Page 67 of First Impressions
Chapter Forty-Two
WHAT?!
“Why was Mr. Darcy there? I don’t understand,” Beth asked, shaken to her core.Did Darcy have something to do with the wedding?A million thoughts ran through her head so that she didn’t even know where to begin.
“Darling, we really need to go,” George arrived just at that moment and began to pull Lydia forcefully towards the front door as if he didn’t want her to answer.
Beth just stood there dumbly, watching her sister and her new husband leave as the remainder of her family dispersed.
Why was Darcy there?He hates George. Why would he want to be at his wedding? Why would he be helping at the wedding?Did he bribe George?He wouldn’t have; he couldn’t have. He had tried that before. George didn’t want money; he wanted a job.Oh God, his new job.
Beth ran upstairs to find her cell phone.Where did he say he was working again? Chicago. DFW? Nothing. FWD? Bingo.She began to read the Wikipedia article on the new firm that had offered George such an astonishingly good position.
‘FWD & Co. is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in Chicago.’Yeah, yeah what else?‘FWD has been ranked number one by market share in consulting by Gartner. In 2016, Fortune magazine ranked FWD as one of the 100 Best Companies to work for.’
Come on, just tell me who owns it.
‘Founded: 1995. Founder: William Fitz Darcy. Parent Corporation: Fitz Corp.’
Oh, God.
Beth sank down on the floor by the bed, processing what this meant. Darcy had bribed George to marry Lydia with a job, not at Fitz Corp, but at one of its subsidiaries.
Why would he do this? Why would he undermine himself and his morals to offer George a job? Why would he do that to help Lydia?
She knew the answer to that but she refused to acknowledge it. She couldn’t believe he would do this for her after everything that she had done. Beth needed confirmation for all her assumptions and she knew who would tell her the truth.
She got up and rushed back downstairs, finding Charles and Jane in the kitchen about to say goodnight. They looked at her questioningly as she hurried into the room.
Not bothering with pleasantries, she looked at Charles and asked, “Why was Darcy at Lydia’s wedding?”
He stared at her for a moment as if he was trying to figure out what to say, how to deny it.
“He was ahh, just making sure that your sister was ok,” he responded hesitantly.
“I know that’s not the only reason. Don’t lie to me, Charles. I know he was there. I know he gave George a job,” Beth said, trying, poorly, to hold back her frustration about being kept in the dark.
Even Jane’s eyebrows shot up at Beth’s accusation. “Charles?” Jane asked, looking at him for answers.
“I’m sorry, Beth. It’s just, he made us swear to secrecy,” he looked down and hesitated, unsure if he wanted to violate his promise. “But, since it looks like you already know most of what happened, I might as well tell you the rest,” he sighed in resignation.
“Why was he there?” she asked again.
“He was the one who found them. I don’t know how, but he knows people. It was why I didn’t go with your father and Phil. They knew exactly where to find Lydia and Darcy met them there.”
“Why did he offer George a job?”
“I mean, I think it’s pretty obvious that George wasn’t going to marry Lydia. Darcy got ahold of him and told him that he would hire him into senior management on two conditions: number one, that he married Lydia today and number two, that they leave the city by the end of the week. That’s why the job offer was for Darcy’s company in Chicago; he wanted them out of the city, far away from you and his sister.” Georgelooked at her with an expression that made it clear he was confirming her suspicions.
He had done it for her. He’d hired that asshole, incorporated him into his business, and all for her.
“That’s why Lydia said they were leaving in a day or so and that she didn’t want a party because Darcy forced them to leave…” Beth was thinking out loud.
“It wasn’t just Darcy. He would have hired George anywhere to get him to marry Lydia, but your dad was really upset by the whole situation. He didn’t want Lydia around to set a bad example for Kat or for George to really feel like he was part of the family,” Charles continued. “Lydia doesn’t know that George wasn’t going to marry her. She thinks the job was a wedding present from Darcy. If they stayed and lived here though, she would find out because neither Darcy nor your father can stand George. So, your father asked that Darcy gives him a job somewhere else where they could visit but where Lydia’s happiness wouldn’t be jeopardized.”
“I see,” she said numbly, trying to process everything that Charles was saying, everything that Darcy had done and sacrificed for her.
How could they ever repay him? How could she ever thank him?
