Foundation of Love: The Gypsy Blessing 2 (20 page)

William straightened quickly. “Elizabeth?”

“Yes, she helped me—”

One hug, and she thinks she can take over decorating my house?
“What did Elizabeth say to convince you she has the right to tell you what to buy?”

“She did no such thing!” Mrs. Reynolds folded her hands in front of her. “As you well know, William, when you’re not in a snit like you are now, Elizabeth Bennett is not at all like Caroline Bingley or any those socialites you’ve been hanging around with.” She hesitated a minute before continuing. “In case you’ve forgotten, I only just arrived. Since I had no idea where to go to get what I needed, I asked Lizzy for directions. Her father is being transferred to the rehabilitation center tomorrow, and she wanted to go to the department store to pick up a few things to bring to him, so she allowed me to tag along with her. She even let me drive so that I could begin to learn my way around the area. Lizzy finished her own shopping sooner than expected and found me in the linens section of the store. The only comment she offered was to say that she uses this brand of sheets, and because they’re so comfortable, sometimes she doesn’t want to get out of bed.” She sighed. “I
asked
for her opinion while trying to decide between two designs for the comforter and drapes. Lizzy actually seemed uncomfortable sharing her preference, but eventually told me which she liked better. As I began to say earlier, I purchased the sheets Lizzy said were very comfortable because you’ve been having so much trouble sleeping lately. You look exhausted, William.”

He closed his eyes.
I’ve overreacted again.
He opened his eyes and met Mrs. Reynolds’s gaze, and then took a deep breath and released it slowly. After several tense moments, his muscles finally relaxed. He nodded.

Mrs. Reynolds raised both eyebrows. “If you would prefer something different, I’ll see if I can exchange this set, but it’s already been washed...”

He looked around the room and shook his head. If he had gone shopping with Mrs. Reynolds, he probably would have chosen this design for himself.
“No, no. This is fine. Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds.”

Mrs. Reynolds began to leave the room, then stopped and turned to face him again. “Please rest for a little while, William. You work too hard.” Her lips curled slyly and winked. “And when you’re tired, you certainly do get cranky.”

“Do you...” he hesitated. “Do you think it’s been wrong of me to reject so many women? To take them on a couple of dates but never get serious with anyone?”

Mrs. Reynolds examined his expression carefully with her grey eyes opened wide. He knew this wasn’t going to be a short conversation when she walked over to the bed and sat down. “Did you care for any of them, William?”

“I
liked
the girls I went out with in high school and college, but not the way you mean. I was physically attracted to some of the women I’ve dated since, but I didn’t want to continue and give them false hopes. I was too busy...”

“If the right girl had come along, you wouldn’t have been too busy for her, would you?” She shook her head in answer to her own question. “We had this conversation once before. Do you remember?”

“No.” From the tone of her voice, he had a feeling he should sit down. He took a seat next to her on the bed.

“It was during a very dark time, which I’m sure is why you don’t remember... during the time of your parents’ wake. Once the girls you knew realized you were going to inherit, they tried to get closer to you, showing false compassion to get your attention. You told me that you knew what they said wasn’t real, but also, you said something I’ll never forget—you never wanted to use women like you had seen some other men do.” She smiled. “Even with all your accomplishments, I’ve never been more proud of you than I was at that moment, William. I know your parents would have been, too.” She paused and raised her eyebrows. “Does your bringing this up have anything to do with Elizabeth Bennett?”

“Is it that obvious?”

Mrs. Reynolds shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve known you all your life. You brighten up when she walks into a room—and the way you look at her, William!” She wiggled her eyebrows and smiled. “Over the past couple of days there has been no doubt in my mind that you’re in love.” She nodded once. “I approve, if that’s why you’ve brought this up. Before I met Lizzy during that weekend she visited us in the city, I didn’t think there was a woman who could deserve you, but I knew right away that she does. I remember thinking it was a shame that you were too ill to meet her.” Mrs. Reynolds frowned. “And everything I’ve heard from Georgiana, Anne, and Richard confirms it. I expected to see you two together by the time I got here and was very surprised when I arrived and found that she doesn’t know how you feel about her, William. Why don’t you tell her? Or at least ask her on a date.”

William sighed deeply. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? The one woman I don’t want to push away is also the one woman I can’t have.”

“Oh, it can’t be that bad!”

