Chapter 7

I'm an apostrophe

I'm just a symbol to remind you that there's more to see

I'm just a product of the system, a catastrophe

And yet a masterpiece, and yet I'm half-diseased

And when I am deceased

At least I go down to the grave and die happily

Leave the body and my soul to be a part of thee

I do what it takes

- Whatever It Takes, Imagine Dragons

Jane smiled as she leaned her head back against the couch cushions, hugging a pillow to her chest. "He's just what a man ought to be."

I eyed my dearest sister warily from my seat in the armchair and raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Jane had shown up, unannounced, at ten in the morning. I glanced at the clock on the mantle. It was only five minutes past the hour. It usually took a good thirty minutes of coercing to get my reticent sister to 'fess up to whatever was on her mind. This time, however, she had started pouring her heart out almost as soon as she walked through the door. Although, apparently, nothing was wrong on this occasion. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Charles. He's kind, caring, and compassionate. I've never met a man like him."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? You got all that from talking to him online?"

"Don't be so judgy," Jane frowned. "Besides, you're one to talk. You're just as bad with Will."

"Oh, hardly!" I exclaimed. "Will is a friend. Only a friend." My eye twitched at the half-truth.

Jane smirked. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." Her expression sobered. "I think I want to give whatever this is between Charles and me a chance."

I gritted my teeth to keep from saying something I'd regret. My sister had been anything but lucky in love, mostly due to her trusting nature and poor judgment of character. "You only started talking to him a week ago! You can't truly know a man by conversing with him online. I mean he could just be saying what you want to hear."

Jane sat up to face me. "I know that, and I expressed my concerns." Her expression grew solemn, and tears began to well up in her beautiful blue eyes. "I told him about Marcus."

I stared with wide eyes, too surprised to reply. Jane never spoke of Marcus, her last boyfriend, who, in college, had hurt her so badly that she hadn't dated at all during the five years since then. "Oh, sweetheart!" my voice trailed off, the horror and heartbreak of that long-ago night clutching at my heart. I moved to the couch and embraced my sister.

She sniffed, and I reached over to the coffee table to grab a tissue for her. I felt the familiar rage against Jane's ex well up in my chest. Marcus had left her, broken, and battered, in our college dorm room. I had been one year behind my sister in college, and we'd been lucky enough to share a dorm room at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during my freshman, sophomore, and junior years. When I returned that night, I found her bleeding and unconscious on the floor. Jane spent the next two weeks in the hospital recovering from two broken ribs and several internal injuries.

"I told Charles everything," she said as she dabbed her eyes with the tissue. "I felt so comfortable talking to him that it all just came out. I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders, Lizzy." She paused to dab the remainder of the tears from her eyes and smiled weakly. "When I told him about what had happened, he said that if he could, he'd do anything to make sure that no harm ever came to me again."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow but gently asked, "Doesn't that sound a little too good to be true? I mean, shouldn't you at least meet him face to face and get to know him before you decide to trust him?"

"I know – Charles said that he wants me to be able to trust him, that he wants to be more than just a voice on the other end of a phone line or a face on the other end of a video chat screen – that's why he's coming here to visit next week."

I stared blankly at my sister. "What?"

"He's coming here to meet me, Lizzy."

My jaw dropped. A knock at the door distracted me, preventing me from voicing a new round of concerns. I rose from my seat and pointed a finger at Jane. "Stay," I directed before I walked to the foyer to answer the door. "This conversation is not over," I added over my shoulder.

I opened the front door and Will stepped inside. He smiled softly at me, but upon seeing the anger and worry on my face his forehead creased in concern.

He put a warm hand on my tank-top-clad shoulder. "Elizabeth, what's wrong?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and looked up at him. "We've got a big problem."

Will tilted his head to the side and shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't call it a big problem, a minor annoyance really, but don't worry, it's been taken care of. No one's going to leak anything to the press." He raised an eyebrow. "How did you know, though?"

My mouth formed a circle, and I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Wait. What? The press? Which problem are you talking about?"

"About Charles's sister, Caroline," he clarified with a grimace. "She knows. She snooped through Charles's phone while visiting him and found the picture of us. Charles fell asleep on the sofa while watching a movie, and Caroline took his phone off the side table he'd set it on."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I dropped my arms to my sides. "Oh." My mind wandered back to our conversation in the alcove after I had overheard Will's phone conversation with Charles. Will had mentioned that Charles's sister had a thing for him and had attempted to ruin his past relationships by bringing the media into the middle of it. "Oh, no."

