Chapter 18

During the interval between when Pauline and Paul left, and when Mrs. Bennet called Jane, Georgiana noticed that her brother looked rung out, therefore she told him, "Why don't you go take a little nap in the guest room?"

Normally, Darcy wasn't one for naps, but he was really feeling pretty awful and knew it was probably the result of the thorough soaking that he'd gotten. So without much protesting, he took himself off to the guest room. As the inflatable mattress had been put away for the day, he stretched out on the daybed and quickly fell asleep. When he awoke about an hour later, he felt even worse. He coughed several times and then sneezed once, twice, three times, and then had to blow his nose half a dozen times. Fortunately, in her hostessing duties, Jane had made sure there was a tissue box in each guest room, as well as one in the living room.

However, not wanting to be a poor guest, or miss any awake time with Elizabeth, Darcy forced himself to get up after it seemed as if he had gotten the worst of the mucus out. Thus, he was around to hear the summary of what had happened at the Bennets' home after his aunt and her minister arrived. Despite how he was feeling, Darcy was glad he was around to be the voice of reason when Anne discussed going back home. There was certainly no reason for her to think the situation was all her fault!

Although Darcy thought he was putting on a show of being well (sucking on a candy cane had stopped the worst of his coughing and he had repressed most of his yawns), Georgiana was not fooled. "Will, you don't look well at all. Maybe you ought to take yourself off to bed. Maybe you should take the guest room."

"Gigi, you don't have to mother me. I am just fine!" Darcy insisted a little too vehemently. However, within the count of ten he was sneezing and then blowing his nose.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked. She had already suspected he was not well.

"Allergies," Darcy excused. "No big deal."

Jane and Elizabeth had a quick whispered conversation in the kitchen. Elizabeth said, "I am worried Darcy is getting sick and just won't admit it. I knew I shouldn't have let him give me his coat. You saw how wet he was when we got back here, despite Pauline turning the car heat on maximum and the fan on high."

"Maybe he is getting sick, but what can we do about it?" Jane replied, eyes wide. Even though objectively she knew she hadn't done anything wrong, still it felt like a hostess failure to have a sick guest under her watch. "I would give him all the medication he would take, but I doubt he will take it."

"You can put medicine out on the kitchen counter and maybe he will help himself later." Elizabeth suggested.

"Maybe." Jane went to her medicine cabinet. In the process of gathering up everything she could think of, she came across some generic diphenhydramine (Benadryl), too, with its pink cap that indicated the pink medicine inside, and added to the pile that was so big it required her to put it all in a shoe box.

When she returned, Jane set each item on the counter and then handed the bottle of the little pink pills to Elizabeth. "These are also put in separate packaging to be sold as a sleep aid, and Darcy did say it was allergies, so he should be willing to take allergy medicine, right? Lizzy, if you can get him to take that, perhaps he will at least fall asleep. I will suggest that the rest of us all turn in for the night."

"Good idea!" Elizabeth enthused, promptly fetching a glass of water to present to Darcy with the medicine. He did take a pink allergy pill, but fearing that he might infect his girlfriend of less than one day, when he settled down to sleep he placed his head at the opposite end of the couch from the loveseat.

When Jane suggested, "I think we should get some sleep, for those of us going to see the Gardiners have to get up fairly early to get to Indianapolis for brunch," her guests immediately began readying themselves for bed.

Caroline, Georgiana and Anne were in the guest room together again. Georgiana, who could see that Anne was still out of sorts forced false enthusiasm into her voice to say, "Yay! We get to have another sleepover with Caro!" With a decided look at Caroline, Georgiana asked, "Aren't you excited, Caro?"

Caroline got the hint. "Oh yes! We will have so much fun." She doubted that, recalling how she felt like a third wheel the night before.

Anne, who did not have much experience with people being disingenuous, brightened up right away, her slightly down-turned mouth curving up in a smile. "What shall we do this time?"

Given that Caroline's luggage had arrived earlier that day, she had an idea. "I have some sheet face masks. They make your skin feel so nice afterwards."

