Page 85 of Second Chances
“I’ll get the food, you stay…” Beth mumbled as she headed to the door, paying the delivery man and bringing the food back into the living room.
Setting the bag down on the coffee table, Beth looked at her sister, who was staring up at her in a daze.
“Oh, my God, Beth, what are we going to do?” she whispered, clearly stricken at the thought of one of the sisters not being presents on her wedding day.
“Shh, Jane, it’s going to be ok; that’s why I’m here. We’re going to figure this out,” Beth reassured her, opening up the bag of food and taking out a carton of lo mein noodles for each of them.
“This is why we haven’t gone to the police because one of us wouldn’t be able to attend your wedding, and I can’t… won’t… do that to you or Charles,” Beth continued, taking a bite of her food.
“So, that’s why he finally decided to tell you…” Jane mumbled, opening up her carton.
“Well, not exactly,” Beth said, raising her eyebrows at that unfortunate fact. “I found out before he could tell me.”
“How did you find out? Did Caro…” Jane trailed off, fork paused halfway to her mouth, waiting for Beth’s response.
“No, she didn’t say or do anything,” Beth reassured her, “it was right before your party. I went upstairs to look for the party favors and went into Caro’s bedroom by mistake. She has a drawing of Darcy on her wall…” Beth took another bite of her dinner, trying to mask the nausea that still accompanied that memory. “She doesn’t know that I know.”
Jane didn’t need to know everything about the drawing; it’s definitely not pleasant to admit out loud that her future sister-in-law has a drawing of my boyfriend, naked, on her bedroom wall.
“Oh, Beth…” The sympathy in Jane’s eyes almost brought her to tears.
“It’s fine. It was a long time ago; I can’t blame him for it. Either way, this is where we are. I know who she is, but she doesn’t know that I do,” Beth powered through, “right or wrong, this was the exact situation that Darcy was trying to save me…us…from. Now, we have to figure out how to stop her, without going to the police, otherwise, either you or Charles are going to be without a sister on your wedding day.”
“I don’t understand how Charles could be ok with what she did,” Jane said, perplexed, her mind still drifting through all the implications of Beth’s confession.
“Jane… Charles doesn’t know,” Beth said softly, “he can’t know; at least not right now.”
“Wait, what? How could he not know? Oh, my God…” Jane trailed off to a moment of silence before continuing, “all this time, he’s admired her, looked up to her, all the while she was using and tormenting those he cared about most.”
Her last words came out choked, stifled by her shock and grief at how this news was going to affect her fiancé.
“No one knew about their relationship; Caro insisted it be that way. So, Charles has no idea and, before you ask, no, Darcy never told him even once she had left for Italy. Charles had just lost his sister. What would be the point in dragging his opinion of her through the mud? No matter how much she deserved it…”
“Are you going to tell Charles? I can’t keep this from him.”
Beth could see the pain written all over Jane’s face at the thought of keeping something from her future husband.
Now, if only Darcy and she could think like that…
“Yes, Darcy is, but not yet. So, please, if you could just not say anything for a little while. We want to try to handle this with the least amount of damage to others’ relationships as possible.”
“I don’t know, Beth…” Jane started. Beth sent her most desperately pleading stare, praying Jane wouldn’t fight her on this. “I guess, for a little while…” Jane finally agreed.
“Thank you. I just think Darcy needs to be the one to tell him and that’s a pretty big secret to have kept from your best friend, especially when it involves his sister; Darcy’s worried it will irreparably damage their friendship,” Beth confided.
“Yeah, I don’t know… I’m sorry. I’m just still so in shock that it’sCarolinethat we are talking about; I don't even know how Charles will react.”
“So, moving forward,” Beth began on a new breath, ready to steer the conversation in a different direction, “we have a plan. Sort of.”
“Ok…”
“Darcy is adamant that Caro isn’t really back for or interested in him, no matter what she says to him or me; he is convinced that it is all part of a charade, that she is trying to get him back for another reason,” she said, laying the groundwork. “I really was struggling to believe that because what else could she need him for, but then at your party, when I was talking to Mrs. Bingley, she alluded to the fact that Caroline had returned to the states for financial reasons.”
Here Beth trailed off, watching intently for Jane’s response. The mention of financial struggles brought a flicker of recognition to her sister’s eyes, a shadow of a thought crossing her face.
“If we can find out what that reason is, then maybe we can figure out a better way to deal with this situation than by going to the police or just waiting like sitting ducks for Caroline to move forward with whatever her plans are.”
“I see…” Jane said.
