I changed chapter 6 to have Caroline and the Hursts flying in on Thanksgiving morning to make it consistent with this chapter. Unfortunately, I was too optimistic to think that we'd get back to Darcy and Lizzy in this chapter.

Chapter 15

Gigi was having a surprisingly good time shopping with Jane and Louisa, even though she had only bought two items. The first was a berry smoothie made with raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries; Louisa had suggested them as a healthier treat over Cinnabon cinnamon rolls and had also found a two-for-one coupon on her phone. The second was a set of leather gloves for Darcy that were marked 75% off. Gigi enjoyed window shopping and chatting about little things while Christmas songs played. While most of the store displays were modest, nothing like the elaborate Christmas windows in New York City, she appreciated being warm and inside, and being treated as a woman by the others, having a kind of camaraderie with them.

Before they had left on their way to the mall, Gigi had worried for a whole half a minute whether her brother would be okay with her leaving with them, but then concluded that sending him a text informing him should be more than sufficient. When that was done, Gigi had then spent nearly five minutes worrying about leaving Anne home alone with Caro, but concluded that Anne was an adult and other than Caro hurting Anne's feelings, very little could go wrong. Gigi had been surprised when Caro volunteered to work on the puzzle with Anne, but seeing Caro make that kind of effort, made Gigi think that everything should be okay. But still, Gigi felt a tiny prickle of guilty that they were having so much fun while Anne was missing out.

Just then the ladies were passing a mall store that had a display of board games by the front. Gigi noticed the big sign saying "Black Friday Special: 25% Off One or Buy One, Get One Free." It then had the obligatory small print: "Discount only applies to select games, discount on buy one get one free applies to selected games of equal or lesser value."

Gigi paused to look at the choices. "Oh, they have Monopoly," Gigi noted. "If I buy this for Anne, will you all agree to play?"

"Okay," said Jane, recalling how Anne had asked about playing it.

Jane hated the game. She had played many times with her sisters while growing up. Usually, she played to lose. She bought properties like everyone else, but if someone else wanted to purchase a property that she was the first to land on, Jane went ahead and let the bank auction it off rather than claiming it for herself. She also wanted to engage in trades and negotiations that were seldom to her benefit, to keep her little sisters content, but if Mary was playing she was a stickler for following the rules, always declaring "If it is not in the rule book, it is not allowed." Even when she got monopolies, Jane barely built on them if she could help it, as she didn't like trying to bankrupt her fellow players when they landed on her spots on the board. It wasn't fun to win that way.

Louisa nodded. Growing up without siblings for the most part, she had only played Monopoly with friends. She was a fierce competitor and had no plans to go easy on any of them. She then noted, "These games are overpriced in general, so I think the 25% off really just gets you to about the regular price somewhere else. It is a better value if you can find two games you want to buy that cost the same."

"What else would be good?" Gigi asked. The selection at the table included stacks of many classic games, such as The Game of Life, Scrabble, Risk, Clue, Candyland, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Risk, Sorry, Jenga, Operation and High Ho Cherry O. "I can imagine Anne playing Life."

"I played Life with my aunt's and uncle's girls," Jane observed. "They liked getting the baby pegs, but the salaries are so unrealistic. They pay teachers almost as much as doctors. I think that is to keep the players that don't get as good of jobs the chance to win still," she approved of that and how with Life the focus was on enjoying the game, with no one really knowing who would win until the end, "but it could really give someone the wrong impression." She left unsaid the fact that Anne might be one of those someones as she really didn't seem to know how the world worked. "I'm also not that crazy about all the contest stuff."

"Why not get a game that the rest of us adults might like to play?" Louisa suggested. "Scrabble is fun and it almost costs as much as Monopoly."

"I don't know about word games," Gigi noted. "My brother trounces me at them every time."

"Lizzy is really good at them, too," Jane added. "She wins at all those sorts of things."

"Now they sound like people worth playing," Louisa responded. She thought about how much fun it would be to win over people who were actually good.

"What about Jenga?" Gigi asked.

"It is easy and quick to play," Louisa noted, "but it is a poor value for the buy one, get one free discount as it costs less than half of Monopoly."

