Chapter 159
Elizabeth did her best to be a cheerful, engaging hostess at the rehearsal dinner, but the scene outside the restaurant with her mother continued to weigh on her. As much as she appreciated Rose’s support—and later she would tell her almost-grandmother how much it meant—she was mortified that it had been necessary. But at least the incident hadn’t occurred inside the restaurant, in front of a much larger audience.
Although she wasn’t seated at her mother’s table at dinner, Mrs. Bennet’s shrill voice carried throughout the room. Elizabeth overheard a new set of laments, including one about the humidity in the tropics and its effect on naturally curly hair. With that, at least, Elizabeth agreed; thank goodness Jane had been on hand to help her tonight, and would do so again on Saturday before the wedding.
After dinner, she and William circulated among the tables, making sure their guests were happy and well fed. Mrs. Reynolds smiled at them as they approached and said, “I was thinking that Allen and I might go over to Pemberley first thing tomorrow and see what we can do to help.”
“But we invited you here as our guests, not to put you to work,” Elizabeth protested. “We want you to enjoy yourselves.”
“Trust me,” Sonya retorted, “the best way to make sure she enjoys herself is to put her to work.”
“Oh, stop it, Sonya,” Mrs. Reynolds retorted. “I need to make sure this Mrs. Shepherd of yours knows what she’s doing in a kitchen. We can’t risk a disaster on Saturday.”
William smiled. “Don’t worry. Mrs. Shepherd knows what she’s doing.”
“And I don’t think she’d welcome help in the kitchen,” Elizabeth added. “At least, not unless she specifically requested it.”
Mrs. Reynolds frowned. “But you’re letting Sonya help. Tomorrow, she’s going to meet the delivery people bringing the tables and chairs and tableware for the reception.”
“And it was very nice of her to volunteer,” Elizabeth replied. “We weren’t sure what time the snorkel trip would end, and we didn’t want the Shepherds to have to inventory everything to make sure it was all delivered.”
“And I don’t mind at all,” Sonya said. “I’ve never been much of a beach girl, and snorkeling is definitely not my thing. I’m going to lounge by the pool with a good book until the delivery guys show up. That’s what I’d be doing at the hotel, but this way I’ll have the pool deck all to myself.”
Elizabeth leaned over and touched Mrs. Reynolds’s shoulder. “Didn’t we talk last week about organizing a tour of some of the great houses on the island for you and Allen? I thought the Sandy Lane concierge had set that up for tomorrow.”
“Yes, that’s true. But ….” Mrs. Reynolds heaved a sigh. “I just want to contribute in some way. You and William have been wonderful to us. How many people would invite their housekeeper and driver to a family wedding in a tropical paradise?”
“We invited you to the family wedding because you are part of the family,” Elizabeth replied. “Having you here means so much.”
Mrs. Reynolds rose to her feet and kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “You are such a darling girl,” she murmured, “and you’re going to be the most beautiful bride anyone has ever seen.”
“You’re so sweet.” Elizabeth embraced the housekeeper. There it is again; I’m the bride.
William and Elizabeth were the last guests to leave the rehearsal dinner. William settled the bill with the manager while Elizabeth waited outside, seeing the guests off to their various accommodations. He exited the restaurant and joined her at the bottom of the steps, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and drawing her back against him.
She exhaled a little sigh. “Oh, this is nice. Peace and quiet, and just the two of us.”
He rested his chin on top of her head. “Are you okay?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because of what happened with Gran and your mother.”
“Oh, that.” She paused for a moment. “Wasn’t Gran wonderful?”
He knew her well enough not to accept this attempt at deflection. Resting his hands on her shoulders, he coaxed her to turn to face him. “Tell me the truth,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She met his searching gaze, and as he watched, her expression crumbled and tears filled her eyes. “I’m so ashamed,” she whispered. “For your grandmother to hear Mom saying those things about me, and criticizing decisions we all made together ….” She buried her face in his jacket, tears leaking onto the lapel. “Gran said all the right things, but I can’t imagine what she must be thinking about my family. And me.”
He stroked her back, searching for the right words to comfort her. “I admit, she probably doesn’t have too good an opinion of your mother right now. Gran doesn’t tolerate anyone criticizing a member of the Darcy family. And in case it’s not clear, you are the family member I’m talking about. But nothing your mother said made the slightest difference in the way Gran feels about you. And she wasn’t just saying the right things; she meant every word. I thanked her for her support after you went inside, and she said, ‘I just told the truth.’”
She raised her head to meet his gaze; although her eyes were damp, she seemed calmer now. “At least she and my father seemed to enjoy their conversation.”
“By the way, he’s coming to the bachelor party. Richard invited him; he said your dad has a great sense of humor, which means he’s earned the Richard Fitzwilliam Seal of Approval.”
