I am anticipating wrapping this up soon, but everyone who knows me, knows I'm not always the best judge about when a story is almost through (even though I have already written the epilogue). I could really use the encouragement of some reviews, so please let me know if you are enjoying what you are reading.
Bonus points to anyone who can identify a subtle reference to another one of Austen's books, with changes appropriate to what is going on in this story and the era.
Chapter 17
It turned out that Pauline's real estate agent colleague, Sarah, had just about perfect timing on getting back to Pauline, for the Brady Bunch movie's closing credits were rolling when Sarah texted with Jane Bingley's number. Then before the next movie could start, Anne was calling Jane from Pauline's phone.
The Bingleys, the Hursts, Caroline and Georgiana were still figuring out how to divide up the search perimeter and who should stay in the house in case Anne came back, when Jane's phone rang.
"It's Anne!" Jane exclaimed. "She's fine."
Everyone started asking Jane questions for Anne then. "Hold on," Jane said. "Yeah, they're all really happy you're okay. . . . No, she isn't here anymore. She didn't want to go, but she's been gone for about twenty minutes now. Yes, come on back. See you soon."
Once Pauline knew Anne was feeling safe to go back to the Bingleys' home, she volunteered "I'll drive you home." Then Pauline called "Paul, Paul time to go in the car. We are going to take Anne home."
Paul came up to his mom with his shoes. "Put on."
"Paul, you try first. Pull open the Velcro and wiggle your feet into your shoes. You can do it."
Anne watched as Paul struggled. Pauline spoke quietly to Anne, "I hope you are not in too much of a hurry. It would be faster for me to put his shoes on for him, but Paul can do it if he works on it long enough. I know it is a little thing, but I want him to do what he is capable of doing. He'll never be on his own, but he can have some dignity. Lots of people said he'd never dress himself, never talk."
Pauline paused and then added, "I even overheard a nurse say it would be better if he passed when he was still a baby or had never been born." Pauline's face pulled down and she swallowed hard when she made that last comment and Anne could see hurt in her eyes, even though that event must have happened at least a couple of decades ago by Anne's calculation.
"If you don't mind me asking, why is Paul like he is?" Anne asked.
Fortunately, Pauline was not particularly thin skinned and knew there was no malice in Anne's question. "It was a birth injury, oxygen deprivation. It happens. But I can't imagine my life without him."
Finally Paul got his shoes on. "Done!" He gave his mother and Anne a big grin and a double thumbs up.
"Great job, Paul!" Anne enthused and Paul's grin grew even wider.
They walked into Pauline's garage and then all climbed into her older silver Civic. Again, the whole process took longer for Paul than Anne had anticipated. Paul climbed into the back left seat, leaving one foot on the door frame as he worked to pull the seat belt over himself and latch it. Anne got into the back on the other side to keep Paul company, and so observed all his efforts.
Several times the seat belt snapped back and Paul had to pull it loose again before he was finally able to buckle himself in. Finally when that was done, he pulled his outside foot all the way in and closed the door shut in only two tries. It seemed like Paul was working very hard to prepare for a really short car ride, but Anne was happy that at least the garage sheltered him from the elements while he was doing it. She was also grateful not to be trying to find her way back alone in the dark and the rain.
As Pauline drove, Anne found herself telling Paul about making snowman shaped rolls and decorating cookies, concluding with "Then we had a sleepover and got up to eat cookies and milk."
Anne wasn't really paying attention to what she could see out the window, through the rain and the darkness, and so did not notice they had gone the wrong way at first down the Bingley's street and barely noticed when Pauline turned the car around to double back. However, Anne did notice when Pauline slowed down her driving to almost a crawl about half a minute later.
"What is it?" Anne asked. "Is something wrong with the car?"
"No. There is a couple walking in the rain on the sidewalk. There is a lot of water in the street and I don't want to splash them with the puddle."
Anne started asking rhetorically, "Oh my goodness! They're soaked. Who'd be crazy enough to go for a walk in the . . . . Wait, that's my cousin!"
At the word "cousin" Pauline stopped. "Do you think they need a ride?"
"Yes," Anne exclaimed. Then she was rolling down her window and yelling "Will, Willy!"
Darcy didn't hear Anne yelling at first. He was completely soaked and bitterly cold, and his nose was dripping (whether it was just the rain or a little snot, too, he did not know for sure), but the last few hours had been so wonderful despite the rain, he would have kept walking with Elizabeth forever if she wanted him to.
It was actually Elizabeth who heard Anne first and asked, "Is that Anne?"
When they both went up to the car and Darcy noticed how small the car was, he did his best to persuade Elizabeth to get in the car, opening the front passenger door for her and volunteering "I can keep walking back. It is only a couple of blocks or so, now. You are more tired than me and there is only room for one."
However, as chivalrous as Darcy was trying to be, and as much as Elizabeth appreciated it, she could be stubborn when she knew she was right. "Don't be silly. I can squeeze in the back and you should go in the front. Lord knows you wouldn't fit in the back."
