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Chapter Thirty

Elisabeth staggered in the door Monday afternoon after working a long, miserable day where the temperature reached ninety-seven and the heat index was much higher. Add in the heat from the ovens and she felt like she'd been marinated in her own sweat, ready for baking.

Jenna, who was sitting on the couch with a bowl of carrots in water, gave her a pitying look as Elisabeth shut the door behind her and leaned against it limply. "You should consider getting another job," she said. "All this heat can't be doing the baby any good."

"I know it," Elisabeth panted, grateful for the air conditioning which made the room feel heavenly. "I need water."

Jenna pointed at the kitchen as though Elisabeth had no idea where it was. She bit off a sarcastic retort, knowing that her frustration wasn't to be misdirected at her sister. It wasn't Jenna's fault that J.P. had smarted off to her again, that she'd nearly killed him, that Jack had decided to be in a funk over Charlie, that Charlie was due to get her period any day and was going through PMS, and that she'd nearly ripped out Caroline's hair out by the roots because she was being a pain in the butt. Elisabeth shuffled into the kitchen, took out a glass, and filled it with water. She didn't bother with ice, gulping half of it down within seconds.

"I needed that," she murmured, refilling the glass.

"You're going to wish you had something stronger when I tell you who called," Jenna said.

"Oh, no, not Ma," she groaned, walking into the living room and flopping onto the couch. "Is she wanting to shout at me because she thinks I'm forcing you to stay here rather than move back home?"

"No. Someone----and I suspect it's a little birdie named Charles Bingley----told her that you had a new boyfriend. She wants the details."

Elisabeth stilled. "And how would said little birdie know I have a new boyfriend? Two people other than Darcy and me know, and he's not on the short list."

Jenna squirmed. "I...might've mentioned something to him before we broke up."

"Ack! Jennifer Bennet, how could you do that?" Elisabeth shrieked.

"I thought we were getting back together that night! I was just passing along a bit of new information. How was I supposed to know he was going to end dinner by saying, 'I think it would be better if we stopped seeing each other?'"

"And so now that he's mad at you, he's looking to make trouble for me, is that it?"

"I don't think Chazz set out to do it deliberately. She probably figured we were dating again because I moved out and asked him how her daughter's boyfriend was or something. You know how she refers to people in such cutesy phrases when she doesn't like them."

"I do," Elisabeth said grimly. "How often did I get called her 'middle daughter' or 'second child' instead of Elisabeth?"

"Chazz probably didn't realize that she meant him instead of Darcy and told her what Darcy was up to."

"Sounds to me like you've talked to him already."

Jenna shook her head. "No, I haven't. And I didn't intend to call him, either. I just figured that if she found out, it was through him because I was the only person who knew...wasn't I?"

"Jack knows, but only because he's the one who started telling everyone that Darcy deliberately came between you two. He thought Darcy was still dating Charlie, so I had to set him straight." Elisabeth sighed and took another drink from her glass of water. "So I guess it's possible that Jack told him, but I told him not to tell a soul, especially not Charlie."

"No, I know I was the one who told him. I'm sorry, El."

"It's okay, really. Mom always seemed to have a sixth sense about these things, anyway, so she probably was asking Chazz about Darcy." Elisabeth took another drink of water. "What did she say, exactly?"

"She invited you and your 'new boyfriend' to dinner tomorrow night."

"No. No, no, and hell no. No way do I take Darcy to meet her." Especially not now, when Elisabeth knew his big secret. If her mother suspected that Darcy came from a wealthy background, she'd fawn all over him until he ran from the room screaming. And Ruth was certain to ask all sorts of probing questions about Darcy's life up until now.

"Granny Bess is going to be there, too."

"Ack," Elisabeth breathed. "Granny Bess?"

"Mm-hmm. Ma's really dragging in the heavy artillery for this family dinner so that you'll come." Jenna offered her sister a carrot.

"You must be kidding," Elisabeth mumbled, but she took a carrot stick anyway. "You tell me I'm going to have to go through hell on earth and all you offer with it is a carrot?"

