Thank you for all the reviews and suggestions. Some more light fun ahead.

38.

It was wonderful to see Elizabeth's face, smiling at me, but less wonderful to see it immediately change to a worried expression, "Oh Bill, you look . . . well like you've had a rough couple of days."

"I have," I answered honestly.

"Well, tell me about it."

I hesitated. "I want to and I will, but do you suppose we could treat right now like kind of a date? I want to get to know you better, find out about the real Elizabeth."

A hint of amusement returned to her eyes, she tilted her head slightly in a manner that was most becoming and replied, "Okay, what would you like to know?"

I suppose I should have been prepared for that but I wasn't. "I don't know . . . . Maybe tell me about some of your favorite things? Well, what were your favorite books growing up?"

She smirked, considered and replied "You'll think me dull and unoriginal, but like pretty much everyone else, I liked reading the Harry Potter books and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. And you?"

"No, no, that's not nearly enough detail. What did you like about the Harry Potter books, which house would you have been, what was your favorite character and why?"

"Oh, you read them, too?"

"Yes, some of them." I had in fact read the first couple to Georgiana. "And I've seen the movies."

Her eyes danced, "Well, once I understood what a tragic hero he truly was, I liked Severus Snape the most. To give your whole life over like that, it is truly something. And then of course I had to scour the previous books for hints that he was that guy. I do wonder if that was always J. K. Rowling's plan or something she conveniently came up with later.

"I tried to read those books as an adult and could hardly stomach them now, you know. The world building is excellent, some ideas are intriguing, but the writing is not good, not now that I've learned what good writing can be. It is just wrong that Ron ends up with Hermoine at the end and that Harry ends up with Ron's little sister.

"As for a house, while I'd like to think I'd have the courage of a Griffindor, or value friendship like a Hufflepuff, I have a feeling that my father's people would have always been Ravenclaws and that I would be destined to be one, too.

"What about you, Bill? What house would you have been in and what were your favorite books growing up?" She focused her bright eyes on me.

I knew immediately what I wanted to say. "I'd probably be a Ravenclaw, too. As for favorite books, there is this series of books that my mom had read as a girl, kind of an old fashioned series that was written way back when . . . "

I saw that Elizabeth was crossing her arms in an "x" across her chest and crossing her fingers, too. She noticed me noticing her and said "Please let it be the Little House on a Prairie series or Anne of Green Gables. Oh that would be the best!"

I half snorted, half laughed, for she was just that amusing to see wishing for that outcome. I was amazed that I could feel any levity at all, given how miserable I had been not an hour before. But there was something about talking with Elizabeth that made everything feel light and easy.

"No, not either of those, although I did read the original Anne of Green Gables with G.G. It was a different series, focused on boys but you've probably never heard of them, most people I know haven't. The Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald."

Elizabeth shook her head, making her dark wavy hair dance about her face. She was so lovely in that careless gesture that a lump came to my throat. She had nothing about of artifice; nothing like to Caroline. To date, fall in love with, and have such a woman as Elizabeth at my side not just for now but always, would truly be something!

"I don't know that series; tell me about those books," she requested.

"Well, it is about these non-Mormon brothers, they call them gentiles, growing up in Adenville, Utah in the late 1800s. It's based on the author's own life. J.D., John, is the little brother and his older brother T.D., Tom, is super smart and always outwitting him, tricking him out of his allowance and stuff, but sometimes Tom, who is the Great Brain, uses his brainpower for good. It is a completely different world than anything we have lived, you know? Pretty much each chapter is a different adventure."

"Sounds interesting." Then she laughed, a sound that rang pure and true. "It figures that when I was dreaming of my 'superhero' type life if I were to get wisked off to Hogworts to learn magic and get to have those sorts of powers, that you'd be dreaming about being super smart and clever."

I shrugged. "I related more to John, the narrator. Me and My Little Brain was when John tried to be like his brother, failed miserably but then was able to save his foster brother from a kidnapper when using his brain mattered most.

"I saw some parallels to me own life later on when I was tricked on more than one occasion by someone I had thought of as a friend." I was thinking of George Wickham but didn't want to mention his name and was determined not to follow his name down the path of unhappiness. "But he wasn't really so clever, he was just not playing by the same rules as me. As mean as the Great Brain could be with his money-loving heart, he still loved his family.

"Oh, and as an adult I tracked down Fitzgerald's more true account, Papa Married a Mormon. The one thing I will never forget is that his father married his mother three times."

Elizabeth scrunched up her forehead as she considered, "Did they divorce and remarry so often? Did they even divorce at all back then?"

