September 2001
The events of September 11, 2001 were the greatest tragedy of a lifetime for many in America and around the world. As Anne watched the news images of the twin towers crumbling on the TV screens in the break-room at work, she felt as if the last bastion of her safe, secure childhood and youth had fallen. Nothing was safe or permanent anymore; the days when she used to believe she could explore the world with abandon were even farther away. And the chips hadn't all fallen yet, though Anne didn't quite know it at the time.
Before Grandma's illness, Anne would never have been included in the Elliots' meetings with their financial planner, Mr. Shepherd. But now that she attended these meetings as Grandma's escort, Anne was exposed to several hard truths about the state of the Elliot family's business and finances for the first time.
"Mr. Elliot, you know the Big Three automakers have been struggling for several years by now. All along, ELMSCO's business has been strongly dependent - too dependent, if I may say so - on big auto in Detroit, and ELMSCO hasn't turned a single profit since 1998. With the current downslide in auto demand, it's even less likely that ELMSCO's business can recover anytime soon; in fact, we'll be very lucky if the losses don't blow up even further.
"This is going to have a very strong impact on your personal investment portfolio, especially since a large portion of your finances are tied up in ELMSCO. It's highly unlikely that ELMSCO will be paying any dividends this year, and at the rate the Elliot family expenses are growing, you will fall into debt within the next 12 months if you don't start looking for new sources of income. Like employment income, for example." Mr. Shepherd looked directly at Elizabeth when he said that, but she met his pointed glance without flinching at all. "I also strongly suggest you start thinking of ways to keep your expenses in check."
"We do have some employment income," said Anne, gritting her teeth. "I work."
"Oh do you, doll? And who's the lucky soul you're working for, may I ask?" William Elliot eyed Anne up and down with a mocking look. The Elliots are not ELMSCO, and our family finances are none of his business, thought Anne, as she wondered why on earth her father favored their irritating cousin so much as to involve him in a matter as personal as this.
"Northwest Airlines." Anne gritted her teeth even more tightly.
"Well, isn't that cute. Flight attendants are getting younger and younger these days, aren't they? I could've sworn you were in seventh grade. Anyway, the airlines are getting it real bad after 9-11, and they'll probably be laying people off like crazy before the year is up. You better watch your job, darlin', before it flies away." William guffawed loudly at his supposed joke.
Nothing was new about the joke being on Anne, as always; but what was new about this time was that nobody laughed, not even Elizabeth. The situation facing the Elliot family was as grim as that.
Under Grandma's instructions, Anne drew up a list of proposed cutbacks for the Elliot family.
"I'm not long for this world," Grandma had said. "So I'll be counting on you to keep an eye on your father and sisters, next time when I'm not around. Just like your mother used to do. You're the only one in this family who's got your mother's sense."
Sell the cars - all of them, Anne wrote. That means the Cadillac Eldorado, the Lincoln Town Car, an the Chrysler 300M, as well as Mary's PT Cruiser and Liz's BMW Z3. Replace with one fuel-sipping car, such as a Honda Civic or similar. My VW Golf turbodiesel has good fuel economy, so I'll share it with the family. Two cars for five people ought to be enough.
"Don't be naïve, child," Grandma said. "We are in the auto business, after all, and we do business with all Big Three automakers. What would GM, or Chrysler, or Ford, think if your father went to meet them in a Honda Civic? You can account the cost to the family business, but we do need one car from each of the Big Three makes to meet clients with, as the bare minimum."
Since when did Father ever meet with clients, thought Anne. But Grandma had spoken, and she was all-powerful. So that item had to be struck off the list.
Do away with extraneous household staff. Rely on part-time maid service if necessary; and Rosa can manage both houses - Father's and Grandma's. It's possible, as long as housekeeping is kept to a minimum by everyone picking up after ourselves.
"That's not fair," said Elizabeth. "Why does Anne get to keep her housekeeper, when we have to give up our maids, our gardeners, and our chauffeur?"
