Page 95 of Second Chances
Her eyes took a moment to find Darcy again; he seemed to be in conversation with someone. Beth had to assume that it was Caroline even though the thought made her stomach queasy again. She wanted to be there next to him, to show a united front; he shouldn’t have had to handle this alone.
This was not going according to plan.
Then, someone grabbed her elbow, stopping her, again, in her tracks and pulling her gaze from Darcy to whoever was physically demanding her attention.
“Hey, Beth! Have you seen Jane?” Charles asked, releasing her elbow.
“Hey, umm… yeah, she was in the back by the cake table, last I saw her,” Beth answered her, forcibly putting a smile on her face.
“Ok, thanks! This looks great by the way; you did a great job. Caroline said that everything is going super well,” Charles continued, jovially.
Ugh...seriously?! Go find Jane already.
“Awesome! Yeah, I’m really happy with how things turned out. There’s a ton of people here – I would go try to find Jane before she gets swallowed up!” Another forced smile planted on her face as she turned away from her future brother-in-law towards her future.
Darcy was only a few feet away now, but it seemed like miles, especially when she could see how hard his jaw was clenching from here. Another few steps brought her through enough of the crowd to see that he was not only talking to Caroline, but Mrs. DeBourgh was part of the conversation as well.
This cannot be good.
Beth felt her heart begin to race as she finally approached the group, watching as Mrs. DeBourgh and Caroline exchanged a conspiratorial glance as Caroline reached out and put her hand on Darcy’s arm. His hand immediately fisted in an attempt not to jerk his arm away and out of her reach.
Caro’s arm came down just as she saw Beth approaching, a satisfied smile spreading over her face.
No turning back now; it was time to throw down the gauntlet.
Beth walked right up to Darcy, her hand reaching down to intertwine with his as she leaned up to kiss him.
“Hey, I’ve been looking for you,” she said softly, waiting for Darcy to acknowledge her.
His eyes finally met hers and she could see instantly that something wasn’t right. She felt no pull from them, none of the emotion that he usually transmitted to her. His gaze felt empty as he barely acknowledged her with a nod.
What happened? Had she gone too far with the kiss?
No, that couldn’t be it. He hated these two women, and yet his response to her was cold and distant.
Don’t dwell on it now.
Her head turned to acknowledge their audience with a false smile, “Hi, ladies, sorry to interrupt your conversation.”
“Oh, that's ok, Beth; I think we were just about done, weren’t we Darcy?” Caroline replied, her devious smile spreading across her face; it was her only smile that Beth realized went from ear to ear.
At least Darcy didn’t acknowledge her. His mouth just thinned even further, his eyes burning with rage at the woman standing in front of him
Ok, well at least that hadn’t changed.
“Wonderful, well, if you wouldn’t mind excusing us, I haven’t seen him all day,” Beth interjected cordially, as she turned towards the front door of the gallery, pulling Darcy’s hand along with her.
For a moment, she felt resistance, as if he wasn’t going to go with her and she began to panic. Then, her arm slackened as he began to follow her, but not before she looked back and saw Caroline and Mrs. DeBourgh both smiling at her as if they were watching her rush eagerly to her own demise.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Opening the door,the cool night air assaulted Beth’s lungs as she sucked in the oxygen that her stress-induced body had begun to lack. They both made it out the door and on to the sparsely populated sidewalk.
At least he hadn’t let go of her hand.
“What’s going on, Darcy?” Beth asked as soon as she determined they were free from being overheard.
“I could ask you the same thing,” was his cryptic response.