As the other women did not seem to understand how generous Caroline was being (the masks cost about fifteen dollars a piece), Caroline tried with another suggestion. "Or, if you are up for staying awake for a while, we can give each other mani-pedis, you know, trim and shape each other's nails and toenails and then paint them. I have a clipper, nail scissors, emery boards and three different colors of polish in my bag, plus the one that I borrowed from Louisa on Thursday."

Anne examined Caroline closely. "But your fingernails are already painted."

"But not my toenails." Caroline wiggled her shapely toes. She was very glad her fingernails were already painted because while Georgiana might do okay, she could not even begin to imagine what a mess Anne would make of trying to use polish for probably the first time.

"Oh, okay. Let's do that." Anne decided.

Caroline pulled out a Gucci makeup bag that was instead filled with her nail kit and began laying all the option out on the day bed. There were a lot more tools than she had listed, but of most interest to Anne were the polishes. Caroline pulled out a deep red polish, a light blue polish, and a pink polish, then adding the brown polish she had borrowed from her sister.

An hour later, Caroline surveyed the results. Despite her best efforts, Anne had been determined to do Caroline's pedicure. She insisted "Now don't look. I want you to be surprised."

Caroline admitted to herself that Anne had done a good job. She had shaped Caroline's toe nails nicely and the polish was smooth, even, and had not gotten on Caroline's skin at all. The only bad part was that Anne had decided to use every color. Each of Caroline's toes on each foot, save for big ones, was painted a different color. But then, given the bigger canvas on the big toe, Anne had really gotten creative, dividing the big toe on a diagonal to form two triangles and putting two different colors on each toe. It was not to Caroline's taste at all, but she consoled herself with the fact given the season, she only had closed toe shoes with her and that she could get it all off with nail polish remover when she flew back on Sunday.

Georgiana, seeing what Anne was doing on Caroline, had attempted something similar on Anne's fingernails, but she had just alternated the red and the pink shades. Caroline had done Anne's feet with just the blue and Georgiana's hands with just the pink. Georgiana had already had a glittery polish on her toes, so they were left alone.

While they were waiting for the polish to be completely dry, Caroline applied the sheet masks to herself and the other women. She felt herself relaxing as she smelled the cucumber, mint and eucalyptus, even before she got her own mask on. All Caroline wanted to do was close her eyes and let the masks do their work, but Anne immediately commented, "We look like three ghosts; can I take our picture and post it on Facebook?"

From the way Caroline's shoulders went up, Georgiana could tell that this suggestion was making Caroline tense. So naturally, even though she was not all that eager to have her picture taken while looking that way, Georgiana decided it would be fun to make Caroline do the refusing. So Georgiana said, "Let's do it!"

Georgiana was pretty sure Caroline would rather dye her hair green (or pick her nose in public) rather than post that sort of picture, and was just waiting for what excuse Caroline would come up with to get out of it, but Caroline surprised her by saying "Okay, but only if we can take a picture tomorrow, too, with all of us wearing makeup. It can be a before and after.

"We'll do each other's makeup, too?" Anne half asked, half exclaimed. "I can't wait!"

Of course that was not what Caroline intended. She imagined being made up like a clown and initially wanted to push the brakes on that idea, but seeing Anne's happy face and recalling how sad she had looked before, Caroline did not have the heart to refuse Anne. "Okay."

When their nails were rock hard and their faces cleansed, it was finally time to get the air mattress inflated again. Once that was done, Anne asked "Caroline, would you share this bed with me? Gigi, you can take the day bed."

While an inflatable mattress was surely inferior to an actual one, Caroline did not hesitate. Saying "no" might make Anne's improved mood vanish and the more Caroline had said "yes" to Anne, the easier it was each time. Anne seemed to have no guile or agenda, but to enjoy herself trying new things.

Surprisingly, Caroline wanted Anne to like her, not to impress Darcy or to get something out of Anne, but simply to please Anne. "Okay, Anne, if you are sure you wouldn't rather bunk with your cousin."

Anne replied, "I'm sure. Gigi is great, but I've known her forever and she has to be friends with me because we are cousins. But you are my friend just because."

Caroline felt quite warm inside when Anne called her a friend. Things had sure shifted from when she had inadvertently insulted Anne's rolls the night before. Caroline couldn't remember the last time someone had called her a friend and meant it.

