Thank you all so much for your reviews, you have no idea how warm and fuzzy it felt to get them!
You know something… I just love the new Mrs. Bennett!! She's lovely!
I'm afraid I'm not giving Jane much of a character at the moment, anybody got any ideas?? She can't be her normal self, it just doesn't fit.
Well, here we go…!
Chapter Two
"Elle? Have you finished your work? There's someone on the phone for you"
"Liz speaking, how can I help you?"
"Liz Regan? This is Hetty Smith, your client; I just wanted to know If you're going to be meeting with 'that man's' lawyer?"
"Yes I am" Elle said, completely baffled
"I cannot allow this. You have no right to be fraternizing with the enemy. You are totally out of line."
"Mrs. Smith." Elle sighed "I have to meet with Darcy, just to see if we can agree on something that you two can't. It's not about what you two are doing, or anything, it's about costs should the other side win."
"If you insist" sniffed 'Hetty' "We're still meeting at 3pm tomorrow?"
"Yes" Elle could completely understand why 'Bob' was divorcing Hetty; she was a really horrible woman. Elle knew that she was sometimes rather cold to her fellow lawyers, but she didn't think she'd go as far as to try and get 94million divorce money out of a loving husband, citing mental abuse.
The phone on the other end clicked as Hetty rang, and Elle clicked her tongue in disgust.
She searched in her memory for a number and dialed it. She'd known since she was six that she was unlike people for remembering things.
"William Darcy" the deep voice answered.
Elle spoke to him and closed her phone. There was something about Mr. Darcy that she remembered. Where did she meet him before? As she was racking her brains, furious with herself for forgetting something that she instinctively knew was important, her phone rang again. This time it was her personal phone
"Elle speaking"
"'LO sis, I've finished unpacking in my room. How's yours?" Elle smiled at how her brother, Tom Bennett, had rung her despite the fact that he was only about 30ft away.
"I've been busy with work" she sighed "I'm beginning to really hate that Hetty woman. Do you like this house?"
"Is it how you remember it?" Tom asked; Elle had spent a summer with her aunt and uncle at Netherfield house before; now she was moving back with her family.
"It seems a lot smaller than I remember it" she smiled "But I was smaller then and saw things differently. It was a lovely summer then, and I remember there was a guy I hung out with a lot of the time. We agreed that we'd marry in the end." she laughed with her brother "I know, how sad is that?"
"How did you lose contact then?" Tom wanted to know, very interested as ever in his older sister's love life. He was a lot closer to her than he was to his other sister Jane and really wanted to be like Elle when he grew up. He was ten years younger than the twins.
"I was younger than you" Elle explained "It just happened; as we knew we'd never meet again" she caught the spark in her brother's eye and added "Don't you even think about trying to get us together again!"
Tom didn't make any promises, and he secretly resolved to disobey his sister and try and make her meet this Will Darren somebody. Elle said that she remembered his first name but his surname escaped her completely.
"How can you forget something as important as that?" he'd wanted to know
"Because it's no longer important to me in my mind, so the memory has been chucked out, I suppose"
"But Elle... you remember everything!!" Tom said surprised "The thought of you forgetting that is amazing! The guy must have really been unimportant to you"
"Tom, I think the reason why I've forgotten is because it did matter to me, unlike all those cold hard facts and horrible numbers. Tom - I know that this other lawyer really despises me, do you think I'm a horrible person?" she asked tentatively
"Of course not!" Tom hugged her "I think you're funny, nice and although a bit reserved, you're very kind and cool!"
Elle hugged him back "Thanks Tom, you're a lifesaver. I'm so tired with this case and this horrible lawyer. I wish I was fighting for Bob, not Hetty"
"Are you ever going to tell me who they are?"
"You'll find out in the end when they go public with their divorce, but by then there will not be as much of a field day as there was with Paul and Heather."
"Are they famous?"
"Of course they are, but they're horrible people. Why don't you go to bed, I've got some more case notes to make and then I'll go to bed. You know, it's twelve years since I slept here"
"Oh really? Well, I've got to go; my gameboy's probably getting a little lonely!"
They both laughed and said goodnight.
"I wish I smoked" said Elle to herself when Tom had gone "Then I would have something to stop me feeling so nervous!"
