A Modern Day Sense and Sensibility: An Adaptation of Jane Austen's Classic (12 page)

“I’m thankful for any position,” Ellie confessed. With a mere Bachelor’s degree and a short summer internship under her belt, Ellie knew she was no match for the professionals vying for work in downtown Portland. This job would help support her family and add to her work experience until she could find time to complete a Master’s degree.

“When would you be available to start? Better yet, how about I give you the grand tour? You haven’t seen the extent of our facility yet.”

Ellie agreed and she and Brandon stepped outside his office, where Brandon informed the receptionist that he’d be showing Ellie around and could be reached on his cell phone if necessary. After showing her the pool and outdoor dining area, Brandon took her to see the exercise room, spa, indoor dining area, and banquet room. Ellie was impressed. The hotel was organized and well laid out. And the staff they encountered along the tour seemed pleasant and inviting—no wonder the hotel was fully booked at the moment.

“Melissa, our student accountant, has already turned in her two weeks’ notice and her last day will be this Thursday,”
Brandon once again broached Ellie’s employment, “How would you like to start Friday?”

That was three days away. “Sounds perfect,” Ellie confirmed. She was actually looking forward to her first shift.

Brandon smiled, nodding his head with pleased satisfaction. “Well, then,” he said, extending his hand, “welcome aboard.”

Ellie eagerly shook his hand in return and thanked him before exiting the hotel. Whispering a thankful prayer as she started her mother’s Volvo, Ellie put the car in gear, eager to share the good news with her family.

Over the next couple of months, the girls kept themselves busy with their jobs and various projects around the apartments. Although she worked twenty hours a week at Brandon’s hotel, Ellie occasionally handled Mrs. Jennings’s accounts and often assisted her sisters with their duties on weekends. The first of many assignments was helping Margaret paint the shutters. The former shade of paint, most likely a pale violet, was faded and cracking. After scraping off as much of the old base as they could, the sisters had to apply two coats of the white paint Mrs. Jennings supplied them with before the shutters looked pristine again. Meanwhile, Marianne busied herself with mowing the large lawn shared by the apartments. As she grunted past Mrs. Jennings, who was gardening nearby, she muttered angry words at the antique mower. Not only did it feel as if it weighed a ton, but the mower enjoyed pestering her by veering right. Mrs. Jennings, although sympathetic and intent on purchasing a new lawn mower for Marianne next week, chuckled to herself. These three young women brought so much joy to her life! And not only joy, but renters, too. As the appearance of the apartments began to improve with the girls’ help, people began responding to the newly-cleaned “VACANCIES” sign posted at the complex’s entryway. At the rate things were going, Mrs. Jennings was hopeful the entire complex, twelve
apartments in total, would be completely filled in a matter of weeks.

During this time, Ellie checked her email and the mailbox religiously, hoping for any communication from Edward. When they’d said their goodbyes, Edward promised to visit. But it had been months and he still hadn’t made an appearance. Finding herself growing silently desperate, Ellie checked both outlets daily. Every afternoon after she arrived home from work, the first thing she did was check the mail. And on Saturdays, Ellie eagerly awaited the postal truck’s two o’clock appointment with her mailbox. Checking email only left her equally disappointed. With every passing day that brought no communication from Edward, Ellie began to doubt more and more that he had even cared at all. If he wrote to her, that meant he was thinking about her, right? So no visit and no letter meant . . . he didn’t care? All of this emotional stress was taking a toll on Ellie’s health, and increasingly she found herself withdrawing from her family, preferring to be alone—and she didn’t like that. Picking herself up, Ellie mentally began to brace herself for heartbreak.

Yet every girl’s heart is allowed a relapse now and then, and late one evening, Ellie decided to see just what the internet could reveal concerning Edward and what kept him too busy to write or come and visit. Yes, he had promised her nothing, but the connection had been too real to pass up as just friendship. Sneaking out of her bedroom, Ellie had chosen to go about her snooping mission after everyone went to bed. The computer was in the living room, in plain sight for all to see—and Ellie didn’t relish the idea of anyone catching her looking up her “secret crush.”

Turning on the computer, Ellie typed “Edward Ferrars” as quietly as she could into the Google search field and waited for the results to display. A second later, several pictures of him popped up on the screen as well as a few of his photography stills which had been featured in
National Geographic
.
She studied an image of him from a charity event and sighed wistfully—Edward looked so debonair and handsome.

Hearing her bedroom door open, Ellie quickly hit the minimize button as Marianne entered the kitchen to fill up her water glass. Marianne looked over at her, but didn’t seem suspicious as Ellie pretended to be checking her email. When Marianne finally returned to their room, Ellie let out a sigh of relief.

The coast now clear again, Ellie turned her attention back to the web page, her eyes trailing down the list of results which included a Tumblr account and a Photoblog. She’d have to create new accounts with each site to access his photos. What if he was able to keep tabs on who was viewing his work? Ellie would be humiliated if he thought she was stalking him. Deciding not to take the chance, Ellie sat back in the computer chair, letting her mind wander. Wouldn’t that be something if Edward was thinking about her at that very moment? But Ellie pushed the thought aside. She was just being whimsical and needed to grow up. Closing down the computer and heading to bed downtrodden, Ellie climbed in next to Marianne. It was odd how she could feel both relieved and disappointed at finding nothing substantial about Edward online. Relief because that meant he wasn’t gallivanting across the world with some unknown woman; disappointment because she longed so badly to hear news of him. Ellie fell asleep that night promising herself she would try her best to be patient, while also issuing an order to her heart that it start slowly letting go.

