Mr. Darcy Forever (12 page)

‘
Sarah?’ Mia called through the house. ‘Sarah?’

‘
What is it?’ a voice called from the back of the house where the kitchen was. ‘Oh, my goodness! What's happened to you?’ Sarah asked as soon as she saw her sister.

‘
Nothing. I just fell.’

‘
I’m afraid we had a sort of collision,’ Alec said.

‘
And I tumbled right over - just like Marianne.’

‘
Marianne?’ Alec said.

‘
Marianne Dashwood from
Sense and Sensibility
.’

He didn't look any the wiser.

‘
It’s a book by Jane Austen,’ Sarah explained.

‘
Oh, she's a heroine,’ he said.

‘
Yes,’ Mia said. ‘And she gets swept up by this dashing hero.’

Sarah looked aghast at her sister’s forwardness.

‘
Well, I hope I didn't disappoint you.’

Mia smiled at him. ‘This is Alec,’ she said to Sarah by way of an afterthought.

Alec stretched out a hand and shook Sarah's.

‘
I’m Sarah.’

‘
This is about as strange as introductions get, isn't it?’

‘
I guess so,’ Sarah said.

‘
I feel just awful about what has happened. If there's anything I can do.’

‘
Oh, I'm fine,’ Mia said, flopping into the nearest chair and rolling up the left leg of her tracksuit bottoms.

Sarah grasped. ‘You’re bleeding!’ She rushed out of the room.

‘
My sister loves a crisis,’ Mia said. ‘Oh, sit down, please!’

Alec sat on a chair beside her and shook his head. ‘I’ll never forgive myself for this.’

‘
But it's nothing. Really. It doesn't hurt at all. You're probably bleeding too. Have you checked?’

Alec cleared his throat and then dared to roll up the legs of his own tracksuit bottoms. Sure enough, a small graze greeted him.

Mia’s mouth dropped open. ‘See! You’re hurt too. Let me see.’ Without thinking, Mia was on the floor and kneeling beside him in a moment. ‘It’s not too bad but it’s still bleeding.’

It was then that Sarah walked into the room with a bowl of warm water, cotton wool and a box of plasters. Her eyes widened at the sight of her sister on the floor in front of a pair of bare legs.

‘
See to him first, Sarah,’ Mia said, scrambling up from the floor.

‘
I wouldn’t hear of it,’ Alec said, rolling his tracksuit legs down again. ‘I’ll take care of it at home.’

‘
You’re not going, are you?’

‘
I think I’ve probably done quite enough damage for one morning,’ he said, getting up from the chair.

‘
Why not stay for breakfast? I'm sure Sarah's made plenty,’ Mia said with what she hoped was a winning smile.

‘
No, thank you,’ he said. ‘That’s very kind of you but I should be getting back. But perhaps I can call again? Maybe tomorrow - to see how you are.’

Mia nodded and couldn't help smiling once again.

The two women watched as he walked down the path towards the little wooden gate from where he turned around and waved.

‘
Isn’t he wonderful?’ Mia said. ‘Wasn't it kind of him to see me home?’

‘
I think it's the very least he could do if he caused you to fall in the first place.’

‘
But it was all my fault. You know what I'm like. I was running along not paying any attention to the world around me and I ran right into him.’

‘
Mia - you really should be more careful. You could have been seriously hurt.’

‘
Oh, I’m fine.’

Sarah pushed her sister back into the house. ‘I want to get a proper look at that graze.’

Mia sighed, turning round to catch a last glimpse of Alec who’d broken into a jog and was heading out of view.

‘
It was him who called last night,’ Mia said. ‘He wanted to let us know that the car window was open.’

Sarah's mouth dropped open. ‘I left it open - all night?’ She looked absolutely horrified. ‘I’d better check on it after I’ve seen to you.’

‘
And then breakfast.’

Sarah nodded and then shook her head. ‘What a start to the morning.’

But Mia thought it was a brilliant start to the morning. In fact, it was better than she could ever have imagined.

The Country Fayre always attracted a good crowd and the Guildhall was full of costumed customers eager to sample what was on offer. There were bookstalls and fabric stalls, stalls selling bonnets, ribbons and dress patterns. There was a woman reading palms and a man cutting out silhouettes.

Grand portraits looked down on the proceedings from the pale green walls, and golden columns soared up to an ornate ceiling from which hung the most splendid chandeliers.

Tables and chairs were set out in the middle of the room and it was the perfect place for people to meet and chat and catch up on all the festival gossip and, on a small stage, musicians played.

