The week after the Christmas party, Lizzie still drove Georgie home but she always had a reason why she couldn't hang out and do homework with her.
When she did the same thing on Wednesday, Georgie asked her, "Lizzie is something wrong?"
"No, nothing, I've just got to get home." She hated to lie to her friend but she still wasn't ready to see Will.
"Did you have a fight with Will?" Georgie desperately wanted to help her friend.
"Georgie, I don't want to talk to you about your brother."
When her friend had left, Georgie went to find Will in his office.
"Hey Munchkin, how was your day?" He asked absently, not looking up from his work.
"Great." She studied him for a minute before she asked, "Will, did you and Lizzie have a fight?"
"I'm not talking to you about my girlfriend." Darcy glanced up at his sister and shook his head.
"Sounds like you guys rehearsed your answers," Georgie complained with exasperation, "Lizzie said the same thing."
Will felt compassion for his sister and felt his heart fill with sorrow, "She's still avoiding the house then, I'm sorry about that, I know you miss her."
"If someone would just tell me what happened," Georgie insisted with a stomp of her foot and tightening of her mouth, "I might be able to help."
He looked at his sister and for some reason the truth escaped his lips, "I asked her to marry me."
"You did, that's fantastic." Georgie jumped on his lap and hugged him, "When are you getting married."
"Georgie, she refused me." She heard the catch of pain in his voice.
"Why."
"She said she doesn't love me." He shrugged and felt the unhappiness weighing heavily on his soul; he moved Georgie off his lap and stood, "She also called me an egotistical arrogant ass who is used to the world revolving around me. That was before she said that I was the last man in the world she would ever marry."
"And you're just going to give up, just like that, I thought you loved her."
"I do Georgie," Will sighed, "I'm not giving up, I would never give up on Elizabeth but I'm just trying to give her a little space. She was pretty angry after the party."
"You two are both idiots." Georgie shouted with barely restrained anger.
"I can't argue with that." Will hung his head and his shoulders drooped in misery.
After Georgie left him to his thoughts, he took control of his feelings and decided that tomorrow he was going to take action and win Elizabeth back.
With the anticipation of working things out with Elizabeth, the next day was one of the longest of Will Darcy's life. Even Bingley lost his temper with him a few times during the course of the day because he wasn't paying attention.
Will had decided that he would meet Elizabeth at the school so he could talk to her. The old saying came to his mind, 'If Mohamed will not come to the mountain the mountain would definitely go to Mohamed.'
As he waited in front of the school, he noticed Elizabeth and Georgie enter the parking lot. They were giggling about something.
When he approached them, he saw a cell phone in Georgie's hand and they seemed to be reading something and laughing.
"What is so funny?" He asked as he walked up to them.
"Nothing." Elizabeth and Georgie said together while Elizabeth started to take the phone out of Georgie's hand.
"Not so fast." He said as he intercepted the phone, "I like a good laugh too."
He perused what seemed to be an article from a prominent San Francisco newspaper. The headline read; Youth loses penis in a farming accident. He looked suspiciously at Elizabeth before he finished the article. It went on to state that Denny Saunders, a senior at Meryton High School in Napa had been the victim of a farming accident in which his penis was severed into lots of tiny pieces. An authority at the local hospital was quoted as saying, 'They could only find a teeny weenie piece of the victim's penis for reattachment but we did the best we could with what little he had.' The article also stated that when asked why his penis was exposed to farming equipment the youth said 'No comment' and refused to answer.
"What little he had." Will quoted and his eyes were tearing up from laughter but he tried to pull off serious when he said to Elizabeth, "I trust that you are responsible for this?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Elizabeth feigned innocence.
"You are brilliantly diabolical," Will shook with laughter, "Is it any wonder that I fell in love with you?"
Elizabeth shot him a warning look and his face flushed with embarrassment.
"The whole school is calling Denny 'Teeny Weenie'." Georgie laughed, "It's great."
"I will talk to you about this when we get home." He said pointedly to Elizabeth, "I'll follow you in my car to make sure you get there." He looked at Elizabeth and she nodded.
