Chapter 10

No, honey, I won't tell the whole story from yesterday again! I know you fell asleep but it wasn't anything I would want to say more than one times. Basically, I was stupid enough to nearly believe a complete stranger when he told me Will had accidentally killed a patient and blamed it on said stranger. Even more, I yelled at him and hardly gave him a chance to explain. I didn't stop Will and he left, hurt and probably angry. But believe me I was determined to explain everything to him, and what was more important, to apologize.

I didn't want so send him a dull message how sorry I was and ask him to come – I needed to talk to him and certainly I had no right to ask him to come, after I hurt him so much.

On the other hand, what he did to Jane and Charlie was unforgettable and I thought for a second that it was him who should apologize.

Definitely, we had to talk!

I didn't sleep that night and in the morning, I went to the library unusually early. I had to busy myself and it certainly happened. Before I knew it, it was four in the afternoon and I had no idea what to do next about Will. Maybe Georgie could help, I thought…

When I came to her room, she wasn't there, and one of the nurses told me she was in the playroom. She sat by the piano, her eyes shut, and her fingers were flying over the keys. I watched her until she finished, and then I moved towards her.

"Lizzie!" she cried out and rode the chair to me.

So Will hasn't told her…

"Hi, Georgie!" I hugged her. "How have you been?"

"Oh, pretty much still the same, though they let me walk in the swimming pool today…"

I must've misunderstood.

"Walk?!"

She smiled mischievously, her eyes sparkling.

"Well, yes," she started slowly and then exclaimed: "Lizzie, I will walk!"

"Oh my darling friend, I'm so happy for you!" I hugged her and held her tight. "Have you told Will?"

"No, I haven't talked with him yet. But he's coming in an hour or so."

I paled. "Is he?"

When Georgie saw the change in my behavior, she started to ask what was wrong, whether Will hurt me and whether we had an argument.

"We had a rough debate – which is all I am going to tell you." She looked slightly disappointed but apparently respected it and changed the topic.

"I play a new sonata, pretty difficult one. No one heard me play it. Would you do me the honor and let me play it for you?"

I felt flattered, and nodded.

"But Georgie, I'd wish Jane heard you play, couldn't we wait until I come the next time and bring her with me?"

Her face fell and she was thinking,

"Do you think, Lizzie, that your sister would mind listening to it from a record? I mean, we could record it and you'd play it for her. I'm so excited about you feeling this sonata!"

That I could not decline, not after she was looking at me with those pleading eyes, so similar to her brother's.

"But I don't have anything to record it on…"

She smiled because she must've been expecting this to arise.

"I have an iPod, we'll record it and than you'll either let Jane listen to it or you're download it to your laptop. What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know how it works… I have never needed an iPod…"

She shook her head, already on the way for the iPod.

"Look, here you'll push this button and after I finish, you push it again and it'll stop recording. Clear?"

God, the girl enjoyed explaining things so much that I had the feeling she would be a good teacher.

I nodded, she drove to the piano and began playing. I enjoyed the piano vibrating against my palms even more than I did the first time. I enjoyed it partly because it was the only way I could imagine what music was like, and partly because she was playing the new difficult piece just for me – and I was the first one to hear it.

When she finished, I hugged her with tears in my eyes.

"Honey, you're the best! I don't know how to explain it but your playing makes me feel happy and "normal", if you know what I mean. Thank you, thank you very much."

After a modest thank you from her, I slipped the iPod into my pocket.

"I'm sure Jane will love it too, I'll let her listen to it as soon as I come home and I'll text you how she liked it, ok?"

Then I looked at the clock, it was something after six and I had to go cook diner for Jane – I suspected she was in no mood to cook and I doubted she'd eaten anything since the day before.

Georgie looked disappointed.

"Okay, I won't try to persuade you to stay here and wait for Will with me."

I jumped at the mention of her brother, and Georgie noticed.

"But promise me," she added, "That you'll talk to him. He loves you."

Yet he never told me, I thought.

"I love him too, I love him too," I muttered more to myself than to her, and I decided I'd tell Will when I see him. Why hadn't I told him already, anyway?

I hugged her and left. When I stood in front of the hospital, a familiar figure approached me.

"Hey baby, I thought you weren't coming," Wickham said and tried to kiss me on the cheek.