"No, they were married the whole time. They were different religions you see, so they had a civil wedding, a Catholic wedding and at the end of his life a Mormon wedding. He loved her so much that he wanted to make sure they were well and truly married in the eyes of God."

"Oh wow," Elizabeth responded, her dark eyes soft and thoughtful. "To be truly loved that much would really be something."

"Yes," I replied, thinking that my parents had that kind of love, but wishing all the same that my father had not followed my mother into death, that his love for us, his children, had compelled him more to stay.

"Maybe I'll check them out if our library has them. So favorite movies? Oh wait, I bet I can guess it. Shawshank?"

"Maybe," I allowed. "It was my father's favorite and I still like it a lot, too. Not all the awful things that happen to Andy but how he triumphs in the end."

"Yes, it is a happy ending, to be free and rich with a good friend by one's side. So if not that one, which one?"

"Huh, well let's see. I like The Martian a lot and the book was really good, too, with him figuring out how to overcome one obstacle at a time. Forrest Gump's an old favorite but then Tom Hanks is good in almost everything. The book was radically different but enjoyable also, I mean he learns to raise shrimp in a pond."

"I'm sensing a theme here. Man triumphs over adversity."

I marveled at her quick insight.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I think you might need a little more levity and romance."

"Oh really?" I asked as I waggled my eyebrows suggestively. Was I flirting? Yes, indeed.

Elizabeth grinned ar me. "I think you do." Then she winked.

"Let's not get too distracted, though, Bill. I liked Forrest Gump for sure, too. But although there is definely humor and romance in it, the whole 'Jenny' storyline is sad." She said "Jenny" just the way Forrest Gump did, which made me smile.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But not just that. His mother prostitutes herself to get him into school, he can't walk, is teased, Jenny is molested, Bubba dies, Colonel Dan loses his legs, he doesn't really get the girl in the end, and she never felt about him the way he thought about her. It was so one-sided."

"Yes," Elizabeth smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. "But that's not going to be our story."

"Never," I replied, even as thought about how my life felt a whole lot more like a tragedy than a romance lately. But talking with Elizabeth made me feel much more hopeful. Maybe something nice could happen to me in the end. I really wished she was here in person and I could grab her hand and give it a squeeze.

I sat back and looked, really looked at Elizabeth. She wasn't a conventional beauty, but everything about her attracted me like no one else had. I was determined not to blow this chance. She was perfect for me

Maybe she could see a bit of my sentimental thoughts, for just then our digitally recreated eyes met and we stayed looking at one another and not taling for perhaps half a minute. It was intense and special, but also not the same as if we had been together rather than half a world away from one another.

I was desperately wishing we were together in the same room, but wishing couldn't make it so. It felt to me that if we had been together in the same room that I would have at least gotten a hug if not a kiss by now. And oh how I wanted such a hug and kiss, just a pure bubble of warmth and affection!

I extended my hand toward the screen and she extended hers, too, but we couldn't even touch the screen without our hands disappearing from view.

She looked away first and then the moment was gone. She asked, "So, Bill, you're a William, right?"

"Well actually . . . it's Fitzwilliam."

"You're kidding. That was a little pretentious of your parents, wasn't it? Not to speak ill of the dead, but who looks at a six or seven pound newborn and goes 'he looks like a Fitz-wil-liam.'"

I shook my head, "More like almost ten, nine pounds fifteen ounces to be exact. But G.G. was almost eleven."

"Wait, what? No, nuh-uh. Oh, that's bad. Rule number one of dating and falling in love should be to never find a guy who has a family history of enormous babies."

"Well G.G. wasn't supposed to be that big. My mom had gestational diabetes with her. But as for me, I was just big."

"Just wow. We'll circle around to that later. Let's get back to your name. Why? Just why?"

I shrugged. I knew it was kind of strange. "It's kind of a family tradition on my mother's side, to name the oldest child your old maiden name."

Elizabeth shook her head. So you got saddled with that name before anyone had ever seen you, huh?"

"Yeah. My mom was going to name me that whether I was a boy or girl."

"Well, Fitzwilliam for a girl would be even worse. Boy, I feel sorry for you as a little kid, learning how to write your name.

"So why do you go by Bill instead of William or Will, Fitz or even Liam? No offense, but Bill is an older guy's name these days." She rested her chin on her hand while waiting for my response.

"Well, I didn't pick it. I grew up as a Billy, which changed to Bill when I finished elementary school. By the time it occurred to me that I could pick some other variation I was already well known as Bill, so it didn't seem to be worth the bother. Also, I can still hear the way my parents said it."

