by Ruby Cruz
“Marjorie, are you actually taking her side? And I thought you were my friend.”
“Of course I’m your friend. And as your friend, I have to warn you that William is obviously a man in love. He’s going to be with Elizabeth Bennett despite any objections you give him, subtle or otherwise. Just look at the two of them. Do you have any doubts as to their happiness?”
“I have plenty of doubts. As to the longevity of their…relationship, well, we’ll see what the future has to bring.”
A hand settled on my arm and I jumped, my heart racing. “Is something wrong?” Chase’s voice did nothing to dissolve the unease in my stomach.
“I…uh, no.” The voices within the room stopped, and it was obvious they could hear us in the hallway. I schooled my features into what I hoped was a neutral, easygoing expression.
Chase didn’t appear convinced, but didn’t push the subject. “Shall we?”
I followed him into the room where his mother was seated in a chair next to Dr. DeBourgh’s bed. Her hair was miraculously still intact, her makeup refreshed. Even with the nasal cannula delivering oxygen through her nose, she looked too healthy to be there. I suspected Mrs. Hammond had assisted her in freshening up her hair and makeup. None of my patients ever looked that good after just being admitted to the hospital.
I adopted a cheery tone and prayed I didn’t sound too insincere. “I brought these flowers to brighten up your room. Should I set them over here?” I gestured to the nightstand.
“Yes, that should be fine, thank you.” Her tone was stiff and formal, and I almost expected her to tell me to just chuck them in the garbage. “Where are William and Ana? I thought they would be returning with you.”
“Terry said there was some type of emergency with the San Francisco office. That’s all I know.”
Her expression became troubled, and I feared I may have told her too much. “They have it all under control, though. They’ll be here as soon as they can.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you, Miss Bennett.” Her face softened when she turned to Chase, who kissed her on the cheek.
“How are you feeling?” he asked with genuine concern.
“Much calmer, thank you. How were things back at the house?”
“As you’ve requested, we didn’t say anything about your hospitalization, although some of the guests were concerned for you, John Corbett especially.”
“Well, John Corbett can kiss my rear,” she said with an incongruously prim tone. “He’s wanted me off the board for years now. This is just the opportunity he’s looking for to oust me.”
“Well, my dear, you shouldn’t concern yourself with him. Like Miss Bennett said, William and Ana have things well handled.” Mrs. Hammond reached over to pat her hand soothingly.
~
The next hour was probably one of the most painful of my life, and that included the time I passed a kidney stone in college.
I sat practically mute while Chase told mostly amusing anecdotes about the guests at the manor. I had to admit, he had a knack for easing tension in people, the only exception being the Darcy siblings as far as I could tell.
I listened to Chase’s stories politely, but I couldn’t forget what I’d overheard. After all, it was direct confirmation that Catherine DeBourgh despised me. In fact, it sounded like she would rather eat elephant dung than see me in any type of long-term relationship with her nephew.
When there was a lull in the conversation, I stood and announced, “I’m going to see if I can get a cup of coffee. Would anyone else like any?”
Chase stood. “I’ll go with you. Mother?”
She shook her head and Dr. DeBourgh said rather sourly, “I’m on a caffeine free diet.”
Eager to escape, I exited, Chase following me not far behind. “That bad, huh?” he commented as I moved down the hallway.
“What do you mean?”
“I know you overheard my mom and Dr. DeBourgh talking about you, and it wasn’t anything good.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Hey, I know I just met you a couple days ago and I don’t really know you, but I’m pretty good at reading people. And Dr. DeBourgh is acting like this because she feels threatened by you. For years, she’s been the mother figure in Will’s life and all of a sudden, you’re coming in and usurping her role as alpha female.”
“I’m not trying to take her place.”
“That may be true, but I’m not the one feeling threatened. I’m not trying to defend her, just explaining why she acts the way she does. If it makes you feel any better, she treated Darcy’s dad the same way when he first started dating his mom.”
“How would you know that? You weren’t even born.”
“No, but I’ve heard stories.” He didn’t elaborate further as we waited for the elevator down to the cafeteria.
“I know you mean well and she’s had a hard time these past few days, but the fact remains that she hates me, despite the rationale behind her behavior.”
“Well, then you’ll have to work harder on your game face because you looked like you’re getting your prostate examined back there.”
“Women don’t have prostates.”
He gasped in mock concern. “They don’t? I guess I should be concerned that the last woman I’d been seeing had told me she had an emergency appointment with a proctologist and had to cancel our late date.”
He managed to elicit a laugh just as the elevator doors opened. We stepped on, the tension between us dissipated.
~
When we returned fifteen minutes later, I was pleasantly caffeinated and Darcy was standing at the nurses’ station and speaking with someone in a white coat. He spotted me but didn’t smile, his eyes darting between Chase and me.
“I hope everything is okay,” I said.
