"Not to you."
He resisted breathing a sigh of relief.
"What about you?" Jess asked as if unsure herself.
"I feel the same."
Jess didn't bother hiding her sigh of relief. "Good. I don't need any more surprises."
"More?"
"Yeah, just with work. The artist that has handled my covers for the past few years suddenly decided to quit. My publisher will get a new one but I didn't like the artist before this one so I'm not too excited about the change. Covers are a big thing for books to sell and so the new artist needs to be perfect."
Edward couldn't help thinking of Elinor. She'd drawn most of the artwork needed for Norland's website as well as had a deep understanding of the drawing program. However, the subject had been architecture, not kid book covers. Besides, he had no idea if Elinor needed a job. Most likely, she had a cushy job on the West coast and getting all her co-workers to fall in love with her.
He wished he could find out what she was up to and debated risking a call with the pretense over some dumb question about Norland in order to do just that. To his surprise, however, he discovered an email from her instead.
Chapter 22
Unfortunately, the email was very formal and businesslike. All Elinor wanted to know was how the transition went with Norland and if her workers had adjusted to the new boss well. Even his paranoid sister and mother would fail to detect any sign of care about him between the lines, a fact that didn't cheer him up one bit.
Well, at least he didn't have to worry she was nursing a broken heart. But it took him several days before he could compose a reply as formal and detached as hers. He included a few questions, hoping it might start a form of a penpalship.
That hope died a slow death, though, as the weeks marched on with no reply. He threw himself into helping her father instead and by the time the next month rolled by, the man had begun to beam whenever Edward walked in.
"Hey, Mr. Dashwood."
"Family," the old man said while the non-paralyzed half of his face crinkled into a smile. He had been calling Edward that for two weeks now, ever since Edward had gone over a vocabulary lesson on family terms. The incident must have jogged the old man's memory of how they had first met and apparently, that was Edward's new nickname. The nurses thought it was the cutest thing and Edward had to fight to make sure none of them spilled it to Elinor and her family. He feared they might misinterpret and assume he was trying to take their place.
"How has your day been?" Edward asked.
The man nodded which Edward believed meant it had been a good day. While the father no longer seemed as confused, he still struggled to articulate things into words.
Edward pulled up the table the nurses had brought in over a month ago and began to stack a pack of vocabulary cards.
"Ready for today's lesson? It will be on clothing. Such as..." he revealed the first card, depicting a brown boot.
The man blinked at the card for a long moment. "Foot."
"Very good. That is where this goes on. But can you tell me what it's called?"
There was another long moment. "Foot."
"Close. Boot. It's a boot."
The man nodded as if to say he already knew that.
"All right. The next one is..." he flipped the card, then stopped in shock. A diamond ring lay on a dainty female's finger. But his memory shot to Lucy and her forcing to give up the ruby ring.
He immediately looked at the father, wondering if he was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, it was worse since tears pricked his eyes.
"Family," the old man choked out. "Family."
Edward knew he was referencing his daughters and wife, not him.
"It's okay." He patted the man's back. "They're okay. They're going to bring you over to them as soon as they can, I promise."
His words didn't seem to help since the man's tears only increased. Desperate, Edward turned on the TV. It worked. The man's eyes latched onto the moving picture like a moth to a flame.
While the man was distracted, Edward grabbed the ring picture and shoved it into his briefcase. That was one vocabulary word the man did not need to re-learn. He then reshuffled the cards, ready to turn off the TV and start the lesson again, except his phone rang.
He sighed, fully expecting to be harassed by a family member, but to his surprise, it was Jess calling.
"Jess, something wrong?"
"Yeah. Apparently, you're two-timing fake dating?"
"What?"
"My Mom called, said some girl is claiming you're not in love with me as you should be."
Edward gripped the phone so hard, he could hear a slight crack. "Was her name Lucy?"
"So you are two-timing me!"
"Ignore whatever she said and don't ever let her be your friend."