Jane, seeking to appease everyone suggested, "Gigi, I'll buy Jenga for my house at the 25% off; you can get the other two games. Maybe we can play Scrabble in teams and split up the best players."

However, Louisa quickly talked Jane into buying a second $12 game, explaining "The 25% off will only get you down to $9 for Jenga, or you can get two games for $12. That is totally the better value. You could get something you could play with your cousins." That was how Jane ended up buying Jenga and Sorry, even though she didn't like to play games at all.

Louisa was pleased by how their shopping experience had gone so far. Although she had perused the circulars on her phone, the truly great deals had come and gone while they were sitting with Caro in the emergency room and most other bargains wouldn't fit in her carry-on. She hadn't spent any of her own money yet as Jane had insisted on buying Louisa's smoothie after Louisa had found the coupon.

Louisa's father would have been pleased. He always said, "They way you get rich and stay rich is to never spend your money in the wrong way. No one should ever stop looking for bargains. If you care about other people, help teach them to be cautious with their money, too. Only spend money on other people when by doing so you are also earning something from them, too, loyalty, friendship, things like that."

From little bits of information that her father had let slip over the years after Louisa had finally learned from her brother that she also had a sister, Louisa knew that Caro's mom's "company" had been bought with nothing more than a nice dinner and some attention. Although Caroline hadn't been an outcome her father had anticipated, he had always seemed pleased that Jennifer and her kid hadn't cost him too much noting, "A gold digger she's not. Jennifer accepted my low-ball first offer on child support when she could have taken me for a lot more if she'd gotten an attorney and took me to court. Hell, I would have given her more myself if she had thought to negotiate even a little."

Louisa had asked, "Does that mean Caroline's been growing up poor?"

Chaz had looked at her and said, "A little poverty never hurt anyone, or at least no one worth anything. It makes people scrappy, makes them fight to get things and if they don't, staying poor is just a natural consequence. Your sister will be a fighter if she is anything like me. Look at how much I achieved with hard work. Nothing was ever handed to me. You and your brother have it so easy."

Louisa might have never lacked for material things, but one thing she always wanted was her father's approval. Since Louisa was a little girl, she had been frugal, quickly learning saying, "Daddy, I saved my five dollar bill all week, can you put it in the bank for me?" earned her praise while asking for extra money was always met with a scowl and typically refusal. When her parents had divorced, Louisa had been certain it was because her mom spent too much money.

Although both Louisa and Q had money, they both agreed that living frugally was best. That was why they had elected to fly in on the morning of Thanksgiving Day, because it was cheaper that way.

Louisa felt she had been very helpful to both Gigi and Jane in helping them get the games. If they were going to buy something, she wanted them to get value for their money.

Jane was paying and Louisa was holding both hers and Jane's smoothies when Louisa's phone began to ring. With a smoothie in each hand, Louisa really couldn't answer it and had to endure the ring tone for Caro until it finally went to voicemail.

About ten seconds later, just after Jane had put her wallet away, grabbed her bag with the games and had just gotten her smoothie back from Louisa, her phone also rang. Jane shifted the smoothie to the hand with the bag and tried to dig in her purse one handed. As she was doing so she heard a splootch and felt something wet on her leg. Jane turned her focus from getting her phone and saw that her smoothie's lid had inexplicably popped off and the slight angle she was holding at had been enough to send a portion of the purple puree down her leg. Between handing off the smoothie and using the entirety of her tissue pack to mop up (it got the chunks but didn't really help with the stain on her light jeans or the store's gray carpet), she was not able to answer her phone before it went to voicemail.

Then, just a few seconds later, Louisa's phone began to ring again and this time she was able to answer it without any difficulty. "What's up Caro? Did you just try to call me? Did you suitcase arrive?"

Jane and Gigi could only hear Louisa's side of the conversation over the loud Christmas music being piped through the mall's speakers. "Santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight . . ."

"No, that's crazy! . . . Still? . . . Yeah, she's here."

Without explanation, Louisa handed the phone off to Gigi. "Hello?" she asked, uncertain why Caroline had asked for her.

