So I left this story unfinished four years ago, but given that we've just had another presidential election, I figured that gave me a good excuse to finish it up. It was so weird in rereading it to think about all the covid restrictions we were dealing with back then. It was a whole different world. I suggest that anyone who was following it from way back then ought to reread if you want this chapter to make any sense at all.
6.
"What is the problem, Bill?" Will asked Bill Collins.
"It's your cousin. No one knows where Miss de Bourgh has gone. Ms. de Bourgh is beside herself and called me for help right away."
Will breathed out a sigh of relief. He had worried it was some really horrible news.
"Anne is an adult," Will responded. "She can go wherever she wants."
"But she's immuno-comprised, it isn't safe for her."
"But isn't that her choice to make?" Will asked. "Did she take her car? That's like a protective bubble, isn't it?"
"I'll check."
Will heard Bill's heavy stomping feet and he moved around, taking his cell phone with him. He heard his aunt in the background. "Oh my poor Anne, she'll get covid and die for sure. Oh Anne, Anne, Anne, what if she's been kidnapped?" She traded her words for screeches and wails.
Amazingly to Will, Bill became the voice of reason. "It is too early to think like that. Maybe she is out taking a walk. Your nephew Mr. Darcy thinks we ought to check if Anne took her car. Are her keys here?"
"Keys, keys, you want to ask about keys? We have so many cars that I can't keep track of keys!" Aunt Cathy screamed.
"Okay, I'll just check the garage now, shall I?" As there was no audible response from his aunt, Bill apparently went to do just that. The only sounds for a few minutes was Bill's heavy stomping feet and his huffing and puffing (Will reasoned that he was apparently unable to string together any of his typical inane commentary while he moved with speed).
"Mr. Darcy, I see one car missing, but I'm not sure which car is Anne's."
Will racked his brain. As Anne so seldom drove, had likely not driven a single time since Covid hit, he had no idea. "I'm not sure either. I doubt my Aunt Cathy would let any of the help use her car, so Anne must have taken the missing one. See she probably just went for a drive. Nothing to worry about."
Bill replied, "I am not too worried now, although it is unlike Anne to do something like this. Why would she not tell her mother that she was going out?"
"Probably because her mother wouldn't have let her. You know how my aunt is. In seeing Anne at dinner, with all the distancing and that barrier around her, well do you think she really likes living like that?"
Bill said, "Everything Ms. de Bourgh does is because she loves Anne and wants to protect her."
"I don't doubt that," Will replied sincerely, "but it doesn't mean it is easy to live that way. Would you want to live like that?"
"I suppose not," Bill conceded, "and I certainly could not conduct my very important work for the foundation if I tried to do that."
"Tell you what, I'll try calling Anne and I'll tell you if I get a hold of her."
With only a few ending pleasantries, Will managed to get off one call.
The phone rang four times and then Anne answered, "So Mom's called in the cavalry, huh?"
Will took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had been just a little worried for all of his nonchalance to Bill. But there was no need for Anne to know that. "You know it. What are you up to?"
"I'm having some fast food in the park, the one with the lake, and people watching. It is such a nice fall day and I couldn't stand being cooped up one second longer. I needed to breathe free." She audibly sucked up air and let it out with a big huff.
"Sounds nice. Want me to join you?"
"Sure, as long as you don't rat out my location to Mom. After she called like five times in a row, I temporarily blocked her number. I just need an afternoon. Is that too much to ask?"
"No, of course not. Do you have room for dessert?"
"Sure. Meet me at the picnic area."
Will fired off a quick text to Bill and his aunt, Anne is fine. She'll be back before sunset. He silenced his phone before they could respond.
The afternoon with Anne was very pleasant. He brought blizzards and after they finished those, they took a slow stroll through the park with Anne leaning heavily on him. After perhaps a dozen yards, they settled down on a bench outside a playground. Will remembered when it had been roped off, but now there were children playing.
"I always wanted to have kids," Anne said, her eyes focused on a particularly charming little girl, "but with all the poison they've pumped into me over the years to kill the cancer, well none of me works like it should anymore."
"There are other ways to have children," Will replied.
"Yeah, but none of it's going to happen for me. It would be selfish, to have a kid that I won't get to see grow up." Anne slumped forward, propping up her chin on her hand.
"I thought you were doing better," Will replied.
"I'm doing better in the sense that I'm not sick from the treatments right now because I'm in an off cycle, but that's just temporary. Next week it resumes again and who knows how long I can keep going? When I voted early, I kept wondering what the point was. I mean, I might not even be around long enough to see what a President Biden is like. And even if I'm around for it, will it really matter?"
