“But you’ll be rich once you join your brother in his real estate company,” Elizabeth piped up.
“Only if I put forth the effort,” Derek countered. “And even then, that money would go towards a decent house of my own, a savings account for my retirement, and trusts for any children I have in the future. I’m not somebody who buys things just because it’s shiny and fast and can get attention.”
Anne and Cassandra sat there motionless. It took an effort to keep their faces expressionless as Derek essentially told their family that he was nothing like Walter, Elizabeth, and Mary. Anne really wanted to applaud the barbed comments that Derek had thrown out. She didn’t know how angry Derek had been when he learned that Walter had used her college fund to bail himself out of his financial hole.
“I see,” was all that Walter said in response.
Elizabeth glowered.
Not long after that, in an attempt to smooth over the tension around the table, Penelope asked Will if he had any interesting stories about his job.
It didn’t change the fact that Walter Elliot was glaring at Derek, Elizabeth was looking at Derek as if everything he said did not make a single ounce of sense, and Aunt Cassandra was examining Derek as if there was more to him than she expected.
Will was, unbeknownst to the others at the table, playing footsie with Penelope.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
The next day found Derek once again hitting the doorbell in front of Anne’s house. He knew that he had an advantage over Will Elliot: Will had to work whereas Derek was taking advantage of his summer break before he started classes for his Master's Degree.
“You never told me your plans,” Anne indirectly asked him as she grabbed one of the larger umbrellas as they escaped the house and climbed into Anne’s car. She trusted him enough to hand over her keys as to not spoil his surprise.
“I’ve been accepted into University of Memphis’ Graduate Accounting program. I get to take all of my classes online.”
“What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“Substitute teach,” he quickly answered her. “I don’t have my teaching certification, but I can still sub as long as I pass my background check. Ed is going to let me rent one of his houses as long as I pay the utilities and make some updates. It isn’t much, but it is a plan.”
“It’s a good plan,” Anne mumbled.
“You?”
“I’m waiting on calls from a few districts I applied to, but I’ll probably still be in Mary and Charles’ attic room until I can get a place of my own. Father is still planning on renting out Kellynch, but I don’t have a clue who will be renting it once Sophy and Bob leave.”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “Sophy wants to stay. She’s looking to get on at one of the law firms in town. Bob enjoyed the taste of teaching, so he’s looking for some more pre-law teaching positions.”
“And we do have at least seven colleges in West Tennessee where he could find a position.”
“And Bob has no problem making the drive to some of them if he needs to.”
“So, why aren’t you staying with them if they are staying.”
“Honestly,” Derek hesitated. “I want to remodel one of the houses Ed has been renting out. Eventually, I plan on buying it from him.”
“Which house?”
“It’s the blue and gray two-story craftsman style house over on Park Street. Several college students have been renting it, but the last of them finally graduated this year with us and will be moving out in another week. That’s the only reason I’m not already in the house now.”
“And why you are here with your sister.”
“I had planned on coming down here ever since James and Isa announced their relationship.”
“Why?” Anne started to ask before her cell phone interrupted. “Hello?” she answered. “Speaking.” Then she went mostly silent with a few contributions on her end of the connection. After hanging up, she broke out into a grin. “That was the middle school where I had done my student teaching. Mrs. Broadwell decided that she was going to make her maternity leave permanent and they called me for an interview.”
“That’s great!” Derek exclaimed, giving her a hug that lifted Anne off of her feet. “I’m so excited for you.”
“It’s just an interview. There’s no telling how many people I’ll be up against.”
“You have to think positive!”
Rolling her eyes, Anne changed the conversation and asked Derek where they were going as he pulled into a parking spot.
“Where do you think? The art store that you didn’t get to go to the other day.”
Grinning ear to ear, Anne wrapped an arm around Derek’s waist. “I knew you were my favorite.”
Pulling apart, they froze in place. Not ten feet in front of them Will was walking hand in hand with Penelope.
“I thought she said she was going to the grocery store,” Anne mumbled.
Derek studied Anne’s expression carefully. “What’s wrong?”
“Is that Will and Penelope up ahead, holding hands?”
“No,” Derek answered her as soon as they saw Will lean down to kiss Penelope. “That’s Will kissing Penelope. Is that a problem?”
Narrowing her brow, Anne felt the crinkles above the bridge of her nose. “He’s been hitting on me ever since I showed up here. It’s ‘Anne, let me take that for you,’ and ‘Anne, do you want me to pick up dinner so that you don’t have to cook?’ and so many other annoying things. I have never seen him…” she trailed off. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Remember dinner when Penelope felt something on her ankle and she was bright red during the entire meal?”
“Yes?”
“Will was trying to play footsie with her.”
“People still do that?”
“It’s not like they were on the same side of the table,” Anne shrugged.
“You seem rather okay with this recent development.”
