-1Chapter 18- Dinner With The Family
Marshall had determined early on that the best avenue to pestering his cousin was through Lizzy, and this had the added benefit of spending time with Lizzy. Therefore, when it came time for the evening meal and one of his aunt's examples of pretension rang the dinner gong, he stood quickly to offer and arm to Lizzy and Anne so that Will was left to escort his Aunt to the table. He steered the women to sit on either side of him, while Will and the Collins sat opposite and Catherine once again sat regally at the head of the table. He winked mischievously at Charlotte who tossed her hair and hid a smirk as she saw he had positioned Lizzy furthest from Catherine so that she would be opposite Will.
Will sat down with a thoughtful frown and glanced enquiringly at his cousin who smiled toothily and turned away from Lizzy suddenly to converse with Anne. Lizzy was staring around the room with interest, noting the oriental rugs, the weathered mahogany antiques and the elaborate decorations of the room.
"My Aunt feels that money is something that needs to be flourished." Will supplied, feeling awkward, as they were the only two not speaking. He flushed and looked at the dish being placed before him as she turned her attention on him.
"Unlike the way you drive your flashy red Porsche around a small town." Lizzy smirked, her eyes flashing an amused emerald.
Will blushed, and muttered something about it having been a gift from his father. Marshall chose this moment to turn about and start talking to Lizzy again.
"So my dear, you and Will are dear acquaintances are you? Are you all caught up?" He leaned cons irately towards Lizzy, leaning an elbow on the back of her chair and a hand on her shoulder. "Will had some very interesting things to say about you, kitten."
Lizzy giggled and swatted Marshall away, "I'm sure Will had nothing good to say about me. But if that's the game he's going to play," she glanced up at Will with an eyebrow raised in cheek. "I could tell you some very interesting stories about him and his most scandalous behaviour in Hertfordshire."
"Oh Scandal!" Marshall ignored Will's glare and flapped his hand around doing a poor impression of a stereotype gay man, "I do so love scandal!" He looked so flamboyant and theatrical that Lizzy let out a very unladylike snort and a peal of laughter. Will fought a smile brought on by her contagious laughter and couldn't help but stare at how pretty she looked with her hair straightened long about her shoulders, her pale skin flushed and glowing while her eyes sparkled.
"What is going on down there?" Catherine's voice cut through the conversation and Lizzy stopped laughing abruptly, her face tight with mirth. "I demand to know what is so funny? What did you say William?"
"Nothing Aunt." Will pulled into his shell once again.
"Is that so?" Catherine looked disbelievingly at the young people at the far end of the table and turned her eye upon Lizzy.
"Did you know Elizabeth Jane, that my Anne is going to Melbourne University? She is doing the juris doctorate and is in her second year. Quite an accomplishment. She is so good at everything she does, if her health had allowed her she could have been a great athlete or an accomplished musician like William's dear sister Georgiana." Catherine stared at Lizzy, as if daring her to compete.
"Wow, Melbourne University? That is my dream uni. I wanted to do a new generation bachelor of arts there if I missed journalism at RMIT. It's a wonder though, that Anne can travel so far for her studies, and she must be very determined to overcome her health issues."
Anne smirked at this and winked at Lizzy, "From what Will has told us, you're smart enough to get in with room to spare."
Lizzy blushed slightly, glancing at Will whose eyes widened realising she was catching him staring, "I'm sure you misunderstood him, I'm a mediocre student at best. I don't really have the commitment to my work to be really good."
"Ha!" Charlotte snorted, "Lizzy and Jane are not only the prettiest girls back home, they are the smartest, the most talented and the most determined. They both top their classes, Lizzy is into music and Jane loves to paint, and when it comes to uni applications they are shoe ins."
Lizzy flushed, as all eyes turned back to her, something that made Will smile. He liked that she was modest. She could play to a room of people but she was shy when it came to commendation of her own skills, it made him like her even more.
"Music? What kind of music?" Catherine asked, her eyes narrowed at Charlottes praise, no insolent child could be more accomplished than her own child!