Chase responded as we continued towards him. “I’m sure he’s just getting the update from the other doctor. It’s like there’s some type of special doctor language they speak with each other and can only speak with each other and no one else.”
“Depending on the doctor, they may or may not talk openly with the nurse involved with the case or with family members who are nurses. I’ve had experience with both types. In this case, I doubt there’s anything they’ve found that Dr. DeBourgh wouldn’t be privy to.”
“Well, whatever it is, you’d better go talk to him. Your boyfriend’s been throttling me with his eyes ever since we stepped off the elevator.”
“Hmm, I see your point.” I walked more quickly before Chase suffered death by visual asphyxiation.
I stepped up to Darcy and kissed his cheek. “I thought you would call to let me know when you were on the way.”
He didn’t comment and instead continued to give Chase the stink eye even after he’d already walked past us to reenter the hospital room.
To regain his attention, I offered him my coffee. “I know you prefer unsweetened, but you look like you need some.”
He accepted the coffee gratefully and drank at least a third before handing it back. “Thanks.”
“Any news? You seemed deep in discussion with that clinician.”
“Nothing new, though her most recent blood work looks like she’s already beginning to recover.”
“That’s good. What about that stuff Terry was talking about? Is everything okay with the San Francisco office?”
“Not really.” He glanced briefly towards his aunt’s hospital room. “I can’t really talk about it here, but Ana and I have it under control.”
“Okay, though you should be working harder to convince your aunt, not me.”
“Ana’s working on that right now.”
When Darcy and I joined the group by Dr. DeBourgh’s bed, I saw he was right. Ana was explaining how they’d assured the people at the San Francisco office that everything was going as scheduled. Ana had an overly bright expression on her face. and I sensed that Chase’s presence coupled with the situa
tion at hand was stressing her more than she wanted to admit. She walked over to the night stand and commented, “These flowers are gorgeous, Aunt Catherine. Did you get her these?” she asked Mrs. Hammond.
“No, Lizzy got them. She has wonderful taste.” She flashed me an encouraging smile, and I wondered how much she suspected I overheard earlier.
“I could have told you that,” Darcy joked as he pulled me closer to him and kissed my hair.
The gesture was not lost on Dr. DeBourgh, who watched us beadily. “So, William, Ana said that you’ve agreed to go the San Francisco site and monitor negotiations while I am…indisposed.”
Darcy stiffened and his arm tightened around my waist. I glanced up at him questioningly.
“It’s imperative you go out there as soon as possible. John Corbett is quite anxious to see me unseated from the board, and I need you to reassure him that this company is best served in the hands of this family. I need you to see these negotiations through to the end.”
“I’ll have to take a leave of absence from work, but I should be able to add it to my bereavement leave,” he responded, his arm never leaving my waist but his eyes not meeting mine.
Ana added, “I can probably take the next week off, but I can’t spare any more time than that without returning to work in between.”
“You do what you need to, but I need you both in California before close of business on Friday. I need this deal closed before John Corbett turns the board against me and declares me physically and emotionally incompetent to complete my duties. Unfortunately, I can’t do that while in this hospital bed.”
“Catherine, maybe you should consider taking a break from business. Perhaps this health scare is a sign to slow down…”
“Marjorie, don’t you start. I haven’t sacrificed the past thirty years of my life to this company only to have that snake try and steal it out from under me just because of some poor timing. I know my father didn’t purposefully choose to die this week, because he knows how devoted I’ve been to making sure this deal would come to fruition.”
Mrs. Hammond blew out a breath, but said placidly, “All right, dear. We all know John Corbett is a sexist opportunist, but you’re not helping yourself by getting yourself worked up over him. Let yourself heal.”
Dr. DeBourgh seared her friend with her eyes. When she spoke again, her voice was clipped. “Fine. You’re right. As much as I love having your presence here, I’m afraid I need my rest now. And, besides, William and Ana have arrangements to make.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Changing Everything
Outside the hospital room, Marjorie and Chase said their goodbyes and left Darcy, Ana, and me to discuss our next move.
I felt remarkably numb after Dr. DeBourgh’s announcement that Darcy would be working in San Francisco for the next few weeks or even longer, however long the “negotiations” would take to settle.
Ana and Darcy seemed to sense my shift in mood, so they didn’t question me about how my time at the hospital went. Nico brought us back to the manor house and before either of them could protest, I announced, “I need to get some fresh air.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Darcy looked worried.
“No. I’ll be fine. I need some air after being in the hospital.” That statement was true enough. I needed space, time away from prying eyes.
Damning my sprained ankle, I swung the crutches along the path and away from the house. I had no idea where to go but needed to get away. I so wanted to talk to Luke, but he’d already left to return to the city; plus, I needed time to process what had happened.
The path led to a small copse surrounded by sea grass and shaded by a large scrub pine. A lone bench sat in the small clearing, and the isolated view of the waves from that spot indicated the arrangement had been by careful design. I sat on the bench and could just see the edge of the patio, too far away to hear anything but the sounds of the sea.
