Page 72 of First Impressions
Her responses were infuriating Mrs. DeBourgh. The woman’s face was beet red and she looked like she was about to reach across the table and strangle Beth right then and there. Beth was kind of enjoying it - putting this woman in her place; she was also slightly concerned about what the consequences of that might be but not enough to let herself be bossed around anymore.
“They have been essentially engaged since they were born, even though it might not be official yet and these rumors are an insult to that. Now, are you engaged to Mr. Darcy?”
Beth hesitated, the potential ramifications of her persistent subversive responses weighing on her, and then responded, “No, I am not.”
The relief that passed over the older woman’s face was palpable.
“And do you swear that you will never agree to marry Mr. Darcy should he, in a state of pure insanity, propose to you?”
“I absolutely will not.”Not that that was ever going to happen again.
“Miss Bennet! Either you make this promise to me or, mark my words, I will destroy you. I will destroy not only your career but the firm you work for and I will make sure that no company that has any aspirations of going anywhere looks at hiring you.”
“Mrs. DeBourgh, I willneverpromise that. I’m not going to sit here and let you try to intimidate and insult me and bully me into something so ridiculous and unreasonable. If Mr. Darcy is going to marry Anne, then what difference would my promised refusal make? I don’t know what impression I’ve given you as to my character but I’m not a push-over. I don’t care what you threaten me with, I will never make such a promise to you; you are talking about my life, my relationships, topics which you havezeroright to be concerned in. Now, if that is all, I should get going.”
“I don’t think so. You need to think very closely about how much damage you are about to subject not just your life, but the lives of your family and friends to. Don’t think I don’t know that George Wickham knocked up your younger sister and had to be forced to marry her and don’t think I won’t make sure that she and everyone else knows it. Don’t think I won’t convince everyone, every business who matters that your father sold Jane off to the highest bidder in order to sell his firm. And last don’t think that I won’t hesitate to inform Darcy himself that you’ve been spying on him and feeding me information on him this entire time; what do you think his opinion of you will be then?” She smiled smugly, assuming she had dealt the winning blow.
“Mrs. DeBourgh, I don’t think there is anything left for you to possibly threaten or insult me with. So, on that note, I’m leaving.”
Beth stood up and Mrs. DeBourgh followed suit saying, “So you think he wants to marry you then do you?”
“I never said anything like that. All I said was that I refuse to promise something that may or may not affect my future and my happiness to a complete stranger who has no regard for my wellbeing or wishes.”
“Well if that is your final decision, I can see that I’ve wasted my time expecting you to behave like a reasonable person,” she said with disdain. “You only have yourself to blame for the consequences that will follow should anything impede my daughter and Darcy’s engagement.”
And with that statement, she stalked out of the restaurant and hopefully, out of Beth’s life for good. Beth wentto reach for her phone and realized how badly she was shaking. Making her way to the ladies’ room, she splashed some cold water on her face, not knowing how she had found the strength to stand up to Mrs. DeBourgh like that. She needed to talk to Anne but not here, not now. She was too shaken up. A few deep breaths later, she was in an Uber and on her way back home, anxious to talk to and warn her friend about what her mother had said.
“Hey, what happened? Are you ok?” Anne immediately answered her call.
“I’m not sure. Your mom asked me about Darcy,” Beth began, trying to coherently relay their altercation. “Did you say anything to her?”
“No! I try to bring up Darcy as little as possible around her; otherwise she just jumps right to our supposed engagement. What did she say?”
“She said there are rumors that I’m about to be engaged to him and she wanted me to swear to her that I would never do such a thing.”
“Are you?? Did you??”
“I, ahh, well no. We aren’t engaged so at least that was a truthful answer that I gave her. Not that he didn’t already ask me though…” she trailed off.
“But you said no?” Even though she asked, Anne didn’t seem shocked by her revelation.
“Yeah. You don’t seem surprised. Did he tell you already?” She knew that she still shouldn’t feel jealous of his and Anne’s relationship, but she wanted that same type of closeness with him.
“No, but he asked if we could meet for a late lunch today to talk. He didn’t sound good,” Anne replied, “I didn’t ask specifics but after he asked me to give you that letter and then when you texted me about my mom wanting to talk, and now based on what you just told me I figured something serious had happened between you two.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Well, I’m always here if you want to talk or want my perspective on Darcy, but first I need to know what happenedwith my mom - did you tell her what I told you about Darcy and me?” The anxiety in Anne’s voice was evident.
“No! I wouldn’t. So she said there were these rumors and asked if they were true and if I had anything to do with them, to which I first responded that how could they be true if she was so sure that you and Darcy are engaged? It might not have been the best answer, but I’m not going to let her bully me and she has no right to my personal information.”
“Oh, man. I’m sure shelovedthat. Did she try to cut your head off right then and there?” Anne joked, lightly.
“I was worried for a minute, but no. So after a few minutes back and forth of that, she threatened my job and Phil’s company, at which point I told her,truthfully,that Darcy and I are not engaged.”
“As much as I applaud your fortitude, sometimes it’s best to tread lightly. She does know a lot of people and has a lot of pull. I don't want to see you get hurt.”
“I know, which is why I told her. But then she insisted that I promise that I would never marry him, which I just couldn’t do.”
