Page 41 of Second Chances
“That was good thinking. It can be quite shocking how quickly feelings can change, that’s for sure. I hope your date took good care of you; I was really looking forward to meeting him,” Caro said coyly.
“What date? You brought a date somewhere?” Mrs. Bennet interjected, “Who is he? What does he do?”
Ignoring her mom, Beth stared at Caroline with confusion. Like before, it was never quite what she said that put Beth on the defensive, but it was the tone, and the looks, like sheknewsomething, like she was always one step ahead -if that made any sense.
No, Beth it doesn’t make sense. What has Caroline ever done to you? She’s going to be Jane’s sister-in-law and she’s just trying to make conversation with you about your event and inquiring after your health. She’s not Mrs. DeBourgh; you can RELAX, and stop treating everyone like an enemy.
Thankfully, Beth was relieved of having to answer her mother’s questions as Jane promptly came out from the dressing room, drawing everyone’s focus.
“Oh Jane, you look beautiful!” her mother exclaimed, approaching her to assess all angles of the gown.
“Mom, she’s going to go stand in front of a bunch of mirrors so you’ll get a good look at everything, give her some space to walk,” Beth scolded.
Jane gave her a grateful glance as she started to follow her consultant out onto the floor and to their designated mirror and sitting area. Beth quickly took a seat in the chair, leaving her mom and Caro the small settee. Definitely needed to keep her distance from her mom’s prying questions.
Beth pretended to be entranced watching Jane maneuver her way onto the small podium as the consultant and her mother began to arrange the ornate, embroidered mermaid-style dress around her. She was however, still thinking about what Caro had said.Why would she be calling her out about being sick? And what did she mean about ‘how quickly feelings can change’? Who says that about getting sick?It was like there was some double meaning that she was supposed to understand, but couldn’t, for the life of her, fathom what it was. Not to mention the whole separate issue of Caro bringing up her date to the party in front of her mom; she couldn’t really blame her for that though. Only Jane would know to never bring up any sort of relationship information in front of their mom unless she were planning on walking down the aisle with that person.
“Beth,what do you think?”
Jane’s voice registered in her head, and Beth realized that everyone was looking at her, waiting for her thoughts.Busted.
“Sorry,” she muttered. She stood up and walked around Jane, carefully assessing the dress, all the while trying to hide the redness that had crept into her cheeks for being caught distracted from the present moment. “I mean, the dress is beautiful, Jane,” she began, thoughtfully looking at the whole picture that her sister presented, “but, I’m just not sure that it’s you.”
She looked up to Jane, hoping that she hadn’t offended her sister too much -not that Jane would ever say.What if this dress had been her first pick, her favorite?Oh, God,Beth cringed at the thought, now dreading her sister’s response.
“I agree,” Jane said with a relieved smile, “I think it’s just too busy a style for me.”
“Really, Jane? I think it looks fabulous! I knew from the moment that I saw it how good it would look on you; you can’t tell me that you don’t agree,” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed, before realizing that it wasn’t actually her choice to make, “but, of course, if it’s not yourstylethen let’s see the next one.”
Beth had breathed a sigh of relief, catching Jane’s eye as soon as their mother had started talking. Clearly, Mrs. Bennet had her own ideas about what Jane looked best in and should wear, and Beth wasn’t surprised in the least that Jane had acquiesced to trying on one of her mother’s picks even though the dress was much too flashy for Jane’s personality.
The consultant moved to help Jane down from the podium, the dress slightly too big and too long for Jane’s frame. Taking advantage of her position, under the premise of making sure that Jane didn’t step on any of the intricate beading of the train, Beth picked up the trailing end of the fabric and helped her sister back to the dressing room. The move served a dual purpose to remove her from the great potential of continuing an awkwardly probing conversation with either Caroline or her mother; at this point, Beth wasn’t sure who would be worse.
Making their way back to Jane’s dressing room, the consultant let Beth go in and assist Jane out of and into the next dress, giving the sisters a moment of privacy.
“Thanks for that. I didn’t know how to tell mom that it’s definitely not my style,” Jane said sheepishly as Beth unzipped the back of the offending gown.
“Of course! It’s your wedding, Jane, don’t let her push you into doing or wearing something that you don’t like,” Beth encouraged her sister. “I’m sorry I got here so late, I…ugh, well, if I had been here I wouldn’t have even let her pull it off the rack.”
“Is everything ok?”
“Of course, I’m fine,” Beth responded automatically, keeping her eyes focused on unzipping the next dress option and positioning it in a way that Jane could climb into it, purposefully not looking at her sister.
“Beth, it’s me. If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand, but I know that you’re not fine,” Jane responded softly.
Of course, Jane knew.
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Beth apologized. “I just didn’t want to be a downer on such an exciting day. Plus, once I start talking about it, I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to control my emotions, and I don’t want mom to see me like that.”
“I understand,” Jane acknowledged, catching Beth’s eye as she zipped her sister into the dress, “do you want to come over after and talk?”
“That would be good,” Beth said softly, “I think I might stay at the apartment tonight.”
It had to be said, but her last statement almost broke down the dam holding her tears at bay.
“Ok, of course,” Jane responded, knowing not to probe her sister any further.
Jane turned around and hugged her, understanding the gravity of what Beth had told her - that she was staying at the apartment tonight; it was all she needed to say to convey that something serious had happened between her and Darcy. Beth hugged her sister back, closing her eyes as a few tears slipped through.
