Page 19 of First Impressions
“Cheers!” said everyone except Mr. Collins.
Charles stood, glass in hand to continue the toast, “Thank you, John. I hope that I’m able to continue the successful and respected tradition that Longbourne has set for the community. Thank you for welcoming me in like family and making this transition as easy as possible for me. And a special thank you to Jane, who has brightened up my life in so many ways over these past few weeks and who has graciously agreed to be my date to the Charity Ball next weekend.” Jane’s face turned pink at Charles’ words as she smiled up at him, clearly in love.
His eyes narrowing into slits, Mr. Collins’ gaze darted quickly back and forth between Jane and Charles as he was just realizing the attraction and relationship that had formed between them. With a careless impertinence, he muttered, “Well that explains how you were able to lure Bingley into such a lucrative settlement,” scoffing as he chugged back the last of his wine.
Thankfully, it was only Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy who had heard his outrageous insult; Darcy stared for a moment, letting the words sink in before Charles grabbed his attention. Mr. Bennet gave Bill a cold stare and looked like he was about to ask him to leave that very moment and not bother returning to work; however, he settled for a stern, “We will discuss this later,” and returned to the more light-hearted discussion occurring further down the table.
Beth looked happily at Jane and Charles after his speech, trying to share in their excitement. She’d never been ajealous person, but watching them made her heart ache for something she thought she’d never want - love. Stealing a glance or two at Mr. Intolerable showed his starkly handsome face still devoid of emotion; even though he didn’t once look in her direction, she noticed he glanced at Charles and Jane a few times, a strange look of concern mixed with displeasure flickering across his features before it was gone. Tearing her gaze away before the pain in her chest became too much, she willingly talked with her mother about whether this meant Jane and Charles were officially an item or not - a sign of how far she had fallen.
The conversation became sparser as they proceeded through the main meal and then picked up again on the topic of dates for the ball once the plates were cleared.
“Mom, can Kat and I please be allowed to bring friends? They won’t be dates, I promise,” Lydia pleaded. As much as Irene Bennet wanted her daughters married, she thought Lydia and Kat a little too young and wild to be dating the older “friends” that they typically wanted to invite to social functions.
“I don’t think so Lydia but you can ask your dad.”
“But mom, please, please, please. It’s not fair that everyone else gets to bring a date except us. I promise we will bring someone acceptable.”
“Yes, mom. Please. You never let us have any fun,” Kat chimed in.
“Ok, fine,” Mrs. Bennet snapped, acquiescing mostly because she felt the girls were making a scene in front of some very important company and wanted to shut them up, “but you must run it by your father and me first before you invite just anyone.”
Beth rolled her eyes as her youngest sisters almost jumped out of their seats in excitement. She wished she could impress on them how overrated men were.
“And how about you, Mr. Darcy, have you decided to bring a guest to the party? You could always take Beth, here. She never brings anyone,” Mrs. Bennet indecorously asserted with a smile on her face, oblivious to the gentleman’s treatment of said daughter thus far.
Beth couldn’t believe what was happening. She hadn’t thought it possible to feel any more humiliated after Darcy’s blatant disregard for her tonight, but, as always, her mother managed to find a way. Trying to pass it off lightly with a very forced laugh, Beth felt herself turning beet red. Unable to look at the man in question, she glanced at Jane who reached over and squeezed her hand underneath the table.
From the corner of her eye, she peered at Mr. Darcy, who looked almost as shocked by the awkward statement as she was. It took him a moment to recover himself and figure out how to respond to such a degrading comment.
“I appreciate your… err… concern ma’am, but I already have a guest in mind. Thank you.” The last said a bit more forcefully in his attempt to indicate that this discussion was over. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that a discussion wasn’t over until Irene said so.
“Well, I can’t say I’m glad to hear that. Are you sure that you’ve made the right choice?”
“Of course he has, mom,” Beth interjected with a sarcastic laugh. “I’m confident that Mr. Darcyalwaysmakes the right choice, otherwise he would have to admit fault, which I can’t imagine him capable of.” Even though it was said under the guise of a joke, Beth meant every word and Darcy knew it.
For the first time all evening, his eyes locked with hers as his anger flared; the same anger he’d just released in the hall and the one that wanted to spank her for provoking him the last time. She knew she was pushing his buttons but she was angry and hurt and tormented by the things he had said to her; things that he couldn’t bring himself to admit to regretting.
“I didn’t become who I am without suppressing any faults of mine as much as possible. When you become this successful, you can’t afford any mistakes that someone might use against you to bring you down.” A hard stare accompanied the haughty defense of his personality.
“And do you think being too proud is a fault, Mr. Darcy?” She was instigating his temper again, but she was too angry and humiliated to care.
“When you are actually superior in the areas that you are proud of? No, absolutely not.”
“Well, then you’ve convinced me, Mr. Darcy; I believe you to be perfect, completely without fault,” she decried with a laugh to hide the tears welling up inside.
Before she risked total humiliation by crying in front of everyone, she excused herself to use the ladies room hoping that her abrupt exit wasn’t noted with too much interest by the rest of the table. As she walked out of the dining room, she paused as it appeared Mr. Darcy was going to respond to her comment whether or not she was present. Resting her emotionally traumatized body against the wall, she listened to his reply and focused on not crying.
“No, unfortunately, I do have faults. I’ll admit my temper has a short fuse which has caused me problems more times than I care to count.”
“That I can vouch for. I’ve had to pry him off of a few unfortunate souls in the past,” Charles said with a laugh. “Thankfully it has gotten better since our Harvard days.”
Beth re-entered the room as everyone was laughing at Charles’ comment. Darcy’s smile faded as he looked directly at her and said, “I hold very high standards of everyone I meet and tend to judge harshly those who don’t exceed them. I also don’t believe in second chances; I find I can’t forgive a grave mistake of character or action.”
“Well, though your faults are limited, it’s a shame that they leave you predisposed to see everyone you meet as a disappointment,” Beth countered, calmly retaking her seat.
“At least I don’t misjudge them.”
By that point, the tension between them was palpable and Mrs. Bennet, stunned from the dispute she had provoked, was blessedly silent, unsure of how to redirect the conversation.