“I saw them standing outside with Robert and Uncle Edward after dinner; they all seemed to be having a good time. Too bad about their smelly cigars.”
William led her to his car. Once they were underway, navigating the winding road up the coast, he remarked, “Kitty was … calmer than the last time I saw her. She and Jane and I had an interesting talk about Jane’s plans for her law firm.” He had been impressed to hear that Jane was hiring another paralegal and was also considering adding an attorney to her practice.
“Kitty’s away from Lydia’s influence these days, which makes a big difference. So you’re saying I have at least a couple of family members I don’t need to be ashamed of?”
She had spoken in a teasing tone, but in an uncharacteristic flash of insight, he understood that her question was entirely serious. Further, some of her distress over her mother’s behavior was undoubtedly his fault, because in the past he had made his distaste for her family so evident.
He reached over and touched her hand, doing his best to assemble his thoughts. “Lizzy, your mother is difficult. There’s no denying it. My father was difficult, too; in fact, that’s far too mild a word to describe him. And then there’s Lydia. She tends to run wild at parties and make a spectacle of herself. But when it comes to running wild, let’s not forget that Aunt Eleanor ran away from home when she was around Lydia’s age to become a hippie. She lived on the streets in San Francisco during the era of free love, and she probably tried every drug you and I have ever heard of, plus several we haven’t. But look at her now.”
“I don’t know if Lydia’s going to turn out that well; Eleanor is a lot smarter.”
Now came the difficult part. “And then there’s my sister, the shoplifter with a juvenile record. And who’s helping her to turn her life around? You are.”
“The therapist is, really.”
“No, you are. I was watching her at dinner tonight. I haven’t seen her look this happy in a long time, and she even has a sparkle about her that reminds me of you. But I’ve drifted away from the point I was trying to make. Lizzy, we both come from … complicated families. You pointed that out to me once, and you were right. I’m sorry for ever making you feel that your family was somehow inferior to mine. That was arrogant and thoughtless of me.”
William fell silent. At first, Elizabeth didn’t speak either, but then she touched his hand where it sat on the gear shift lever. “Thank you,” she murmured. “You’ll never know how much that means.”
They drove on in silence for a few minutes, and then she said, “About Mom. I’m trying to be understanding, because we really did make things hard for her by moving the wedding down here. Everyone else seems to be having fun, but Mom doesn’t handle unfamiliar situations well. She didn’t even have a passport; we had to use the expedited service to get her one in time. She’s a fish out of water, and I’m trying to remember that.”
William didn’t think any of that excused the way the woman had belittled Elizabeth, but he kept those thoughts to himself.
“Oh, and you’re right about how happy Georgie looks. She and Kitty and the Gardiner girls seem to be having fun together. Spending some time with the Gardiners this summer is going to be so good for her.” Elizabeth drew in a breath and spoke again, her usual animation and energy restored. “And did you see? They were all wearing the earrings I put in their gift bags!” She had worried that the girls would reject the starfish earrings as hopelessly uncool.
“By the way, I heard several people talking about how much they liked their gift bags. You did a great job with those.”
“Sonya came up with a lot of the ideas.” She paused. “Things really are going well, aren’t they? We could have had a major disaster—canceled flights or bad weather or who knows what. But it looks like we pulled it off.”
“You pulled it off.”
“No, we did it. We’re a good team.”
“That we are.”
“Although we would have been in trouble without all the help we got from Gran and Sonya and the Shepherds.”
He chuckled. “Indeed.”
A moment later, he turned into the driveway of the beach house. He exited the car and walked around to open her door, but she was already out of the car, so he drew her into his arms. “I’d like to come in for a while,” he said softly. “I’m not ready to say goodnight.” He dipped his head and claimed her lips for a long, gentle kiss.
Heat built between them during their next kiss and their next, and soon they were clinging to each other, moaning. “What did you have in mind if you come in?” she asked in an unsteady tone, her hands restlessly stroking his back.
There was no point in denying it. “We could sneak down to your bedroom and lock the door.”
“Sorry,” she sighed, squirming as he cupped her buttocks and pulled her against him. “They’d know we were in there together, and their guys are on the island, too. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“But we’re the bride and groom; doesn’t that give us special privileges?”
“Not in this case.”
“Okay, then,” he murmured in her ear, “goi grab a blanket from the house, and we’ll go down to the beach.” He finished by nibbling her ear lobe.
After a breathy moan, she inhaled quickly and said, “And if they—or any random stranger—decided to go for a walk on the beach, there we’d be, in flagrante delicto.”
“But, Lizzy—”
She extricated herself from his embrace. “It’s not that I don’t understand, or that I’m not tempted—very, very tempted. But we agreed on this plan.” She took his face in her hands and spoke gently. “You know I’m right.”