“We still don’t know why Will is spending so much time with us,” she pointed out. “It’s not as if Uncle Warren has died and left Will with nothing. Although I heard Uncle Warren had disowned him two years ago. I haven’t heard why.” Letting out a quiet laugh – so that Will and Penelope weren’t alerted to Anne and Derek behind them – she pointed out, “He might not be aware that father is completely broke. He might think, by hitting on me, that he can get his hands on my money.”
“But he’s a doctor.”
“He’s a new doctor. They aren’t rich. He’s probably exaggerating how well his practice is doing,” she pointed out.
“He is obviously not at work right now,” Derek added. “But what about Penelope?”
Tilting her head, Anne started to think again. “I don’t know.”
Walking on, they nearly passed the art store that was Derek’s surprise. Pulling her back, he gestured towards the door and lead her inside.
“But Penelope and Will…” Anne trailed off as she became aware of where he had taken her. “Wow!”
“We’ve seen them together,” he whispered in her ear. “This is more important.”
“You know me so well,” Anne breathed as she took in the store that she had wanted to go to days ago. “Oh,” she breathed sharply, giving a small bounce. “Of course,” she turned to Derek. “He doesn’t know Father is broke and here is somebody unmarried living with him and Elizabeth. He sees Penelope as a threat.”
“So, he’s hedging his bets? How? Penelope is broke.”
“Unless he was planning on marrying me, getting all of my money, and then divorcing me while keeping Penelope on the side. Once divorced, he can lead her on for years.”
“Would Will do that?”
“There has to be a reason that Uncle Warren disowned Will,” she quietly pointed out. “Unfortunately, that is probably one of those things we will never know.”
Nodding his head, Derek redirected Anne towards the store around them. “After we are done here, let’s go to tha
t store across the road that had all of the cakes and handmade candy.”
“I would like to try their peanut butter fudge,” Anne grinned.
Chapter Sixty
A few days later, Anne found herself at a fancy dinner with Will and her family. Not even Penelope or Derek was welcome at this dinner per Walter and Will’s instructions. Her father had even invited Aunt Cassandra to the meal!
Narrowing her eyes, Anne took in the scene around her. Derek had warned her that Will was up to something once she had told him what was happening. He told her that he was going to make certain to be at that restaurant just in case she needed him.
At the time Anne insisted that she wouldn’t need him nearby; it was family, nothing was going to happen.
“What are you doing?” Anne hissed as Will inexplicably dropped down on one knee in front of her. In the back of her mind, she thought that she should have taken Derek’s concerns seriously.
They weren’t even dating! Will just hung out around her on occasion dropping subtle hints all the while flirting with Penelope. He would be lying if she called him out on it and he denied her accusations.
“I want to marry you,” he stated. “I want to take care of you so that you don’t have to tackle your student loans or your father’s debt anymore.”
“I don’t need you to take care of me,” she hissed. “I don’t need you to pay off my student loans. I’m fortunate that I’m not wracked with fifty thousand dollars’ worth of debt like some of my classmates, but I can work off my loans. Myself.”
“But if you marry me you won’t have to work.”
Pulling back, Anne shook her head as her father and Elizabeth hissed at her to accept him. That he would be able to get them out of their hole.
“Then you marry him,” Anne finally hissed at her sister. “Snatch him up before he proposes to Penelope as well.” Turning to Will, she replied to him with a calm and lack of emotion she didn’t even realize she felt. “I don’t want to marry you. We aren’t even dating. If you knew me at all you would know that I have no problem working, but you’ve only been around me two weeks! Less than two weeks! You are all insane if you think this is a good idea!”
Getting up to leave, she noticed her aunt sitting at the table, her fork frozen in place out of shock.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Derek, Sophy, and Bob watching her. The exchange had obviously amused Derek as he was laughing.
Turning around abruptly, she added, “And if you knew me at all, you would know better than to attempt to propose to me in public. Or insult my work ethic.”
Snatching her purse off her chair, Anne stormed out of the restaurant. She sensed rather than saw the stunned expression on several of the patrons while she could hear the small smattering of applause coming from Derek’s table. It was quickly joined by clapping from her aunt.
“Et Tu, Cassandra?” Walter Elliot grumbled from their table.
“Yes,” Cassandra announced clearly to the room. “Your daughter is not a pawn meant to help you escape your debt.” Turning to the waiter that was standing nearby, stunned into inaction, she advised him to make certain that Will paid for the meal instead of Walter.
They didn’t notice Derek slipping out in the middle of the scene that the Elliot family had created.
It surprisingly took him five minutes to catch up to her. It wasn’t that he had lost her as soon as she had escaped the restaurant; Anne was moving quicker than Derek’s trot could allow for him to catch up.
“Anne,” he tried to shout. “Slow down.” He grumbled about her wearing flats with her dress and wondered why she didn’t wear heels like a normal female would have done for that type of restaurant.
