Chapter 20.
She didn't know how she'd get through the remainder of the afternoon and evening.
I wish we could just call the whole thing off, she thought miserably.
"Now I know why you couldn't talk about Ned during our conversations for the past few months," Nancy spoke to her father when she re-entered the house.
"I'm sorry," Carson said contritely. "He started coming around less and less. He'd actually been quite ill for a little while after they 'found' your car. The worst part of it is I couldn't tell him the truth. It would certainly have eased his suffering, but it was simply too dangerous – for both of you."
Nancy's face crumpled. "Dad, it just isn't fair. How many lives have been shattered because of that bastard, Gus Marouelli? We've all lost so much…Because of him, innocent people have been hurt and killed…and now Ned will never look at me the same way again. He's not in love with me anymore. I don't know if I can bear it."
"Come here," Carson said gently, holding her and leaning her head against his chest. "Ned is a good man, Nancy, but he's only human. Maybe a relationship with him wasn't meant to be. If that's the case, then the right man for you is still out there. Wherever he is, with your detective skills, I have every confidence you'll find him."
Nancy gave a reluctant nod, but she knew it would be a very long time before this deep heartache subsided.
Joe watched Ned drive away, leaving Nancy standing alone in the driveway, hugging her arms around herself. She looks like she wishes the ground would open up and swallow her, he thought glumly. His eyes followed her back inside the house. He wondered if he ought to head there now or give her a few moments to herself. Just as he was deciding what to do, a large van pulled up to the space his taxi had vacated. He smiled when he recognized the occupants, and waved to them in greeting.
Somehow, Nancy knew she would have to plaster a smile on her face and greet all her guests that were due to arrive with grace and the appropriate level of charity. Inside, she was empty, bitter and cold.
The one moment she felt a flare of emotion was when Bess and George arrived, soon after Ned had departed. Curiously, Joe Hardy accompanied the pair. His brother, however, was nowhere in sight. She found herself feeling quite disappointed that Frank Hardy had not come.
"It's great to finally see you again, Drew, especially after what happened in New York," Joe said, smiling as he gave her a friendly hug.
"It's good to see you again, too, Joe," Nancy replied, finding that it wasn't too difficult to muster a smile. "Tell Frank I'll be expecting a big gift to make up for his absence."
"Yeah, Frank, uh, sends his apologies," Joe said, somewhat clumsily.
"I hope you can both one day forgive me for my deception; it was the only thing I could do to try to keep you away from danger. Of course I should have known that you would be on the case as soon as you knew something was wrong!"
Joe patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We've been through too much in the past, and something tells me this won't be the last time, either."
"You're a good friend, Joe. Thank you."
Nancy then turned to Bess and George. The sight of her two best friends reduced her to tears again.
"I just knew it," Bess declared, brimming with happiness. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement. She nearly tackled her old friend, wrapping her arms around her. "I knew you couldn't be dead! When everyone else doubted, I held on to the hope you were alive. Nance, welcome back. We've all missed you so very much!"
"I've heard all about your unwavering convictions that I wasn't totally out of commission," Nancy replied affectionately. If only Ned had held the same unwavering convictions!
"Hello, George," Nancy said, feeling herself sinking into guilt and self-recrimination upon seeing her friend in the wheelchair. A series of frenzied questions flashed through her mind: Do I dare tell her what I know about that murderer, Alec Fontaine? What good will it do? Does she blame me? What do I say?
George smiled broadly. "Get yourself over here, Nan!" she said invitingly, stretching her arms out expectantly.
"Forgive me," Nancy whispered as she knelt in front of her friend and hugged her fiercely. Her eyes were beginning to water again.
George pulled back suddenly. "Don't ever let me hear you say that again," she said forcefully. "You have nothing to be forgiven for. What happened that night was not your fault. We've been friends for a long time, Nancy, and we've been through many things together. When we thought you were dead, suddenly my injury seemed so much less tragic. I could have died, too. But we're both here, and we're both okay. Things could have certainly been much, much worse."