"Right," Walter looked thoughtful. "Maybe Rosa could be the first to go, and Anne can stay at home to help instead. That'll improve our net financial position already."
"Rosa is Grandma's housekeeper, not mine." Of the many times Anne had to hold her ground against Walter, this was the first time she ever openly talked back to him. "So if you want to let her go, Father, you've got to talk to Grandma about that. And I'd like to think I have better long-term career prospects than a housekeeper."
In the end, Walter never spoke to Grandma about it, but that also meant they'd never let go of any of the other staff either.
All members of the Elliot family are to wear all their clothes for at least two seasons. That will immediately slash our clothing expenditure by half.
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "Maybe that'll be OK for some people here who have absolutely no sense of fashion whatsoever," she sneered. "But what will my friends think of me if they see me wearing last season's clothes?"
If they're your real friends, they'll respect you for your good sense, was the reply Anne would have loved to give. But in the Elliot household, such words would fall on deaf ears anyway, so she saved her breath.
And so the Elliots were all back to square one. Nobody could agree to any of the budget cuts, even though it was clear they couldn't continue living in the Grosse Pointe house without cutting back on something, and so there had to be a Plan B.
"Why don't you consider relocating?" Mr. Shepherd suggested. "If you move to a city apartment, you can enjoy a stylish urban lifestyle, without being saddled with the kind of expenses that come with maintaining a big house. Think of it as the modern, 'in' thing to do. And if you rent out the house, you'll be able to earn more income."
Elizabeth was the first to latch on to the idea. "Dad, why don't we look for some place with decent shopping? Like New York, or maybe Chicago. Motor City is so boring."
Anne raised an eyebrow at Grandma across the room. That's not going to help at all, she was trying to say silently. You know they'll blow whatever's left of the family fortune at Saks Fifth Avenue or on Magnificent Mile.
Walter sighed. "There's something stately about living in a house. No apartment can ever be a match for that. We could rent a house - but definitely not anywhere in metro Detroit. What will the neighbors say if they saw us downsizing in our own backyard? It just won't do."
Mr. Shepherd cleared his throat. "I don't think moving into a house will - ahem - improve the financials by enough to make much of a difference. Maybe you could consider something else, though. How about getting a chic condo unit in Florida? It's the place for the fashionable retiree set, and you'll have plenty of lifestyle options to keep yourselves entertained. And you can upkeep your home easily without the need for full-time staff, which will keep your costs manageable."
"Florida it is." Anything that allowed him to downgrade while still breathing the word "status" was the best option as far as Walter was concerned. So, it didn't take him long to decide.
"Well, I'm staying here," said Grandma. "I'm too old to move across the country, and besides, I want to live out the rest of my days at my old home. And Anne and I will manage quite acceptably on Anne's salary. Won't we, Anne?"
"Sure we will." Given the situation, staying put was the most appealing option to Anne, because at least she could keep her current job.
"If you're staying, I'm staying too," piped up Mary. "I don't wanna leave when I've just started to make new friends in college. It was hard enough leaving all my friends from high school behind, and I don't wanna move away and have to do it all over again."
That was how the last chip finally fell - Walter and Elizabeth set up their "chic" lifestyle in Florida, while Mary joined Anne and Grandma at Grandma's house, and the big house in Grosse Pointe was rented out. But this time, Anne wasn't entirely sorry about how things turned out; at least, it gave her some breathing space and an excuse to distance herself from her father's and Elizabeth's lives. In fact, it was the only way she could do so.
"Anne, are you sure you won't consider working for ELMSCO instead? The company needs some Elliot blood in it to turn it around." Ever since their return from MD Anderson, Grandma had never stopped belaboring this issue to Anne.
"ELMSCO has enough Elliot blood in it already," was Anne's irritable reply. "Cousin William's there, isn't he?"
"Oh, pfoo. That man's good for nothing. Look at what state he landed the company in. But if you go in, maybe you can turn things around."