He exhaled a long sigh. “I know,” he said in a mournful tone. “I just missed you so much last night, and all day today.”
“Me, too, and I’ll miss you again tonight. But let’s enjoy our time with our friends. It’s just tonight and tomorrow night; then on Saturday we’ll be together.”
“For the rest of our lives.”
She threaded her arms around his neck and drew his face down to hers. “For at least that long,” she whispered.
She had allowed him the privilege of sharing her lounge chair. He was ensconced behind her, arms around her waist, while she rested her head on his chest. It was a more intimate position than she would ordinarily have permitted with others present, but as he had suggested the night before, being the bride and groom should allow them a few small privileges.
“Snorkeling was so much fun,” Jane said, “in spite of my nanny for the day.” She reached out and squeezed Charles’s hand, smiling. She had never snorkeled before, and Charles had fussed over her like a mother hen, ensuring that she knew how to use the equipment and requiring her to wear a life vest.
Richard cackled. “Nice nickname! And from a source not known for snark. Tonight we’ll have Aunt Wilhelmina and The Nanny at the bachelor party!”
William sighed heavily. “Not the Aunt Wilhelmina business again, I beg you.” He had been subjected to enough of that nickname at Charles’s bachelor party.
“Auntie W. for short,” Richard said, earning a snort from Charlotte. “I agree with Jane about today, though. Great snorkeling spot, and a first class boat and crew. Do you know how many passengers that catamaran usually carries?”
“Around 35, I think,” William replied.
“And we had, what fifteen or so?”
“Lucky thirteen,” Elizabeth said. “It was supposed to be fourteen, but Mary was too jet lagged to get up early.”
All of the younger wedding guests except Mary had gone on the trip, as had the Gardiners. Elizabeth and Kitty had been first-time snorkelers, along with Jane—and, to Elizabeth’s surprise, Georgiana. Kitty had been afraid to get too far from the boat, and Georgiana hadn’t liked breathing into the snorkel, so the pair had spent their time treading water near the boat, chatting and occasionally using their masks to take a careful peek below the surface.
Elizabeth had been mesmerized by the colorful fish and especially by the occasional sea turtle drifting past—so much so that she had collided head first with one of the catamaran’s pontoons, unaware that she had floated so close to the boat1. It appeared that no harm had been done, but there was a chance that her wedding photos would feature a bruised forehead. For the rest of her time in the water, William had stayed by her side; Jane wasn’t the only one who’d had a nanny for the day.
She was trying not to think about the other wedding event that had gone on simultaneously with the snorkel trip. Rose had hosted a get-acquainted lunch at Pemberley for the older members of both families. Rose had no doubt been exposed to another large helping of her mother’s complaints, whatever they might have been today. Ever since returning to the beach house, Elizabeth had been fighting the urge to call Eleanor Fitzwilliam for a frank assessment of the luncheon.
To distract herself, she asked a question she’d been meaning to raise. “Charles, how is your father?”
“Mom says he’s still not recovering the way the doctors hoped. He only goes to the office once or twice a week, and only for a few hours at a time; that’s all it takes to tire him out. And of course, he hates it.”
“And Caroline?” Elizabeth didn’t really care, but she asked out of politeness.
“I guess you’d say she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. Federal agents have interviewed her on several occasions, and they’ve been combing through her financial records. She hasn’t been charged with anything yet, but her broker was indicted for insider trading, so we’ll see.”
“Did you invite her to the shindig next month?” Richard asked, directing his gaze at William and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth shot an apologetic glance at Charles, who defused the tension by responding himself. “No, they didn’t, and that was the right decision. She caused Will and Lizzy a lot of trouble and heartache.”
“But you did invite Anne de Bourgh, right?” Charlotte said.
“Oh, of course,” Elizabeth replied.
“I figured as much. In fact, I wondered if she’d be here this weekend.”
“We thought about it, but we decided that this weekend would be for family only.”
“I’m not family,” Charlotte retorted.
“Yes, you are.”
“It’ll be good to see Anne,” Jane said. “I miss her. So does Roger.”
Charlotte frowned. “But I thought they stopped dating before she moved to Boston.”
“I’m not sure if they were ever truly dating,” Jane replied. “The main thing is, they became good friends and they still are. You wouldn’t have thought it, considering how different they are, but they really like each other. In fact, Roger’s going up to Boston with Anne after the New York reception. He got his doctorate at MIT, so he knows Cambridge inside and out. He’s going to stay for a few days and show her some of his favorite spots.”
“She came down to visit us a couple of weeks ago,” Elizabeth said. “I wondered how she’d handle being on her own, after years of being under her mother’s thumb, but so far she seems to be enjoying the freedom and the novelty of it all.”