Nancy nodded solemnly. And I hope you never have to find out just how much worse, she thought. She took George's hand in hers. "Thank you for that," she said. "It was a nightmare not knowing how you were all doing, having to hear second-hand what had happened. It's going to take me some time to get used to all the changes."
Bess, George and Joe looked at each other uneasily.
"I think we understand," Bess spoke up, "and we're all here to help you."
Nancy knew some unspoken thought had passed between her three friends, but did not press the matter. Indeed, she acknowledged that deep down inside, she would need the support of everyone if she was going to deal with the repercussions of everything that had taken place over the past year.
She did manage to keep up with the banter, rehashing for her astonished listeners what her life had been like while in the witness protection program. Her guests eagerly heard about her ex-partner, who was throwing himself at the mercy of the justice system. Tom Morrison was pointing fingers at many key figures in Gus Marouelli's gang, including those who were most likely responsible for the untimely deaths of a few friends and acquaintances. It was with relief that Nancy saw the last of her guests out by late evening. She felt drained and exhausted. She hadn't expected so many visitors and well-wishers. Their endless chatter and happy smiles represented emotions that were the exact opposite of what she was feeling.
George and Bess stayed behind longer than everyone else did, deciding an impromptu sleepover was definitely in order. With a strong fire going in the fireplace, the three old friends gathered in the living room. They'd been sitting in silence, simply enjoying the stillness of the near-empty house, staring into the dancing flames that licked hungrily at the well-seasoned logs.
Nancy broke the calm first: "Ned broke up with me."
It was a statement delivered plainly and simply. Behind it, though, Bess and George knew there was an avalanche of raw emotions still not expressed that would eventually find release in the days and weeks to come.
"We know," Bess replied.
"Saw it coming a mile away," George said, shaking her head.
Nancy was stunned. "What do you mean you know?"
"Joe saw you and Ned talking," Bess said. "He knew what he was seeing was not a romantic reunion."
"We pulled up just as Ned drove off," George explained. "Nancy, I have to say that when we thought we lost you, Ned was like an empty shell during the times I was able to see him."
"I don't know if your dad told you, Nance, but a couple months after they found your car, Ned had a nervous breakdown, or something pretty damn near one," Bess said carefully.
"His parents were very worried about him, and so were we," George put in. "I know you don't want to hear it, but now that he's seeing Denise Mason, he's finally returning to normal."
Nancy continued to stare into the flames. George was right. She really didn't want to hear this.
"I know you feel rotten about what happened between you and Ned," Bess spoke, feeling genuinely concerned about her friend.
Nancy did not reply.
"Come on, Nan," Bess said earnestly, "we all know what happened was totally unfair, but you have to admit that Ned is very happy with Denise. If you love him, you have to let him go."
"I know," Nancy spoke at last, very moodily. But I don't want to.
"That's it!" George said in an exasperated tone. "I can't take it anymore. I can't stand you moping! Pull yourself together, Drew! That's an order."
Nancy turned to look at her friends.
"Thanks for trying to help me out, guys," Nancy said appreciatively. "But I'm going to need a lot of time to get over this. You really can't understand just how betrayed I've been feeling all this time. It was bad enough being betrayed by my partner, Tom. Intellectually, I know that expecting Ned to hope for what was on all accounts the impossible was probably hoping for too much…but he should have known, shouldn't he? Instinctively, he should have known I was alive!"
The cousins exchanged glances and turned back to Nancy with concerned looks.
"Forget Ned," George said dismissively. "He doesn't deserve you."
"That was unkind," Nancy said sternly, her blue eyes flashing.
"Whatever," George grumbled. "But I won't stop him if he wants to give up on salvaging your relationship."
"But I still love him," Nancy replied soberly. "If none of this had happened, we'd have gotten married. We'd still be together."
"Nan, Ned's not the only attractive man left on the planet, you know," Bess pointed out.