"Not me," Anne insisted firmly. "I'm an engineer, a technical person. I don't have a shred of business sense in me, and I certainly don't see myself leading a company. I know what I'm good at and what I'm not. And this is definitely something not something I can do, or want to do."
"Well, you'll never now until you try. And it won't hurt to try, would it?"
The same exchange played over and over, many times in the years they ended up living together. But Anne stood firm that she knew what was best for her: she was above all, an engineer; and her calling was in aviation. That was one thing that wouldn't change, no matter what happened to the Elliot family or to ELMSCO.
Try as he might, Frederick couldn't banish the thought of Anne Elliot from his mind. He worried about her, wondering how she was coping with her grandma's illness. He wondered if she might one day come to terms with the reality that her grandma's days were numbered, and if, when she came to that realization, she might regret pushing him away with such finality. There were so many questions on his mind with regards to Anne Elliot, and he thought he'd come up with a safe way to find out some of the answers, without putting all of his personal dignity on the line.
It was 3:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time when Tom Harville woke to the sound of his ringing cell phone. "S***," he mumbled under his breath, fumbling for the button to silence it, when he saw that the caller was Frederick Wentworth. Clearly, Wentworth had forgotten all about the two-hour time difference between Texas and Palmdale, California, where Tom was working with Lockheed Martin. Even then, it had to be something really important for Wentworth to call him first thing in the morning, and Wentworth's mornings were at an unearthly hour for him even if they'd been in the same time zone. Usually, Wentworth's communications with him were pretty much limited to popping up on ICQ every now and then when both of them happened to be free and online at the same time; long phone conversations just weren't the style for either of them.
"Hey, bud. I need you to do me a favor." Harville sensed the urgency in Wentworth's voice.
"Dude, you got any f***ing idea what time it is over here? It's practically in the middle of the night. OK, so shoot. It better be important, or else."
"You know that gig you've got to celebrate Halloween in San Francisco? When you're there, help me find out from the others about how Anne's doing, OK?"
"You mean, you and Anne, aren't you - " Harville trailed off in shock, realizing the implications of what Wentworth was saying.
"That's right. Anne and I aren't together anymore. She's moved back in with her family."
Wentworth's words were terse, but Harville could sense how much the whole matter was bothering him; at the very least, the timing and urgency of Wentworth's call was an indication of that. At that moment, Harville couldn't have felt sorrier for his friend. Any other guy who'd been dumped without warning like that could afford to indulge in drink and wallow in misery for a while before facing the world again; but Wentworth was tied to a punishing schedule, without even the time or privacy to confide properly to his best friend. Just how heartbroken Wentworth was about the breakup could only be a matter of speculation, when not functioning was absolutely not an option for him.
"How on earth - Did she give you any reason at all?"
"She's gone back to look after her grandma, who's got cancer. I just want to know if she's coping OK, is all. But don't let anyone know I was the one who asked you to find out."
"I don't know about that. Won't it be better if she knows it's coming from you? At least she'll know you still care. And maybe that'll change her mind."
"I wish. But she's made it clear as day, man. She doesn't want me in her life anymore, and as long as it's that way, I'm not going begging after her to let me in. I'm not going to even think about seeing her or talking to her, until I know for sure she wants me in her life again. Otherwise, I'm staying out of it. No way will I be crawling on my hands and knees."
To Harville, it didn't seem as if Wentworth was actually going to stop thinking about Anne anytime soon. He was also a little skeptical that whatever had happened between Anne and Wentworth was as irreparable as Wentworth was making it out to be. But still, he'd do what Wentworth needed from him; he'd find out whatever he could about Anne, and keep Wentworth's name out of it. Protecting whatever was left of Wentworth's dignity was the least he could do for him as a friend. And if there was any hope of salvaging the situation, he'd find out soon enough anyway.
