Most people assume the fights are going to be the left versus the right, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks.
Jimmy Wales
Chapter XXIX: This Isn't What?
Oh great, I get to have a completely idiotic conversation with Mrs. De Bourgh about the situation between me, Collins, Will, and Richard. This was not something I felt like talking about right after I had broken up with Richard. Unfortunately, Mrs. De Bourgh was not somebody you could say 'no' to, not because she was so nice, but because she was so…mean-looking. (I'm sure that if she tried, she could probably kick me ass. Or at least pay people to kick my ass.)
When I insisted that we stay in the living room because it was a little cold outside, Mrs. De Bourgh took the initiative to start the conversation. (Jane had left to check on the twins.)
"Miss Bennet, what are your intentions with my family?" she asked with a stiff- upper lip.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean this." Mrs. De Bourgh said as she dug around inside her clutch bag and pulled out a picture.
I slowly reached out to take the picture from her and looked at it. If this hasn't been overly done, then you can probably guess what the picture showed. Yep, somebody took a picture of Will and me kissing. It was embarrassing to say the least, I mean to actually have someone take a picture of that…?
"Where did you get this?" I whispered, holding the photograph in my hands.
"Caroline Bingley gave it to me. She was Will's fiancée at the time. Did you know that, Miss Bennet?"
"Yes, yes, I did know that." I faked a weak smile.
"Then why would you think that it would be appropriate to kiss my nephew?"
"I don't know."
"And what Caroline told me when she gave me this picture was utterly unacceptable to my ears. To think that you have fooled me in such a way."
"How have I 'fooled' you?" I asked, confused about what this was all leading up to.
"I know everything about you and Will. And I finally understood why Frances wanted you at his wedding so much. And why Richard is so crazy about marrying you." Mrs. De Bourgh said in a slur. She was angry, I could tell you that much.
"Oh." I said quietly. What could I say to all this?
"'Oh'? That's all you have to say for yourself. This is a disgrace that a girl such as yourself should have such a clutch over my family."
"I don't know what to say. I'm not a bad person or a disgrace."
"Yes, you are. Not only did you break up my daughter and Will, you also broke up him and Caroline, who was finally the one thing that Will's done right in all of his relationships."
"I think you've had it wrong there, Mrs. De Bourgh. I didn't break Caroline and Will up. It was Caroline who lied about everything. I'm sorry, but I don't think that my relationships have anything to do with you. You have no right to accuse me of anything." I was starting to get irritated. This was not how I wanted to end my night.
"This does concern me, because it concerns my family. I will not have you ruin my family's reputation by sleeping around with all my nephews!"
"I think you're exaggerating a bit." I said. Just as I said that, the doorbell rang and I tried to excuse myself to get the door.
"Leave it; I'm sure that girl would get it." She said snobbishly.
"That girl happens to be my cousin. She has a name, Jane. She deserves as much respect here (maybe more) as you do."
"Oh, I've heard about your cousin, Jane. Yes, Caroline told me about her. It's surprising, really. I guess greediness and lust does run in the family."
"Aunt Catherine!" Mrs. De Bourgh and I both turned around to see Will standing at the doorway leading to the living room. He seemed to have ran here because he was breathing heavily a little to catch his breath.
"Will! What are you doing here?" Mrs. De Bourgh said with a sound of surprise in her voice. And yet her face was still unchanging.
"I would love to ask you the same thing, Aunt Catherine. But after hearing what you just said about Jane, I have no more reason to ask." He said as he slowly walked towards her, stopping to stand a little in front of me.
"Was I not wrong in making that assumption?" Will's aunt asked. "Caroline told me all about Jane. How she tried to seduce her brother into marrying her…I'm glad that he got rid of her."
"Aunt Catherine…" Will warned.
"Actually, you would be wrong there, Mrs. De Bourgh. You see, people marry for true love nowadays, not how much money is in their back accounts. Jane and Charlie happen to love each other, they're starting slow but they're getting there."
"It's not exactly music to my ears but I'm sure if he wants to ruin his life, then so be it. But I will not allow anyone with the likes of you to ruin my nephew's chance at happiness."
"Aunt Catherine, this is not the time. This is not the place either. Whatever Caroline told you have been overly exaggerated. Don't believe her stories. Don't believe her at all."
"Caroline is a nice respectable young woman and I refuse to believe that this girl here is better." She said, pointing to me. This was really insulting but I was taking it with my chin-up. I was Elizabeth Bennet; I didn't take insults in a cowardly manner.
"Lizzy is ten times better than Caroline will ever be." Will said firmly. And again for the second time in the night, the door bell rang. What was up with people visiting tonight?
Of all the people who could've walked through that doorway, could you believe who did? That's right, it was Richard. My life seemed to be getting stranger by the hour.