Will shrugged. "Charles threatened to cut her off if she said or did anything, and I had words with her when she called me last night. Charles's threats were very real, and she knows it. I also threatened to cut her socially. Caroline would never do anything to jeopardize her financial or social standing; she knows her hands are tied."

"Would he really cut off his sister for the sake of a friend?" I asked.

Will nodded, moving his thumb back and forth in tiny strokes across the top of my shoulder. "Charles would do anything in his power to protect his friends, Elizabeth." As an afterthought, he added, "Which problem were you referring to?"

His palm burned a path down my arm to my hand, sending a frisson of sensation across my neck and down my spine before he intertwined his fingers with mine.

"It's Jane. I think my sister is half in love with your friend. They've been talking and video chatting nonstop for the past week. He's coming here to meet her, Will." I nervously tapped my foot on the hardwood floor. I didn't want to offend Will, but I had to express my concerns to him. I hoped that he would listen and that he'd understand my fears. After all, he had a sister of his own. "I can't-" I paused to clear my throat as emotion threatened to well up in my chest again. "I can't watch Jane get hurt again. She's far too trusting." I took a deep breath before continuing. "The last time she fell in love with a guy was in college. He broke her heart and left her so badly hurt physically and emotionally that she hasn't dated since. I can't let that happen again, so unless you can promise me that your friend is trustworthy and that he won't break my sister's heart, I'll call and confront him myself to find out his motives."

Will's brow furrowed. "I wanted to speak to you about that." He glanced down at our joined hands before looking back up to meet my eyes. "When I spoke with Charles late last night, all he could speak of was your sister. He is a good man. He can be a flirt at times, but I've never seen him this taken with a woman before now. You can trust him, Elizabeth. So can Jane. I'll speak with him more on the subject if you'd like. He told me he's flying in next Friday."

He paused, seeming to contemplate his next words carefully. "I tried to talk him out of it, only due to the fact that I'm going to be busy with work, but he couldn't be dissuaded. I'll do everything in my power to protect your sister, but I'm certain it won't be necessary. I know Charles." Will placed his fingertips beneath my chin, tilting my face up. "Jane's heart, if she chooses to give it, is safe with him."

My heart ached. I was touched by the genuine concern Will expressed for both his friend and my sister. I raised a hand to my chest and felt tears spring to my eyes, the emotional roller coaster of the past week, compounded by my concern for Jane finally taking its toll. I closed my eyes to hold back the tears.

"What's wrong?" Will asked softly.

I shook my head. "Nothing," I replied in a choked voice. And everything, I silently added. I knew from first-hand experience that love had the power to hurt you, to ruin you. The carefully constructed defensive fortress I had built around my heart and mind was crumbling, piece by piece. Will had barreled into my life out of nowhere, laying siege to the walls that I'd painstakingly constructed to keep myself safe.

He pulled me to him in a comforting embrace.

I rested my head against his chest and felt the steady beat of his heart against my cheek. I sniffed once and straightened, pulling away from him. "Sorry," I whispered.

"You've nothing to be sorry for."

I cleared my throat and nodded toward the living room. "Let's go in, eh?"

We joined Jane in the living room where I took a seat next to her on the sofa while Will seated himself in an armchair.

"Good morning, Jane," he greeted warmly.

"Hey, Will," Jane smiled in reply. "It's good to see you again."

"You as well," he answered. He glanced at me and gave me a tight smile before he continued. "I spoke with Charles last night. He tells me you two have been talking quite a bit."

Jane beamed. "We have. He seems wonderful."

"He told me that he's planning to fly in next Friday; I assume you're aware of that," Will stated with a raised eyebrow.

Jane nodded. "I'm a bit nervous about meeting him, but I'm looking forward to it."

I reached over to grasp my sister's hand and gave it a supportive squeeze. I looked back and forth between Jane and Will, an idea forming in my mind, one that gave me a little more peace, anyway. "Maybe we could make Jane and Charles's first meeting a little easier by making it a double date," I offered.

Will gave a single nod. "That sounds like a great idea to me." He turned his attention to my sister. "What do you think, Jane?"