"Oh it's nothing real-" Lizzy was cut off by both Will and Charlotte who simultaneously answered;
"She plays piano-"
"She's a killer on guitar-"
They looked at each other and Will read a silent warning in Charlotte's eyes, one that read that Charlotte would always take Lizzy's side but that she would help him. He wondered how she could possibly know, but then, women always seemed to know what they should not.
Lizzy blushed a bright red, and squirmed as Marshall praised her, but raising an eye to see Catherine, she saw the old dragon glaring maliciously at her, the independent and vivacious Lizzy rose to the surface again, she flicked her hair over her should and with a scandalously seductive smile she leaned forward to address Will, sensing him to be Catherine's weak spot.
"William! Please, you're embarrassing me!" She sent a wink his way, hoping he would play along. Will saw only her flirtatious manner and his head swam. He had noticed Lizzy for her untameable beauty and continued to watch her for her lively spirit.
"No, it's true!" Will sat up in his chair, and Anne turned a giggle into a cough at his excitement, "She sings beautifully, especially when she places guitar. It's soulful, she plays piano well too. Not as well as guitar, which she plays like an it's a part of her." Will was gushing and Lizzy giggled playfully and flicked her hair, thinking he was playing along.
"Will," she reached across the table and touched his hand, "Stop it." She flicked a glance towards Catherine, to see the woman fuming while Charlotte, Anne and Marshall were red faced with repressed laughter and Billy was glancing confusedly about the room.
"Well, if the young lady is as proficient as everyone seems to think, maybe she should play something for us." Catherine threw down her napkin and rose graceful, gesturing widely at the grand piano. Lizzy rose and accepted Marshall's arm as he escorted her to the piano. Before Lizzy could sit down before the piano, Will cried out and disappeared. Reappearing moments later, his acoustic guitar in hand.
"Let her play guitar," He smiled and held it out to her. Lizzy returned the smile, raising an eyebrow at his eagerness, and taking it as a sign that he wanted his aunt taken down a notch.
"This is a song by a woman named Hope. It is called "Bring Me Flowers." Everyone took seats around her, Catherine in her thrown, Charli and Billy on the loveseat, Will sitting in the nearest chair and Marshie and Anne sitting on the floor. With a soft smile Lizzy placed the guitar gently on her lap, and began to sing in a beautiful husky voice, her eyes half closed and her face upturned.
"I haven't got a clue if you're the one.
But I like you.
And ohh I like how you make me feel.
I want to do this right.
Don't want to waste this night.
But, I'm drowning.
Drowning in your love."
Will watched with awe, at Lizzy's radiance as she sang. He could see how much she loved music, and loved to play. She swayed slowly, and half smiled at him when she turned to glance at him, and he felt his heart constrict.
"Bring me flowers and talk for hours.
And ohh I like you,
And ohh I like how you make me feel.
Kiss my face,
Your warm embrace.
And ohh I like you,
And ohh I like how you make me feel."
The way she bit her lip as she sang and smiled sent Will's mind into a whirl, he had never thought that Lizzy was the kind of girl who could be romanced with flowers and chocolate, but why else would she sing like this? Sing this song at her.
"I'm a little scared to hold you close.
Cause I just might never ever let you go.
Caught up in your smile,
I'm happy as a child.
But I'm still drowning, drowning in your love.
Bring me flowers and talk for hours.
And ohh I like you,"
Surely she chose this song for him, to make him realise how she felt about him. It seems that behind that confident front, was a shy girl wanting to be loved.
"And ohh i like how you make me feel.
Kiss my face,
Your warm embrace.
And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel.
Your heart cares for nothing, every time.
And I'm just takin', takin' you in.
Caught up in your smile,"
Charli glanced at Will and hid a smile, using her foot to direct Anne's gaze in the same direction, the women shared a smile and Anne leaned back "He's going to fall fast, I hope she realises what she's doing."
"Not a chance," Charli whispered back, "Love was never Lizzy's forte, she's oblivious to it." Anne smiled sadly, hoping that it would work out.
"I'm happy as a child.
But I'm still drowning, drowning in your love.
Bring me flowers and talk for hours.
And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel.
Kiss my face,
Your warm embrace."
Marshie pulled out his mobile and held it above his head to sway, earning a laugh from Lizzy as she sang.
