thing, you just have to throw caution to the wind. So I say, here's to Janey and Charlie, throwing caution to the wind!"

"Throwing caution to the wind!" everyone toasted back.

Jane hugged her, and she hugged Charlie, and there were tears all around. Lizzy looked for Will, but guests were crowded around him, shaking his hand and saying thanks for the great party, as it was clear that things were going to break up.

Caroline, Louisa, and Gil were the first to leave, Louisa having pushed Caroline toward the door when she had raised her glass after Lizzy's toast as if she might make her own. The rest of the guests slowly found their way out, leaving just the Bennets, the Gardiners, Charlie and Will. After some searching, Lizzy found Lydia texting in a dark closet in the coatroom when she went in to get everyone's coats. Lydia seemed kind of slow and off-balance, and Lizzy wondered whether she'd somehow managed to get drunk even though she'd been in hiding all evening. She didn't smell like booze, though, so Lizzy let it pass and shooed her out, coat in hand, while Lizzy gathered the rest of the coats. A moment later, Will came in to help her, and together they carried everything into the foyer.

As they were walking, he asked, "I know that your family is staying the night in the city, but does anybody have to leave early in the morning?"

"No, I don't think so. Maddie and Ed and the girls are probably going to sightsee a little bit and hit the road later in the afternoon. Mom and Dad and Lydia are going to take off in the late morning, I think. Mom has some kind of thing tomorrow evening that she has to get back for."

"Well, I know it's kind of late to ask, but since you're all here...do you think you'd all like to have brunch tomorrow? Early-ish, maybe, so everyone can still do all of that? I know a nice place with great French toast, caramelized pecans...?" She could hear the hesitation in his voice.

"Um...that sounds great. Let's ask." Damn, what was wrong with her, looking for some excuse to prolong this agony?

And so it was settled that they would all meet at Maisy's Table, Uptown, at 9:30 the next morning. All the Bennets, the Gardiners and Charlie headed out the door to the elevator, waving and exclaiming, leaving Will in the doorway watching them go, the clanging of the caterers cleaning up behind him.

Author's postscript: Did I remember to mention that this story is a fantasy? If you'd like, please take a moment to tell me what you thought about this version of Pemberley.