Mr. Darcy Forever (38 page)

‘
No,’ Sarah said. ‘Neither did I.’

They looked at each other for a moment and Sarah couldn't help wondering if he was going to kiss her. Would it be the right moment? She wanted him to kiss her but her head was so full of emotional jumble that she wasn't sure that a kiss would be right at the moment.

‘
Good night,’ she night.

‘
I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?’

Sarah nodded, deciding that his promise was as good as any kiss.

Mia woke up and, for a few blissful moments, felt perfectly contented with the world. The morning light streaming in through the pink curtains gave a warm, rosy glow to the room that felt typically Shelley-like. She was such a romantic when it came to soft furnishings and rosy pinks and baby blues adorned every room of the house. Was this going to be her new home, Mia wondered? It was a strange feeling that, in a few weeks’ time, she could be living here with little William.

She felt wonderfully relieved for having told Shelley the truth the night before. It was a huge weight off her shoulders. But something else was weighing her down now and that was the fact that she hadn’t yet told Sarah.

There was a gentle knock on the door and Shelley’s tousled head peeped in.

‘
I’ve brought you a cup of tea,’ she said, entering the room. ‘A proper cup of tea. Not one of my dad's strange concoctions.’

‘
What time is it?’ Mia asked, sitting up in bed.

‘
Gone nine.’

‘
Goodness!’ Mia said. ‘I was out for the count.’

‘
I’m not surprised after the day you had. How are you feeling?’

‘
Like yesterday was just a dream - or rather a nightmare - and I'm not even sure if it happened now.’

‘
Oh, it happened, I'm afraid,’ Shelley said. ‘But it wasn't all bad, was it? I mean, you haven't changed your mind about moving here, have you?’

Mia swung her legs out of bed. ‘No, I haven't changed my mind. I think it's an amazing idea.’

Shelley’s smile stretched across the whole of her face. ‘I can't tell you how excited I am!’

‘
You might change your mind after the first week. You've no idea how much mess a toddling boy makes!’ Mia warned her.

‘
You think I’ll notice a little bit more mess?’ Shelley said with a laugh.

‘
It’s so kind of you, Shelley.’

Shelley shook her head. ‘I want to do this more than anything else in the world.’ She looked pensive for a moment as if she was about to add something.

‘
What is it? I'll pay you rent if that's what's worrying you.’

‘
It’s not that.’

‘
What, then?’

‘
Sarah rang.’

‘
What – this morning?’

Shelley nodded. ‘She was anxious that you might have fled Bath in the dead of night.’

‘
What did she say?’

‘
That she wants to see you.’

Mia sighed.

‘
Please see her, Mia!’ Shelley begged. ‘It’s the only way.’

‘
I know. I know.’ Mia got out of bed and started searching through her suitcase for something suitable to wear.

‘
So you'll see her?’

‘
Do I have a choice?’

‘
Not really,’ Shelley said.

Mia looked at her. ‘You’ve already arranged something, haven't you?’

Shelley bit her lip. ‘Kind of.’

‘
What?’

‘
It was Sarah's idea. She wants to meet you at twelve.’

‘
Where?’

‘
In the Georgian Garden. She said you knew where that was.’

‘
Of course I do,’ Mia said. ‘We’ve been there before.’

The Georgian Garden was one of Bath’s many hidden gems. The entrance was via the pretty Gravel Walk down which the promenaders walked during the opening of the Jane Austen Festival but it was often overlooked by tourists hurrying to and from the Royal Crescent. It was a simple eighteenth-century design of a small town garden with neat box hedging containing shrubs, roses and pretty perennials but the real treat was the magnificent white garden seat. A replica of an eighteenth-century original, it was possible to imagine Jane Austen herself sitting on it, chatting merrily to her sister, Cassandra, before heading to the shops to buy ribbons and muslin.

But the thing that was really special about the Georgian Garden was the view it provided of the back of The Circus. Storey after storey of fabulous windows rose up into the sky and there was the most fabulous spiral fire escape that Mia had ever seen.

Mia and Sarah had discovered the Georgian Garden on their last trip to Bath - just a few months before their fateful holiday to Devon. They’d visited it in the full Regency costume, sitting on the bench together and bemoaning the lack of fine young gentleman to keep them company.

‘
I don't think I'll
ever
meet anyone!’ Mia had said with a dramatic sigh.

‘
You will! Just don't be in such a hurry,’ Sarah told her

‘
But is he really out there?’

‘
Of course he is. Just remember what Jane Austen said. “Do not be in a hurry: depend upon it, the right Man will come at last.”’

‘
He never comes to Bath,’ Mia said.

‘
No. I don't think we're ever going to meet anybody suitable in Bath.’