Fortunately, there to take her mind off matters of the heart were family and work. With the interior improvements almost done, the girls’ efforts of late were spent mostly on the apartments’ grounds maintenance. That morning, they’d been assigned detailing the complex’s entrance sign. It had accumulated years of grime from the mud which was splashed up by the ever-constant rain—so much so that one could barely make out the title of the apartments. Although
the most artistic, and, as Ellie reasoned, best suited for detailing, Marianne opted to tend the shrubs surrounding the sign while Ellie had to scrub the ceramic tiling. It was a nasty job, and Ellie was thankful for the gloves Mrs. Jennings had offered her as the three set out to begin working. Margaret, a few feet from her older sisters, was joyfully watering the flowers.

Passing by at that moment, Mrs. Jennings waved cheerfully at the girls as she proceeded toward their apartment to visit with Diane. Eager to wave back, Margaret turned to greet the elderly woman. In doing so, however, she’d forgotten that in her other hand was an active hose. The screams of her older sisters came as a shocking surprise, and wide-eyed the young girl realized what she had mistakenly done. Soaked and irritated, Marianne stomped to her feet and while marching past Margaret, promised revenge. Usually Margaret would have quivered at such a threat, but she knew Marianne was all talk and no action. She was safe, at least for the time being.

One Saturday evening after Brandon had finished visiting Mr. Middleton and Mrs. Jennings, Diane could tell he wasn’t ready to go home and invited him to stay for dinner. Ellie had prepared a delicious-smelling pot roast in the crock pot and Diane knew there would be more than enough to go around. Once all of them had their fill of the savory dish, Brandon offered to help Diane with the dishes while the sisters headed outdoors with enthusiasm. They were eager to assemble the new hammock Margaret had uncovered while helping Mrs. Jennings clean out her garage. Since the elderly woman had no more use for it, she had graciously donated it to the excited youngster.

While the girls pulled the hammock out of its package and began trying to translate the assembly directions (the only set Mrs. Jennings could find were in Spanish), Diane relished the opportunity to observe Brandon while he was occupied with watching the interactions outside. She thought he was a fine young man with fair features—a little too quiet for her tastes (and she thought for Marianne’s tastes, too, if she were to be honest), yet Diane couldn’t help but feel a tenderness toward Brandon since it was obvious he cared very much for her daughter.

Meanwhile, outside the girls were struggling. With frustration, they impatiently yanked the directions from each other’s hands, stifling tears when yet another attempt to
assemble the apparatus failed. But at last they thought they had done it. Standing proudly beside their setup, they’d strung the new hammock between two trees located not far from their apartment’s back porch and it looked snug and secure as it swayed with the breeze. First to test it out, Margaret got a running start (despite her sisters’ warnings), and leaped into the cozy-looking hammock only to find herself suddenly on the grass underneath, trapped within its knitted fabric.

“Help!” Margaret yelped, and instantly Marianne and Ellie came to her aid. It took some doing to untangle the little girl’s arms and legs, but they finally freed her from her unlikely cage amid torrents of laughter. Margaret, of course, rubbing her bruised limbs, did not find the situation funny in the least.

Watching from the kitchen window, Diane sensed the longing in Brandon’s eyes to join the foolish party and urged him to go outside. Brandon didn’t need to be asked twice. Although he intended to be just an interested observer, the next thing he knew, the girls had roped him into fixing the hammock. Having mentioned his prior experience hanging up his grandfather’s hammock years ago, it was enough to get him the job. The exhausted sisters sat down on the grass and watched while Brandon got to work, noting how tightly he tugged at the ropes to make sure they were tied securely around the strongest parts of the trees.

Without meaning to, Marianne found herself admiring his nicely toned muscles as they flexed while he did this. She wondered how Brandon was able to keep in such good shape when most men his age were fat and ugly.

When Brandon was finished, none were too eager to try out the hammock and share in Margaret’s humiliation. But after he assured them it had been set up correctly, Margaret summoned her courage and gave it a second try. This time it stayed up.

Having tidied up the kitchen, Diane moved to the living room couch which provided an excellent view of the com
mon backyard. As she settled onto the cushions, Diane felt as if she were watching a romance movie as she witnessed Brandon admire Marianne atop the hammock. She chuckled, especially at how Marianne seemed to take his interest in stride. Diane knew her spirited daughter was not interested in Brandon at this point. Brandon seemed too old, and quiet, and not passionate enough to the precocious and success-driven young woman. Yet Diane hoped that as Marianne became more laid back and content within herself, she would grow to appreciate Brandon and all that he had to offer. Brandon was quite the eligible bachelor. Indeed, if Ellie’s heart had not already been touched by Edward, Diane would have encouraged a match there instead.

Now that they had a hammock at their leisure again, the Dashwood ladies couldn’t decide how they had ever gotten along without it. Indeed, they liked it
too
much and it became the cause of many an argument. Even Diane herself found it frustrating when she was all set for a time of relaxation on the contraption only to find Margaret already on it reading a ballerina magazine. This prompted Diane to initiate some sort of schedule to dissuade most of the havoc. However, it was a pain trying to equalize all the individual hammock time between the girls. Ellie, of course, as the oldest deserved the most time, right? And then Marianne wasn’t that much younger and desired the same amount of time—but then there was little Margaret who didn’t want to be shorted either. Finally, Diane assigned each of her daughters a day where only they were allowed to use the hammock unless they gave someone else permission for a
limited
amount of time. This helped as the warmer weather began to roll around and the girls desired to be outside sunbathing during their free time. There was something so soothing about how the gentle breeze brushed against them as they rocked back and forth in the hammock after a stressful day.