The edge of Jane's mouth turned up. "Would you guys? That would make things so much easier! Not that I'm worried about meeting him," she was quick to add, "it's just...it's been years since I've been on a date and I'm more than a little nervous about it."

Will smiled in return. "Of course. Shall Charles and I meet you both here next Saturday at noon? We can go out for lunch and then spend the afternoon together."

I shrugged. "I'm game. Jane?"

"I think it's a great idea," she agreed. "Thank you so much, both of you." She smiled happily and stood. "Well, I'd better head out. I promised Lydia I'd take her shopping today." Jane rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Lucky you," I grimaced.

Jane directed a tiny wave at Will. "I'll see you later, Will."

I stood to hug her. "Have fun today."

Jane hugged me tightly. "Thank you for everything, Lizzy," she whispered before turning to leave.

After I heard the door close, I sat back down and faced Will. "So, what's up?"

He rose from his chair and took Jane's vacated spot beside me on the couch. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he spoke. "Caroline's finding out about our relationship made me realize just how precarious our privacy is, Elizabeth." His eyes drilled into mine.

My mind immediately began buzzing with nervous energy. I had tried not to think about media attention, but now the possibility of it was staring me in the face. Up until now, it had just seemed like a distant thought, a detached thing that happened to other people, far removed from my own world. But not me. I swallowed hard, fighting against the sudden feeling of wariness, and nodded for Will to continue.

He rested his hands on top of my own, on the sliver of couch cushion that separated us. "I will keep attention away from you to the best of my ability. I've managed to do so with Georgiana, but there may be instances where things slip through."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

Will squeezed my hands reassuringly. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. It's definitely not something I'm looking forward to, though."

He nodded in understanding, his gaze resting on our joined hands. "It's not something I appreciate, either, but you have a choice, Elizabeth. I want you to know that you always have a choice. If any of this ever becomes too much, know that you can walk away from it, from me. I don't want you to…" his voice trailed off and he pressed his mouth into a hard line. A muscle in his jaw twitched and he appeared to struggle with what he wanted to say. He looked up and met my eyes then, his own reflecting determination and a hint of worry. "I don't want you to, believe me, but I want you to know that you will always, always be free to make that choice."

I drew a shaky breath and nodded. "I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon, Will. I want to be with you in whatever capacity I can. I know it won't be easy, and, to be perfectly honest, the past few weeks have been anything but easy. In fact, letting someone in has been downright scary. But it's also given me hope. You've given me hope," I clarified. I closed my eyes and flipped my hands over beneath Will's, so that my palms rested against his, and wrapped my fingers around his wrists. Feeling the conversation had turned uncomfortably heavy, I scrunched up my nose and gave him a look of feigned distaste. "Besides, I kind of like ya."

The side of his mouth lifted in a half-smile and he laughed quietly, under his breath. "Your family is likely to get wind of our relationship sooner or later. You may want to tell them about me soon so that they don't find out by reading about it in a tabloid."

I rolled my eyes and laughed darkly. "You don't know what you're asking. If you think shaking hands with a few people at the zoo was bad, imagine being mobbed by a gaggle of teenage girls and a woman in her late fifties who acts like one. I'm afraid you'll change your mind about me when you meet them."

"Why is that?"

"They're…a bit overbearing," I replied with a wink and a nod of my head.

He shrugged. "We all have relatives we must blush for. Take my Aunt Catherine, for example. It's a very long story, but to sum up, she's a bit insane. She thinks she's a cow. She crawls about on all fours and grazes in the gardens on the grounds of her estate, Rosings Park."

I gave him a wide-eyed look.

Will must have correctly interpreted my look of surprised disbelief because he hurried to explain. "No, truly, she does. It's a legitimate mental condition, called boanthropy."

Unsure how to respond, I did everything in my power to keep my expression neutral as visions of an overdressed, middle-aged woman, grazing on all fours in a formal English garden, danced through my head.

Will fought against a smile, himself, and continued. "It's quite tragic actually. She became very, very ill once when her groundskeeper fertilized the lawn. She was hospitalized for a week. Now, they just keep a fenced-in patch of long grass growing outside the kitchen gardens and she goes out there to wander and graze."

I could only stare blankly as I tried to deduce whether or not he was telling the truth. "Stop." The word slipped reflexively from my mouth and I quickly bit my tongue before anything else was able to slip past.