‘
I wonder where, then.’

‘
Probably when we least expect it - when we're not looking at all.’

‘
But I’m always looking!’

‘
Then you should stop. There are more important things to think about,’ Sarah said.

‘
Well, I can't think of any.’

Sarah laughed.

‘
If only I knew when I was to meet him,’ Mia said. ‘I’d be more settled then.’

‘
You’ll never be settled. You're always in a state of flux!’

‘
I am not!’

Sarah shook her head and then closed her eyes, tipping her head back towards the sky. ‘It will happen. You just have to keep the faith like Elizabeth Bennet. She knew it would be wrong to settle for life as Mrs Collins, didn't she? And we mustn't either. We must wait for our own Mr Darcy to come along because Mr Darcy is forever.’

How romantic they’d both been back then. How full of optimism. How sure they had both been of a happy ending.

‘
How very long ago that was,’ Mia said with a sigh.

Twelve o'clock at the Georgian Garden. Mia’s heart was already starting to race at the thought of it but there was no backing out now. She knew she had to go through with it.

Having showered and breakfasted, Mia went downstairs and met Shelley in the kitchen.

‘
You ready?’ Shelley asked.

‘
As ready as I’ll ever be.’

Shelley walked across the room and wrapped her friend up in a big hug. ‘You’ll be fine,’ she said.

‘
I wish I felt as sure as you. I feel like I’m auditioning for the biggest role of my life!’

‘
But you’re sure to get the part,’ Shelley said. ‘Sarah loves you so much and she really wants to make things right.’

Mia nodded.

‘
And you do too, don’t you?’ Shelley added.

Mia paused before answering. ‘Of course I do.’

‘
Well, then, there shouldn’t be any problems, should there?’

‘
I’d better get going,’ Mia said, extricating herself from Shelley’s second hug.

‘
Call me as soon as you can and don’t run away this time!’

Mia left the house and, as she was walking down the pathway, Gabe called over.

‘
Hey!’ he said.

She waved to him.

‘
Got a minute?’ he called.

‘
Not really,’ she said.

‘
I just wanted to ask you about this Darcy guy.’

‘
I’m in an awful hurry, Gabe. Can it wait?’ she snapped and hurried towards the waiting taxi before he could reply.

Sarah was the first to arrive at the Georgian Garden. She'd walked into town from her hotel, crossing Pulteney Bridge before wending her way through the streets to reach the Gravel Walk.

She smiled as she saw the large ornate bench, remembering it from her last visit there with Mia but she was too anxious to sit down. Instead, she paced the length of the neat pathways, her eyes darting continuously to the entrance in the hope that Mia would arrive on time. She didn’t expect punctuality from her sister even after their years of separation but she hoped that Mia would respect the clock for once in her life.

As the taxi crossed the river into town, Mia wished it would slow down. It was going too fast. She wasn’t ready. Staring out of the window at the Georgian buildings that passed her by in a blur, she thought how easy it would be to leave Bath right now. She could just tell the taxi driver to keep going. Hit the M4 and keep going until they reached London. Okay, so she wouldn’t be able to pay him but, at the moment, she’d rather face that problem than have to face Sarah.

As much as she loved Bath, it had brought her nothing but trouble on this trip and she couldn’t help feeling close to Jane Austen at that moment. She’d had many unhappy times in Bath. Her father had died there and her family had been forced to take cheaper accommodation. It must have been a difficult time for her.

Jane Austen had loved Bath as a visitor but had had no wish to live there. She was a girl of the countryside and life in a city must have been difficult for her. In her letters, she’d described Bath as being ‘vapour, shadow, smoke & confusion’ and Mia could well understand where she was coming from.

Mia thought about how Bath was portrayed in the novels. In
Northanger Abbey
- the first novel Austen wrote, the young heroine, Catherine Morland, revelled in its bustle, enjoying her first foray into society. But then there was Austen’s last completed novel,
Persuasion
, where its heroine, Anne Elliot, loathed the city, finding it ‘disagreeable’ . Mia remembered the moment when Anne first arrives in Bath with Lady Russell. “‘She persisted in a very determined, though very silent, disinclination for Bath’,” Mia recited. She’d often wondered at these two contrasting portrayals of Bath and how it showed a change in Jane Austen herself.

But how did
she
feel about it? Wasn’t it going to be her new home now?

‘
Okay, here, love?’ the taxi driver said, pulling up by the Gravel Walk.

Mia paused a moment before answering, looking down the length of the pathway that would lead her to her sister.

Sarah looked at her watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. She’d tried sitting on the bench at one point, drumming her fingers on her knee, but she was soon up again, pacing the length of the small garden.