Neither I thought I was coming – I totally forgot about our "date".

"George, I'm not going anywhere with you."

He just smiled.

"Why, babe, you don't like me?" God, the guy was self-confident – the way he said it!

"You lied to me," I answered calmly.

"About what, beauty?" He threw his arm around my shoulders which I shrugged off immediately.

"About the Darcy's, for the beginning."

"I have no idea…"

"You have no idea?! What if I know that it was you who killed Mr. Murphy while you were drunk? And that you swore you'd revenge on the Darcy family?"

He swallowed hard and I saw a dangerous spark in his eyes.

"And what if I did? What if I killed the good-for-nothing all times complaining old-timer? And what if I killed the Darcy's? What can you do? I'll never confess – and you're just a stupid deaf, no-one will believe you. So yes, I killed that Murphy guy and I played a bit with the brakes in that bastard Darcy's car. He deserved it and all I can say, I'm sorry the Darcy kids weren't in the car too. I hate them! If I ever saw that bastard Will, I'd…"

In that instant someone grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back – and a second later Wickham was on the ground, holding his bleeding nose.

Will stood above him and said something I didn't catch. Then he grasped my hand and led me away, until we were outside of the hospital premises.

"Elizabeth…" Will started and looked at me with concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay? Didn't he… What did he…"

I hugged him and mumbled that I was okay, and I held him. Then we sat on a bench and he started talking – and he talked so fast I barely knew what he was talking about.

He said that Wickham didn't go to jail because there wasn't enough evidence and he wouldn't confess. He also said how he tried everything to get Wickham behind the bars but nothing had worked.

Then he looked at me and continued on a different topic.

"Darling, I talked to Jane…"

I straightened but he didn't notice.

"I talked to her about the phone call she had few days back, the one about the date…"

Then he noticed I was scowling and his face dropped even more than it'd been before.

"I was an ass and I told her I was sorry."

I didn't understand – he was an ass and that's why he apologized?

"Hold on, Will, I have no idea…"

"She was talking to some guy from school, he follows her around and keeps telling her to go to a date with her. And she answered him in irony that she'd go… I though… I didn't think… Well…"

I still didn't get it.

"I left before she finished the conversation with him – but she told him he was crazy to think she'd date him and sent him to you know where."

Jane? I was stunned. Calm, always nice Jane?

"I didn't notice the irony in her voice when she said she would date him… I wasn't thinking, I was being stupid and I can't say how sorry I am and…"

I kissed him because I didn't know of any other way to silence him. He was shocked at first but then he hugged me. After a moment he held me on the arm's length and awkwardly crossed his palms over his heart…

I stared… Had he just…? Oh my god!

"Will, do you know what you've just signed?" I asked, not believing my eyes.

He smiled boyishly and looking me in the eye, he said:

"I hope I just signed that I love you."

My hand flew to my mouth because I cried out something incomprehensible. He was looking at me, staring at me, waiting with uncertainty in his eyes.

"Oh my god, Will, I love you too! I love you so much!" I hugged him and held him tight, enjoying the feeling I can't describe, darling.

Suddenly Will made me look at him and confusedly said:

"Darling, your pocket is beeping…"

"I have nothing in my…" And with that I fished Georgie's iPod.

"An iPod? It says its batteries are low," said Will incredulously.

"Yes, it's Georgie's. We were recording her playing piano and I must've forgotten to turn it off after we finished."

Will looked at me as if I just discovered seventh continent. Then he asked me slowly:

"So it has been recording the whole time?"

"Yes…" I replied, not knowing what was so shocking about it.

"So it was recording through your conversation with Wickham?!"

And then the realization dawned on me – I recorded Wickham's confession on Georgie's iPod!

Oh, honey, my phone's vibrating. I have to go, sleep now, I'll tell you the rest tomorrow. Night!

So, my dear readers – I came up with a way to get Wickham where he should be, into the prison. I doubt a confession recorded on an iPod would be enough to get him there but let's think it would, okay?

I apologize for slower updates, we've had busy week at our voluntary center – we really are striving to get that grant Lizzie talked about in the first few chapters. Also be warned that I'm leaving for the weekend and I'll be back on Monday evening. Sorry for the delays, and enjoy the summer days!

Reviews keep me going, don't forget about it.