Foundation of Love: The Gypsy Blessing 2

by Wendi Sotis

  What a difference from a year ago, William thought.

  “Hi, where’s Georgiana?” William sat down.

  “She’s in the ladies room—we didn’t want to leave the table empty in case you came back.” She lowered her voice and leaned toward him. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went down to the library and started reading the journal. I ended up falling asleep on the couch.”

  “It must have been very interesting to keep you awake—you were exhausted.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll tell you about it later. Did you get the photo of the painting?”

  William pulled out his phone, entered his code to unlock it, pushed a few icons, and handed it to her.

  Elizabeth stared at the picture in wide-eyed amazement. “It’s definitely the same couple. Can you email it to me? I’d like to enlarge it on my computer later.”

  “What’s your email address?”

  She gave it to him, and he sent it immediately.

  He offered, “When I get my printer set up, I’ll print a copy so you can keep it with the others in the trunk.”

  She seemed surprised. “How’d you know I was going to print the other pictures and put them in there?”

  “I meant the drawings, but that’s not a bad idea. You might not be the last Elizabeth Bennett to need them.”

  Elizabeth gasped. “You think this might happen again to one of my descendants?”

  William shrugged. “If it does, it’s more likely to be a descendant of your brother’s since she’ll still have the name Bennett.”

  She blinked several times and tilted her head to the side. “It didn’t even occur to me, but I really don’t know the rules—or even if there are any. Maybe I should start keeping a journal, too.”

  “It can’t hurt.”

  “Last night I learned that Elizabeth Bennet Darcy started keeping a separate journal for the pictures to prove to herself that she wasn’t going crazy. I can understand that feeling.” She rolled her eyes. “She thought if she wrote down everything she saw and felt while looking at them, once it happened, she could know whether she was right.” Elizabeth sat up straighter. “Here comes Georgie. I’ll tell you more later.”

  Georgiana took a seat. “You didn’t have to wait for me to come back, Lizzy.”

  Elizabeth looked at her watch. “I wanted to spend a little more time with my dad before I leave. His physical therapy session should be over just about now. I’m reading him Great Expectations, and I was right in the middle of a chapter when the therapist kicked me out. I’ll see you both after work.” She grabbed her purse and adjusted the strap on her shoulder. “Oh, did Mrs. Reynolds arrive yet?”

  William shook his head. “She isn’t expected until late this afternoon. We’re going to that furniture store you recommended before heading back to Meryton.”

  “I’m sure they’ll have everything you need, and the prices are reasonable. I’ll tell Dad you stopped by. Sorry they wouldn’t let you up to see him.”

  ~%~

  ~A few hours later...

  William held a basket full of supplies as he stood on line at Meryton Building Supply—anxious, bored, and looking around at nothing in particular. He shook his head. Who am I kidding? I haven’t stopped looking for Elizabeth since I got here. He stood taller when he caught sight of Elizabeth speaking to two men a few aisles over, in the electrical supply department. Something inside him ached when he saw her smile and laugh at something one of the men said. This is ridiculous—it has to stop! She turned and looked in his direction. Her smile widened when she caught sight of him, causing warmth to spread through his chest. I really am in love with her.

  “Are you in line, mister?” asked the man behind him.

  William looked around and realized the line had moved, but he hadn’t. “Sorry.” He turned back to look where Elizabeth had been, but she was gone. He smelled her perfume a moment before her voice came from the other direction. “Hey.”

  “Hi.” He held up his basket. “We went over to the house... just picking up some things we might need.”

  “You could have called me with a list. I could have brought it home with me.”

  I couldn’t get through the day without seeing you. What am I going to do once I move out? “I’ll keep that in mind.” Actually, I’ll probably invent a reason to come in more often. “You have the place set up nicely.” He hesitated. “Found everything without a problem.”

  “You’ve never been to the store before?”

