Page 96 of Second Chances
“What? I don’t understand. What’s going on is that I’ve been waiting for you to get here so that I could talk to you about what Jane told me,” Beth answered in frustration, stepping closer to him, trying to reach him at least through a physical connection.
“I see,” he said, softly, mimicking her movement so that their chests were just a breath apart, him towering over her. “And what did Jane have to say?”
This wasn’t Darcy; this wasn’t like him at all. Well, no it was like him - the Mr. Intolerable version of him.
“She said that Caroline is back for money,” Beth gushed out, “she’s only here because she needs money that her grandmother willed to her and she’s running out of time and options on how to get it. She’s decided —”
Beth stopped as Darcy’s face broke out into a smile and he began to laugh.
What is going on?
She stared up at him, hurt and confusion painted all over her face.
“You know, you are really good at finding out information about people,” he said, the bitter touch of irony woven into his words.
“I… I guess? Thank you?” she replied, incredulously, “I don’t understand. What do you want me to say? Do you not want me to tell you?”
“You can,” he began, his gaze looked up for a second, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. “But you can answer something for me, first.”
“Ok…” Beth answered, nervously; her gut telling her that something bad was about to happen.
His head leaned down, right next to her ear, as he whispered, harshly, “This plan that you have to fix everything, should I assume that you’ve already told it to Mrs. DeBourgh? Or are you only supposed to tell her of my life and my plans?”
Oh, God, no…
Beth felt the blood drain from her face, her mouth turning to sand as the implication of his words set in. She’d never told him that she’d been reporting on him to Mrs. DeBourgh when they had first met, mostly because she had stopped not that long after and then proceeded to put Mrs. DeBourgh in her place. Their previous business relationship had been completely displaced from her mind. Everything that had happened between her and Darcy since then had only further removed that brief moment in time from her mind.
But now she could see her error.
Even though it hadn’t been done deceitfully or maliciously, she hadn’t been open with him, like she’d forced him to be with her. Now, it looked like she had betrayed him.
This was Caroline’s plan all along.
“Darcy… it’s not…” she whispered, hoarsely, her mouth barely able to make out the words she was so consumed with fear and anxiety.
“It’s not what?” he asked scornfully, pulling away from her, “please,thisI want to know.”
She stifled her whimper at the loss of him.
“It’s not what you think,” she mumbled, her brain caught so off-guard by the accusation, a complete shift of gears from what it had been focused on for days, that she couldn’t think straight; she couldn’t come up with the words to explain or defend herself. “I don’t talk to Mrs. DeBourgh, you know that I don’t; you know how I ended things between her and me. What she told you isn’t…”
“Isn’t what? Isn’t true?” He laughed harshly, “Did you or did you not give Mrs. DeBourgh personal information about me, my life, my comings and goings?”
She was caught and the worst part about it was that she could see the thread of hope glimmering in his eyes, begging for her to deny the accusation.
But she couldn’t, because it was true.
Her mouth opened and shut, tears rushing to the surface of her eyes, beginning to spill over. She couldn’t do it. In that moment, she couldn’t find the words to admit to what she had done.
Beth closed her eyes and nodded, painfully, feeling the hot rush of tears that had been freed course down her cheeks.
The silence that followed was suffocating. Beth opened her eyes again to see him staring at her, neither of them able to find the words to speak. His face was etched with so many emotions: anger…pain…betrayal.
The last gave her the strength to break through the emotional wall muting her.
“But, it’s not what you think,” she began, her voice thick with unshed tears.
“Not what I think? No, Beth, you spied on me for a woman who has tried to control me and her daughter for most of my adult life. How much did you tell her, I wonder? Did you tell her what is really going on between Anne and me? Did you tell her about Caroline? God only knows what she will try to do with that information.”