"And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel.
Bring me flowers and talk for hours.
And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel.
Close my eyes and dream for miles.
And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel."
Catherine watched this all with a sharp eye, especially the way her nephew watched the young woman with stars in his eyes. This would not do, it could never be.
"Bring me flowers and talk for hours.
And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel.
Kiss my face,
Your warm embrace.
And ohh i like you,
And ohh i like how you make me feel."
Lizzy finished to applause from her friends, and a flippant, "Oh that's very quaint, but the piano is so much more of an accomplishment," from Catherine, "Dear Georgiana practises studiously."
Lizzy smiled and handed Will his guitar before turning to play Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, in a slightly broken but still beautiful tune. She finished with a flourish, and Catherine's eyes lit up.
"Play us another dear Elizabeth."
Lizzy smiled at the older woman, before excitedly stating, "It's the only classical piece I know."
"Surely not! Where is your Bach? Beethoven? For Gods sake girl, play some Handel at least!" Catherine was shocked that the girl could have the potential but not the desire to be such a musician and it was just another strike against the girl in her book.
"I'm sorry Mam, but I just don't have the patience with the piano to ever be proficient at it." Lizzy's lips twitched, and Marshie's eyes flashed seeing the opportunity for mischief.
"Lizzy darling!" He cried extravagantly, "How can you improve without practice?"
"That's true," Will said, "Practice would improve your skills." Poor Fitzwilliam, managed to fill that statement just the right mixture of superiority, pride and disdain, in his endeavour not to sound too eager to please her. His tactic was to seem mysterious and to grasp attention by not grovelling as everyone else always did. Unfortunately, Will assumed that everyone appreciated his attention; any attention was good attention, wasn't it?
"You could say that," Lizzy responded slowly, "But I chose what areas to focus on, I ensured my basics were adequate so I could improve where my interests lay. Some do not even manage that."
Lizzy, Marshall and Will had stood to talk, and slowly drifted from the group.
Marshall saw an opportunity and asked, "Who would that be?"
"I told you earlier that I had news on Will?" Marshall nodded, and Will flushed. "His behaviour in Hertfordshire was atrocious!"
"Atrocious!" MArshall echoed.
"Atrocious," Lizzy confirmed with a sage nod. "Why upon our first meeting, at a party, he saw fit to snub every woman and man present! Nary did a person leave that party without feeling snubbed!"
"Snubbed!"
Will frowned, wishing to explain himself, "I'm not a people person. I'm not sure how to talk to strangers."
"Exactly sir!" Lizzy responded, with a finger in the air, using the other hand to silence Marshall before he mimicked her again. "You do not have adequate people skills. You have all the talents that ought to make a very charismatic character, but you have not practiced well enough to use them. No adequate base."
Will frowned, understanding from whence she came, but feeling hurt nonetheless. Before he could defend himself Catherine called them over and announced that the Collins and their guest ought to leave, she was tired. But they might return in the morning and keep the young ones company. In fact, if Lizzy could come in the morning, she could accompany Marshall to the beach when Will took Anne. Neither Anne nor Will looked happy about this, but they chose to let it pass. The cousins bid their guests farewell as Catherine rose regally and swept from the room. Will directed Lizzy to the door with a hand on the small of her back, and she ignored it, seeing it as a sign of his pompous image of an uptight gentleman. At the door, she turned and kissed Anne's cheek, murmuring a desire to go shopping together, and meet up again in Melbourne. To Marshie she gave, or rather received, a bone crushing hug, and pecked his cheek, before smiling curtly at Will and hurrying to her room.
All in all, Will thought the night had been a success. He know knew his feelings for Lizzy were reciprocated and could be acted on, however inappropriate that may be.
Lizzy threw herself on the bed with a chuckle. Tonight had confirmed her opinion of Will as stuffy, had proved George's account of the old dragon, and made two very nice friends. Anne and Marshie were quite different to Will, she could not account for it. No matter, she thought, it is not as if Will wants to be friends anyway.
A/N I'm trying to fix up this page. I'm going to spend half an hour writing this story each night for the next few weeks. I've started exams so life is hectic as hell. Sorry.