“With Elizabeth working on the Lambton Project, if she and I had a relationship, it would end up ruining her reputation.” He explained the situation with Gardiner’s partnership and Elizabeth’s internship. “I even thought about hiring her—if I had to change the human resources rules for Darcy Construction, I would—but then she wouldn’t be able to get her license unless I hired a licensed architect who had been approved to be her supervisor, as well. I’m not sure they would approve if they realized I’d set it all up just for her. I looked into it, and an internship really should be served with a previously established firm. Then there’s the question of whether Elizabeth would agree to the arrangement...” He paused. “I need Elizabeth’s talents for Lambton. I can’t put my selfish wishes ahead of Dad’s dream, and I won’t risk Elizabeth’s career. Right now, we’re good friends, and it’s better to remain that way. At least until Lambton Village is completed.”

Mrs. Reynolds’s mouth dropped open. “The entire project?”

He nodded.

“That’s going to take
years
, William.”

“I know, but it doesn’t matter—I don’t think she feels the same way about me, anyway.”

“Then I guess you haven’t seen the way Elizabeth’s eyes follow you whenever you’re not looking. Or the way her face lights up when
you
enter the room.”

His heart skipped a beat. “Really?”

“Yes, really. She likes you, William.” Mrs. Reynolds reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “There has to be a way around all that.”

He looked away. “I told her about Wickham.” He knew she wouldn’t miss the importance of that event. He hadn’t talked about it since the day after his parents died, when he had explained what had happened to Mrs. Reynolds. He’d even let Richard tell Anne and Georgiana about it, though he was in the room at the time.

She lifted her eyebrows. “Everything?”

William met her gaze. “Everything.”

Mrs. Reynolds nodded and rose from the bed. “That confirms it. You
belong
with Lizzy, William. I’m sure you’ll find a way to be together.” She kissed his forehead before heading toward the door. Upon reaching it, she turned. “If you aren’t needed at the jobsite, why don’t you lie down for a little while? You’re exhausted. I’ll knock in half an hour.”

William closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
She’s right; I
am
exhausted.
Maybe a short nap.

Just as he started drifting off to sleep, his eyes snapped open. He swung his legs over the side of the bed.

No matter what I do or where I go, I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t even sleep without dreaming of her. This has to stop!

He rubbed both hands over his face and then looked around the room.

I’ve pretty much guaranteed it’s impossible to stop—I’ve rented the house where she grew up. I’ve spent enough time looking at her pictures to see her every time I walk into any room in this house. I ended up with her old bedroom.

I can’t even get away from her scent. After living in her room for a week, there’s a trace of her on all my clothes. Worst of all, I’m enjoying it!

And now, every time I go to bed, I’ll be surrounded by the bedding that she chose for me... that she admitted she’d love and would never want to leave.

His chest ached with longing to have Elizabeth within his arms, pressed firmly against him as she was two evenings ago.

How am I supposed to rest?

Chapter
13

~Three weeks later – Meryton Founder’s Day Picnic

As William approached Charles’s SUV, Charles was assisting Mr. Bennett into his wheelchair. William hurried to help hold the chair steady. He spied Elizabeth’s car a few parking spots away, but he didn’t see her.

Mrs. Bennett came up to them and said in a voice too loud to keep her comments private, “Now, Thomas, I know you want to stay all day, but I promised Dr. Jacobs that you would be at the Founder’s Day picnic for only
two hours
—and you will stay no longer. You’ve made a lot of progress, and we won’t have you exhausting yourself. You’re lucky he agreed to your coming out at all. You’ve only been home a couple of days.”

William detected Elizabeth’s scent and turned toward the direction of the breeze. When he met her gaze, she winked at him. “Mom is taking my father’s health more seriously these days.” Her expression changed to one more somber. “I have to talk to you—right now!” She pulled him over to the side.

His eyes trailed down her form-fitting tank top, shorts, and bare legs that seemed to go on forever. Realization hit him. “You wore something different on purpose, too?”

Elizabeth nodded, wide-eyed. “As a matter of fact, I did. I thought maybe if I wasn’t wearing the same clothing, that, uh...” she cleared her throat, “...
scene
wouldn’t happen, but look—it’s the strangest thing.” She handed him her phone. “I already knew you were wearing different clothes.”

As he took the phone, he saw her hands were shaking. William glanced down at the picture and then looked up quickly. “Our clothing has changed in the picture.”

“It’s crazy, isn’t it? But everything else is the same.” She nodded. “I looked at it before I left the house, and it was exactly as when you saw it last. When I got here, I thought maybe if it wasn’t going to happen, it would disappear off my phone, so I checked. Instead, it had changed. I’d been sitting in my car for at least five minutes—too shaken up to get out.”

He gestured to the photograph. “Well, I’m not going to let this happen, so don’t worry about it.”

“You might not have a choice, Will. Not everything is under your control.” She took her phone back. “Maybe if I tell Dan...”

