Thanks to all my lovely reviewers for their kind words, compliments, encouragement, and for sending me reminders to update my story :P
Chapter 20
Charles was just congratulating Will on his marriage when they heard Elle's screech.
Will turned to Charles and asked, "You're engaged?"
Charles nodded proudly in response as he smiled in Jane's direction. The girls were absolutely oblivious to the attention they were getting from the men.
"He proposed right before we left London," Jane gushed.
"Oh Jane, I'm so happy for you," Elle said as the sisters embraced again.
"Do I get a hug?" Charlie interrupted. "You're making me feel a little left out with all the hugging going on over here."
The sisters laughed as they broke apart. Charlie embraced Elle as she said, "Congratulations!"
"Congratulations to you too! How is it that I didn't notice you'd stolen my best friend's heart?" Charlie asked.
"Because you're a little dense," Chris supplied from behind, "I knew it all along."
"Yeah right!" Charlie threw over his shoulder, "I knew Darce was acting a little weird . . . or a little weirder than usual," he said as he grinned at Will. "But I never expected this. Imagine my surprise when I realized he hadn't been driving up every weekend to see me."
"Cut the melodramatics, Charles. You were too preoccupied with someone else to even notice if I was around or not," Will told him.
"Still," Charlie said with a shrug, "It felt good that my best friend couldn't live one weekend without seeing me. Now imagine the hurt and pain I had to endure when I realized his sudden attentiveness had nothing to do with his love for me."
"Sorry Charlie," Elle said as she playfully patted his shoulder, pretending to comfort him as he bowed his head in mock grief.
He then raised his head and smiled, "Now we know what really happened every time you two got lost in all those bookstores. Good thing we never brought any of your little sisters with us. Who knows what they would've seen."
Chris interrupted the playful moment when he pushed Charlie aside. "Hey, Cuz," he said as he wrapped Elle in a tight embrace, "Welcome to the family."
"Thanks," she said as she pulled back.
"Not that I ever had any doubts, of course," Chris continued.
"Doubts about what?" she asked.
"That you'd become part of the family . . . one way or another," Chris said as he turned to give Will a devilish grin.
"Huh?" she asked in confusion.
"If Darcy wouldn't have married you, I would have," Chris stated with a wink at Will.
Will rolled his eyes. Chris loved to goad him.
"See, my dear, it was simply your destiny to become part of the Fitzwilliam clan," Chris continued as he slung his arm around her shoulder and guided her to the table.
"If that's the case, someone forgot to tell your aunt," Elle replied.
"Nah, forget about her. After a couple of months of being ignored, she'll come around. She can only get so much satisfaction from torturing Colin. She lives to tell her family how to live their lives," he explained.
"Well, in that case, I hope she stays mad at me forever," Elle declared.
"How did your folks take the news?" Will asked.
"Well, at first they were shocked. They couldn't believe their levelheaded nephew would do something like that. Then, when they spoke with Aunt Catherine, they were worried. They wondered what part of your anatomy you allowed to make your decisions that night. But then I talked to them, and now they can't wait to meet you," he said as he looked at Elle.
"Really? What did you say?" she asked.
"Oh, that you were just the kind of girl they prayed I would bring home one day. But, being the kindhearted guy I am, I felt I had to step aside and let poor, lonely, old Will here, have you for himself. It took him forever to find the girl of his dreams. Do you know it's been ages since he's even looked at a woman for longer than 10 seconds without finding something wrong with her? They were always too young, too orange, too much Botox, too many DUI's, friends with Tara Reid . . . the excuses were endless," Chris said with a sigh.
"Excuse me for having taste. Unlike you, I'm not interested in catching an STD from the latest celebutante of the month," Will stated.
"Ouch! You wound me. And it wasn't an STD, just a little rash," Chris clarified.
"Eww! Gross!" Elle exclaimed as she shrugged off Chris' arm.
"We're kidding," Chris told her. "I can't stand Caroline's friends."
"They're not really her friends," Charlie piped in.
"More like her idols," Chris whispered in Elle's ear as they all sat down at their table.
As soon as they did, a waitress approached and asked, "Can I get any of you something to drink?"
"No alcohol," Elle stated as she glared at Chris.
"Oh, believe me, I know. I won't attempt to get you drunk again. Well, not until Georgie's ready to become an aunt," Chris said with a devilish grin.
"Then, by all means, get her drunk," Will piped in. "Georgie's definitely ready to become an aunt."
"Darcy," Elle warned.
"Just kidding," he said as he put his hands up in surrender.
"What are you talking about?" Jane asked in confusion.
"We're talking about the night Elle and Will got married," Chris informed her.
"What? You were drunk? But Elle, you never drink," Jane exclaimed.
