Mr. Darcy Forever (43 page)

‘
What’s going on here?’ Mia asked, bending to give Bingley an affectionate tickle.

‘
I’ll tell you about it in a minute. How did it go with Alec?’

Mia sighed. ‘About as bad as it could go. He doesn’t want anything to do with William.’

Shelley frowned. ‘But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? I mean, it’s appalling and diabolical and totally unforgivable but isn’t it also the best thing too?’

Mia nodded. ‘I really think it is but I feel guilty for feeling like that.’

‘
Don’t,’ Shelley said. ‘You’ve got absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.’

‘
But I’ve made such a mess of my life,’ Mia said.

‘
No you haven’t!’ Shelley said.

‘
How can you say that? I’m a single mother with no career prospects who hasn’t spoken to her sister in over three years, and who managed to slap her ex-lover in the Bath Pump Room who, it seems, wants nothing to do with his son.’

‘
Okay, when you put it like that, it does sound rather a mess.’ Shelley gave Mia’s shoulder a quick squeeze.

‘
It serves me right if no man ever falls in love with me ever again,’ Mia said.

‘
How can you say that?’

‘
Because I don’t deserve it.’

‘
Men will always fall in love with you, Mia, just because you’re you.’

‘
Shelley – that’s a really sweet thing to say but I’m afraid it isn’t true.’

‘
You mean you don’t know?’

‘
Know
what
?’

‘
About Gabe!’

‘
What about Gabe?’

‘
Gosh, Mia! He’s madly in love with you!

Mia looked completely baffled. ‘He’s not interested in me!’

‘
Oh, no? Then why is he taking part in this appalling Darcy line-up?’

‘
What line-up?’

Shelley nodded towards the thickest part of the crowd before them. ‘Gabe came round when you were out yesterday and asked if I had such a thing as a Darcy shirt. He'd heard about a Darcy line-up for a wet shirt competition run by
Vive!
newspaper and he thought it would be fun to take part in it because he knew you'd like it.’

‘
Really?’

‘
Yes!’ Shelley said. ‘It’s not part of the official Jane Austen Festival and the Jane Austen Centre quite rightly didn’t want anything to do with it. But – well - you can see how popular it is!’

Shelley was right. It had drawn a huge crowd and cameras were at the ready.

‘
We have to try to get near the front,’ Shelley said. ‘Come on - follow me.’

Mia followed Shelley, doing her best to keep up with her friend who pushed mercilessly through the endless rows of people.

‘
Excuse me! Guide dog coming through,’ she yelled at the top of her voice. Mia blushed at the blatant lie. Nobody would believe that the boisterous Bingley was a guide dog but neither did anybody want his persistent wet nose pushed into the backs of their knees so the crowds parted quickly and Mia and Shelley soon found themselves at the front.

It was the strangest sight Mia had ever seen: a neat row of Darcy wannabes all lined up together on a small stage, awaiting their watery fate. There were all sorts of men in the line-up from a teenager who was being egged on by his girlfriend who was waving a camera excitedly in the air, to an elderly gentleman whose Darcy days were long past.

And then there was Gabe. Mia’s breath caught in her throat when she saw him. What on earth was he doing here? He looked so out of place and yet the knowledge that he was there for her pierced her very soul.

There was a man standing by a microphone and there was a row of buckets of water. It was like some ghastly television game show on a Saturday night.

‘
Ladies and gentlemen!’ the man at the microphone announced. ‘Have we any Mr Darcy fans here today?’

The crowd roared in the affirmative.

‘
And have we anyone who would like to see Mr Darcy in a wet shirt?’

Again, the crowd roared in eardrum-splitting manner.

‘
Then let the soaking commence!’

A great cheer went up as the first buckets of water sloshed over the teenage boy. His hair was instantly plastered to his face and his white T-shirt clung to him.

Shelley burst into laughter and Bingley started barking but Mia wasn’t sure how to respond. There was a part of her that wanted to join in with the crowd and laugh but the whole thing seemed so awful and tacky and she wished that poor Gabe wasn’t a part of it.

He’s doing this for you
, a little voice said.
He knows you adore Mr Darcy. He’s trying to make you happy!

‘
He’s madly in love with you,’ another voice said – Shelley’s voice. Mia looked at Gabe as he awaited his watery fate further along the line-up. He hadn’t spotted her yet and she had a chance to look at him unobserved. He was wearing pair of blue jeans and sturdy boots and – most importantly – a Mr Darcy-style shirt in immaculate white. Of course, his arm was still in a sling but Shelley’s adept skills as a seamstress had accommodated him and he looked like the perfect hero with his dark-blond hair flopping across his face and his eyes bright with laughter. But was he really in love with her? Was he really prepared to humiliate himself just to put a smile on her face?

The old man was the next to get a drenching and the crowd roared with laughter as his white shirt clung to his bony ribcage.

‘
Poor Gabe! What on earth was he thinking of?’ Mia said.

‘
You,’ Shelley said. ‘He was thinking of you.’

Mia watched in horror as the next in the line-up – an unlikely looking man wearing a white shirt and tie as if he was about to walk into a board meeting – got the drenching of his life.

The crowd cheered before the next two men in line got thoroughly sploshed too.

‘
Gabe next!’ Shelley said.

‘
Oh, I don’t know if I can bear to watch!’ Mia said.

‘
You
have
to! He’s doing this for you!’

Mia’s whole face was screwed up in consternation as the two men approached Gabe with their buckets of water.

‘
Go on!’ a middle-aged woman shouted from somewhere behind Mia’s shoulder. Mia had the urge to tip a bucket of water over her.

SPLASH! went bucket number one.

SPLOSH! went bucket number two, careful to avoid his sling.

The crowd went mad and Mia had to cover her ears for fear of losing her hearing completely.

On and on went the men with the buckets until the complete line-up were thoroughly soaked but Mia didn’t see any of that because her eyes were fixed firmly on Gabe as he stood dripping and laughing up on the stage. And, in that moment, Mia felt a great warmth filling her heart for this sweet man who had done nothing but try to please her. He had listened to her when she’d needed somebody to talk to, he’d made her hot chocolate and let her wear his cardigan, and he’d shared some of the saddest moments of his life with her.

She’d just told Shelley that she didn’t deserve love in her life anymore but here it was staring her right in the face.

‘
And the winner is -’ the man announced into the microphone, startling Mia out of her reverie. ‘The winner of the Mr Darcy wet shirt competition is-’ he paused, dragging out the moment for as long as possible, ‘even though he looks more like Napoleon Bonaparte than Mr Darcy with that bandage –
Gabe!
’

The audience erupted into cheers and some very saucy wolf-whistles as Gabe was presented with a white T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “Mr Darcy Forever”.

‘
He won! He won!’ Shelley cried, jumping up and down with joy. Bingley gave a volley of excited barks and then the whole crowd started to disperse and they all got caught up somehow and pulled away from the stage.

‘
I’ve got to find Gabe,’ Mia said, pushing her way through the sea of people but he’d disappeared too. She kept thinking she’d spotted him but it was another of the wet-shirt contestants. Mia sighed in exasperation. Why was it that you spent all your life trying to find Mr Darcy and then twenty came along at once?

Then, suddenly, he was there and the crowds seemed to part in one of those magical film-like moments that life rarely throws at you.

‘
Gabe!’ Mia said softly.

He took a step towards her. ‘You came!’ he said.

‘
Yes!’ Mia said. ‘I was in the front row.’

‘
I didn’t see you.’

‘
No,’ she said, feeling inexplicably shy.

‘
Is this really what girls like?’ he asked, his eyes sparkling and his wet hair dripping down his face.

Mia smiled. ‘You do look very dashing,’ she said.

‘
Are you saying you’d never have noticed me unless I had a bucket of water chucked over me?’

‘
I didn’t say that!’ she said.

It was then that Bingley burst onto the scene and, before anyone could stop him, he’d leapt upon Gabe, leaving a great dirty paw print on his bandage.

‘
Gabe!’ Shelley yelled. ‘You were brilliant! I can’t believe you won!’

‘
I know!’ he said. ‘I thought that man with the funny hat was going to win.’

‘
Oh, he was dreadful!’ Shelley said, ‘and his hat was more Dr Seuss than Mr Darcy.
Down
, Bingley!’

‘
Oh, no! Look at your bandage!’ Mia said. ‘It’s all wet and filthy.’

‘
Not to worry,’ he said. ‘It comes off tomorrow.’

‘
Does it?’

He nodded. ‘And then I can wrap both my arms around you.’

Shelley grinned and obviously thought it was a good moment to sneak away and pulled a reluctant Bingley with her.

‘
Listen,’ Gabe said, ‘I know you’ve only just agreed to move in with Shelley-’

‘
She told you?’

‘
Yes,’ he said, ‘and I wanted to–’ he paused.

‘
What?’ Mia said.

‘
Well, it seems that it'll be a bit of a crush in there for you and William what with Pie and Bingley and everything.’

‘
It’ll be pretty luxurious after a flat I've been living in,’ Mia said.

‘
I know but,’ he paused again and then looked directly at her, ‘there’s far more room in my home.’

Mia swallowed hard. She'd realised what he was going to say but the actual words struck her so deeply that she thought she was about to cry. What had she done to deserve this man's kindness? She'd never met anyone like him before and couldn't help feeling that she wasn't good enough for him.

‘
You’re offering me a room?’ she asked. ‘Why? Why would you do that?’

He frowned. ‘Why?’ he said.

She nodded.