  “No... I have been here before.” At least now it’s only when I’m in public with her that I sound pathetic. The guy behind him chuckled, and William turned to see that he was looking straight at him with laughter in his eyes. William nodded slightly. At least he agrees that I sound like a jerk.

  Elizabeth laid a hand on his forearm and a tingling feeling zipped up his arm. “You’re definitely a VIP customer and shouldn’t have to wait in line. Why don’t you come over here, and I’ll ring you up?”

  William’s eyes widened slightly. While he wouldn’t mind spending a few minutes relatively alone with Elizabeth, he hated bringing attention to himself. “No, no... I don’t mind waiting.”

  “We can work it the same way as we do your corporate account: leave your credit card authorization with me, and when you fax a list, we’ll have your order waiting when you get here. Or we could even deliver it to the house—”

  “No, really, Elizabeth. I like shopping.”

  The guy in line behind William snorted.

  “You enjoy shopping?” Elizabeth furrowed her brows. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard those words from a man in my life!”

  “Well, I mean I like this kind of shopping.” William faltered. “Wood, nails, paint, caulking... that type of stuff.”

  The corners of her lips turned up slightly. “No linens or flowery wall hangings?”

  He shook his head. “I’ll leave those to Mrs. Reynolds and Georgiana.”

  “And you’ll stick to tools of the trade.” She nodded. “I guess if a guy is going to have fun shopping, those are the type of things he’d like to buy.”

  Her eyes twinkled with laughter, encouraging him. He smiled and took a step closer to Elizabeth, lowering his voice to say, “And power tools... I’m big into power tools.”

  All out laughter sounded behind him.

  “How very manly of you, Will.” Elizabeth wiggled her eyebrows. “I’m sure you can teach me a thing or two.”

  If you keep flirting, I just might take you up on that, but it won’t have anything to do with construction materials. The effect her words had on William was dampened when she glanced over William’s shoulder and winked at the man standing there.

  “Yes,” Elizabeth continued, though her manner had stiffened. “I’ll have to pay attention to the orders coming from Darcy Construction to find out which are the best brands.”

  The guy behind him peeked around William to look into the basket William was carrying. Elizabeth laughed. “Gary, have you met Will Darcy?” William turned, and the two men shook hands. “Gary Feinstein is your new neighbor, Will. He practices law a couple of houses down from where you’ll be living.” She turned to Gary. “Will is renting our old house and will be running Darcy Construction from there until his office building is built.”

  Gary welcomed him to the neighborhood.

  “Well, I’d better get back to work.” She laid her hand on William’s forearm again. “If you want to set up that account, let me know. Tom is taking over for me here around five, so I’ll see you at dinner.”

  William closely watched the sway of Elizabeth’s hips as she strode away. That woman can walk.

  Gary cleared his throat, attracting William’s attention. When he returned his gaze to Gary, the man was staring at William with a questioning look on his face.

  William fidgeted uncomfortably. “Elizabeth is good friends with my sister... We’re staying with the Bennetts until our furniture is delivered.”

  “Uh huh.” Gary smi
led knowingly.

  William was relieved to hear the checkout girl call out, “Next, please.”

  Chapter 12

  ~Later that evening, at the Bennetts’...

  After dinner, Elizabeth was curled up in a comfortable chair in the library. She sensed William had entered the room even before she looked up.

  “Hey.”

  She smiled, knowing her form of greeting was rubbing off on him. “Close the door. I have to tell you what I’ve been reading in Elizabeth’s diary. Considering the time period, the similarities to what happened here are incredible.”

  He did as she asked and sat in the chair across from her.

  She placed her hand on the journal in her lap. “Wickham in 1811 was just as nasty as the one here. He tried to get Georgiana to elope with him without telling Fitzwilliam. Elizabeth was forewarned by the drawings, and she helped Georgiana see that Wickham wasn’t the respectable man he pretended to be. Georgiana didn’t listen at first, but before long, she found out Elizabeth was right... firsthand.” Elizabeth’s shoulders sagged, and she stared out the window, unseeing. “I wish I had read this before everything that happened to our Georgiana. I would have tried harder to convince her.”