"Oh, I took care of that," Chris said proudly.
Jane waited for the waitress to take their orders and leave before asking, "You were really drunk when you got married?"
"I wouldn't say we were drunk during the ceremony. Just a little . . . tipsy. It was definitely the bottle of champagne we had afterwards that was the final nail in our coffin," Will clarified.
Elle put her head down in shame. She hadn't expected her sister to learn that little detail.
"They had the worst hangover the next day. It was hilarious! It took all my will power not to bust up laughing every time I looked at them," Chris said through his laughter.
"I know. It took all my will power not to smack the stupid grin off your face, considering you're the one who got me drunk," Elle recalled.
Charles and Jane were completely stunned. It was totally out of character for Will and Elle to go out and get drunk. But this new bit of information did explain why they had acted so impulsively that night.
"What were you drinking?" Jane wondered.
"I know the green one was an apple martini. What were the red and blue ones you gave me?" Elle asked Chris.
"Oh, that explains it," Jane commented.
"Explains what?" Chris asked.
"Explains how you got her drunk. She always gets distracted by bright colors," Jane explained.
"I do not," Elle protested.
"How many times did we lose you in the art museum?" Jane reminded her.
"So I like art," Elle shrugged.
"Darce, what's your excuse?" Charlie asked.
"Excuse for what?" Will replied.
"For getting drunk? The last time I saw you even close to getting drunk had to have been a couple months before college graduation," Charlie recalled.
"Oh," Will shrugged and smiled sheepishly as he stared at the tablecloth, "I was trying to work up the nerve to tell Elle I loved her."
"Aaaahhhh," Chris sighed playfully, though he had already known the answer.
Will's honest response squashed any doubts Jane had about their union. Though she was not happy that her little sister had gotten married while intoxicated, Will's shy and honest reply showed he really did love her.
Charlie was grinning like a fool. He had never seen Will act bashful. Marriage had transformed him. In the past, Will had always seemed determined to find fault in the world, and everyone in it. He noticed Elle and Will would often argue over things they had read in the paper. Elle seemed to be the eternal optimist, while Will was a complete pessimist. He remembered one such argument where Darcy had asked why Elle hadn't enrolled in Berkeley, where she could go hug trees. Somehow his love for Elle had changed his outlook on life. He was now ready to see the good. His love for Elle now gave him hope for a happy future.
"You had really planned to tell me that night?" Elle whispered.
"Yeah, I couldn't go another day without telling you how I felt. It was eating me up inside. I hadn't planned on proposing that night . . . you deserved something special and planned out. I guess I just let my heart take over and said everything that was on my mind," Will finished.
This time it was Jane who sighed. Chris tapped his fork against his water glass and said, "Kiss."
Charlie repeated the gesture as Elle said, "Chris."
"What? That's what people do at receptions," he explained.
She looked at Will, and he shrugged before leaning forward and kissing her. It was a chaste kiss, but it still caused her to blush with embarrassment, as she hid her face in her hands. Charlie and Chris laughed softly in response as Jane smiled.
The waitress returned with their drinks and took their orders. Charlie and Jane wanted to know all the details about their trip, and Chris was more than happy to fill them in. They were almost done with dinner when Charlie said, "Elle, Elle, Elle," in a singsong manner.
"Charlie, Charlie, Charlie," she mimicked with a smile.
"Now that you're living in L.A., you can come and work for me," he proclaimed.
"Ug . . ." she started, before Charlie cut her off.
"Don't even think about refusing. When I offered you a job before, you said if you ever moved to L.A. you would take me up on my offer," he reminded her.
"Charlie, I wasn't serious. I never expected to move down here," she admitted.
"But now you have, so I expect you to keep your word," he stated firmly.
"Charlie, I don't want any favors," she said with a sigh.
"I already offered her a job, and she turned me down," Will interjected.
"I'm not doing you any favors. Remember all those papers you had me proofread? They were incredible. You have a real grasp for understanding literature," Charlie stated.
"I'd like to get a job based on my own merit, not because we're friends," she explained.
"Hun, you're a Darcy now. That's the only merit you need to get a job in this town. Anywhere you apply will hire you based on your last name alone," Chris supplied.
"Then I'll go by Bennet," she stated.
"Doesn't matter, everyone still knows who you are," Chris reasoned.
"Wouldn't you rather work for me, knowing I'm not trying to take advantage of who you are or who you're married to?" Charlie asked.
Elle stopped and looked at everyone's expectant faces.
"Hey, if you really don't want preferential treatment, you should come and work for me. I'll have you get me coffee, wash my car, perform the occasional lap dance . . ." Chris trailed off as Will reached behind Elle's chair to smack him on the shoulder.