Catherine had been so incensed by Anne’s decision to pursue a doctorate in math—and to do it on the east coast—that living with her had become unbearable. Desperate to escape her mother’s wrath, Anne had departed for Boston earlier than she’d planned. She had an apartment near the Harvard campus and a summer research assistantship with the head of the math department.
“How many guests are invited to the party in June?” Charles asked. “I know Will keeps whining about how big it’s going to be.”
“At least five thousand,” William groaned.
“He’s exaggerating, of course.” Elizabeth pinched his arm. “But sometimes it seems like it’s close to that. Really, I think the final count was around four hundred, maybe five. With the Darcys’ social contacts and our friends, it’s going to be an eclectic assortment.” She was looking forward to watching Jon and Sally spin around the dance floor, surrounded by the cream of New York society.
Silence fell; the combination of an early start, a day in the sun, and a few pitchers of rum punch had them all in a languorous mood.
“Tell me more about this thing tonight,” Charlotte said, her words dissolving into a yawn as she stretched her arms over her head.
“The Oistins Fish Fry,” Elizabeth said. “I haven’t been, but Richard suggested it. You’ve been there, right, Will?”
“I’ve taken the old man a couple of times, but it’s really not his scene: picnic tables, paper plates, and plastic forks. I was a little surprised he agreed to put it on the schedule for the weekend.”
“I talked him into it,” Elizabeth said. “I thought we should do something with a local flavor.”
“What is it all about?” Jane asked.
“The guys were telling me about it last night,” Charles said. “It sounds great. Lots of food stalls, and music, and dancing.”
“And rum punch and beer,” Richard added. “So we’ll get ourselves all lubricated and then transition into full bachelor-party mode.” He glanced at Elizabeth. “Did you know your dad’s going to whoop it up with us?”
She laughed. “I’m not sure how much whooping he’ll do, but thank you for inviting him.”
“Who’s coming to the fish fry?” Jane asked.
“The same crowd we had this morning,” William said, “plus Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Robert, and Sonya, and possibly Mary. I hope Georgie will be okay; it’s not the sort of thing she’s used to.”
Elizabeth smiled. Georgiana, the three Gardiner girls, and Kitty seemed to have coalesced into a pack that always traveled together. Georgiana would be fine.
William shifted slightly and let out a little groan. She glanced back at him. “Am I crushing you?”
He tightened his hold on her and kissed her neck. “Never,” he murmured in her ear, nibbling the lobe.
“William!” She squirmed against him; he knew how sensitive her ear lobes were. It wasn’t fair to discharge that particular weapon when they weren’t alone. Then he groaned louder, and she stopped moving, realizing that her squirming had awakened some of his sensitive areas.
“Cut it out, you two,” Richard said. “You’ll have time enough for that starting tomorrow night.” He winked at Charlotte. “As will we.”
“You haven’t even mentioned the spectacle that is William Darcy engaging in PDA,” Charles said with a snicker. “But he’s loosened up in that respect since he met Lizzy.”
“She intoxicates me,” William murmured, settling back into the lounge chair.
“Are you falling asleep?” Elizabeth asked.
“Not quite,” he mumbled, followed by a soft sigh.
Elizabeth hopped off the lounge chair. “You’ve got a long evening ahead. You’d better perk up.”
“Charles and I could throw him in the pool,” Richard suggested.
“Oh, I’d like to see you try.” William stood up, squared his shoulders, and lifted his chin.
Richard and Charles grinned at each other, and immediately the challenge was on. Elizabeth darted out of the way, and before long, William was standing in the pool, raking his hands through his wet hair, his white linen shirt almost transparent. Richard, standing on the pool deck, beat his chest and let out a Tarzan yell. Because of his antics, he missed the sight of Charlotte sneaking up behind him to push him. He managed to grab her arm on the way into the pool, taking her with him.
“Hey, Chuckles, go get the bride!” Richard shouted. “She needs to get wet, too.”
“Oh, no, Charles, don’t push her in,” Jane pleaded. “Maybe she doesn’t want to get wet again.” Charles, who had been on his way toward Elizabeth, his mischievous grin making his intentions clear, hesitated and glanced back at Jane.
Elizabeth surveyed the scene and felt a burden rise from her shoulders. So my mother’s a flake, and everyone knows it. These people love me, and I love them, and tomorrow I am marrying the most amazing man. Life is good.
She jumped into the air, grabbed her knees, and landed in the pool with a huge splash.
I’d love to read your comments! You have several ways to comment:
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1 A true story from my first experience snorkeling.
Bonus: I’ve been meaning to post a link to a Gibbes Beach webcam (that’s the location of Lizzy’s wedding weekend beach house). It’s the first video box after the initial ads. Of course, YMMV depending on the time of day: Gibbes Beach webcam.