Once they arrived at the Darcy's house, Will ushered Elizabeth toward his study and told Georgie, "I want to speak to Elizabeth privately."
"Okay." Georgie said with a wink and ran upstairs.
"I told you that you didn't want to know what I did, remember I told you about 'plausible deniability'." Elizabeth said quickly as they entered the study.
"What I really want to know is how you were able to pull this off?" The amazement and amusement showed in his eyes, "The newspaper article actually looked real."
"It was real, a real mock-up anyway." She told him with pride, "I have a friend that works for the newspaper and who did the mock-up for me. The rest was just a matter of knowing the right computer geniuses that could send out a global e-mail to the school anonymously."
He looked at her suspiciously, "And does this friend happen to be a man?" His jealousy was barely contained below a slight veneer of control.
"Yes, he is." She said defensively, "He's a friend who graduated last year, do you have a problem with that?"
He struggled to keep the green-eyed monster at bay, "No, I guess not." His eyes were full of emotion when he spoke next, "Lizzie I know that I am an egotistical arrogant ass and I don't deserve you but please give me another chance." He begged her ardently.
"You also think the world revolves around you." She reminded him in a sarcastic voice.
"Yes I do and I'm not worthy of a woman as spectacular as you." His voice was silky as he strove to convince her.
"Will, you're impossible, we've only been dating for a short time and you've already got our lives all planned out. I bet you've even picked out our children's names. I can't live like that, I like to be asked and consulted."
He looked away sheepishly, knowing how closely she had come to the truth, but he still persisted, "Let me take you out tomorrow night, anywhere you want to go." He face lit up as he had an idea, "Maybe we could go away for the weekend. I just heard of this great spa in Sonoma, what do you say?"
"Go away with you for the weekend, yeah right; what kind of idiot do you think I am?" She answered cynically.
"Elizabeth, that's not what I meant." He ran his hand over his forehead with an impatient gesture.
"You didn't mean that you want to take me on some romantic spa weekend to Sonoma and have sex with me." Elizabeth openly mocked him.
"I'll get us separate rooms," Will cajoled in desperation, "Georgie can come with us. I just want to get away so that we can work through everything without any distractions. No work for me, no homework or parents for you."
"I'll think about it and we'll talk tomorrow. It's the last day of school before the Christmas holidays." She looked at him sternly, "But if I agree to go, Georgie comes with us and the two of us girls can share a room so you won't get any ideas." Lizzie stated her conditions firmly.
He picked her up and kissed her gently, "I will be on my best behavior, I promise." He said as he put her down.
"I'm going upstairs to hang out with Georgie now."
While Elizabeth was upstairs, Will found he was finally able to concentrate and get some work done. When she came back down he walked her out and kissed her goodbye.
Will was in a good mood at work the next day and Bingley wondered what had happened to change his mood so drastically.
Charles Bingley walked into his boss's office around mid-afternoon and when Darcy glanced up from his desk he saw that something was wrong.
"Charles, what is it?" Will asked with concern.
"The auditors found something in the books." Bingley's tone was grim.
"What is it?"
"They found that someone has been embezzling from the company and it's been going on for a long time."
"Do they know who did it?"
"Yes, it's Thomas Bennet." Bingley watched his friends face for his reaction.
"You've got to be kidding." Will exploded impatiently.
"No, he's taken at least two hundred thousand dollars since he's been working for the company."
"There's got to be some kind of mistake." Darcy was desperate for a plausible explanation.
"There's no mistake," Bingley sounded miserable, "They're not through either, the guys a brilliant accountant, he did a great job of hiding the misappropriations and they're still trying to unravel all of the books."
"Leave me alone for awhile; I need to think about what I'm going to do." He looked at Charles and asked, "Where is Mr. Bennet?"
"He's in his office." Charles was serious when he spoke, "Will, there's nothing that you can do. The board is going to meet on Monday and Thomas Bennet will be prosecuted for embezzlement."