"Gigi, I've got a problem here. I've tried to call your brother but I can't get him."

"What's going on?" Gigi asked.

"Well, your aunt, Ms. de Bourgh, just showed up here about a half hour ago with a Will Collins. While I was answering the door, Anne hid. I didn't know she was doing that. Then, when I came back to the room we were staying in, Anne appeared again and then told me she was going to sneak out a window to get away from her mom. She was afraid her mom would make her leave. I thought the idea of her sneaking out was kind of ridiculous, but I made sure Anne took her purse and phone and I had her put my number in my phone, and she was supposed to text me but she never did. I don't know where she is now, and your aunt went through every room looking for her. She is still here now, sitting in your living room. She said she was going to call the police on us. I've been staying in the bedroom. I don't know if she did that or not. I've called Charles and he is on his way back now, but can you all please get back here, too?"

"Okay," Gigi replied, "Let me just explain it to them and I'll see you soon. I'll also try calling Anne and Darcy and I'll have Jane call Elizabeth."

Gigi explained and the women quickly walked back to the car. Louisa, who was the one who had driven in the first place, also drove back, allowing Gigi and Jane to make their phone calls.

Gigi tried Anne's phone first, but after a few rings it went to voicemail. She tried again and the same thing happened. Then she texted Anne: "Call me ASAP Anne!"

Gigi next tried Darcy but his phone went to voicemail too. Gigi texted him a quick message and was just pondering whether to try calling Anne's phone again, when she got a phone call from Anne's number. Gigi answered eagerly, "Anne, thank goodness."

"It isn't Anne," Caroline replied. "I heard a phone ringing outside the window. Anne must have dropped her phone when climbing out and she doesn't seem to have a code on her phone. I was hoping she was calling her own phone to reach me. I don't know where Anne is now."

Gigi swore. Then she told Caroline, "We are on our way back. I will try Darcy again." After Gigi got off the phone she explained what was going on to everyone else.

Jane told her, "I haven't been able to get Lizzy. It goes straight to voicemail. She usually carries her phone but turns it off when she goes for a walk. I've left a message and a text, but there is really nothing else to do. Hopefully, they will be back soon.

After Charles got Caroline's call, he and Q hurried back to the house right away. Charles didn't know Ms. de Bourgh personally, but had heard about her from both Darcy and Caroline. Darcy had painted a picture of a stubborn but proud woman who liked getting her own way and was a good, if overprotective, mom. Caroline had explained Ms. de Bourgh had old money and status, and how Caroline had done some volunteering for Ms. de Bourgh's charity events so that Caroline could raise her own visibility with the right sorts of people.

Charles arrived home to find two cop cars in his driveway with their lights on. He parked in the grass to the side.

Caroline was standing outside, talking to a tall, multiracial police officer. Caroline's arms were crossed and Charles could tell that she was upset and nervous, but she seemed to be doing a good job of remaining calm. Charles was about to get out, when another officer came over to him. Charles lowered his window.

"Are you the property owner?" the shorter, female officer asked him. She had pale skin with almost shockingly black hair pulled into a severe bun, and thick, dark eyebrows framing light eyes.

"Yes, I'm Charles Bingley. I got a call from my sister and hurried right back."

"Do you know anything about Anne de Bourgh and where she might be? Her mother is very worried about her and is very insistent about staying here until she comes back."

Charles responded, "She was here when I left, but my sister told me she snuck out a window when her mother showed up. Frankly, I don't understand what her mother is doing here in the first place. She lives in Nashville and it seems to me that a woman that's Anne's age, I think about Darcy's age, twenty-eight or so, should be able to go away for the weekend with her cousins. Anne's our guest, but I am not her keeper."

The officer nodded in acknowledgment and then she asked, "Do you have any reason to believe that Anne might be a danger to herself or others?"

