Page 71 of Second Chances
Gathering everyone in the living room off to the right of the entrance, Beth and Irene hushed everyone into silence, waiting for the bride-to-be to make her entrance. Thankfully, they only waited a few minutes before Beth’s phone buzzed to tell her that Caro and Jane were here.
Beth’s heart clenched when the door opened and Caroline entered the house first, rage coursing through her body. The moment anticipating Jane’s entrance, however, reminded her of the role she had to play and, leading the group, yelled, “SURPRISE!”as her sister entered the house.
For a second, all Beth could see was the mix of astonishment, excitement, and happiness exuding from Jane’s face. All of the negative emotions that had consumed her in the past fifteen minutes subsided as she rushed up to hug and greet her sister, both of them laughing with happy tears in their eyes. They were quickly overwhelmed as Irene and the rest of the guests made their way forward to congratulate Jane.
Beth carefully moved back out of the mass, letting Jane enjoy the crush of attention. As she scanned the room to assess the whole situation, she caught Caro’s eyes, quickly keeping hers moving across the rest of the room. Spotting Char on the periphery of the guests talk to her mother, Beth decided to make a beeline for their company, hoping to avoid at least a private conversation with Caro at all costs. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quick enough.
“Beth! What a wonderful job you and your mother did,” Caro exclaimed as Beth felt her icy hand grab her arm to detain her.
Plastering a fake smile on her face, she turned to face the woman trying to destroy her.
“Thank you,” she replied hollowly. “It was a bit of a craze this morning, but we were able to pull everything together.” Beth saw Caro’s eyes flicker with interest at her subtle change in demeanor.
“I see,” Caro continued, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly on Beth, “so, what do you think of my house? I haven’t been able to do much with it yet, but I hate to start because I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying here…”
Why? Because you think you’ll be moving back in with Darcy soon? HAH!
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t too seen much of it,” Beth replied, not taking Caro’s bait. “I ran late this morning so this is probably the first time I’ve stopped and actually taken a look around, but it seems very nice.”
“I thought so. At least it will be a great investment property when I move out,” Caro continued, even more suggestively as a sly smile crept over her face.
“Oh, definitely!” Beth exclaimed, plastering on a smile even though her gaze was hardened with hate. “Oh, you know what” I need to go check with my mom about the favors; I’ll catch up with you later.”
Beth turned around and walked away, hoping she was going in the direction of her mom, while leaving Caro staring after her. She couldn’t stand to be in her presence any longer, with her coy remarks, her subtle attempt to provoke Beth into delving deeper into her personal life, all the while knowing that it was she who was trying to destroy Beth’s relationship with Darcy. Beth couldn’t help but think about every conversation that they had ever had; her anger rising as she thought about how each time Caro was only toying with her, pretending to be concerned, looking for a friend, when all the while she was truly planning on ruining her relationship.
Beth grabbed one of the cocktails sitting on the small bar in the dining room, taking a large sip of the fruity mimosa within, hoping to wash down the taste of bile in her mouth and her stomach’s urge to vomit.
Thankfully, Beth found Irene in the dining room talking with Mrs. Bingley.
Perfect. Any enemy of Caro’s is a friend of mine.
If she could ensconce herself in conversation with Caro’s mom, that might be enough of a deterrent to prevent Caro from approaching her again.
“Mrs. Bingley, it’s so wonderful to see you again,” Beth exclaimed, greeting Jane’s future mother-in-law.
“Good afternoon, my dear. This is a lovely little party you’ve put together,” Mrs. Bingley replied.
Mrs. Bingley was a very reserved woman, who, along with her husband, had very similar ideas about life and marriage as Irene Bennet. Well, it was more like Mrs. Bingley had specific ideas about social norms that sheinsistedthat Mr. Bingley follow. Naturally, though, this was the main reason that she and Irene got along so well. Beth hadn’t spoken to her very much before now; most of what she knew had been relayed from Jane.
Mrs. Bingley was dressed as if she were here to attend tea with the Queen of England herself, but then again, every time Beth had seen her before, this was the style and caliber of clothing that she had chosen to wear. She was very pleasant, but never got too emotional about anything, whether it was good or bad; it seemed that Charles had inherited his congenial manner from his father.
“We were just discussing the troubles of raising girls,” Irene interjected, clearly eager to get back to the discussion.
There must be some juicy gossip involved…
“Ahh, yes, well, I was saying that it seems that you’ve lucked out here with Jane, Irene. If only my Caroline were so well-behaved,” Mrs. Bingley continued on a sigh.
“I thought you and Caroline were on good terms,” Beth exclaimed, falsely, “at least, I would have never thought otherwise…”
If Mrs. Bingley was anything like Irene, she wouldn’t hesitate to discuss her woes with her daughter.
Turn around is fair play,Beth thought with a smile.Time to figure out what Caro is really doing here.
“Yes, yes, if only that were the case,” Mrs. Bingley lamented. “Unfortunately, my daughter is very headstrong and focused on what she wants, regardless of the effects it will have on her family.”
“Well, her artwork was a pretty big success in Italy, she was telling me,” Beth instigated, hoping that she would reveal more.
“Yes, well, they must not know about proper art,” Mrs. Bingley huffed. “I just don’t see why she can’t stick to more traditional subjects. Nudity is only a cheap trick for attention.”