Elizabeth was already opening up the right back door and Anne was scooting to the middle before Darcy could argue further. Darcy shrugged and climbed in the front, stepping from the sidewalk over the stream running down the edge of the street
"Hi," Darcy told the driver, He noticed that while they were stopped she had taken off her slightly foggy glasses and was cleaning them on a corner of her Christmas sweater. "Thanks so much for the ride. I hope we don't make your car too wet, ma'am."
"It's okay." Pauline put her blue-framed glasses back on. Darcy thought she looked both friendly and kind, but also very approachable. "I'm Pauline Berry and in the back is my son, Paul. This whole evening has been quite the adventure for us."
Meanwhile, now that she was right next to him, Paul had reached out to gently pet the sleeve of her ermine coat. She was a little distracted by this, and the way he kept saying "Soft" so it took a moment for Pauline's words to Darcy to penetrate.
Anne asked, "Pauline, does that mean your husband was Cary Larry Berry?"
"You betcha. Still is; we're divorced. As a kid his aunt tagged him with the name 'Care Bear' and it stuck, but by the time I met him, he went by C.B."
Within five minutes, they had pulled into the Bingleys' gravel driveway. Pauline would have just dropped them off then, but Anne insisted "You and Paul have to come in and see the Bingleys and meet their family and my other cousin."
Pauline hesitated until Paul asked in a hopeful tone "Cookie?"
"And Paul has to have one of Jane's cookies. They are so good!"
"Cookie?" Paul asked again, a little more plaintively.
"If you don't think it would be too much of an imposition?" Pauline asked. Anne could tell she just needed a bit more urging to accept.
"Not at all," Elizabeth answered. "Jane loves company and it is still the Thanksgiving weekend."
By then, the rain had finally tapered down to just a light drizzle. Even so, Anne was glad Paul was quicker about climbing out of the car than getting in it.
Just as Elizabeth had promised, Jane was happy to welcome more guests. Jane caught up with Pauline while first Elizabeth and then Darcy each had a warm shower and changed into dry clothes. Once they both returned, everyone gathered around the table and began discussing what had happened at the Bingley home after Anne snuck out the window. Anne, Pauline, Darcy and Elizabeth were astonished by Mrs. de Bourgh's actions. To Elizabeth it seemed that it must be some kind of a joke even though she knew they were all in earnest in their recitations.
As for Paul, he was simply enjoying his pile of cookies and being around so many people. He was not really following the conversation, but he felt happy as he nibbled on a tree that was covered with green sugar. As he ate, he struggled to put into words what he was thinking.
When there was a pause in the conversation, Paul said "Nice people. Friends."
A couple hours after Pauline and Paul left, when it was just around the time that the tired travelers and worn out hosts were thinking about going to bed, Mrs. Bennet called Jane. After they exchanged a few pleasantries, Mrs. Bennet complained to Jane "I am feeling very ill used that Elizabeth left Thanksgiving morning before even trying on her lovely new outfit and did not even bother to help me with the cooking. You should have told her to stay home. Mr. Collins was here and he was very eager to spend time with her."
"I'm sorry that was so frustrating, Mom," Jane replied, "but we have been glad to have Lizzy here."
Mrs. Bennet must not have been too angry, for she did not belabor the point and finally got around to the purpose of the call.
"You would not believe the day I had today, Jane. First off, when I got up Mr. Collins was nowhere to be found even though his car was still here. I thought he was perhaps taking a walk in the neighborhood or something. But then just about a half an hour ago he showed back up, but not alone, with Mrs. de Bourgh.
"She just burst the house with not even a hello or anything and walked straight into the hall powder room. And what was even weirder, she did not even shut the door all the way, so we could all hear her tinkling, farting and then plopping. Mr. Collins was terribly embarrassed and kept apologizing for her."
Jane stifled a laugh at her mother's description, but her silence was still enough encouragement to her mother to get her to continue.
"Then after just a couple of seconds of the sink running, not long enough to properly wash anyone's hands, Mrs. de Bourgh came out and immediately started shouting at me. She was saying some sort of nonsense about her nephew Will Darcy kidnapping her daughter Anne, and then blaming you for aiding and abetting. I remember she said 'When I get through with her, your daughter's going to end up in jail for a long time.'
"Of course I told her that she must be mistaken that you were involved in anything bad, that you'd never so much as even gotten a parking ticket, and that it must all be some misunderstanding. While I wasn't about to vouch for Darcy (although a priss like him would hardly be the type to commit such a common crime), I wasn't about to let her bad mouth you, Jane."
"Thanks," Jane replied.