"I'm serious. It's true. King Nebuchadnezzar is thought to have suffered from the same condition. There's even a reference to it in the book of Daniel, in the Bible." Will dropped his eyes to his hands. "We don't talk about her. As you can imagine, it's a rather confidential family matter."

I was about to extend my sympathies when I noticed Will's shoulders begin to shake with silent laughter. Unable to hold my own laughter back any longer, I couldn't help but join him.

With some effort, I managed to regain control of myself. "I'm so sorry, Will. That must be very difficult for her and your family."

Will eventually managed to rein in his own mirth. "Forgive me, I feel terrible for laughing about it. After all, the poor woman can't help it." He shook his head. "Trust me, Elizabeth, when I say that you needn't fear for me as far as your family is concerned. And you certainly don't have to worry that their behavior will change my opinion of you."

His words surprised me. He had a knack for doing that – surprising me with unexpected facets of his complex character at every turn. I had expected him to be horrified, or at the very least, reluctant to meet my overbearing family. "What are you afraid of, then?" I asked, genuinely curious.

His expression turned solemn. "Losing control and losing those I love. I've already lost too many people in my life." He shook his head. "What about you?"

"The dark," I replied automatically. "Not darkness itself, but rather what I'm unable to see in it. And wasps." I paused thoughtfully, studying his dark features. "You said you're afraid of losing control. Control of what?"

Will looked to the floor as if searching for the right words. "I don't necessarily like to control people, but rather situations I find myself in. I try to always maintain control of myself and my reaction to my surroundings and circumstances. I like to be prepared for everything," he began slowly. "I generally make several different plans for every situation, along with contingency plans for each of those. Sometimes, the future can be an uncertain thing, and I find that extraordinarily unnerving. Especially when it comes to people I care deeply about."

He looked up at me suddenly, his eyes narrowing in contemplation. "You, for example. I wonder what the future holds for us." His mouth curved in a sad smile. "I wonder whether or not you'll be able to put up with all that goes along with being in a relationship with me. I can't imagine a future without you, Elizabeth, and I don't want to."

I felt my face heat up under Will's intense stare. "Will…" I hesitated, searching for the right thing to say. "As I told you before, I want this to work, too. I don't plan on going anywhere. I know you're leaving in a matter of weeks, and part of me wants to jump into this wholeheartedly, but the other part of me is desperate to protect myself in case it—" My emotions from my earlier discussion with Jane still simmered uncomfortably close to the surface, and I swallowed hard past the growing lump in my throat. "In case you or I—" Determined not to express my doubts again, I took a shuddering breath and turned my head to stare unseeingly out the window by the fireplace, focusing on breathing in and out to keep the tears that stung my eyes from falling. Will had made me feel so much in such a short amount of time; anger, happiness, excitement, contentment, humor, hope, and God help me, something that felt frighteningly like love.

Finally, I turned back to him and met his eyes. "You've come to mean so much to me, and that scares me more than a little bit."

Will's look of kind determination pulled at my heartstrings. He tucked my hair behind my ear, and his fingertips lingered briefly at my temple before he dropped his hand. "Do you remember what I told you earlier this week? I promised you then, that I will do whatever I can to make things work. I want you to be happy, and I don't intend to let you slip out of my life if I can help it. I meant that."

"I remember. I meant what I said, too," I whispered, smiling softly at him.

Will pulled me against his side, and I nestled my head comfortably against his shoulder. Jane's plight crept back into the forefront of my mind. "I am still concerned about Jane," I said, tilting my head back far enough so I could see his face. "Her story isn't mine to tell but suffice it to say I'm worried about her. I'm looking forward to meeting your friend if only to make my own observations about his character."

Will leveled a skeptical look at me. "Do you think you can accurately judge someone after one meeting?"

"No. After all, I did misjudge you."

"Oh?" he asked, a note of curiosity in his voice.

"Mhm," I nodded.

Will's eyes narrowed. "But you've since changed your mind?"

I winked. "A complete one-eighty."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," he smiled.

"And I'm glad you were so persistent. But don't worry. I don't plan to interrogate your friend. I just want to meet him and see how he treats my sister."

Will gave me an understanding nod.

"However," I continued, holding up both of my index fingers to emphasize my point, "and I'm only mentioning this to prove a point to you, I think it's possible to get a fairly good idea of someone's character with just one question."

"Well, now I'm curious," he grinned. "What is this all-powerful one question, then?"