Then Anne added, "Also, if my mom comes back I want you right next to me to protect me. And if I take the left side of the mattress, the side next to the bed, if Mom gets into the house I can roll off the mattress and hide under the bed. I liked hanging out with Pauline and Paul, but I don't want to have to go out the window at night and I'm not sure if I could get there in the dark. Besides, I want to talk with you!"

Caroline then looked over at Georgiana, "Is that okay with you, Gigi?"

Georgiana was generally a generous girl and so even though she felt a twinge of disappointment that Anne had picked Caroline over her, she brushed it aside and said, "Are you kidding? I get the good bed? Fine by me."

Caroline found some of her subsequent conversation with Anne decidedly odd, but patiently answered various questions Anne had about what it was like to have a job, live on her own and live in New York City until they both fell asleep.

The next morning, once again Darcy and Elizabeth woke up early. After the first four and one half hours of the night, Darcy had not slept well, having to frequently blow his nose (fortunately there was both a large box of tissues and waste basket in the living room, which he stationed to the side of the couch). When morning came he had to admit to himself that this was no allergy attack. Darcy was convinced he'd at least caught a violent cold if not the flu. Elizabeth, on the other hand had slept like a log, oblivious to Darcy's suffering not because she didn't care but because all the travel, walking and emotional upheaval had caught up to her. But, pursuant to her regular body clock, she was up for good at about the same time as Darcy concluded a final cat-nap.

Even in the dim light, Elizabeth immediately noticed the overflowing waste basket and the almost empty box of tissues. When she saw Darcy stir, she asked "What can I get you?"

Darcy, whose head ached, had no wish to deny any longer that he was sick, or to decide. "Whatever you think would help," he croaked. Even these few words set off a coughing fit and then he began to shiver. Darcy groaned. Now he had the chills?

Elizabeth drew near and Darcy could see that her curls were messy and she had a little white streak of dried drool on one side of her mouth. She was adorable in a rumpled sort of way.

Elizabeth leaned forward, brushed Darcy's wavy hair back off his forehead and then touched Darcy's damp forehead with the back of her hand. "You are burning up! I could fry an egg on you." She paused and considered, "That'd be a different kind of egg on one's face."

Before Darcy could think of a response, Elizabeth hurried off. Darcy closed his eyes and savored the memory of her cool hand against his sweaty forehead.

A minute later, Elizabeth gave Darcy a three pills, which he took without any hesitation. She asked, "Aren't you curious as to what I gave you?"

"No, I'm sure you know what I need."

She told him anyway, while unwrapping a cough drop for him, "I gave you the real (behind the counter at the pharmacy) Sudafed, Mucinex, and ibuprofen, and here's a Ricola."

"My favorite," he said, holding out his hand. While Darcy sucked on the cough drop, Elizabeth left, taking the waste basket with her. She returned with an empty waste basket, then tissues, followed by an extra blanket and then a thermometer.

Darcy thanked Elizabeth when she returned with each new item, even though she told him after the third time "You sound awful, poor dear; there's no need for you to thank me every time."

She took his temperature under his underarm, trying to be all professional about it; he was sick after all, she shouldn't be admiring his muscular biceps and shoulder. When it beeped and Elizabeth retrieved it, she read in disbelief, "101.5, yikes! That translates to 102.5 Fahrenheit oral temperature which is pretty high for this early in the morning. Hopefully, though, the ibuprofen will get that temperature down. I will check it later. If it doesn't go down, we can alternate with Tylenol."

Elizabeth fetched Darcy a cold wet cloth for his forehead, but before she applied it, she bent down and gave him a quick kiss on a spot just above his eyebrows. It was finished before he even processed the cool sensation he felt, before it was replaced by the larger swath of wet cloth.

"Thanks, Lizzy," he told her.

Elizabeth liked the sound of her name on his lips, liked hearing it every time he thanked her, even though it all sounded scratchy. She remembered him whispering it as he held her after an especially long kiss the night before. Her name had sounded like it was half praise and half supplication.

Elizabeth then sat down on the loveseat, writing something down in notebook.

"What are you doing?" Darcy croaked again. He wanted something cool to drink and wondered what could be so important.

"Writing my next best selling novel," Elizabeth said with a serious face. She could only hold that mien for a few moment before she smiled and told him the truth, "Actually, I am making a record of what I gave you and when, along with your temp. That way I don't give you anything too close together or too far apart. I learned to do that with my sisters when they got sick. Kitty especially seemed to catch every bug around."

Darcy was quiet until she finished and set down the notebook. He really didn't want to bother her, but he was thirsty.

Fortunately, Elizabeth asked, "Is there anything else you need?"

"Do you think there is any cold 7-up, or apple juice?" Darcy's mind immediately went to the drinks his mother used to give him when he was sick, the same drinks he had given Georgiana when she got sick after their parents were gone.

"I'll go check."

Elizabeth returned with a tall glass with a straw. The glass was filled with something that looked like bubbly apple juice and there were a few cubes of ice at the top. "It is sparkling apple cider from the Thanksgiving dinner; that's the best I could find."

Darcy sipped. It felt good on his sore throat. "Thanks," he murmured.

"Anything else?"

"Maybe some TV?"

Elizabeth found a marathon of Friends and put that on. Within fifteen minutes, Darcy had finished the cider and had fallen asleep.

Seeing her chance, Elizabeth showered and got dressed. Then she sat on the loveseat and thought as the laugh track played in the background. Elizabeth had been planning on taking Darcy (and maybe Georgiana) with her and Jane to see the Gardiners, but obviously Darcy should not go anywhere. She could go herself with Jane and leave Georgiana to take care of her brother (likely with the help of Caroline, and wouldn't that woman love that, Darcy would be a captive audience), but that did not sit well with her. Shouldn't a girlfriend care for her boyfriend when he got sick? They might have only decided yesterday that they were dating, but given that he had either taken ill or had gotten worse from giving her his coat, she felt responsible. Too, she found that she wanted to care for him.

Her decision made up, Elizabeth went into the kitchen. Jane had boiled the carcass of the turkey all Thursday night and it waited in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Elizabeth brought the container to the table along with a large pot and the garbage can. She washed her hands thoroughly and then began the laborious task of picking out all the bones, cartilage and weird little bits that no one would want to eat. It took a long time as she had to take every chunk and press and separate it between her fingers as some of the turkey bones were very small.

The work was almost meditative and as Elizabeth worked she found herself reviewing all the events of the previous day. She especially focused on her walk with Darcy. Their walk back in the rain would not have taken nearly so long had they not taken several kissing breaks where they paused under whatever protective shelter they were passing to lock lips. There had been a deserted bus stop, where she had dragged him under the glassed in roof and sides to kiss him on the cold metal bench; they had stayed long enough to thoroughly fog up the glass. Next, there had been the awning of a closed vacuum and sewing machine repair shop (she would not have known what it was if not for noticing a vintage Electrolux vacuum and two ancient Singer sewing machines in the display window when Darcy's back had been pressed against it). Finally, for almost an hour they had stayed inside a 24 hour laundry (they were the only ones there but for a snoring attendant behind the counter), kissing while sitting in white plastic seats next to the Formica folding table and a vending machine containing one load boxes of laundry detergent, fabric softer and dryer sheets whose size had reminded Elizabeth of those toy food boxes that little kids placed with as part of kitchen sets. They had joked about drying their clothes off then, but all the machines only took coins and neither of them had either change or dollars for the change machine.

All those lovely kisses had been wonderful, but if Darcy had been getting sick then, she had likely caught his virus as well. That was another good reason not to go visit the Gardiners.

While Elizabeth continued to work, she fell into a sort of reverie in which she imagined kissing Darcy on the couch, in the kitchen, on the deck. He was such a good kisser, never rushing, never pushing, seemingly content to savor every little movement, just being with her. She recalled his gentle nibbles on her lips, the almost delicate swipe of his tongue, the firm yet soft way he grasped her neck, her back.

Elizabeth also imagined Darcy visiting her at the new apartment she would be sharing with Charlotte. She would meet him at the door and they would kiss before he even entered. Then they would walk and kiss until they sat down on Charlotte's red couch. Perhaps when they were tired of kissing, they would just lie in each other's arms, content to just feel the other's warmth, the rise and fall of breathing.