"Woah. That is a harsh tone to use for a girlfriend—"
"I'm not joking, Jess. Stay away from her."
"Okay, cool it. I was just teasing you. My mom already figured she was some money-hunting gal. The girl claimed to be interested in those businesses you were working on a couple of months ago, but then she started getting all nosey about me and you—"
"What did she say?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
"You weren't?"
"No, I'm in New York. I had to meet my publisher over book stuff. They got a new artist for me and I'm actually impressed. The girl has talent. And I like her name. Elinor Dashwood. It—"
He dropped the phone. It slipped through his frozen fingers without him realizing it. Jess continued chatting as he frantically scooped it back up and the only thing he caught was, "I'll get the sketches next month which means she's fast and I love fast artists."
"How did you, uh," he struggled to keep his tone as neutral as possible, "How did your publisher find this new artist?"
"I don't know. All I care about is that she's good. Oh, my table is ready. Gotta run. Ciao!"
"But—" Edward sighed as the line went dead. Then stared at his phone. Elinor Dashwood. Working for his fake girlfriend. And Lucy had already tracked down Jess. Was there a way she could find Elinor, too?
He shook his head. There should be no reason for Lucy to go after an artist. Book cover artists weren't known for wealth, either. Elinor should still be safe.
He breathed out in relief, but then stopped with a gasp. If Elinor was the new artist and if the publisher was in New York, did that mean Elinor was in New York?
He could see her.
The thought burst through his mind like fireworks. But he immediately shut it down. It was too dangerous and besides, she hadn't bothered to contact him—a sign she hadn't missed him.
It was for the best, he glumly told himself. But the dismal years began to stretch out before him, robbing him of any joy. Desperate for a distraction, he focused on the TV show and began to describe it to Elinor's father. The old man beamed and Edward felt a little warmth creep back into his heart. At least someone was happy to be by his side.
But everything changed with one sentence.
"What," a loud voice boomed at the doorway, "are you doing, Elinor?"
Edward's head snapped his head up so fast, he was sure it would fly off. But his eyes caught no sight of Elinor. Nor of the owner of the loud voice.
Without thinking, he rushed to the doorway, his heart in his throat. She couldn't be here. She just couldn't—
But she was. Standing next to the head nurse, her eyes wide as she took in his towering frame.
"Elinor, what—how—-" His befuddled brain struggled to decide on a question. "Why are you here?" He managed at last.
"I'm here to see my father," was her response as if it was the most obvious answer. And it was. Less than ten seconds of meeting her for the first time in three months and he was already acting like an idiot.
The head nurse intervened, giving Elinor some of the new updates about her father and allowing Edward a chance to get his brain up to speed. When the nurse finally left and he had
Elinor all to himself, he restarted the conversation.
"I've been visiting your dad. I hope you don't mind—"
"Oh, no, not at all. I'm glad someone was visiting him."
"Thanks. Uh, are you here to move him? Today?" That would explain her abrupt visit.
"No, not today, but I was hoping to start the process. We found a good spot for him back in Portland."
"Oh." So, she still lived out west. He hoped the disappointment didn't show on his face. "I, uh," he realized he didn't have anything else to say, so blurted out the first thing he thought of, "I hope the nurses will pass on some of my recommendations." Oh, there's an idea! He could impress her with what he's been doing. "I've been talking with some experts and they gave me some great ideas. Your dad doesn't repeat what you say anymore. He still gets lost sometimes when you ask a question, but he seems to understand most of the time. And I've been having him tell me stories about your family. He really lights up when he tries to talk about you—you all," he added quickly, not wanting her to realize he had only asked the stories to learn about her, "though his stories don't always make sense, but they seem to help him improve so I've had the nurses try to ask him as well and—"
"Wait." She held up a hand as if annoyed by his endless tirade.
He held still like a guilty man before a judge.
"Did you just efficientized my father?"
