First Impressions: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Adaptation

Chapter 39

Liz sat in her hotel room, alone and shaken, still crying. Angrily, she rubbed one hand under her eye. Makeup continued to come off her face in thick, black streaks. She had yet to look in a mirror to see the aftermath.

If Lydia was in trouble, but she had not told Darcy, she didn't think she would be crying still. If Lydia was not in trouble and Darcy had called her "Lizzie," she perhaps would have felt the same aches and heart palpitations, but they certainly wouldn't have been from sadness or fear.

You're being stupid, she told herself firmly, balling her hands into fists. You're being stupid and selfish and—

The opening of the door cut her thoughts off. "Lizzie!" Mrs. Gardiner cried, running into the room and throwing her arms around her niece, who had stood to meet her. "Oh, Lizzie, how could this have happened?"

Her aunt's exclamation drew her further into tears and the two women collapsed together on the edge of the bed. "I don't... I'd say I don't know, but... But Lydia!"

"We'll find her," Liz said with far more confidence than she felt. "She's terrible at staying away from home. She tried to run away when she was 12 and came back after half an hour. No one knew she was gone until she made a big fuss out of it..." Her words started out strong but wavered to a whisper, trailing off at the end.

Mr. Gardiner was frowning severely. "Lizzie, your father said they know the man she ran off with. George Wickham?"

She winced at his name. "You met him! In the fall. He was—"

Mrs. Gardiner gasped. "No! Not the boy I was talking to you about, Lizzie?"

She nodded fervently. "Yes. That's him."

While Mrs. Gardiner took her time to be aghast, Mr. Gardiner frowned. He put his hand to his chin and paced for a minute before suggesting, "If they already knew each other, since they clearly did... Then perhaps... there was already some plan between the two of them when she left? This wasn't chance but premeditation. Maybe this young man already feels a real affection for your sister, and they'll return from Mexico after a short—and ill-planned—honeymoon, none the wiser about our panic."

"That does sound a little like Lydia," Mrs. Gardiner owned somewhat weepily. "She is so thoughtless."

"Oh, no, Uncle Howie, I don't think so..." Where to even begin with all that she knew of George Wickham's character? And what to say without injuring Darcy or Georgie? "He has fooled a lot of people into thinking he is a good person, I'm afraid." Her hands curled into fists in her lap.

"What do you mean?"

"He..." It was difficult to tell where to begin. Or how to say any of it without implicating Darcy or breaking the trust of his sister. "It's a very long story."

"Well, we have an hour back to Washington. You can tell us on the way."

~~~~

She had been too disconcerted to think well about her words while she packed. Everything was done in a flurry of haste and overall fright. Rather than compartmentalizing what she knew of George, what she could have learned second hand versus what would betray confidences, everything crowed into her mind at once. Every little thing she had ever learned swarmed through her head, shouting for attention, from the way he danced to the expression he made when talking about Darcy. The expression Darcy made while talking about him... The contents of the letter...

She shuddered.

Too soon, she was in the backseat, belted in, and moving too fast to escape. Mrs. Gardiner turned around in her seat to look at her niece. "What do you know, Lizzie?"