But then the fantasy fell apart. Elizabeth wasn't even sure Darcy would ever see that apartment. He would be back in New York City soon, doing whatever a CEO did in his office at the top of that skyscraper while she finished out her last semester at school and waited for an acceptance to one of the Manhattan graduate programs that might never come. What had they been thinking deciding to date when they lived so far from one another. How was it all supposed to work?

It took her almost a hour, to make sure every little nasty bit was gone from the turkey remains, but when she was finally satisfied, Elizabeth began working on the vegetables to add to the pot: onions, carrots and celery. She then put the pot with the turkey and veggies into the fridge. There was no point in starting to cook it at 8 a.m.

Elizabeth lay back down on the loveseat and watched Darcy sleep more than she watched the current episode of Friends that was playing. It was the episode when Rachel was jealous of Ross dating Phoebe's friend, Bonnie, who was supposed to be bald (as she had been before), but showed up and was all gorgeous, with pretty hair. Elizabeth remembered how Rachel talked Bonnie into shaving her head again. She also remembered the letter Rachel wrote Ross and how he fell asleep reading it, but then didn't get to the end, and didn't know he was acknowledging cheating on her rather than them being "on a break."

Thinking of Rachel's letter reminded Elizabeth of the long Facebook message Darcy had written to her after she had called him out on his atrocious behavior. She had not answered him, had not known what to say and did not even know if it mattered. She had not expected to see him again given that he and his friend had left Kentucky and were unlikely to be back, and she had no intention of ever visiting the Rosings Plantation again.

Then when the Gardiners talked her into considering New York graduate schools, and of course she knew in the back of her mind that this was his city, too, she thought the odds of running into anyone in a city of some eight million was extremely unlikely. But then, on her visit to the City, he had just happened to be there. What were the odds? She recalled then the horrible phone call she had received, just when it had seemed that she and Darcy were getting to be friends and maybe something more.

Thinking of the phone made Elizabeth remember that she had left her phone charging in the kitchen last night. When she retrieved it and entered the code, she immediately bit her lip when she saw that she had seventeen text messages waiting for her, but relaxed a little when she saw who they were from. Her mom tended to text a couple of lines, send, and then text whatever next thing occurred to her. Elizabeth really hated her mom doing that, because when she had bad reception, like out here in the country, she tended to get the texts out of order, and sometimes one would pop up hours later.

Elizabeth scrolled through the texts, skimming past complaints regarding a clogged toilet, the damaged tree and her hurt feelings when Mr. Collins went to go see the Lucases, but had to stifle a laugh when her mother commented about Charlotte's grasping ways in trying to secure a boyfriend. Charlotte date Mr. Collins? Impossible, never!

But then Elizabeth's phone loaded the picture of the slanted tree with her cousin's car's front end crushed, the hood in an unnatural vee shape, a wheel and tire at such a strange angle that she feared the car had broken an axle, she could not help but gasp.

Elizabeth watched with horrified fascination as the next picture loaded. This one showed the whole back trunk area caved in. The damage was much worse then she had been expecting, knowing that her mother was prone to exaggeration.

Darcy stirred when he heard Elizabeth's gasp, as if he had been listening for any sound from her. He forced his eyes open when it was followed by an inhaled sound of dismay. He was glad to note that he felt somewhat better, the medicines and the nap must have done him good. Darcy saw a little worry line form on Elizabeth's forehead and wished he could touch it with his finger and ease it away. As for her biting of her lip, that just reminded him how wonderful it had been to kiss her.

"Bad news?"

Elizabeth said, "Oh, you are awake?" She glanced at the clock, "You slept a couple of hours." She then brought the phone over for him to see the pictures.

"Wow, that's just . . . I think that car is totaled. I'm glad no one was in it." Darcy commented.

"For sure," Elizabeth rejoined. As much as she disliked her cousin, she certainly did not wish him harmed.

Elizabeth sat back down on the loveseat, scrolled through the rest of the messages and summarized the highlights for Darcy. "The police did come and take a report and said they would contact the highway patrol. Collins called his insurance company, but without info on her license or insurance company, there is not much that can be done until he gets that, as he didn't have collision coverage. The poor guy mistakenly had comprehensive instead, which would have covered a tree limb falling on his car, but not this." She scrolled further, and finding nothing else of interest, set her phone aside.

"I wonder if Anne would know her mother's license plate number or insurance company," Darcy responded.