He stared at her. Was that an accusation? Or a tease? Her lips seemed to struggle to stay straight, but it could be easily be dipping into a scowl instead of a grin. "If that was wrong—"
"No, no. It's just so...you!" The lips sprang into a full grin and a laugh came with it. "And I—I'm really happy that my father is doing so much better."
Happy. She was happy. He could have twirled her one the spot. Instead, he indicated the door. "You want to come see him?"
Her grin widened. "Yes, please."
He led her inside and her father immediately lit up, even calling her by name. Then he showed off his new limited vocabulary and answered several of her questions. The reunion couldn't have gone better if Edward had practiced it with the old man.
But then Edward's phone pinged. With dread, he glanced at the screen and found a short text from his brother asking him to call. That was odd. His brother never bothered to contact him. The two of them got along better when they rarely interacted.
"I'll talk to the nurses, okay?" Elinor was saying.
That was perfect. He could walk her to the nurses' station. "And I need to go."
He expected her to walk off with him, but she just turned with a smile. "It was nice seeing you again."
His heart deflated as if she'd poked a hole in a balloon. He stumbled out a lame reply, then did the unthinkable. "Could I see you again?" It was out before he knew it.
Her eyes widened and he was sure she would recoil, but instead, she just nodded.
Terrified she might change her mind, he asked for solid evidence. "What's your address?"
She pulled out her phone. "I'll text it—"
"No, don't!" He grabbed the phone—and grabbed her hand in the process. Electricity shot through him, befuddling his brain once more, but it couldn't silence the alarm in his head. If she texted, that would alert his family. And then Lucy would be on the hunt.
"I'd rather you wrote it down." He abandoned her hand and scoured through her father's desk until he found paper and a pen, then presented them to her.
She gave him an odd look but dutifully wrote down the address without complaint. He knew she probably thought he was acting like a fool, but he couldn't risk anyone finding out. Especially if that meant they'd ruin his chance to see her again.
"Thanks," he said once he had the paper in hand. "You leave in a few days, right?" She had mentioned that to her father, hadn't she?
"Yes, on Friday."
Perfect. That was three whole days he could see her. "I'll see what I can do," was all he said. He flashed her a grin—and hoped it didn't show his intense infatuation—then headed out, a spring in his step.
Once he was in his car, he dialed up his brother's phone, hoping that whatever the problem was, it wouldn't require him to go anywhere.
"Hey," his brother's suave voice came over the line. "I heard you were going to pop the question soon."
Edward bit back a groan. "Where did you—"
"Fanny wants it filmed. It would do great on social media so I was thinking you should—"
"Please don't tell me you want me to practice." This whole fake dating thing was getting completely out of hand.
"Hey, I'm just trying to help." The whine was obvious in his voice. His brother didn't like getting negative feedback after all.
"I know, but—"
"Mother ordered it, too."
Whatever excuse Edward had died on his lips. If that was true, then Robert was going to fight tooth and nail to get it done. His mother rarely gave Robert an order—or any attention, in fact—thus causing him to follow any order with zealous exactness. Or, at least, as closely as Robert managed to interpret an order.
"How about next month?" That would give him time to convince Jess to end the fake dating. While he didn't mind Jess, he certainly didn't want to end up fake marrying her.
"No, that's when you're supposed to ask the gal. Hey, do you even like her? Cause she doesn't seem your type at all."
Well, at least someone in his family paid attention to his likes. "I don't think that was a factor when Mother chose her."
"Oh, right. Well, she's cool with you getting someone on the side, right?"
Edward couldn't believe it. "You mean having an affair?"
"Yeah. She's cool with that, right?"
"I don't think anyone should be cool with that."
"Why not? Marriage is a political stunt. Everyone knows it doesn't mean anything. Just keep it hidden from the news and everyone's cool. So, we practice next week?"
Edward decided to rely on an old tactic: be too busy. "Sorry, that won't work. And I'm late for an appointment. Send me an email and I'll look over possible dates."