"So I told you, it wasn't a mistake after all." The time difference actually worked in Anne's favor, since she could call Harriet after Grandma was asleep without it being too late on Harriet's side of the country. "With Father's company in the toilet, there really isn't any good I could possibly do to Fred by hanging on to him. He's better off free as he is now."
"Shouldn't Fred be the one making that decision, instead of you making it for him? I told you he wouldn't like it that you kept the most important decision of his life away from him for more than six months. You're not giving him a fair chance. Maybe he'll still think you're important enough to him to give up everything else - you never know."
"I know the answer to that already. He didn't argue, didn't say a word when I told him the reason why we can't be together is because he can't quit the Air Force. How long have I been in Fred's life - like, five years? But he's been having that dream for way, way longer than that.
"You know, Fred came from an upper middle class home in the beginning. He actually had a regular family, just like you or anyone else, only that he lost it all. And so even before he started trying for the Air Force, he's had an all-consuming dream driving him all this time, which is to get back into that life he had to leave when his parents passed. So when others look at him, they'll see him as an equal instead of as some poor kid they need to pity. At the level he's at now, I'd say he's already gotten past his circumstances. He's achieve as much as, in fact way more, than kids who've grown up with more opportunities and resources in hand. Give him a few more years, and he'll probably climb so fast others can't help but envy him, in fact.
"And I, where am I now? Fred's moving upward, and I'm rolling downhill faster than you can say 'Jack and Jill'. Fred worked so hard to get himself to a level where he's getting what he wanted most all along - which is respect. It's so much more of a plus that he's gotten there doing something he absolutely loves. After all that, I'm not going to take him down the toilet with me; that's for sure."
Anne repeated the same process with her other girlfriends, Lizzie and Emma. These three close girlfriends were the only people she ever told about her decision to move back home and break off with Frederick, and she swore all of them to absolute secrecy, based on the premise that Frederick was not to be tied down and burdened with her problems.
So under Anne's instruction, when the five classmates (sans Frederick and Anne) came together in San Francisco to catch up on each others' lives one year after graduation, none of the girls breathed a word to Harville or Benwick about Anne and her family situation. And as a result, neither Frederick nor Anne could possibly know just how much they actually still wanted each other in their lives.
With the launch of the war in Afghanistan, it came as no surprise to Frederick when he finally was deployed to the Middle East. Since there was nobody to see him off, he made his farewells to Sophia, Edward, Harville and Benwick over the phone the night before he left, and then he was gone.
"If you find out anything about Anne, let me know," he'd expressly instructed Harville and Benwick. Over the years, the classmates continued to plan regular reunions, though these grew fewer and farther between as some of them got married and started their own families. Still, if two or more of them happened to be in the same city, they'd find time to meet and continue to catch up. The gatherings continued, and Benwick and Harville continued to fish subtly for information about Anne, but to no avail. They never saw or heard anything from her again, because Anne avoided all the gatherings and even though the girls knew, they weren't telling.
When Frederick was promoted to Captain three years later, one of the first thoughts that ran through his mind was that Anne would be very proud of him; at least until he remembered that the Anne he was thinking of didn't exist anymore. He sharply reminded himself that from the day she stepped out of his life, Anne had changed into someone he didn't know or recognize anymore, and there was no use clinging on to a phantom. He'd move on, and he wouldn't look back.
Chapter Notes:
Canon Notes - This chapter is the reason why the story is set in these particular years - to get a parallel for canon Wentworth being sent to sea to fight in the Napoleonic Wars and add emotional impact (because 9-11 killed the innocence of a generation of Xennials), I wanted 9-11 to be the symbolic backdrop to the end of Frederick and Anne's youthful dreams and the factor that drives him out of the country for years on end. To align with modern military advancement timeframes, it takes three years instead of two for Frederick to get from Lieutenant to Captain (vs. canon Wentworth's advancement from Commander to post-Captain) but the element of him thinking about renewing his engagement to Anne but then refraining is still there.
