Page 30 of Third Time is the Charm
“What did he do?” Beth asked softly.
Lydia gave her a sad smile and Beth realized just how much older Lydia looked. Sadness and heartbreak had aged her, along with the child she was growing, but mostly it was the emotional maturity that was now present in full force where it had been previously deficient.
“Everything… nothing,” she began nondescriptly, her eyes finally moving to meet Beth’s. “I know I don’t have to tell you the type of person George is; you saw it from the beginning, everyone probably saw it by the end. Selfish, self-centered, petty. He didn’tdoanything like you’re probably thinking, at least not that I know of.” Beth nodded, silently willing Lydia to continue, not wanting to interrupt her flow of feelings. “It was my fault really; I expected too much. I expected a fairytale.” She paused here, laughing harshly at herself. “I don’t blame mom, but I just saw marriage as the end-all-be-all. When I got pregnant, I was so blinded by my attraction to George, and my belief that ‘of course, he wanted to marry me,’ that I couldn’t see he was trying to leave me the entire time – even after Iknewthat Darcy had bribed him to marry me.”
Beth felt her heart breaking for her sister. Yes, she’d been foolish and naïve to ignore the blatant signs, and yes, at the time, if someone had told Beth that Lydia would end up like this, she would have thought ‘serves her right.’ But here, now, in this very moment, seeing her baby sister struggling to stay positive for her child, seeing that it was a losing battle written all over her face, seeing her ever, overly optimistic spirit simply crushed, she couldn’t find the desire to scold her or any satisfaction in knowing that she was right. She swallowed hard, knowing how easy it was to judge until you’re knee-deep in the situation and you realize that you wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
“After we moved, everything and nothing changed. Nothing changed with George – always busy trying to get ahead at work, never wanting to bother with me or the baby. Everything, on the other hand, changed with me, not the least of which was reality that I was going to be a mom; and it looked like I was going to basically be doing it on my own. That responsibility changes you, it makes you grow up very fast. And in that process, it opened my eyes to the truth about the man I had married, and I didn’t want him to be a part of my daughter’s life if he didn’t care to be. I don’t want to force him to be a father; I don’t want my daughter to grow up feeling like I’ve forced her father to love her. So, I set him free.”
“What did he say when you left?”
Lydia looked away for a moment before answering. “Nothing, really,” she said softly, the memory obviously upsetting to her. “He didn’t say anything because he doesn’t really care. He never wanted to be married or have a child. He told me I could do whatever I wanted. The only thing he cared about knowing was whether or not he would still be financially responsible for the child,” she finished with a laugh of disbelief.
God, George was such an ass.
Beth could see how much it hurt Lydia that he hadn’t fought for her or their child, that he’d been ok with her leaving. She knew it was that moment that had shattered her sister’s belief in a fairytale; just like when Darcy hadn’t followed her to Boston, in spite of everything that he’d done, a part of her deep down inside had hoped that she’d meant enough to him for at least that. But he never came. Telling George that she wanted to leave was Lydia’s last shot, the last card she could play, to see if there was anything about her or their child worth fighting for.
“I’m sorry, Lyd,” Beth whispered, doing her best to hold back the tears in her eyes.
Lydia gave her a weak smile. “Don’t be, you know it’s for the best.” Her words were clear, but her tone said that she wished it hadn’t come to this.
Beth’s brow furrowed. “Wait, so did Darcy fire George then? What happens to him now if you leave him?” Not that she cared about George, but the only reason he got that job was if he married Lydia. Getting a divorce would nullify that arrangement.
“Nothing. I left George, he didn’t leave me. Plus, I asked him not to do anything.”
“What do you mean you asked him? You asked Darcy not to do anything? Why?” Beth asked, perplexed that she would request that of Darcy after everything that George had put her through.
“Yes, I asked Darcy,” Lydia confirmed. “I chose to leave; George shouldn’t be punished for that, as much as it has hurt me. I know he chose to not want a relationship with me or our daughter, but part of me hopes that someday, he’ll change his mind – for her at least. He’s the father of my child, and for as immature and inconsiderate and selfish as he is, I would want her to know him, if he chooses. Asking Darcy to ruin his life might feel great right now, but it could hurtherin the future.” Lydia looked down again at her stomach and Beth could see that everything she’d done, all of the hurt and disappointment that she had endured, all of the dreams that she’d chosen to shatter, had all been for her child and what was best for her little girl.