"But—"
Edward used his mother's famous method and hung up. Unlike Fanny, Robert wouldn't bother to harass him but would send the email and then use the written communication as proof that he had done his job and it was Edward's fault, not his, for the failure.
Not wanting to think about that mess anymore, Edward focused on a more important task: seeing Elinor tomorrow without anyone finding out.
Improvising from spy movies he'd watched a few times, Edward parked his car several blocks away, then took the longest, windiest route possible to her hotel. Using the hat he'd bought for the occasion, he kept his face hidden from any possible cameras until he managed to reach Elinor's hotel room.
He swept the hat off his head, fixed his hair for a second and hoped he looked handsome, then rapped on the door twice.
The door opened, revealing Elinor, but no big grin graced her lips. A strained smile, instead, as if he was the last person she wanted to show up. All the joy deflated out of him and he struggled to greet her. He shouldn't have come. This was a stupid idea—
"Eddie!"
All the blood in him froze as his eyes locked onto Lucy's cold, laughing ones like a witch who had just pulled off her best spell yet.
"I knew you'd find a way to see me," the witch crooned, swooping toward him.
He backed up. "Lucy, wha-why are you here?"
"Why, I'm visiting my bestest friend, Elinor! We met in Portland and I knew it was a match made in heaven."
Portland. Lucy had found Elinor in Portland. But how? He had tried everything to make sure she wouldn't find Elinor.
"But," Lucy continued with a purr, "I didn't know you two knew each other!"
That was a complete lie. But did Elinor know that?
He glanced at her, desperate to know how deep Lucy's claws sank in the girl of his dreams. No admiration shone from her face. Only calmness with a slight tinge of irritation.
&nbs
p; "I thought," Elinor offered as if stating an obvious fact, "he's here to see you. You said so."
Lucy's eyes narrowed as if enraged and a tiny laugh issued out of her mouth as if she was struggling to appear confident. "Oh, yes, I forgot! Silly me. Having dear Eddie around gets me all flustered, you naughty boy." She leaned toward him, most likely to wrap an arm around him to prove they were in love, but he backed up.
"I need to go." It was the first thing out of his mouth and he had the small victory of Lucy looking shocked.
"But you just got here!"
"I, uh, need to see my mother. It's urgent." He hoped the drop of his mother would inspire Lucy to leave Elinor as well. Unfortunately, it backfired.
"Oh, dear, that sounds dreadful. Do walk me to my car and tell me all about this urgent matter of your mother!" She held out her hand, obviously wanting him to take it.
The last thing he wanted to do was walk away from the love of his life while holding the hands of his blackmailer. He glanced at Elinor, wishing he knew what was going on inside her mind. How much of Lucy's lies did she believe? Were they really friends? Did Elinor fail to see through Lucy's mask of innocence?
Elinor simply stared at the both of them as if wishing both would leave this instant. Despair consumed him. She believed Lucy, not him. And who could blame her? Lucy's lies were delivered better than any of his truths.
He extended his elbow, indicating Lucy could thread her hand through. A slight flash of anger consumed her face for a second, but it was replaced with oozes of adoration as she snuggled up to his side, her arm through his elbow.
"Bye, Elinor!" She cooed. "Keep in touch!"
Edward didn't dare say a word, scared all the hate and anger might burst out. Instead, he yanked Lucy after him, causing her to stumble, but Lucy, as always, turned it into her advantage by leaning heavily onto him and even pressing her head against his shoulder as if they were in love.
Elevator. He was going to reach the elevator and then unload on Lucy. He didn't care anymore about her blackmail or about his family or about anything anymore. Lucy had found Elinor. She had found the one thing pure and perfect in this world. And she was going to destroy it if he didn't do something.
Smitten With Sense: A Modern Sense And Sensibility Retelling (Pemberley Estates Book 4) Page 17