"Fair enough."

I decided turn about was fair game. "Well why are you Elizabeth or Lizzy? You could be Eliza, Liz, Libby, Ellie, Betty or Beth. I even know a Zaza with your given name."

She shrugged. "I used to try on variations like other women try shoes. You should ask Jane about it sometime. I also tried on new personalities to go with the different names. I was Eliza for a while and it stuck with Charlotte.

"Tell you what," her eyes sparkled with amusement as she offered, "you pick a new nickname for me, and I'll pick one for you."

I pondered whether to play this game or not. "If I agree, there have to be some rules."

"Such as?" She tilted her head again and I imagined tracing her elongated neck with one finger. Would she be ticklish or find such a touch sensuous? There was so much I would like to find out.

"Veto power and privacy. Anything we pick is just for us. And it can't be something random; it actually needs to relate to our actual names."

"Can that include middle and last?" She asked.

"Okay." I consented. "What's yours?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "My mom is into flowers, go figure, even though she couldn't grow any of them to save her life. So we all ended up with flower middle names."

"Oh this'll be good," I voiced my opinion. "So what is yours and your sisters?"

"Guess."

"Hum," I considered. "Jane Rose, Elizabeth Ivy . . . wait that's a plant and not a flower. Elizabeth . . . Gardenia? and . . . Mary Lavendar. Am I close?

"Those aren't too bad, but no. I wish. It's Jane Baby's Breath . . ."

"You're pulling my leg."

"No I'm not, honest to God." She arched her eyebrows and widened her eyes. "Elizabeth Lily of the Valley and Mary Hydrangea."

"And you think my name is strange."

"Well no one cares about middle names unless you are in the south and go by them rather than your given name. So let's have it, what's your middle name? Do you have three last names or something?"

"Well, sort of, but it is four."

"Four?"

"Names, but you can be the judge as to whether they are all last names. The second middle one could go either way I think."

"Go on, I can't wait to hear this one."

"Fitzwilliam Ecclesten Elliott Darcy."

"Fitzwilliam Eccle--" Her arm moved and I had the thought that she was trying to write my whole name down.

"Ecclesten. E., double C., L.E.S. and ten like the number. Elliott with two Ls and two Ts.

I saw her arm move again. Yes, she was writing my whole name down.

"Fitzwilliam Ecclesten Elliott Darcy?"

"Yup."

"F.E.E.D. feed? Your initials spell feed? That's got to be my nickname for you."

"No, veto."

Elizabeth stuck out her tongue at me, so I stuck my tongue out too, for just a second.

"Okay," she stroked her chin and then tapped it with her pointer finger, "this will require some careful thought or a sudden inspiration. Hum."

"Maybe I'll call you Valley Girl," I teased.

"Nope, veto."

"I was just kidding," I rejoined. "But maybe . . . Lily-Beth?"

"Maybe." She tilted her head, apparently considering. "I don't hate it. I'll try to find something at least halfway decent for you, other than the usual suspects, 'cause I think you need something with some pizzazz and flare, and gravitas, too, because, well, you are you. This will require some serious brainpower."

We talked on for quite a long time about nothing and everything before she said, "Mary's due to get here in about ten. Did you want to tell me the situation there before I've got to go?"

"I guess, but it's sure been nice to have a reprieve from all of that for a bit. Well, G.G. was found, but she hasn't learned a darn thing from her experiences. She's pregnant, she threatened suicide, she still thinks she loves George, she accused Rick and me of molesting her, and attacked Rick and some orderlies. She's looking at being confined to a mental hospital for a while. But the thing is, she isn't delusional and doesn't have bipolar or something. She's just fooling herself into believing that she and George have a love for the ages and are neant to be, despite the overwhelming evidence ti the contrary. She can't or won't see him as the scumbag he us."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth reached toward the screen as if she could touch me.

"Thanks. It's all impossible and I am wondering what I am even doing here. I can't do anything that can make any difference."

"I get it. But you're a good guy and you love her."

"Yes, but it would be so much easier if I didn't."

"I know."

"Still, talking to you was really nice, the best thing I've gotten to do since I got on that plane."

"Good. Wanna talk tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Then I heard an alert, my alert, through her phone, that said someone was at the gate. And then we got off the phone.

I was left alone in my hotel room, but somehow I didn't feel so alone anymore. I even thought I might be able to sleep now.

A/N: What should Elizabeth's nickname for Bill be? I know a lot of you aren't crazy about Darcy being called Bill so now is your chance for a redo. Also, what should Bill's Sunday be like?