Charles gave a little surprised chuckle. "No! Anne seems a bit naive, gets her feelings hurt easily and she has no idea how to cook, but she's well spoken and was happy to be having a little adventure with her cousins. The plan had been for Darcy and Gigi to join the de Bourgh's for Thanksgiving weekend, but when Ms. de Bourgh kept insulting the woman Darcy likes, the one who happens to be my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, Darcy and Gigi decided to leave and Anne decided to come with them. The only reason Anne isn't shopping with Georgiana now, is that Anne didn't want to be in the crowds. We all respected her right to make that decision and my sister Caro and Anne were working on a puzzle together when I left. I understand that Anne has been medically fragile in the past, had to have chemo and the like, but otherwise she is just a regular person."

"Okay," the officer responded. "When will her cousins be back?"

"I'm not sure exactly. The mall Gigi was at was about an hour away, but I know they are heading back now."

"Gigi's the minor, right?" she asked. Charles nodded.

And the other one?" The officer glanced down at her notes, "Darcy?"

"Darcy is out taking a walk with my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, and neither of them answered when we called. I kind of thought they'd be back by now, but maybe it means they are making progress with their relationship."

"So you don't know when she'll be back?

"Elizabeth will come back with Darcy," Charles answered, confused.

"I mean, Darcy; when will she be back?" the officer clarified.

"Oh, Darcy's a guy. It is Will Darcy." Charles imagined how much fun it would be to tease Darcy about the officer thinking he was a lady.

The officer raised her dark eyebrows slightly, "Okay, that makes a little more sense, but I didn't want to judge; we see all sorts these days. From your observations, how has Darcy behaved toward Anne?"

Charles considered, "He's very kind toward her and protective, like she was another sister."

"So he wouldn't take her phone away from her, to keep her from reaching out to her mother?"

"No, no way. I do know that Ms. de Bourgh kept calling Darcy, Gigi and Anne. They finally had to turn their phones off just to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner."

The officer scribbled a few notes. "What do you want us to do about Ms. de Bourgh? She is insisting she stay in your house until she sees Anne and knows that everything is alright."

Charles didn't hesitate. "I don't want her here. I want Anne to feel that it is safe to come back to my house."

"Okay. I'll talk to my supervisor, Sergeant Holmes, and see about making Ms. de Bourgh leave your property. Mr. Collins has been very cooperative and hopefully we can get him to just drive her home. I'll bring your sister over to sit with you. Please put up your windows and stay in the car here until Ms. de Bourgh is out of the house. I don't think she'll make it easy for us. I'll let you know when you can get out."

The female officer went over and talked to the officer speaking to Caroline, before going into the house. Charles and Q watched as Caroline walked over to their car and got in the back seat. Because it was growing colder as storm clouds darkened the sky, Charles turned the car on again but kept its lights off.

The three of them watched as Ms. de Bourgh, who was wearing a dark brown fur coat, was "escorted" from the house. The female officer was holding onto one of Ms. de Bourgh's elbows and a male Latino officer, who was shorter than either of the women, was holding on to her other elbow. Even through the glass they could clearly hear Ms. de Bourgh yelling.

"This is ridiculous, obscene behavior on your part. A mother has every right to be concerned about her daughter. I demand to speak to the officer in charge."

They couldn't hear the female officer's restrained reply, but the officer who had been speaking with Caroline approached and apparently began trying to reason with her. A moment later Q began surreptitiously lowering the passenger-side window by a few inches. He didn't want to miss the drama. He hoped the cop would give her a good set down, like when Captain Picard in TNG used Admiral Satie's own father's words to indict her conduct in "Drumhead."

Ms. de Bourgh shouted as struggled and managed to pull one arm free, slipping it out of her coat, and then tried to kick and shove at the shorter officer to break away from his as well. He didn't let go and within moments, the female officer had Ms. de Bourgh's arm firmly in her grasp, twisting it up behind Ms. de Bourgh's back.

Being restrained did not quell Cathy de Bourgh, who shouted, "Do you have any idea who you are dealing with? I can have your job for this! The Mayor of Nashville and the Governor of Tennessee have dined in my house, the world renowned Rosings Plantation. I just have to make one call."

Some kind of signal must have been sent as the officers pulled Ms. de Bourgh to the ground on her stomach, with the female officer kneeling on Ms. de Bourgh's back as she cuffed her.