"I know," Nancy sighed. "But right now he's the only one I want."
"Is that so?" Bess asked. It almost sounded like a challenge.
Nancy didn't know how to respond for a moment.
"Nan, for a 'world famous' detective, I swear sometimes you're clueless!" Bess reproved.
"Yeah, Nancy," George said in agreement.
"What's that supposed to mean!" Nancy retorted hotly, a little more harshly than she intended.
"Oh, please! You know exactly what we mean," Bess said with some amusement, not offended at her friend's outburst in the least.
"You guys, what?" Nancy implored.
George and Bess exchanged glances again, this time sly ones.
"Do we really have to spell it out for you?" Bess said with a giggle.
"You mean to tell us there isn't one man out there you're not attracted to..?" George pressed.
"If you guys mean Frank Hardy," Nancy said suspiciously, "you know I'm not the kind of person to get between people already in a relationship."
"Nancy," Bess said patiently, "if you mean Callie Shaw, Joe informed us she's been married for over a year now! And it's not to Frank Hardy!"
In a well-designed office in downtown Bayport, business was slow for the private investigative firm owned and operated by brothers Frank and Joe Hardy. The lull had caused the younger of the pair to go out on a coffee run, which would inevitably turn into an extended break that would probably include a hearty lunch as well.
Frank Hardy remained, manning the phone and catching up on paperwork. He barely looked up when he heard the outer door open, and light footfalls approaching. It was a young white woman, wearing sunglasses, a light pink blouse and black slacks. She was slim and very attractive. Her hair looked like it had been recently cut short and it was mostly a dark brown. However, the roots were showing, revealing a lovely natural strawberry-blonde shade that would be extremely becoming if allowed to grow.
"Excuse me," the woman said softly, sliding her sunglasses partway down the bridge of her nose, "but I was hoping you could help me find someone…"
Frank stood up hastily, his heart beating quickly at the sight of the young woman who seemed so familiar. "Sure, I think I can help you," he said anxiously.
"Her name is 'Molly Jenkins'," the woman continued, her piercing blue eyes looking up at Frank from under the dark lenses, "although I think she was also going by 'Marie Davenport', ' Dana Farrell' and 'Joan Foster'…but I don't think any of those were her real names…"
Frank strode over to her with hasty steps. He plucked the sunglasses off and took her face in his strong but gentle hands.
"Well," Frank said with a joyous smile, "something tells me we won't have to look too hard, Nancy Drew."
Frank pulled Nancy to himself, enfolding her in his hungry arms. She willingly melted into his embrace, savouring the warmth of his touch.
And it felt at last like coming home.
THE END ?
A/N: Perhaps I should have put an 'extreme fluff' warning at the beginning of this chapter…
I'd like put a shout out to two very special individuals:
To my great friend 'SecretScribe' who was subjected to all my rough drafts. Your 'eagle eyes' are invaluable. You saved me from many very embarrassing mistakes. Your insights and suggestions were always spot-on, and this story would not have been what it is had I been without your input. (Now get your butt in gear and write the rest of your LOTR story!) You're the best!
To 'katie janeway' : Being able to share the creative process with you has been a terrific experience! Hopefully, our parallel interests will ensure continued successful creative endeavours for both of us. I am very thankful for getting your opinion on the last few chapters of this story before I put them out for public consumption. (Wait 'til they get a load of what we have in store for this fandom…) Muahhaahahaa!
To ALL my dear, dear readers and reviewers: I don't quite know how to express my thanks to the terrific support I received throughout this whole process of writing a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mystery. I couldn't even begin to thank all of you as individuals as I once tried to do – the number of reviews and reviewers is simply too overwhelming. All the bumps aside, I've enjoyed the ride very much, and I hope you all did, too. Please see 'What Child is This?', sequel to 'Who's That Girl?' if you'd like to read more of this 'universe'.
Sincerely,
TesubCalle