Mr. Darcy Forever (4 page)

‘
There are no heroes in London,’ she said under her breath as she hailed a taxi, knowing that she was about to use the last ten pound note in her purse but not being able to face the bus or tube with all her luggage. No wonder her best friend Shelley had swapped London for Bath two years ago. Not only was she living in a beautiful house but she was very handy for the Jane Austen Festival.

Hopping in the back of a taxi a moment later, Mia closed her eyes. She was so looking forward to her trip to Bath but there was something that was worrying her. Something that she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on too much.

Sarah.

She hadn’t spoken to her sister for three years. Prior to that, Bath had been their special place where they would go together, taking part in as many Jane Austen activities as they could. But, since their trip to Barton Cottage, Mia hadn't been to Bath for fear of running in to Sarah.

‘
As long as she isn't there this year,’ Mia said to herself.

But what if she was?

‘
Edward Ferrars is such a wimp!’ Mia said through a mouthful of crisps.

‘
Edward Ferrars is
not
a wimp.’

‘
How can you say that?’ Mia said, leaning forward in the squashy sofa and throwing a cushion at Sarah who was sitting opposite her. ‘He’s bullied by his sister, he never speaks his mind and he almost loses the woman he loves because of it!’

‘
But he’s trying to do the right thing,’ Sarah said. ‘It almost breaks his heart to think that he might lose Elinor but he’s intensely honourable and stands by Lucy Steele even though he knows they’ll be miserable together.’

‘
Oh, that’s ridiculous! What sort of a man would marry somebody like Lucy Steele when he’s in love with somebody else?’

‘
An honourable man,’ Sarah said. ‘But perhaps honour isn't something you admire in a man. Perhaps you would have preferred Edward if he'd been more like Willoughby.’

‘
What do you mean?’

‘
I mean, you're so easily pleased. All you look for it is a handsome face and a little bit of charm - you're just like Marianne!’

‘
And you're just like Elinor!’

‘
I am not like Elinor,’ Sarah said.

‘
You so are! I can't believe you can't see it.’

‘
I can't see it because it’s not there to see.’

‘
Oh, let’s not have this conversation again!’ Mia groaned. ‘Every time we watch
Sense and Sensibility
, we always end up fighting.’

‘
That’s only because you have no common sense. You’d have forgiven Willoughby, wouldn’t you? You’d have taken him back and had him break your heart all over again.’

‘
No I wouldn't have!’

‘
Yes you would!’

Mia stretched to her right and picked up another cushion, throwing it across the room at her sister.

‘
Hey!’ Sarah yelped as it hit her on the head. She then grabbed a cushion of her own and hurled it back towards Mia. There then ensued a major cushion fight with both sisters grabbing every piece of soft furnishing they could find.

Finally, Sarah stood up. ‘Enough!’ she bellowed. ‘I can't breathe!’

Mia fell into a giggling heap on the floor. ‘I haven't laughed like that in years,’ she said.

‘
I think I've pulled something in my back,’ Sarah said but she was still laughing. ‘God, I can’t believe I’m thirty. I feel so old.’

‘
You’ve always been old,’ Mia said from the carpet.

‘
Thanks very much. It’ll come to you soon enough.’

‘
No it won’t,’ Mia said. ‘I’m only twenty-one. I've got almost a decade on you.’

Sarah's mouth dropped open. ‘What a thing to say! And just to think I could have invited anyone here.’

‘
No you couldn't have. You haven't got any friends! Who would put up with you as I do? Nobody - that's who.’

‘
You are a cruel, cruel sister!’

‘
No I'm not,’ Mia said. ‘I’m just unrelentingly honest - like Marianne.’

‘
Yes, you are like Marianne and that’s your problem,’ Sarah said. She was smiling but Mia knew she wasn’t joking.

‘
Well, at least I can relax,’ Mia said.

‘
What do you mean?’

‘
I mean, look at you – we’re on holiday and you’re still dressed as if you’re about to be interviewed.’

Sarah frowned and looked down at the neat pair of cotton trousers she was wearing and the slightly baggy blouse. For her, that was slumming it.

‘
You’ve got to learn to relax more.’

‘
I am relaxed,’ Sarah said.

Mia sighed. She gave up on her sister – she really did. Mia had taken an early shower and was in a pair of comfy pyjamas. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was half-way through a family-sized bag of crisps. But Sarah didn’t wear night clothes until she was ten minutes from getting into bed.

‘
I can’t believe we’re watching
Sense and Sensibility
in the very cottage where it was filmed!’ Mia said, deciding to change the subject. She didn’t want to fight with Sarah even if it was a good-natured sort of a fight with cushions and everything.

Sarah sat down on the floor next to Mia. ‘I’ve been wanting to bring you here for ages. One of my clients came here with ‘Pride and Prejudice Tours’ and showed me the photos. I couldn’t believe you could actually hire it.’