"Richard." I said. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to see you but…" He stopped when he saw that he was standing in the room with the man that was the reason his ex-fiancée left him and his aunt. "…I see that you have company."
"Aunt Catherine." He went over to greet her. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, nothing, I'm just talking to Miss Bennet about how she should stay away from my family." She was really good at this subtle thing. She was calm and collected, yet the impact of her words made the room very quiet.
"Aunt Catherine, this isn't the problem." Will said.
"Don't even say anything, Will." Richard tensed. Oh my god, this could not be happening.
"What's going on here?" Mrs. De Bourgh said as she looked at the two men staring at each other with cold eyes.
"Richard, Will, please, this isn't the time." I said, looking at both of them.
"Lizzy, I came here tonight because I wanted to ask if you would reconsider the engagement. I didn't expect that he would be here." Richard said as he looked at me.
"Richard, I just left you an hour ago. I told you, I can't marry you. It's just not going to happen. You were fine about this when I left." I said. Will and Mrs. De Bourgh just stared at the two of us but that didn't really matter at the moment because it was just me, dealing with Richard.
"But, Lizzy, I understand the lying thing and I could forgive you kissing him. Why can't we just get back to the way we used to?" He asked, begging.
"Richard!" I yelled out of frustration. "I can't get back with you because the night that you left the dinner party, I slept with Will. That's why. I didn't want to tell you this but I wasn't drunk or anything. It was my own decision."
"What?" Richard looked down as he whispered this.
"Lizzy." Will started, standing behind Richard. "This isn't the right-"
Will didn't get to finish what he wanted to say because the next minute, he was on the floor, holding his jaw which looked like it was going to start to bleed. I quickly rushed down to help Will as Mrs. De Bourgh yelled at Richard, asking him what he was doing.
Richard just stood there, hands clenched, saying, "That's for sleeping with my fiancée, Bastard!" and with that, he left.
Once Richard was gone, I didn't know what else to do but to run after him.
"Richard!" I yelled, "What the hell was that?"
"What did you expect me to do when you told me that, Lizzy?" He yelled back, once he turned around to face me.
"I don't know but I don't think punching Will in front of your aunt was a good idea either."
"Well, you know what? I don't care; I've been meaning to do two two weeks now."
"You know what this means, right?" I asked him with a look of calm on my face.
"Yeah, I know. I acted upon my feelings and it came out bad." He said, looking down.
"Yeah…but I really wanted us to end well and you…"
"I made it harder." He finished my sentence.
"Maybe we shouldn't see each other for a while, just to wait for everything to go away."
"Yeah…" Richard said as he turned around and continued to walk away.
I didn't see Richard for quite some time after that night. I never called him and he never called me. We avoided each other as much as possible. But eventually, I decided that this was a friendship that I didn't want to be gone forever, so I called him one night and asked if he and I could go have lunch. We've been friends ever since then.
Anyways, back to the story. As I watched Richard get into his car and drove away, I suddenly realized that Will was still on the floor, bleeding.
I ran back into the house to see Jane helping Will with an ice pack. Mrs. De Bourgh was just sitting there, looking at Will and then looking at Jane with a look of disgust. She was probably thinking of all the things that Caroline told her.
I kneeled down and touched Will's knee lightly and said, "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." He whispered back with a smile.
We kind of looked at each other for a moment which apparently ticked his aunt off quite a bit, because she the yelled, "Oh, would you snap out of it, Will! Can't you see that she's using you like she did with Frances and Richard?"
"Aunt Catherine, you don't know what you're talking about." Will said in defense.
"Don't I?" She asked, pointing to herself.
"No, you don't. Lizzy is a wonderful girl and if it weren't for everything that's happened, I would've married her a long time ago." He stood up to emphasize his point. I didn't know what to make all of this really. Yes, I was really as weak as I seemed to be but there really wasn't anything that I could do or say at the moment.
"'Marry her'? Do you know how much disgrace you would bring to the family if you married this insolent girl?"
"More than you could ever dream of, Aunt Catherine."
"I won't allow, I will never allow this marriage to happen."
"There's nothing that you could do about this." He said.
"I refuse, this is something that I absolutely refuse to ever allow to happen!" and with that, she stormed out of the house.
"Wow…today just keeps on getting crazier and more dramatic." I concluded as I gently laid some more ice onto Will's jaw.
"Yeah…" He said, looking at me. He was looking at me with those eyes again. One part of me wanted to smile but the other part just wanted more time alone.
"Why'd you come here tonight?"
"Anne told me that my aunt was in town but that she wanted to know where you lived and I infered from there."
"I feel so bad now. Your aunt's mad at you."
"My aunt's always angry at me. It's her thing."
"Oh…"
And the pause monster eats us up once again. We just sat there on the couch, looking at each other.