William clenched his jaw. The pictures were
their
secret... along with Jane, of course. He knew he was being irrational, but he didn’t want anyone else in on it—especially Dan.

“I really don’t want to tell him, though.” Elizabeth slid her phone into the back pocket of her jean shorts. “He’ll think we’re nuts!”

Relief spread through him, so complete that he had to stifle a sigh. “It
would
be difficult to believe if you haven’t seen pictures come in before they happen, like Jane and I witnessed. Maybe they don’t want him to know about this.”

“They?”

“The gypsies.”

She smiled brightly. “I’m so glad you believe me, Will. You have no idea what that means to me.”

I hope she never stops smiling at me that way,
he thought. “Can you come over to the house after the picnic? I have some questions on the plans for the hotel.”

“Sure. I thought you might. The county’s announcement of the change in the building code creates some problems. Uncle Ed went to a full-day lecture yesterday, and I went over it with him on the phone last night. Our ideas aren’t perfect yet, but when we get to your house, I’ll show you what we came up with.”

“Sounds good.”

~

The Bennett family pushed a few tables together so their family and friends could assemble around the patriarch for the few hours he was able to remain. Unlike gatherings in the past, Elizabeth’s father did not speak at all. Too soon, it was time for Jane and Charles to drive her parents’ home, and many of the others dispersed to visit with their neighbors. Earlier in the month, Mrs. Reynolds had discovered a few things she had in common with Mrs. Lucas, and the two ladies moved off to sit on their own.

Elizabeth, William, and Georgiana remained at the table, involved in a conversation about Georgiana’s job at the Darcy Construction trailers. Elizabeth was laughing at something William had said when a movement caught her eye. She looked in that direction, directly into the deep brown eyes of Dan King, who was wearing exactly what he had on in the picture. She could feel herself pale.

Dan’s trademark smile, which had melted a thousand hearts, spread across his face as he swaggered confidently toward their group. “Hey Lizzy, Georgiana.” Elizabeth watched with surprise as Dan’s smile faltered. His tone changed. “Darcy.”

I know that look! What could Dan possibly have against Will?

William stood and shook his hand. “Dan.”

Elizabeth almost laughed. When addressing men he didn’t know well, William usually called them by their last names, but William quite deliberately refused to use Dan’s last name when addressing him, as if he couldn’t get himself to call Dan “King.”

As far as I know,
they only met at the ribbon cutting ceremony. Did I miss something? There’s some sort of power struggle going on between them. Preventing that picture from coming true does not look promising.

Dan leaned over and, to her surprise, he kissed Elizabeth on the cheek. He sat too close beside her and swung one arm over her shoulders. Raising both eyebrows in Dan’s direction, Elizabeth scooted a few inches away from him, effectively removing his arm from her shoulders.
What is going on here? He’s never been one to hang all over people.

Dan didn’t react. “Did I miss your father?”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer, but William spoke first. “Yes, you did.” He looked like he was a seven-year-old boy who had just scored a point in a game on the playground. She half-expected William to speak in sing-song next, saying, “I got to see him. You didn’t—ha, ha!”

Elizabeth looked over at Georgiana, who was glancing back and forth between Dan and her brother in amusement.

At least I know I’m not imagining things.
Elizabeth cleared her throat. “Dad behaved himself and listened to the doctor’s orders to stay only a couple of hours. I think he was ready to go home. He tires so easily right now. Thanks for visiting him at the rehab center.”

William glared at Dan as he said, “It was a nice place, even better than the one our great-aunt had been in for a while last year.”

He’s trying to prove to Dan that he visited Dad, too?
Elizabeth looked at Georgiana again, who, at this point, had pulled both her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing.

Elizabeth knitted her brow and shook her head at her young friend.

Georgiana nodded in agreement.

Elizabeth startled when Dan laid his hand on her arm. “Lizzy, do you remember the year when your father replaced the softballs with trick balls?”

Elizabeth subtly moved her hands into her lap, pulling away from him. She chuckled at the memory and explained to William and Georgiana. “I don’t know where he got them—they looked real. Dad was pitching, and when Mr. Lucas hit the first ball, it exploded into white powder.”

Georgiana laughed. William smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ve heard about some of Mr. Bennett’s pranks.”

“You’ve missed a lot of good ones...” Dan brought up quite a few past picnics and then moved on to speak of a few outings their group of friends had made. Elizabeth’s eyes widened when he even brought up her prom—a night she’d rather forget.