“And Darcy was ok with that? He listened to you?” Beth continued, astonished that Darcy wouldn’t take the first opportunity to destroy George Wickham. “What about you? How are you living? Where are you living?” Beth groaned; she’d asked the questions before thinking and once they were out realized how they made it sound like Lydia was completely incompetent and unable to take care of herself.
In Beth’s defense, Lydia had been a few months ago.
“He did,” Lydia said solemnly. “He did, and then he helped me. Well, I guess it started a few months ago. I decided to look for a job because being home all day was torture, especially with how things were with George; days were long and tedious and I had nothing to look forward to when he got home.” She shook her head, realizing she was getting off track from answering Beth’s question. “So, Mr. Darcy offered me a job in one of his other, smaller companies in the city. I don’t know what I would have done without that; no one wants to hire a woman who is pregnant and is going to have to be out of the office for several months, just when she is starting to get settled in; no one except Darcy.”
“What do you do?” Beth wondered, knowing that Lydia had left college when she moved out to Chicago with George. She didn’t even know what major her sister had originally planned on graduating with. Lydia had always been more preoccupied with parties than with schoolwork.
“Nothing crazy,” she prefaced. “I’m just an assistant to the senior editor at a small publishing house that Mr. Darcy owns. But, I really enjoy it; I enjoy the scheduling and dealing with people, but mostly, I get to do a lot of reading. My editor, Samantha Hall, is great and has been really considerate of my situation. I get to read a lot of the submissions that come in and help her organize her thoughts on them, as well as give my own.” Beth watched as Lydia’s face lit up talking about her new job. It was the first time she’d ever seen her sister so excited about work or any type of responsibility; she really had turned over a new leaf, as painful as it was.
“That’s great, Lyd,” Beth encouraged, and her sister continued before she could get back to the part of the subject that was still unnerving her.
“Yeah, it really is. And the best part is that I’ll still be able to work from home during the last few weeks before my due date and then even after I have the baby; I don’t know where else I would have found such flexibility, much less doing something that I really enjoy.”
“Reading for a living is not a bad way to go,” Beth acknowledged wryly.
“It’s a great escape, which is something that I could really use right now…”
Beth had to agree with her sister there. “So, you got your own place then?” Beth pressed on, needing to know just what else Darcy had done for her younger sister. She knew there was more to the story, more that would only heighten her conflicting feelings for him.
“Well, sort of…” Lydia answered, chewing on her lower lip, as though trying to decide just how much she should say. “My townhome kind of came with the job,” she admitted, her eyes darting over to Beth’s awaiting her reaction.
Of course, it did.
“It’s really beautiful – big enough for me and the baby,” she continued when Beth didn’t respond, finally sighing and explaining the whole story about how Darcy had provided her not just with a job, but also with a house. “A few months ago, when I went to see Mr. Darcy about a job, he asked me why I wanted one, that George certainly made enough money for the both of us, and that he’d never seen me as the type who really wanted to work.” She broke on a laugh. “He was very blunt, but he wasn’t wrong. Those first few months in Chicago with George had changed me, and he couldn’t have known that, so I don’t fault him for his assumptions. I figured I would need to tell him at some point anyway before he found out on his own, so I told him that I was planning on leaving George, for the baby’s sake.”
Beth continued to listen intently.
“Mr. Darcy, I think, jumped to the same conclusions you did – I can still remember the look on his face, I thought he was about to go rip George’s head off right then. So, I told him what I just told you and then I asked him to please not punish George for my choice. I explained that my only purpose in coming to him was that I needed a job so that I could support myself and the baby, so I could get us our own place, and being new to Chicago, I wondered if he had any suggestions.” She paused to take a sip of water, her hand gently rubbing her stomach again. “And then he offered me a job at the publishing house, which was more than I could have asked for. But before I could even thank him, he continued to tell me that he had a townhome that he usually uses for associates stay when they visit on business, but that he would have his assistant give me the keys and alarm codes and that it was mine to use.”
