Page 63 of First Impressions
“I know; I just feel like I shouldn’t be happy right now because of Lydia. It just happened earlier today but then dad called so I told Charles that we can’t tell anyone right now. Not until we find Lydia.”
“Are you serious? He proposed today? Where’s the ring?”
“He didn’t get one yet.” She laughed to herself. “He was going to wait but when he was over earlier, he said that he just knew he had to do it then; that he couldn’t go another day without knowing that we would spend the rest of our livestogether. So it was completely unplanned. It was perfect.” Jane was smiling to herself as she seemed to relive the moment.
“Oh my god! That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.” Beth hugged her sister, letting happy tears stream down her face.
They laughed together before settling in to go to sleep. They had a long day ahead. As Beth wiped the tears from her face, she tried to keep telling herself that they were happy tears for Jane’s engagement, not sad tears for Darcy’s absence.
The followingday seemed to pass in slow motion. Beth and Jane spent the entire day with their mother, trying to console and calm her. They would succeed until something reminded her of ‘her baby, Lydia,’ at which point she would burst into hysterics again.
First, it was when Jane begged her to eat something for breakfast, offering to make her eggs or toast or even a bowl of oatmeal; well, oatmeal is what Lydia ate for breakfast most days. Then, Jane brought her a cup of chamomile tea to drink; it was in a mug that their mother had bought when she and Lydia had been shopping together.
Beth would have thought the recollections as ridiculous as the emotional outburst they elicited if she hadn’t paused in the hallway where Darcy had told her that he wanted her to stay away from him. Immobile, she stood reliving their encounter, seeing it from a whole new perspective; seeing him as a man so overwhelmed and confused by his intense attraction to her that it made him lose control. She didn’t even feel the tears form in her eyes and begin to roll down her cheeks until Kat jarred her from her reverie.
“Beth, are you ok?”
“Y-yeah. Just worried about Lydia is all,” she responded as she used her sleeve to brush the tears from her cheeks.
“M-me too.” Beth hugged her younger sister as she began to cry. Aside from their mother, Kat had taken Lydia’s disappearance the hardest since they were the two closest in age, and closest to each other. Since they’d found out that Lydia had left, Kat had kept herself locked herself in her room,coming out for food and to see if they had heard anything from Phil or their dad yet.
“It’s ok. Dad’s going to find her,” she said trying to convince both of them. Kat just nodded and went back upstairs to her room.
Beth sat down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen and drank her tea in silence, trying to think of any other way to locate Lydia. She was stirred from her thoughts by the sound of Jane’s determined footsteps approaching the kitchen.
“What’s up?”
“Dad just called, Ben’s roommate said that he saw Ben leave with George and some girl this morning. He thinks that they were headed out to the Hamptons,” Jane couldn’t conceal the hope that escaped in her voice.
“Thank God.” Beth hugged her sister with a huge sigh of relief. They hadn’t found her yet, but at least they had a lead. “Have you heard from Charles?” She thought he would have been over to their house by now.
“Yes, he was with dad and Phil this morning. He’s on his way here now that they are headed to the Hamptons,” Jane answered as she opened the fridge to find something to eat. “Aside from the way it ended, how did your trip go yesterday?”
Beth shuddered at the question, the pain of missing Darcy shooting through her. Thankfully, Jane was still looking away and didn’t see her reaction.
“It was ok.”Not convincing.
“What happened?” Jane asked as she closed the fridge and came over to sit next to her, clearly picking up that something aside from Lydia’s travesty had occurred.
“Well, Darcy owns the Rockefeller estate that we went to.”
“You’re kidding.” Jane gasped. “Was he there?”
“Well, not at first, so it was ok, but then he came home with his sister.”
“What did he say? What did you do?”
“Well, we had an awkward conversation for about a minute while we were alone. It was like we both wanted to say something about what had happened between us except completely different words came out instead,” Beth laughed athow stupid it sounded. “But then, the housekeeper and Phil came back looking for me so we were interrupted. Darcy brought his sister home with him, so he introduced me to her and then asked if we wanted to stay for lunch. I, obviously, tried to leave and not impose, but he insisted and basically bribed Phil, who hardly needed bribing. So we sat down to lunch but that was when I saw your text.”
“Oh my gosh! That’s crazy. Do you think he still has feelings for you? Did he act like he did? What was his sister like?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that in his letter he said he wanted to forget that he had ever proposed to me and after everything, I want to respect that.”No matter how much she tried to read into every word or movement that he felt otherwise.“His sister was awesome though - so sweet. She seemed younger than her age though, like very innocent, compared to Lydia or Kat but maybe that’s a good thing given the current situation. He apparently told her a lot about me and she seemed like she really wanted to get to know me but then the afternoon got cut short.” Beth took the last sip of her tea and looked at Jane. “I can see why Darcy is so protective of her and how George was able to take advantage of her feelings for him. God, I can’t believe him. What an ass,” Beth shook her head in disgust, still shocked at how willing she had been to believe his charm and sob story.
“Yeah, he seems to know just how to take advantage of people,” Jane agreed. “I’m glad you liked her though. Do you think there is any chance you will be able to see her again?”
“I don’t know. Even if Darcy wasn’t there, the thought of being so close to him but still so far away…” she trailed off, “I just don’t think I can handle that right now.”
“I’m sorry, Beth.” The sadness in Jane’s eyes almost made her start crying again; she quickly stood up, trying to physically shake off the thoughts of Darcy that seemed ever present.