Elizabeth squirmed in her seat. She wanted to include the Darcys in their conversation and kept trying to change the subject to things they all could enjoy, but Dan kept bringing up the past and looking mostly at her while he was talking, with an occasional glance at Georgiana. He ignored William completely, acting as if Will wasn’t even there. It was downright rude! She was just about ready to drag Dan away and give him a piece of her mind when his cell phone rang. He excused himself to answer it.

Elizabeth waited until he was out of hearing range. “I’m sorry—I don’t understand what’s wrong with him today.”

Georgiana shrugged. “It was fun to hear stories about you when you were growing up.”

~

Intense jealousy churned in William’s gut, eating away at his resolve to keep his affections for Elizabeth to himself.

Dan King had hit every mark necessary to make him feel inadequate when it came to Elizabeth, starting with the peck on the cheek. After witnessing
that
, he should have left, but he had relished watching Elizabeth move away from Dan so much that he had to stay to see how this played out.

Glancing at Elizabeth, whose beautiful face was now wrinkled with a frown, and whose eyes were filled with anxiety, he could kick himself. Causing her discomfort and embarrassment had not been part of his plan.

Unlike many of the women he knew, who would be basking in the glory of having two men vie for her attention, Elizabeth’s apology had been completely genuine. Her natural modesty probably didn’t even allow her to understand either of the men’s behavior. Most likely, she couldn’t imagine the torture she had inflicted every time she smiled at something Dan had said, or the ache he felt whenever she laughed in response to Dan’s inside jokes before she had explained them. She couldn’t understand the victory he felt every time she had shied away from Dan’s touch.

Unwilling to upset Elizabeth further, William said, “No harm done—it’s fine.”

Her frown smoothed a bit, and, probably to change the subject, she asked Georgiana about the piano she was expecting to be delivered next week. William looked away, feigning interest in the goings on around him, but his thoughts were focused elsewhere.

Maybe
she
couldn’t grasp what was behind Dan’s rude behavior, but William could. Mr. Bennett, Gardiner, and Mrs. Reynolds all had recognized his feelings for Elizabeth, and Jane had given every indication she had guessed at them, as well. A man in love could spot another man’s interest a mile away, the same way
he
could see Dan King cared for Elizabeth and would play every advantage possible to win her.

After seeing the way Dan had acted toward Elizabeth at the ribbon cutting ceremony and listening to the hints Jane had given as they looked at the photo on Elizabeth’s cell phone, William had asked around and had done some research. The most frustrating part about Dan was that William had not found anything actually
wrong
with him. Not only did Dan seem to be a decent man, respected by the community, but he also had a promising and honorable career ahead of him as an Assistant District Attorney, putting criminals behind bars where they belonged. He was expected to advance far beyond that position.

From what William had heard, Dan had not been too obvious about his feelings before, but today, his interest had been advertised as if he had erected a neon sign.

It would be only a matter of time before Elizabeth caught on.

If Elizabeth chose to accept Dan’s affections, her personal or professional reputation would not suffer as it would if William showed her the same attentions. When looked at logically from that perspective, with a great deal of pain, William admitted to himself that at this moment, Dan King seemed the better choice for Elizabeth.

William turned his head to look at her and was almost overwhelmed with base instincts, which urged him to leap over the table, throw Elizabeth over his shoulder, and escape—to take her far, far away from Dan King and claim her completely.

Trying to regain control of his thoughts, he tore his gaze away from her.

He always prided himself on being a man of reason, especially since his loss of restraint after Wickham’s betrayal, but he had faltered often since meeting Elizabeth. He over-reacted whenever her generous nature had clashed with what he had come to expect from other women. His knee-jerk reactions had absolutely nothing to do with logic or reason, and had nothing to do with her. Time and time again, he had expected the worst from her, only to find that she had anticipated nothing in return. Mrs. Reynolds had been correct—Elizabeth wasn’t like
them
. Next time, h
e would rein himself in before he responded.

Maybe I’d be better off without her, too.
He tried to come up with one piece of evidence to support the claim, but couldn’t. All he could think of was how much his life had improved since Elizabeth had become a part of it.

~%~

After the barbeque, the games began. First up were several children’s competitions, and many of the community’s adults came forward to assist. Georgiana volunteered both herself and William to help with the watermelon-rolling contest. When the games for adults began, Elizabeth approached William. The two stood side by side watching Mr. Lucas and Dan King choose teams from those wishing to play touch football.

“Aren’t you going to play?” Elizabeth asked.

William sighed. “After seeing that picture, I don’t think I should play anything today.”

“That was softball. Touch football should be safe. You guys play it all the time—don’t you want a real game for once?”

Charles jogged toward them. “Will, you’re on our team.”

“But I didn’t sign up for this.”