"Charles, I've got to go see Mr. Bennet."
"What are you going to do?" Bingley asked uncertainly, wondering what his boss's intentions were.
"If she gives me the right answer, I might be able to take care of this." Will said mysteriously and walked from the room.
"Don't you mean he?" Bingley responded to an empty office.
Darcy strode into Mr. Bennet's office with an intensity that frightened the older man. "What can I do for you sir."
"The auditors have found out about the money." Darcy stated and Thomas Bennet slumped in his chair with defeat.
"I was afraid they might." The older man didn't even try to deny the truth.
"I've got a deal for you." Will said quietly, "I will replace the money for you if your daughter Elizabeth agrees to fly to Las Vegas with me this weekend, where we'll get married."
"But she's still in school." Thomas Bennet protested.
"I know but that can't be helped." Darcy explained, "The board is meeting on Monday and they will prosecute you. With you as my father-in-law they wouldn't want to drag my name through the mud because it would be bad for Pemberly Winery. I know this is unorthodox but it's the only way I can think of to stop you from going to jail."
"Why do you care if I go to jail?"
"Because I love Elizabeth and I don't want to see her or your family go through this, it would kill her."
"You've got my blessing if you can get her to agree." Her father agreed in a defeated tone.
"I've gotten to know you daughter quite well over the last month and I know that she would do anything for those she loves." He finished, "I will come by your house to meet Elizabeth after school and if she agrees, we'll get married tomorrow and on Monday, I will replace the money and talk to the board."
Mr. Bennet agreed and Will left the room with mixed emotions.
As he drove up to the Bennet home and saw Elizabeth's car in the driveway, a feeling of dread washed over him. Elizabeth is going to hate me for this. He squared his shoulders and walked to the door.
When Elizabeth answered, he asked her if he could speak with her in private. She led him to her father's study.
"Elizabeth," His voice was more calm than he felt, "Will you marry me?"
"Will, we've already been through this; I'm not going to marry you."
"You don't understand, Elizabeth we need to get married." His voice was desperate.
"I don't need to do anything." She was getting defensive.
"Go talk to your father; tell him that you've refused me." He commanded gently, "I'll wait here until you've talked to him."
Elizabeth located her father and said, "I've refused Mr. Darcy."
"If you don't marry him, I'll go to jail." He proceeded to explain to his daughter everything that had happened and finished with Darcy's plan to save him from jail.
"How much did you take?"
"I'm not sure but they already know about at least two hundred thousand."
"How are we ever going to repay that amount?"
"We can't and even if we could the board would still prosecute me and I would go to jail for the rest of my life. The only thing that can save me from that is if you marry Will Darcy this weekend."
"We don't have to get married, if we were engaged." Elizabeth tried to come up with another plan.
"It wouldn't work because you wouldn't be a Darcy and I wouldn't be his father-in-law. You've got to remember that the board has worked really hard to make Pemberly Winery synonymous with the Darcy family. You know family values and that sort of thing. To prosecute a member of his extended family would be unacceptable to them. It would in effect bring down the company." The sadness in his eyes was evident as he looked at his daughter, "Marrying Darcy is the only way that you can keep me out of jail."
Elizabeth nodded her head before she left her father, walked back to the study and told Will, "Okay, I'll marry you."
He pulled her to him in an embrace, "Elizabeth, I love you." He released her and pulled an engagement ring from his jacket pocket. With shaking fingers, he placed the ring on her finger. She didn't even notice the beautiful diamond ring surrounded by emeralds to match her eyes in a setting that Will had especially designed for her.
Once she agreed and the ring was on her finger Will was full of manic energy making plans, "You go upstairs and pack. Bring the white dress that you wore to the Christmas party; you can get married in that. I'll go home and get Georgie; I'll call and get the winery's jet fueled and ready to go in an hour."
She nodded her head in a daze, left the room and walked upstairs to pack.
Will was worried by her reaction but at least she hadn't yelled at him. She'll come around and we'll be happy together, we'll be a family.