  “You did what you could, Elizabeth.”

  “I should have called you—”

  “I understand why you didn’t. I wasn’t very... receptive at that time.” William stood, took a paperclip off the desk, and started fidgeting with it. “I’m sorry I was such a jerk.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Was? Who says you aren’t now?” she teased. When he didn’t look up, she got up from her chair. “Sometimes you take me too seriously, Will. I was only kidding...” She stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. He met her gaze with surprise.

  She could feel some sort of tension building between them, and she interpreted it to mean that he was feeling uncomfortable with her gesture. Embarrassed, she quickly withdrew to the window. “I was so wound up with the pictures coming true that I wasn’t in a very cooperative state, either. I didn’t trust Wickham, period. How you were acting toward me doesn’t excuse the fact that I didn’t call you. If I had, she would have avoided what happened to her.”

  She didn’t realize he had moved close behind her until she felt his hands on her shoulders and heard his voice near her ear. “It wasn’t your fault, Elizabeth—none of it. How could you have even suspected what he was? It’s my fault,” he growled. “I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to answer questions.”

  He didn’t remove his hands from her shoulders, effectively keeping her from turning around to look at him.

  “What did he do to you, Will?”

  She could hear him swallow hard. “We had planned a party for that night—the night I graduated—in our apartment just off campus. Charles and Wickham were living there with me. Even though Richard had already graduated, he still came to visit now and then. He was there that weekend. Later at the hospital, when Wickham disappeared, I thought he had gone to cancel the celebration. Once Georgiana was in stable condition, I felt I could leave her for a little while. Charles drove me to the apartment to...” His breath caught. “My clothes were so stained, and my hair—” his voice cracked, and he hesitated. “A male nurse stood by as I changed... the suit had to be put in a hazmat bag. Someone had lent me scrubs to change into, but people kept mistaking me for a doctor... and I had to—to take a shower...” his voice trailed off. A few seconds later, he said, “In a way, I wish I hadn’t.”

  His breathing was rapid, and his hands had tightened on her arms. Tears ran down her cheeks as she crossed her arms, placing her hands on his.

  He took a long, shaky breath and continued, “We heard the noise of a party as we approached, but we never thought it could be coming from our apartment.”

  “No!” Elizabeth gasped and turned her head, trying to look up at him. He stepped closer and leaned his cheek on the top of her head so she couldn’t see him. She felt him nod.

  His voice took on an angry tone. “I knew he had been stealing from my father, but Dad chose to doubt himself instead of listening to my suspicions. I knew he had spent his time at school fooling around—partying, girls, drugs, alcohol—and he never passed one class without cheating one way or another. I thought I knew what he was, but even I didn’t expect he would celebrate my parents’ deaths.” He laughed bitterly. “He didn’t even tell anyone about the accident. He was probably afraid that others might have a conscience and leave. Not one person at that party knew what had happened!”

  Elizabeth leaned back against his chest, the closest thing she could manage to an embrace in this position.

  “I stood there for a minute at the door in shock, and then something just snapped inside me. I searched through the crowd until I found Wickham. Then I beat the living—” He stopped abruptly and took a few deep breaths. “It took three guys to pull me off him. Once Charles explained what had happened to a couple of people, word spread fast, and the place cleared out. A couple of them dragged Wickham out—away from me.” He nodded. “I never thanked them... I probably would have killed him if they hadn’t taken him out of my sight, but I was too far gone for days... weeks to think of it. Once they were gone, I was still in a rage. I spent the next few minutes tossing some of his things out the window.” He took another deep breath. “I would have smashed the rest, but... I had to get back to the hospital.”

  Elizabeth could no longer stifle a sob.

  William let go and stepped away from her. He rubbed at his face. “I’ve frightened you.”

  She shook her head and threw her arms around him, crying into his chest. “After what happened, for anyone to do something that insensitive and disrespectful... It was horrible. I’m so sorry.”