Anne gasped in a couple of breaths, apparently winded from speaking that much. When she spoke again, it was softer and Will had to strain to hear her words over the joyful screams of the playing children. "Am I going to care about politics when I'm just struggling to make it through each day, in the hope that maybe six months from now I'll finally be strong enough to go somewhere by myself again? You know, a lot of times I just want to give up and other times I want to make myself go faster. Sometimes I think about going to find a big crowd to see if someone would give me covid, or just saying 'no' to more treatments. It'd be nice to have my own hair grow in again, rather than just be wearing all these itchy wigs, to enjoy the time I have left. Maybe I should just accept my fate, but Mom, Mom always looks at me so hopefully that I don't want to let her down."
"I get that," Will replied. "But it is okay to chose what is right for you."
It was a maudlin moment, but Anne didn't let it stay there. "Oh, like you marrying Elizabeth in a hurry before Mom could even blink?" She grinned.
"Yeah, 'cause I knew, and when you know you know."
They reminisced for a while and then Will walked Anne to her car. She was breathing heavily by the time they made it there, but seemed alright once she was sitting down in the driver's seat.
Will didn't change his settings to pick up on calls until he was certain that Anne had plenty of time to make it home. By then he had twenty three missed calls from his aunt, and seven from Bill Collins, twelve voicemails, and thirty-nine texts. The only text he opened just then was from his wife. Elizabeth texted: Your aunt called me and she's apparently very upset with you for stashing Anne somewhere. What gives?
Will replied: Anne just needed an afternoon out to feel normal. I'll tell you all about it tonight.
That evening after sharing about their respective days and eating their delivered dinner together they flopped on the couch, Will on the right and Elizabeth on the left (these were just their usual spots, their political leanings had nothing to do with it). Both of them were tired and wanted to wind down.
"Ready for some mindless TV?" Will asked. He was ready to just let his mind wander, and think about anything but politics or the sadness he was feeling about what Anne's life was like.
"Yes, please. Well, soon." Lizzy replied, pivoting to put her back against the arm of the couch and draping her legs across Will's lap like he liked. Will took the hint and massaged her legs though the material of her pants, digging into her tight calves to loosen the muscles and then moving upwards in a more tender touch to her thighs, the sort of touch that could portend a romantic evening or just a general caring, depending on her reaction.
"That all feels nice," Elizabeth responded, "but can we talk?"
Will softened his touch to something merely affectionate. "Sure, what's up?"
"I'm having some doubts about our bet."
Will lifted his hands from his wife completely. "Yeah," he grinned, "afraid you will lose?" he asked with false bravado. If anyone was going down, right now it felt like it was going to be him.
"Seriously, can we just talk seriously?" She sat up and leaned back into the cushions. Without looking at him she said. "I'm not sure I want to do it anymore. I know we completely disagree on all of this, but I don't like being at odds with you. Maybe we should make a pact to both vote for a third party candidate or not vote at all. What's the point when our votes for president will just cancel each other out?"
"All the other races?" he asked with a laugh.
Elizabeth turned to look at him, giving him the side eye. It was a message that this was a serious conversation and not something to quip about.
"Okay, okay, I'll be good." Will raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I don't like being at odds with you, either," he replied, sincerely, setting his hands down on his lap. "We each have strong beliefs and I respect you for yours, since you've obviously given them a lot of thought. But I do think that it is important to vote. It's kind of both the duty and privilege of being citizens in this great country. So many people around the world don't have any say in the running of their countries."
"But how much say do we really have?" Elizabeth took up Will's near hand and held it. His palm was large, warm and comforting. She could also feel his wedding ring, and that gave her peace; he belonged to her. "I mean, the two party system is basically just two sides to the same coin. Sure they have different views on most everything, but they're firmly entrenched and just want to hold onto power. I mean five years ago, did anyone think that Trump would get the nod, and Biden's kind of a compromise candidate, a 'remember how good it felt under Obama' president. The primary nominations are sewn up before people in most states even get to vote for them and the people who want to be president are probably not the people who should be president."
"You won't get any argument from me on that," Will replied. "Do I think a better way of picking candidates and more parties could be good, and maybe ranked choice voting or proportional representation or something? Sure. We are kind of stuck with what we have, but parties do change over time. It's all we got and I'm going to do with it what I can."
"So can we call off this stupid bet? You might be onto something with the thought that I might lose, but then again you might have been doing as poorly at convincing people as me. I mean I think it was good to talk to people and find out where they stand, and some of them really made me think as they've certainly considered things from an angle that I wouldn't, but some of people's reasons for voting as they did or will . . . " Lizzy trailed off, thinking about her conversation with her mom.
Will snorted. "Yeah, there was some lameness in the reasoning when I talked to people, too."