Ms. de Bourgh shouted, although her tone was decidedly less confident from her location on the ground, "You fools, you are ruining my mink coat!"

Sergeant Holmes calmly remained standing in front of her as he told her, "Ma'am, you've got a very simple choice to make. I am on the verge of placing you under arrest, putting you in the back of that squad car and hauling your ass to jail. You may indeed be important down in the South, I have no idea if you are telling the truth or full of shit, but you're in Indiana now, and we don't look kindly on trespassers here."

He paused and Ms. de Bourgh interjected, "I haven't done anything wrong; you wouldn't dare."

"You have two options," Sergeant Holmes explained, "I can escort you to your vehicle and have Mr. Collins drive you home, or I can arrest you on disorderly, trespassing, assault. After you're booked, fingerprinted, cavity searched and your picture's been slapped up on our arrest website, you can have your one call, but I'd advise it be to a lawyer who's admitted to the bar in this state, if you can find one taking calls today at," he glanced at his watch, "well, its past four now and it will be well into the evening by then, perhaps six or seven on a holiday weekend. There may be a guy or two who handles DUIs picking up. I doubt you can get any influential politicians to take your call tonight or even if you can, get anyone in our state to pick up for them, and you wouldn't get arraigned and bail set until Monday morning. If you want your daughter to have any respect for you when she shows back up, I'd suggest you pick door number one. Now, I'll leave you where you lie to think about it for a little bit."

The other officers stayed where they were, the female officer still kneeling on Ms. de Bourgh's back and the Latino officer standing nearby, while Sergeant Holmes walked over to the car in the driveway which Charles now noticed had a man, who he correctly assumed was Mr. Collins, sitting in the driver's seat. Charles, Q and Caroline couldn't hear that conversation very well, but from the bits and pieces they did hear, they correctly concluded that Sergeant Holmes was instructing the man in the car to drive Ms. de Bourgh home. They caught, "Mr. Collins . . . don't want you to stop . . . Kentucky . . . Tennessee . . . better yet." Mr. Collins was nodding and seemed to be apologizing. While they were talking a drizzly rain began to fall.

A minute or so later, a car pulled over beyond the Bingley's driveway. It was Louisa, Jane and Gigi. Sergeant Holmes immediately walked over to their car and talked to them through the window. A few minutes later, he was walking Gigi over to near Ms. de Bourgh, who was still being held on the ground, but stopped while they were still about ten feet away. It was raining in earnest now.

Gigi pleaded, "Aunt Cathy, I don't want you to get into trouble here, just please go home. We will find Anne and have her call you. I am sure she is fine and I will make sure she sees the medicine you left for her."

"Okay, I'll go home," Ms. de Bourgh finally said. The female officer got off her back and the two officers helped her up and walked her over to the car, each holding onto one of her arms, which were still cuffed behind her back. Part of the mink coat which was still half off her body was partially dragging on the ground. Charles saw that Ms. de Bourgh's hair was mussed and her makeup streaked, but he wasn't sure how much it was from having to lie on the ground, perhaps from her crying (had she done that?) and how much was from the rain.

It wasn't until Ms. de Bourgh was walked all the way to the car that the female officer finally uncuffed her. Ms. de Bourgh put her arm through the sleeve of her coat and then got in the passenger seat. A few seconds later, they drove off.

The police officers sat in their cars while everyone waited to be let go back into the house. When Caroline asked Charles and Q, "What could be taking so long?" Q explained, "I think they are writing up a report."

By this time the skies had opened up and it was dark as night, even though the sun had not yet set. Finally, the female officer came back to the driver's side of the car. She was now wearing a raincoat and had one of those clear shower caps over her hat. "We are just finishing up here. As soon as we drive off, you are welcome to go back into the house. Just one more thing," she directed this question at Caroline, "you saw her last, can you tell me what Anne de Bourgh was wearing when she left? She's not a missing person or anything, but we thought we'd keep an eye out for her. This is not a good day to be hanging out out of doors." Caroline described Anne and the officer took more notes.

After everyone was finally able to go inside, Caroline immediately proposed, "Let's go see if we can find Anne. Hopefully she isn't too far."