  She felt his arms come up around her, and he pulled her tightly to his chest. He buried his face in her hair and breathed deeply. They stood like that until Elizabeth’s tears ended, and William’s heart and respiration had calmed.

  His voice was thick when he said, “I swore Richard and Charles to secrecy. Most of the people that were at the party assumed it had all been a mistake—that Wickham didn’t know or else he would have turned them all away. I didn’t want my sister or Anne or anyone to find out what really had happened... to remember my parents as fools or pity them for trusting him, so I hid the whole thing. But I should have told Anne and Georgiana... I should have warned them about what he’s really like.” He took a deep, trembling breath. “What happened to Georgiana wasn’t your fault, Elizabeth—it was mine.”

  She moved away enough to see his tortured expression. “It was Wickham’s fault, Will, not yours. He’s a disgusting excuse for a human being. Even if you had told Georgiana, he would have found a different way to take his twisted revenge out on you both for being Darcys when he wasn’t.”

  “Revenge?”

  “Don’t you remember? I told you Wickham called me the morning after I helped Georgiana. I got an earful.”

  He released her and started pacing the room.

  “Let’s go for a walk and burn off some of this energy,” Elizabeth suggested. After he nodded, she unlocked the sliding door and passed through, waiting for him to join her. They left the deck and walked toward the lake.

  It was a few minutes before William spoke again, “You say that it wasn’t my fault, but I’ve put Georgiana in danger again. Remember that phone call I got saying he wasn’t where he was supposed to be?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you know about the press hounding me and Georgie after the accident?”

  She nodded.

  “Wickham called me the day after what happened with Georgiana on campus, too, and threatened to go to the gossip magazines with pictures and a juicy story about him and Georgiana. Instead of going to the police, I’ve been paying him off.” He punched at some leaves hanging off a tree branch. “I thought I was so smart, paying him in installments at irregular intervals with only a three-hour warning. I felt I was guaranteeing he’d stay
clear across the country in California to receive his payments, but he wasn’t there when my man went to deliver the last one, and he hasn’t been back. Instead of saving her from the paparazzi, I’ve given him money to live on, making his escape possible, and now I have no idea where he is.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” He stopped at the lake’s shoreline. “I have to stop relying on my gut feelings when it comes to Wickham.”

  Elizabeth gestured that they should continue to walk along the shore. She took a few minutes to think about her answer. “Your intentions were good, Will, no matter how misguided. Feeling guilty isn’t going to help the situation. We have to concentrate on keeping Georgie safe from him.”

  “The alarm system is being installed tomorrow, and I’m keeping her close. I’ve taken her out of the summer session at school, and she’ll be staying with me, but I can’t watch her all the time. She can stay with Mrs. Reynolds...” his voice trailed off.

  “There are too many people in and out of our store during the day to keep her safe when I’m there.” She hesitated. “Isn’t Georgiana part-owner of Darcy Construction?”

  “Yes.”

  “Has she ever worked with you?”

  “Once in a while after school, at the main office in the city.”

  “Then maybe it’s time she became more involved in the family business. Can’t she work in the trailers on the jobsites? She’d never be alone, and she’d have you, Charles, or Richie on site, as well as a whole lot of Darcy employees. If Georgie so much as sneezed, half the jobsite would know about it.”

  William nodded. “That’s not a bad idea.”

  “Of course it’s not a bad idea—it’s my idea.” Elizabeth chuckled.

  He displayed the first smile she had seen since dinner. “I should remember to consult with you more often, Elizabeth Rose Bennett.”

  ~%~

  Elizabeth tried not to awaken Anne and Georgiana with her tossing and turning. Her mind, still lingering on the sensations associated with being held in William’s arms, would not allow her any rest. Even though it was a given that, from William’s point of view, their hug had been utterly platonic in nature, Elizabeth could no longer deny to herself that she was head over heels in love with William Darcy.