"But that's not all of it," she added. "What you told me about Anne has me thinking; we ought to just enjoy the good things in life, rather than obsessing about politics and getting all riled up about things we can't change."
"Okay, the bet is off, because . . . I . . ." he paused to kiss the tip of her nose, "love" he kissed her forehead, "you," finally his kiss landed on her lips. They kissed languidly for a few moments, enjoying the easiness between them and the affection that didn't require more. When they finally finished kissing, he added, "But I still think we should vote and not worry about our votes canceling each other out or anything."
"Okay," she responded. She flipped on the TV and snuggled up into his side.
Life went on as it usually does and Will and Elizabeth stopped trying to purposefully convince other people. Instead, when they talked with their friends and family, they listened deeply and tried to understand the other people's politics or whatever else came up. Both of them became further convinced that other people were just starved for any kind of human contact, a matter they discussed repeatedly, which made them in response more purposeful about checking in with them. Elizabeth, as a natural extrovert, enjoyed doing this, while for Will, as an introvert, mostly felt he had all he needed with Elizabeth and Georgiana, and an occasional message exchange with Chuck or Rich. He did make an effort, though, to follow up with Anne and he could tell she really appreciated it.
Will even texted Caroline once to ask how she was doing. It is of course hard to get a real sense sometimes from texts, but she definitely seemed down, but who wouldn't be who texted so casually about finding her brother-in-law passed out on the couch, stinking from his own piss, and helping her sister wash dried vomit out of her hair.
The day before the election, Will got a call from Chuck. After the exchange of greetings, Chuck got straight to the point, "Caroline wants to move in with Jane and me. What should I do?"
Will, who had been in earnest when he told Caroline he was not going to get involved in this situation, said "What are your concerns? What does your gut tell you about what you should do? And most importantly, what does Jane think about the idea?"
"Well . . ." Chuck began and Will settled into a recliner, almost certain this would be a protracted conversation. He hoped the Chuck could decide what to do on his own, but was willing to be a sounding board for him to figure out his own mind. "Caroline wasn't all that nice to Jane when we were dating, and as you might recall tried to break us up more than once."
"I had some misgivings, too, as you might recall," Will replied, unwilling for his role to be completely overlooked. Caroline might bear the lion's share of the blame for the original separation of the couple, but Will well knew the role he played.
"Yes, but you didn't do anything like what Caroline did. Remember when she told me that Jane was cheating on me, when all she was doing was trying to be helpful to her cousin Collins? Anyone who paid any sort of attention to what was going on would know their interactions were completely platonic. Anyway, she's been a lot nicer to Jane in the recent past, but how do I know if she's really turned over another leaf or not? I want to believe she's a better person now, but I just don't know. Jane is so kind that she says it's fine, but how do I know if that's how she truly feels or not? How do I know that Jane isn't just trying to encourage me to do what she thinks I want to do?"
"Well, talking to Jane about your concerns would probably be a good idea," Will responded. "Have you talked to Caroline about why she wants to move in with you and Jane?"
"Yes, but she's got to be exaggerating. I can hardly believe that Lou is that far gone. She was always a fruity cocktail sort of gal, not a hard-core drinker."
Will thought that Chuck sounded like he was in denial, but rather than say that, he decided to try to help Chuck figure things out on his own. "Have you talked to your big sister lately?"
"Well, no. She never picks up when I call these days, and is really slow about responding to texts."
"Is that how she's always been or is that new for her?"
"Now that you mention it, she used to always be good about getting back to me, and calling me, too, and not just because she needed a favor or some cash like Caroline. Maybe I'll pop in on her tomorrow after I vote, and try to figure out what's going on. I mean if things are really that bad Caroline probably shouldn't be there."
"Sounds like a plan."
The next morning, Will and Elizabeth were up early, and went to the polls. It was a long line than he remembered waiting in before, and everyone seemed solemn, like everyone was doubting their candidate would win. They both tried to keep themselves busy that day until the polls started closing, Will attending to business matters and Elizabeth working on a paper.
Will tried not to gloat when it seemed like Trump was going to win again. He was happy but saw no need to rub it in his wife's face, but then the next day, and the days that followed were a complete turn around and it was Elizabeth who had to do her best to not gloat.
But when it seemed like Trump wasn't going to accept the election results, well then Will got an ache in his stomach that nothing could soothe. And it really felt like Elizabeth might be right about who should and shouldn't be president when Trump was talking about what Vice President Pence could do. It was even worse on January 6th. Will kept thinking to himself, If Trump doesn't want this to happen, why doesn't he go on the air and tell his supporters to go home?
A/N: Just one more chapter to go. It will jump forward to the present election and what is going on with ODC and their family and friends.