“This was Walter’s favorite spot,” a voice from beside me said. Chase approached with his hands in his pockets, and I resented him for not being Darcy.
“I can see why. It’s beautiful.”
“How are you holding up?”
“I don’t know. Don’t you have your own property to hang around on?”
He ignored me. “I guess Will never told you about what was going on in the company.”
“No. I mean, why would he? I’m not employed by the company and I’m sure there was some confidentiality agreement to abide by.” My attempt to sound nonchalant failed, the tone of bitterness ringing loud and leaving an acrid taste in my mouth.
When he sat beside me, I shifted away from him. He noticed the movement but did nothing, allowing me my space.
“He should’ve told you.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because it looked like you needed someone to talk to.”
“What I need is to be left alone.”
“I think that’s what you want, but that isn’t what you need.”
“I didn’t come here to play semantics with you.”
He continued to stare at me.
“What is it that you want from me?” I demanded.
“To be your friend.”
“I’ve got plenty of friends, thank you.”
“But they’re not here right now.”
I thought of Luke and retorted, “Because they know me well enough to know when to leave me alone.”
“Fair enough.” His voice remained placid, his expression neutral. “Let me just say that I understand what’s going on, more than you know. I know what it’s like to be an outsider here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, Walter DeBourgh wasn’t the easiest man to get along with, and he was hardly perfect. But he tried to make things right at the end. He tried reaching out to Will and Ana the past few months. He wanted to leave them with a legacy.”
“But I thought he didn’t want Dr. DeBourgh involved with his company. And he resented Will for becoming a doctor instead of going to business school.”
“That is true, but I can tell you he had a lot of regret as he got older. He lived in this house by himself. Can you imagine what that must have felt like, being at the end of your life, one daughter dead, another living just hours away and never visiting, your own grandchildren refusing to see you? Believe me, he had a lot of regrets.”
“So, what, you became his confidante over a few rounds of golf?”
“He was lonely. Can you blame him? I mean, you’re a nurse. You probably get patients who talk to you about a lot of things they would never tell their own families.”
I heard what he was saying, and he was absolutely right. At times, I felt like a priest at confessional, or sometimes my patients were so lonely, they appreciated just having a friendly ear to listen.
“I still don’t see why he was so insistent on leaving a legacy his grandchildren didn’t want any part of just to make amends. Seems like too little, too late.”
“It’s better than nothing, at least in his eyes. And it worked, in a sense. His family is here, even if through guilt.”
“And they’re still trying to seek his approval by complying with his wishes.”
“Look, I don’t know why Will didn’t tell you what was going on, but you had to suspect with all the meetings they’ve had the past few days.”
“Yeah, I suspected.” But I never suspected he would consider leaving me behind in Meryton to spend weeks, maybe even months, across the country. Logically, I could understand why he felt the obligation to help his aunt, but to make the decision without even talking to me about it…I still couldn’t face it. The pain cut my heart too deeply for me to even breathe.
I blinked away the tears that had returned and cleared my throat. “What did you mean, you know what it means to be an outsider? You just admitted you were one of his few confidantes.”
“I wasn’t always. It wasn’t until rec
ently, after Walter retired and realized that all the money in the world couldn’t buy him friends, or family.”
“He seems to have had plenty of friends. There had to have been at least two hundred people here.”
“None of those people really knew Walter. They knew his public face, his reputation, but very few people actually knew him.”
He stood from the bench and held out a hand. I ignored the gesture and stood on my own, using the crutches to steady me. “I still don’t understand your angle in all this. Somehow I don’t think your interest in my or Will’s welfare is entirely altruistic.”
“Perhaps not, but there’s one thing I learned from hanging out with Walter, and that is his distrust of people may have made him a very wealthy man, but it also led to him being a very lonely one.”
He walked away from me, leaving me to return to the house on my own.
~
I found Ana in the sunroom, an open bottle of wine on the table. “Hey. Long day, huh?” I made my way across the room and sat down next to her on the couch.
“A long week.” She poured a glass of wine for me, which I accepted gratefully.
She swirled the wine and examined it but didn’t drink. “I’m sorry you had to find out about everything the way you did. Will should’ve discussed it with you before Aunt Catherine made that announcement at the hospital.”
“It’s done. He and I’ll talk about it when we get home.”
“He still hasn’t discussed it with you?” She couldn’t quite hide her astonishment at the news, and the stones that had settled in my belly sunk even further.
“We haven’t had much time with everything going on,” I explained.
“I also saw you talking to Chase earlier.” A flush crept onto her cheeks. At first I thought she was angry again, but her expression spoke of something more akin to embarrassment. Huh, interesting.
“Yeah, we talked more about your grandfather. He told me that near the end, he’d tried to sort of make amends.”