"I didn't know what was wrong with that woman, but me saying you didn't do anything wrong seemed to enrage Mrs. de Bourgh for she started coming at me while screaming obscenities. I couldn't begin to repeat it all, and the way she was acting as she came nearer, I wasn't sure if she was planning to punch me, slap me, claw at me or bite me. It was like she was a wild beast and as I backed away she kept coming. Fortunately, you dad and uncle were there and they each grabbed her by an arm before she could manage to do more than slap me once. But oh what a slap, that woman sent me reeling and the one side of my face is still red.
"They both marched her out the door and closed it behind her. She kept pounding on it and screaming some more. She might still be there now if your dad hadn't threatened to call the cops on her. I thought that might be the end of it as she finally walked away, but a few seconds later we heard a horrible crunch-crash sound, and then the squealing of tires. Once we were sure she was gone, we all went outside and found out the crunch was when Mrs. de Bourgh hit Mr. Collins car, apparently going forward when she tried to go back. His car's whole back end was smashed and she also screwed up his car's front end, too, for she pushed it into that old maple tree, half uprooting it. I am glad, though, that at least she didn't drive into the house."
"I can hardly believe it," Jane murmured.
"Well it is true; I saw it with my own eyes. Poor Mr. Collins, you should have seen him. He moaned and then sat down right in the middle of the driveway asking us 'What am I going to do? I know she didn't mean to hit my car, it must have been because she was drinking on the drive all through Indiana.'
"Your dad didn't hesitate then to call the police, for as he said afterwards, 'She's got to be made to pay for Mr. Collins's car and she is a hazard to everyone on the roads.' Right now we are waiting for the police to come here so we can make a report. I think she should have to pay for our tree, too, for it will have to be cut down."
Jane did not think that Mrs. de Bourgh would be likely to voluntarily pay for anything but held her tongue.
Her mother continued, "It was then that we found out from Mr. Collins that Mrs. de Bourgh had already been at our house once today. Apparently she came here this morning to get your address and made Mr. Collins drive all the way to your house, where she tried and failed to get her daughter to come back with her. Mr. Collins told us that she tried to get the police in Indiana to help her, but they wouldn't do anything, so she decided to go back home. That whole story is a bit odd if you ask me."
Jane half expected her mother to ask what really happened when Mrs. de Bourgh and Mr. Collins showed up at her door, but as per usual, her mother was more interested in telling her story than on listening to anything that someone else might say.
Her mother continued, "I'm worried that she's gone off the deep end and who knows what she might do? Perhaps Mrs. de Bourgh will take it in her head to drive back up to your place again. I thought it was important that you be warned for no one would be safe around he right now. Please make sure all of your doors are bolted and your windows locked."
"Okay, Mom, I will."
"Good, good. Oh, and I meant to tell you earlier, but your Uncle Edward and his family are heading back up to Indianapolis tomorrow morning to catch their flight the next day. They did the usual circuit of seeing her parents for Thanksgiving and then coming down to see us on Friday, and had thought you and Lizzy would both be there. Since they missed you, they are hoping you both might at least be able to meet for lunch tomorrow."
"Absolutely," Jane replied, "I'll text them and see what we can work out."
As so as the phone call was finished, Jane told everyone else just what had happened.
Anne took it hard. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble for you or anyone. Maybe I should go back to Nashville now."
"Not on your life," Darcy replied. "Your mom sounds seriously disturbed right now and back in the mansion with her is the last place I want you to be."
Georgiana came up to Anne and put an arm around her. "None of this is your fault."
Caroline came up to the other side of Anne and patted her shoulder. "Truly, I hate to say it, because I know you love her, but your mom is a real piece of work."
That night when Jane and Charles were in bed, Jane couldn't seem to settle down. She asked her husband while taking comfort from his embrace, "Do you think it is possible that Mrs. de Bourgh will really come back here?"
"Anything is possible, but I think it is unlikely. If she does, we will call the police and they will arrest her for sure."
"I would hate to get her in trouble with the law," Jane replied.
"If she gets in trouble, it will be her own fault, not yours or mine. Still, I am kind of hoping that she got pulled over for DUI while in Kentucky."
"Charlie!" Jane complained.
"What? I don't want anyone else getting hurt, her included."
Jane did not say anything for a while. She was quiet so long that Charles hoped rather than believed she might have fallen asleep. Just as he was starting to drift away, Jane turned over away from him and gave a sigh.
"What is it, Sweetie?" he asked her, yawning once he got the words out.
"I am just thinking about Pauline and Paul now. I knew she had a child, but I had no idea he was . . . " she struggled to decide on the right word as she knew that it was no longer proper to call someone like him retarded or mentally handicapped, but she wasn't sure what the right term was.
"Developmentally delayed?" Charles offered helpfully.
"Yes."
"Well, what of it?"
"I get the feeling that Pauline and Paul have been pretty isolated. It isn't right."
"You are right, it is not. But we can be their friends. I liked Pauline before, and I like Paul, too."
"Okay, good, because I want to invite them over for dinner next week."
"Fine by me," Charles replied.
Jane turned to her husband and gave him a quick kiss. A few minutes later they were both asleep.