“No!” Anne shouted back, turning to look over her shoulder as she replied. “Oh.” Once she noticed that it was Derek chasing after her instead of Will, she slowed down. “Derek.”
“Who else would be crazy enough to chase you down a street?”
“The boyfriend I didn’t even know I had?” she jokingly asked, shrugging a shoulder as she made her way over to a bench.
He could feel the anger radiating from her.
“That was extremely crazy of him,” he replied, sitting down next to her. “What are you going to do now?” Derek wondered if it was a ploy to get him out of the picture so that Will wouldn’t have any competition.
“I was already going home tomorrow,” she answered him. “I have two interviews set up for next week and I wanted to get home with enough time to recover from the drive.” Leaning against the backrest, she sighed. “Why did you follow here?”
Shaking his head, Derek blurted out what he was feeling. “You must know. There is no way that you can’t know. This past year has been half agony, half hope. The past five years. Please tell me that I’m not too late. That there isn’t somebody else waiting in the wings, waiting to claim you for their own. It’s you. It’s always been you…”
“Derek…” she tried to interrupt.
“I love you. I adore you. I never stopped even after you broke my heart nearly six years ago. Please tell me that I’m not too late. I went to that college because I knew it was in your hometown and that I might run into you, and then when I did, I wasn’t ready to, but I kept hoping that you would just look up when you entered that biology lecture hall. The day that you dropped the class nearly crushed me. But I knew that I could see you again on campus. Because you being in that class meant you were on campus. And I’d see you, but I wasn’t ready to talk to you. And then Charles hired me and…”
“Derek…” Anne tried to interrupt him again, biting her lip as she listened to him spill out every single thing he’d been keeping hidden.
“And then Isa happened and… There’s been nobody else, despite trying to move on. I’m terrified that I’ll always love you and you won’t love me back.”
Leaning forward, she kissed him, effectively shutting him up. Pulling back, she admitted, “I love you, too.”
Whispering, he carefully asked, “If I had said something to you instead of hiding like a coward, would you have…”
Grinning, Anne stated, “There has never been anybody except you. If you had called me when your knee was injured, I would have dropped out of school and gone to wherever you were. If you had said something to me in that biology class, I’d have asked you to sit next to me instead of that guy that ended up taking his shoes off in class.” Leaning in, she confided, “His feet smelled horrible. I couldn’t eat before class else I would gag.”
Laughing, Derek threw back his head with amusement.
“Honestly, Derek,” she sighed. “I kept returning to North Carolina on my aunt’s business trips in hopes of running into you. I didn’t have a clue that you had moved.”
“Ed moved there after Ava died,” Derek whispered. “He wanted to be closer to his in-laws so that they would be able to see their grandchildren and help him out. Father…” he trailed off. “Father is so focused on his naval career that he doesn’t pay that much attention to us. Sophy and Bob had their law careers to deal with.”
Leaning against his shoulder, Anne asked him why they were in Florida.
“I came to find you,” he admitted. “Once Isa and James became official, Charles stopped looking at me like I was mistreating his sister. It took a few days before I could get any of the Musgraves to tell me where you were.”
“I’m glad that Mary finally told you.”
“Actually, it was Etta.”
Drawing back, she asked, “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s next?” she asked him after a long moment of sitting there, just holding hands. They had been people watching, uncertain how to proceed after their confessions.
“I’m planning on getting my masters in accounting,” Derek reminded her. “At least two more years of school for me.”
“Really?” She wanted to tell him that wasn’t what she meant.
“I mentioned my Masters first because, as my girlfriend…�
�
“Am I your girlfriend?” she interrupted, impressively raising an eyebrow.
“I should hope so,” he grinned at her.
“You didn’t even ask.”
“I figured you had enough of people asking you to change your relationship status tonight and was going to save it for the drive home.”
“So…” she trailed off, narrowing her eyes at him even as she felt amusement on the inside. “So, you were going to assume that we were in a relationship and that you would be returning with me? You wouldn’t be the first person to assume something like that tonight, either. In fact, it can be argued that the last year has been filled with assumptions and manipulations and persuasions.”
Leaning forward, he gave her a quick kiss on her lips. “You tease,” Derek laughed.
“Shut up and kiss me again,” Anne shook her head. “I’ve been waiting too long for just a quick peck.”
Laughing, Derek leaned forward again and gave Anne a proper kiss.
Chapter Sixty-One
The next day, before Elizabeth and her father had emerged from their bedrooms, Anne escaped the house and went to visit her friend. She was eager to tell Robin about what had happened the night before with Will and then, even more excitedly, about what had happened with Derek.
However, Robin’s reaction stunned her before Anne could even get to talking about Derek’s confession.
“Why did you turn him down? You could have gotten him to turn over a new leaf!”
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