She was very worried about the meeting the following day, but would never have admitted it. This William Darcy sounded like no pushover, and she'd probably end up having a shouting match with him like she usually did with obnoxious legal representatives.
She crossed to her window - looking outside at the dark town reminded of how Will had showed her he could see her window from his room, even though they were over a mile apart.
Will Darcy! Oh! - remember his mother!! What a stupid woman she was!" then she corrected herself "Will Darcy is the lawyer, what am I saying?"
"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know!" Jane said from Elle's door
"Jane!!" Elle flew to hug her "When did you get back. Did you bring Charlie to see me? How's work?" She bombarded her sister with questions
"No, Charlie lives around here, and he'll see me later, I didn't take him here because then he'd have known that I was Jane Bennett, esq., not Dr. Jane Carter who works with him."
"I think this idea of having a different last name is going to get somebody into serious trouble sometime. If you have a serious relationship with Charlie and get married, how're you gonna explain that you lied to him all this time??"
"I'll tell him sometime soon" Jane sighed "How're you keeping?? Still got this horrible William Darcy guy on the line telling you what to do and how to run your case?"
"I'm meeting him tomorrow, so I'm feeling rather jittery"
"Why? You never get nervous!" Jane laughed in surprise
"Well, there is something vaguely familiar about him, and I know that I'll just get angry and probably throw coffee all over his best suit. He sounds such a jerk!!"
"You've never thrown coffee all over someone yet" Jane soothed "I highly doubt you're going to start now. Now, go to bed!"
In the morning, Mrs. Bennett snuck into Elle's room at 5:30
"Elle darling? It's time you got up - you've got all that paperwork to do before you leave"
Elle rolled over in bed as her mum plugged Elle's stereo into the wall and tuned it to her daughter's favourite morning channel. As she began to turn the lights on, she heard a muffling sound from the bed that sounded distinctly like someone saying
"I don't wanna get up. Today's gonna be horrible"
Mrs. Constance Bennett smiled to herself and pulled the covers off her oldest daughter. "You'd better get up if you're going to get a morning run done before breakfast."
"Mum?" Elle looked very young and vulnerable, and it pulled at Constance's heartstrings seeing her daughter in a situation where she could hardly sleep at night, and was working her heart out.
"Yes, Ellie?" she smoothed her daughter's hair back
"What happens if I lose this case? What happens if Hetty turns round and really does sue me because I lost the case?? She's threatened so many times. She's taking over my whole case. What happens then?" she was very frustrated
Constance got up from the bed and began to fold the clothes that were lying on the floor
"Ellie" she said, using her special nickname for her daughter "You've never lost a case before, and even if Hetty does sue you, everyone including your usual clients can testify that you've worked so hard for this case. You've stopped all your social events, and you've pulled every favour you have for this woman. Is she really worth it?? Can't you just walk away from the case??"
"No. I can't. I signed a contract that said I'd keep her secret and that I'd stay with the case until the end. I can't walk away. Oh Mum, please tell me what I can do"
Constance sighed "Sorry Ellie, I'm not a lawyer, but I'll look into it for you. Now get out of bed little girl and go and show them!" she left the room and Elle got up.
Tying back her long brown hair and pulling on her jogging clothes, she plugged in her MP4 and set off on a run round the unfamiliar block.
By nine O'clock she was in her Louis Vuitton business suit, clutching her laptop case.
"Good luck darling!" her Dad blew her kisses on his hurried rush out the door. "Make us proud of you!"
Her mother was more sensitive, hugging her daughter and brushing an imaginary piece of lint from her clothes.
"You'll be fine. Remember to repeat to yourself - 'What's the worst that can happen?'" then she smiled and added "And...'I must not hurt this man; I must not hurt this man!'
Elle laughed, more at her mother's impersonation of her than anything.
"Sure I will Mum. If I don't give you a call by 5, you know where the nearest police station is, don't you?"
Constance smiled and watched her daughter climb into her sleek black Porsche. She was very proud of her children and what they had turned out to be. Tom had been unexpected but a real blessing all the same and she knew that one day he'd be so like his father.
Elle watched her mother slowly close the front door, and put her car into reverse. She was off!