"I don't think working for my sister's boy . . . my future brother-in-law . . . hey! I'm going to have a brother! I've never had an older brother before!" Elle exclaimed.
"Now you have two," Chris said with a grin as he motioned toward Charlie and himself. "Want me to sneak you into R rated movies or something?"
"I'm legal, remember?" she reminded him.
"So? Instead of beating up bullies on the playground, I'll beat up photographers who get too close to my little sis," Chris declared.
"She's not your little sis, she's your cousin," Will corrected.
"No, I don't think he's really considered my cousin. I've never heard of a cousin-in-law," Elle mentioned.
"Second cousin?" Will offered.
"No, that's your cousin's children," she corrected.
"Can we please get back to the subject at hand? Working for your brother-in-law has to be better then working for your husband," Charlie declared.
"Thanks," Will said dryly, as he tossed his napkin next to his plate.
"No offense, Darce, but she's most likely to get preferential treatment from her coworkers if she's married to the boss," Charlie reasoned.
"But if I work for you, it's still nepotism," Elle remarked.
"I don't see it that way. I see my company gaining a skilled employee, who just so happens to be my future sister-in-law. By hiring you, I'm at a huge advantage because I know and trust you. With new employees, that has to be built over time, and half of them end up letting you down," Charlie explained.
Elle didn't know what to say to that.
"I know you're planning to go to grad school. Our company will help you pay for it. If an employee goes back to school to study something not in a related field, we pay half of their tuition. If an employee studies something in a related field, that can help them get promoted to something like an editor, for example, the company pays for all of it," Charlie continued.
Elle hadn't thought of that. She no longer had the money to pay for grad school. After what she had done, she didn't expect her father to pay for school like he had offered. And now he was going to need that money to pay for Katie and Lydia's private school. To top it all off, Mary would be starting college in the fall as well.
Elle felt very uncomfortable with the notion of allowing Will to pay for her tuition, and her checking account was now running low. She really had no other choice. Everything they said made perfect sense. She also felt uncomfortable with the idea of staying at home and living off of Will's money.
"What's the job?" she asked, as everyone smiled in response.
Elle and Charlie arranged a time for her come down to the office, so they could discuss the details. The waitress then came back and started to collect their empty plates.
"Okay, the two of you have heard all about our trip. Now I want to hear about yours," Elle told Jane and Charlie.
"It was fabulous," Jane said with a smile.
"It was great. We went sightseeing every day, saw a couple of musicals, we even drove out to the country," Charlie elaborated.
"Wow, how did you ever manage to get any work done?" Elle asked.
"Elle, what are you getting for dessert?" Will interrupted.
She looked at him oddly, before replying, "I'm not getting dessert."
She then turned her attention back to Charlie and Jane, "Did you do all your sightseeing at night and on the weekends?" she asked.
"No, we went during the day. I really didn't have anything to do . . ." Charlie started before Will cut him off.
"Why don't you order the chocolate cake? I know how much you love chocolate, and the cake here is really good," Will informed her.
She turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "No thanks, I'm full," she said as she turned her attention back to Charlie, "You were saying."
"Are you sure?" Will continued.
She turned and stared at him for a moment before replying, "Yes, I'm sure. I didn't even finish my dinner."
She turned back to Charlie and prompted him to continue.
"Before Jane arrived, I would spend most of the day sitting around, doing nothing. They really didn't need me. I don't know why Darce insisted that I . . ." Charlie started before Will cut him off.
"Why don't we share something?" he asked Elle.
Elle sighed in exasperation, before she said, "Fine," just to shut him up.
She motioned for Charlie to continue, "As I was saying, they really didn't need me on set. Though we own the rights to the book, they asked the author to write the screenplay for the movie. She was on the set the entire time, so they really didn't need me to be there. I don't know why Darce insisted that I be on set, to make sure they kept up the integrity of the book," he finished.
Elle turned her attention back to Will. He was now supposedly enthralled by the dessert menu, but she knew better. She might not have been married for long, but she knew something was not right. Why wouldn't he let Charlie finish his story? She had to find out.
"Will, why did you send Charlie to London if they really didn't need him?" Elle asked.
He shrugged as he continued to stare at the dessert menu, "It's better to be safe then sorry," he replied, before motioning for the waitress.
Somehow Elle thought there was more to it than that.
Special thanks to my wonderful beta, Debra Anne :D
Not only has she helped me edit this chapter, we've also gone back to edit chapters 1-10, which I will be reposting soon.
She is also helping me edit Appearances May Often Deceive. We have only done the prologue and chapters 1-3 so far. I'm rewriting the story, but not completely. Just some small sections.
Thanks So Much To All You Wonderful Readers! I'm glad you are still enjoying the story. Please let me know what you think ;D