‘
Well, it’s the best birthday present ever!’ Mia said, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder.

There was a sudden knock on the door and the sister’s sprang apart.

‘
Oh, my goodness! It’s Willoughby! We’ve conjured up the spirit of Willoughby!’ Mia said excitedly, scrambling up from the carpet.

‘
What are you doing?’

‘
I’m trying to see who it is?’

‘
Well, can’t you answer the door properly?’ Sarah said.

‘
I can’t answer it looking like this!’ Mia said, motioning to her pyjamas.

‘
Well, I haven’t got any make-up on!’

‘
Oh, I can’t see who it is,’ Mia said.

‘
Who on earth could be knocking? We’re in the middle of Devon!’

‘
The owner?’ Mia suggested. ‘A mad axe-man?’

‘
Don’t even joke about such things.’

Mia jiggled the curtains. ‘It’s no use. I can't see him.’

‘
How do you know it's a “he”, then?’

‘
Just wishful thinking,’ she said.

‘
I thought we'd made a pact to swear off men,’ Sarah said. ‘At least for a week.’

Mia shrugged. ‘Those sorts of pacts never last.’

There was a second knock on the door.

‘
He’s not giving up whoever he is,’ Mia said and then she dived behind the curtain. ‘Oh, my goodness! I think he saw me!’

‘
Is it a he?’

Mia nodded. ‘A young he too.’

Sarah got up from the floor and joined her sister by the curtain before daring to look out of the window herself. ‘What do you think he wanted?’

‘
To meet two young beautiful women, of course.’

‘
Do you think we should call him back?’

‘
I’m still in my pyjamas,’ Mia said.

‘
You’re right. We’ll have to hope he calls again. Do you think he will?’

‘
I should think so,’ Mia said, little knowing what problems it would cause them.

Shelley Quantock was anxiously looking out of the window of her Georgian terrace. Mia was late. Not that there was anything new in that. In all of their years together at drama school, she’d never known her friend to be punctual. Still, it didn't stop Shelley from hoping and she continued to pace back and forth between the window and the bookcase until her friend arrived.

At least it was a nice room to pace in, she mused, thinking of the last phone call she'd had with Mia and how she hated the thought of her friend stuck in a grimy bedsit in London.

‘
Why don't you move in with me? There's plenty of room,’ Shelley had pleaded.

‘
I can't leave London,’ Mia had said.

‘
Why not? I did and it hasn't done me any harm.’

‘
Yes but you don't want to set the world on fire, do you?’

And it was true. Even at drama school, Shelley hadn't ever really burned with the same sort of ambition that most of the other students had. Was that a failing? she wondered. She'd never wanted to set the world alight – she’d only ever wanted to have fun. That's all drama school had been for her - a fun way of passing the time but she knew that her friend was different. She pined for the big time – of making a name for herself and seeing that name up in lights. But, if Shelley was absolutely honest, she rather preferred the quiet life. For all her loudness and easy confidence, she really couldn’t imagine hankering after a life in the public eye although she had once had a brief brush with fame doing the voice-over to one of her father’s herbal tea commercials.

Hugh Quantock was huge in herbal teas and could quite easily have bought Shelley and Mia a deluxe flat in the very best part of London when they’d graduated but he’d refused. However, a couple of years later, he purchased 6 Southville Terrace in Bath, a beautiful honey-coloured house with a huge bay window. It had been an investment, he said, not wanting his daughter to think she was being mollycoddled. Besides, Bath was the gateway to the South West - an area he had his eye on in terms of business development. Shelley felt as if she didn’t deserve such a beautiful house because she’d never really worked a day in her life but her father had bought it as an investment and expected her to pay him rent.

So, she’d got herself a part-time job at Tumble Tots nursery and surprised herself by how much she loved looking after the little ones which was funny because she'd never imagined herself working with children. As an only child, Shelley had no experience of looking after anyone other than herself but there was something very satisfying about picking a child up when they’d fallen over or buttoning up a coat before home time or wiping a nose that needed wiping. She'd always thought of herself as the least maternal of women but perhaps things were changing.

She laughed at the thought. She'd have to get a love life before she had a child and that didn't look very likely at the moment. The only man in her life was a strange lodger called Pie. Shelley wasn't even sure if that was his first name or last name because he didn't say much - he just sort of drifted in and out 6 Southville Terrace on his way to and from goodness only knew where. And, even if he had been able to hold a half-decent conversation, he wasn't her type at all - spending most of his time filling the enormous armchair in the front room whilst watching dreadful sitcoms, his mop of brown hair hanging loose and hippie-like over his shoulders.

So, here she was, living a contented life in Bath. It really was one of the most beautiful cities in the world and she knew that it was a privilege to live there. She still got such a buzz from walking around the streets and discovering crescents and squares that Jane Austen and her family would have known. It was pretty amazing to be living in the very city her idol once lived in.