Finally, Will started to speak up first. "About what I said tonight... about the marriage thing…"
"Will, I don't know what to say…I still need more time to adjust to all this…this is going too fast." That's right; I was rambling, big time. Good thing Will stopped me.
"I should go." He said as he slowly stood up, letting go of my hand.
"Will…." I started to say.
"No, I understand that you need more time. Just don't take too long." He left, just like Richard, only this time I didn't go after him.
When I was alone in the living room, I laid down on the couch that I was sitting on and stared at the ceiling. I thought about everything that happened and it pained me to realize that I might have managed to ruin my chance at happiness.
Thinking about happiness led me to question whether or not I was happy now. That really depended on in which context. I was happy with my job and I was happy with my house, living with Jane and the twins…. Speaking of Jane and the twins…
"Hey." I said as I stood at the doorway to CJ and Jack's room, looking at Jane sitting on Jack's bed.
She was gazing at them, holding his hand. When she heard my voice, she turned around and smiled.
"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked sweetly.
"It should be, but I don't know if it is." I walked over and sat across from Jane on CJ's bed. The twins were both sleeping so quietly, the room was quiet too.
"Can you believe it, Lizzy?" Jane started to say. "They grow up so fast. I remember when we first named them together."
I agreed with her. "So much has happened over the years."
"Yeah." She paused. She looked up to face me. "You know, Charlie asked me to go to this dinner-function-thingy that his company is hosting and he wants me to be his date."
"That's good. Did you say 'yes'?" I grinned, thinking that this was a perfect opportunity to finally unite Jane and Charlie again.
"I told him that I would think about it."
"Why? Don't you want to go?"
"Yes, but…don't you think that this is a little too fast for us, considering everything that's happened in the past weeks."
"No, I don't think this is going too fast. You're questioning yourself and this too much. Just think of it as picking up where you and Charlie left off five years ago."
"Will you at least go with me?" she said after a pause.
"Where?" I asked back.
"To the function."
"Oh, Jane, I don't want to be the third wheel. That would be weird and awkward."
"Lizzy," Jane said, reaching for my hand. "Please, I need you there. I don't think I would be ready for this if you weren't there."
"But the twins…"
"We can find someone to look after them. Please, Lizzy?"
I looked into Jane's eyes. She really wanted me to go. I guess there wasn't anything I could say. "Fine, I'll go, but under one condition."
"What?"
"I'm not going to baby sit you the whole night. I'm only going to be there for the occasional moral support, nothing else."
"Okay."
The next week was spent preparing for this function of Charlie's. It was to be pretty formal and Jane and I had no idea what we were going to wear to such a formal event.
We spent hours at the mall, shopping with the twins. CJ and Jack had a lot of fun too; they loved giving us their opinions.
I think they kind of sensed what was happening at the time between their mom and "Mr. Charlie", but they just couldn't ask yet until they knew for sure.
Charlie was happy that I was coming along. He told me once, later, that he was glad that I was coming because he didn't know how awkward the night would've been if I wasn't there.
Anyways, one night later, Jane and I prepared to go to the dinner. It was to be held at a fancy ballroom at a big hotel (like most functions) and there was going to be a lot of music and dancing. Yep, it was the social kind of functions where you actually need to know the people.
I guess it was okay, considering what happened…
Charlie picked us up in a fancy car and told us that this was our fancy ride for the night.
"So, you're telling me that you rented this Mercedes?" I said, giving him the unconvinced look as I came down the stairs in my red gown. Jane followed suit in a rose strapless that she looked stunning in (as always).
"Of course, it's not like I own a car here." That was true; Charlie usually went to places either in cabs or Will's car. He didn't have any other way of getting around.
We all laughed and proceeded to get into the car. Jane immediately got to the front seat and got in. I had on a look of confusion as Charlie said that I should have the back seat.
I just took it in stride and climbed into the back seat. I closed the door and looked to my left to see the one person that I half wanted to see and half didn't.
We looked at each other, smiling. In my mind, I had already made my decision. I really did love Will.
"Damn, the voodoo thing didn't work. You're still here." I smiled dreamily, speaking calm and softly.
He just smiled back and said, "Glad to see you're still alive, Lizzy."
To Be Concluded…
A/N: Hey everybody! Did you like the chapter? I made it extra long so that you could enjoy it until the big finale!!! WHOOT!! I'm so happy.
There's just something about this chapter that I liked and also didn't like. I finalized Lizzy and Richard's relationship and also set up for the next chapter. And I can promise you that it is going to be good.
I've already edit the chapter so any grammatical error that you find would just be my own stupidity.
I'll add some more to this note later…
Thanks for everybody who've read and review. had something weird going on where the email alerts weren't being sent out and that was probably why you guy did get alerted. So I apologize for that. anyways, remember to review and I'll see you next time.
P.S. There's going to be a LOT of drama in the last chapter, you don't want to miss!!
Happy Halloween!!