Shelley was loving it all, feeling as if she had stepped back in time and that Mrs Bennet and her daughters were bound to enter the room at any moment.

‘
Isn’t this wonderful?’ she said, grabbing Mia’s arm. ‘Mia?’

‘
What?’

‘
What’s the matter? You’re all twitchy!’

‘
No I’m not.’

‘
Yes you are. You’ve been miles away and you’re twitching like an anxious rabbit.’

Mia pulled away and went over to a stall and idly picked out an old hardback copy of
Northanger Abbey
with a torn dust jacket and mottled pages.

‘
Mia?’

‘
What?’

‘
I wish you’d talk to me.’

‘
I am talking to you.’

‘
No you’re not. You’re only half there.’

Mia returned the book to its shelf and turned to face Shelley. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I just feel strange being here.’

‘
Without Sarah?’

Mia nodded. ‘It doesn’t feel right, you know?’

‘
I know,’ Shelley said. ‘I miss her too. I always thought of her as an honorary sister.’

Mia sighed. ‘I still can't get my head around it all. I'm sorry.’

‘
There’s no need to apologise, silly!’

‘
I promised myself that I wouldn't spoil this trip to Bath but I can't help thinking of her. Every corner we walk around, I see her standing there or I remember one of our funny holiday moments together like when she got a fit of sneezes in the middle of that really boring lecture about card games.’

‘
There
must
be a way of you two making up.’

Mia shook her head. ‘I can't see how.’

‘
But you were so close. I always really admired that. My mum has two sisters and she can't stand either of them but you two were different. You were more like twins and it really pains me to see you like this now.’

For one awful moment, Shelley felt quite sure that Mia was about to cry and so she looked around the room in desperation until she found the perfect distraction.

‘
Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s get our silhouettes cut. I've always wanted mine done.’

A little smile lit up Mia’s face and the two of them headed over towards the stall to be immortalised in card.

If it hadn’t been for Sarah’s enormous bonnet half-hiding her face, Mia might have spotted her as she entered the Guildhall but she didn’t and Sarah was no longer on the lookout for Mia either. She was far too busy trying to spot Lloyd which wasn’t hard because she practically bumped into him at the palm reading stall.

‘
Hello,’ he said, putting his camera down and smiling at her.

‘
Hello,’ she replied.

‘
Come to have your palm read?’ he asked.

‘
Oh, I don’t believe in such things,’ she said. ‘Anyway, I know about my past and present and I'm not at all sure I want to know about my future.’

‘
It would make a great photo, though,’ Lloyd said, taking some money out of his wallet and handing it over to the palm reader. ‘Go on,’ he said, ‘my treat.’

Before she could object, the palm reader had grabbed hold of Sarah's hand and she was forced to take a seat.

‘
What a beautiful hand you have,’ she began, her piercing blue eyes taking in the shape of Sarah's hand. Then she began to nod. ‘But it tells a sad story. You have been hurt - recently too. It's a hurt that you’re still carrying with you but you must learn to let it go. It's time to move on.’

Sarah tutted at the words. She could have taken them personally if she'd wanted to but they seemed vague and could have applied to any number of people in the room.

‘
You're a romantic and life is often a disappointment to you.’

Sarah shook her head. Well, she'd got that wrong, hadn't she? She wasn't a romantic. It was Mia who was the romantic not her –
she
was practical beyond belief.

‘
You are,’ the palm reader said as if reading her thoughts. ‘But you hide it well. But I can see that you believe in happy endings even though you haven’t found your own yet. But you’re going to meet somebody - somebody who won't let you down this time. In fact, you might have already met him.’

Sarah blinked in surprise. ‘Really?’ Then she bit her tongue. It was the standard procedure of palm readers, she believed. They took your money and gave you a little bit of hope for the future.

‘
Oh, yes,’ the palm reader went on. ‘He’s tall and dark and very handsome.’

Sarah rolled her eyes at the declaration. It was a horrible cliché even though Lloyd happened to be all three of these things.

‘
And the two of you will be very happy together. You are alike. I can sense that. You’ve never met anyone like him before but he is right for you.’

Sarah's time was over and she stood up.

‘
What did she say?’ Lloyd asked as she joined him.

‘
You mean, you didn't hear?’

‘
I was taking photos.’

Sarah was glad that he'd been concentrating on something else. ‘It was just the usual rubbish.’

‘
I thought you’d never had your palm read before.’

‘
I haven't but I still know that it was all rubbish.’

‘
My sister once had her palm read and she was told she would be married and pregnant within a year.’

‘
And what happened?’

‘
By the following summer, I had a brother-in-law and nephew.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘Coincidence,’ she said.