One Word From You: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation (30 page)

“
You guys are coming to live at our house, right?” I said, “I know your place is bigger, but we have a beach.”

“
I wondered when you girls were going to start thinking about that,” Dad said, his arm around Madeleine's waist possessively.

She smiled at him, “Can I tell them, now?”

“
Go ahead.”

“
Mrs. Davies – uh – Harriet,” he said, upon realising that she had approached us and could hear her, “Has kindly agreed to sell us this place.”

“
What, here?” I asked, “This house?”

“
Seriously?” Jenny asked, “We can live near the beach?”

“
I know it's smaller than our current house. But there's only the two of us in that place, and I thought it might be time to downsize. This way, Greg can still go to work, and we can all live together.”

“
And we're going to get a smaller house in the town,” Mrs. Davies added, “Just in case you kids were worried that we were going to stop visiting this part of the country.”

“
Is that okay, girls?” Dad asked.

Jenny hugged him tightly, “Thank you!”

“
Well,” he held her tight, “Your sister won't have space for a piano in our current place, anyway.”

“
What would I need a piano for?” I asked.

“
Don't be mad,” he said, “But there was a phone call for you. I took a message. You got into the
Royal Academy of Music.
I thought you might need a place to practice when you came home to visit.”

“
I – I
what?!
I got in?! Oh my
God!
” I hugged Will so suddenly that he almost fell over. He wrapped his arms around me, laughing as I shrieked completely unintelligible words in my excitement.

“
I guess that means we're going to see a lot of each other,” he said, “Because I got into the
London Business School.
So you can't get bored of me, and find someone else.”

“
You're joking!”

“
No, you really can't find someone else.”

“
You know that's not what I meant,” I laughed, “Oh my God, this is so cool!”

Jenny pouted, “Now I wish I was in London.”

“
You're going to
Oxford,
it's not that far away. If I had brains like yours, I'd totally go there,” I said, “We'll see each other at weekends.”

“
Maybe we should have waited to buy a house,” Dad said, “You girls are only going to enjoy it for a few weeks.”

“
Or we should have a few more kids,” Madeleine suggested.

“
Oh, ew,” I covered my eyes, “I didn't need that image.”

“
Me either,” Jenny professed, “Charlie, let's go dance, okay?”

“
Yeah, Will, I have to get away from them before I puke.”

We all but ran to join the others, and Will didn't hesitate to wrap me up in my arms.

So, there we were.

Sisters, friends, lovers, and family. Wherever I turned, I saw what was really important in my life. And things hadn't gone quite the way I'd pictured in my final year. Like, I hadn't thought I would pin the hopes for my future on music, or that I would go out with a guy I'd hated so much to begin with. But, for once in my life, I was excited about what the future might hold. It was risky, and totally unpredictable, but that was what made it fun.

“
What are you smiling about?” Will asked.

“
I was just thinking that,” I shrugged, “I'm proud of us.”

“
Us?”

“
All of us. We made it, and we're going to keep on making it.”

“
Isn't pride a fault?”

“
I guess it is, if it makes people prejudiced. But being proud of good things, can't be a fault.”

“
Does that make me one of the good things?” he asked.

“
No,” I said, “You're one of the
best
things. After my sister, obviously.”

“
Anything I can do to get to the top of the list?”

“
How about that kiss?” I suggested.

Maybe I shouldn't have been snogging my boyfriend in the middle of my Dad's wedding, but no one was complaining, least of all me. Most young relationships didn't last all that long, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But I felt sure as he held me, that I wouldn't love anyone else the way I loved him.

I was proud of my friends.

I was proud of my sister.

I was proud of my parents.

I was proud of my boyfriend.

And, most of all, I was proud of myself.

So, pride really was a virtue after all, and I would never let it lead me to be prejudiced of anyone ever again.