I leaned back and regarded him thoughtfully for a moment before I spoke. "What's your most valuable possession, Will?"

He released me and leaned back, giving me a bemused look. "Pardon?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Just answer the question."

After a moment of thought, he obligingly answered. "A book. It's nothing special; it's not rare, nor does it hold any monetary value. It's a volume of H.G. Wells stories. My father read to us from it throughout my childhood and teenage years, and even when I'd come home for visits from university when Georgiana was small. Just the same book, over and over. I think he thought that they were some of the greatest stories ever told, and he wanted to share them with my sister and me." He looked down at his hands as he absently rubbed them together. "He'd read us other books, of course – many others – but he'd always return to that one.

"He read to us from it for the last time the night before he died, sick as he was. I was a grown man by then, out of university, and I'd heard the story dozens of times, but I still listened to every word, until his voice faded away." Will's own voice faded to just above a whisper and he paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "And then, the next night, after he was gone, I picked up right where he had left off and just kept reading throughout the night, as if by doing so, I could hang on to a little piece of him. He gave me the greatest gift I could have asked for – not only the gift of a wonderful childhood and a kind and loving father – but a love of reading as well."

He exhaled heavily and scoffed, twisting his mouth into a smirk. "It's foolish, I suppose, to place so much value on a material thing, but there are so many memories of him attached to it, and I can hear his voice and remember how his love for us would show in his eyes when he'd stay up late, reading to us."

I hadn't realized that I had begun to cry until Will reached out to brush tears from my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

I sniffled and gave him a shaky smile. "And that, Will Darcy, is how I know that you're a good man."

He gave me a puzzled look. "Because the possession I value most is a book?"

"No," I shook my head. "Because of the reason you value a book."

Understanding registered in his eyes and he smiled at me. "Come on now, we're being far too serious."

With that, he reached out to tickle my side and I giggled, capturing his hand in my own to stop him.

He obligingly ceased and relaxed back in the couch cushions, keeping my hand tightly within his grasp. "Since we're on the topic of questions, I have one for you."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

Will narrowed his eyes and pressed his mouth into a firm line. "You mentioned at the lake that you're planning to travel to Seattle this summer."

"I am," I replied slowly.

"Are your plans fixed? Have you purchased your tickets yet?"

I regarded him warily for a moment. "Noo…"

He picked up my other hand from where it rested on my leg and held both my hands in his own, gently rubbing his thumbs back and forth across my knuckles. "My work here wraps up in two weeks. I'll be going home after that." He searched my eyes for a moment before continuing. "Come to Pemberley. I'd love for you to see my home and meet Georgiana."

I stared at him in surprise for several moments. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. Several emotions welled up inside me; surprise and excitement, to name a few. "I-I'm not sure. I don't know what to say," I answered honestly.

"Please," Will implored.

I licked my dry lips, unable to speak.

"Please, Elizabeth," he repeated softly as he gently brushed my cheek with his fingertips.

"Yes," I whispered breathily, my voice failing me.

"Really?" he grinned.

"Yes," I nodded, my excitement rising. "I'll come to Pemberley."

"Do you think you'll be able to stay for a while?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "How long are you thinking?"

Will shrugged. "However long you'd like. When do you have to return for school? If you'd like, you can fly out the first week of July and stay until you have to return for work. Charles will be visiting this summer, too. Perhaps Jane would like to come as well."

I felt more comfortable about the prospect of visiting Will's home at the thought of Jane accompanying me. "Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly.

"Absolutely," he replied solemnly.

I smiled widely as the thrill of impending travel and spending more time with Will raced through me. "I'll talk to Jane to be sure, but I'm certain she'd love to, especially if Charles will be there."

Will released my hands and laid a warm palm against the side of my neck, stroking the edge of my jaw with his thumb. "Thank you," he simply said.

"Thank you for inviting me." I squeezed his hand before I settled back in my seat and picked up a throw pillow, hugging it to my chest. "While we're on the topic of invitations, and since you're determined to be introduced to my family – you brave soul, you – would you like to come to Sunday dinner at my parents' house with Jane and me tomorrow?"

Will's expression softened. "I'd like that."

I shook my head dramatically and tossed the throw pillow to him. "What have you gotten yourself into, Mr. Darcy?"

Will caught the pillow with one hand. "What, indeed?" he replied drily as he stood and pulled me up from the couch and toward the front door.