"It's better for the baby than whatever it was you had in mind."

"Hey, there's milk in ice cream." Elisabeth popped the carrot stick in her mouth. "You realize that I still can't go. Or if I go, Darcy can't. Charlie visits Granny Bess every two weeks."

"Something we should think about doing," Jenna said reflectively. "Once a month feels more like a duty visit sometimes. That's what she always says when I go see her."

"Aah, Granny Bess is going to live until she's a thousand. Remember last year when the doctors didn't think she'd make it through that bout with pneumonia? Not only was she back on her feet a month later, she says she's never felt better in her life. And I do go to see her every two weeks. Charlie and I alternate." Elisabeth filched another carrot stick from her sister.

"So your fear is that Granny Bess accidentally lets it slip to Charlie that you have a new boyfriend?"

"Duh." Elisabeth bit into the carrot.

"Why don't you just tell Charlie then?"

"Is it possible to murder someone with a carrot stick? Because the thought is becoming more and more tempting every time you tell me to do that."

"You know how to get me to shut up."

"Yeah. A gag would be a good start. No...I'll just have to tell Ma that thanks for the offer, but I'm not going to have dinner with her, no matter who comes along."

The telephone rang, startling Elisabeth.

"That should be her," Jenna said. "Go ahead, tell her you're not coming."

Elisabeth struggled to her feet, swaying slightly. She trudged over to the phone and picked it up before the answering service could get it. "Hello," she mumbled.

"Ellie? Is that you?"

Elisabeth straightened up, even though the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see her. It was a natural reaction to her great-grandmother's voice. "Granny Bess! It's nice to hear from you," Elisabeth exclaimed.

"Oh, so it is you. I never could tell you girls apart. You and Jenna and Lydia always sounded alike."

"Uh...was there something you needed?" Elisabeth asked.

"Yes. Your mother," Granny Bess said this as though she felt the need to immediately spit on the floor, "has invited me to dinner at her house. She said you and your boyfriend would be there. She also said that you might not show up."

"Er...well, there's a good reason for that. She and I had a fight about three months ago over...uh, well...let's just say it was a bad fight. We haven't spoken since."

"About that baby you're carrying, wasn't it?" Granny Bess cackled.

Elisabeth glanced down at her stomach, which she feared was doubling in size by the day. She'd tried to disguise this fact by wearing baggy sweaters and oversized T-shirts when she visited Granny Bess because she'd feared the older woman's approval.

"I'm not stupid, you know."

"I know you're not, Granny Bess. I never thought..."

"Hogwash. Otherwise you wouldn't have tried to hide it. Now, I should be mad at you for that alone, but you know that I've always had a soft spot in my heart for you, the only one of my great-grandkids named after me."

"Now, that's not entirely true. Aunt Alexandra named one of her daughters Bethany."

Granny Bess snorted. "A vapid name, although given what the girl grew up to be, I suppose it was appropriate. The reason I bring this up is because there is no way you're going to skip out of this dinner and leave me to deal with your mother by myself. If you do that, I might strangle her."

Elisabeth silently told herself not to laugh at the mental image of Granny Bess trying to strangle anyone.

"Well, I might come," Elisabeth said. "But only to save my mother's life, mind you."

"And this boyfriend of yours that I keep hearing so much about?"

Elisabeth looked over at Jenna, who was engrossed in Goodfellas and carrots. "Who's been telling you about that?" she asked.

"Your mother. Jenna. That nice man your mother trapped into marriage, who is tired of hearing about the matter. Lydia, who is jealous because she just broke up with the latest in a long line of...well, I believe your generation would call her boyfriends losers. And Charlie."

"Charlie?" Elisabeth yelped.

"Yes, Charlie as well. Now, oddly enough, no one seems to know his name, although I think Jenna knows and just isn't telling."

"Well, um...there's a reason why no one knows his name."

"Elisabeth Cathleen Bennet, if you're about to tell me that he doesn't exist..."

"No, no. He exists. But there's a reason I haven't told anyone about him, and it has to do with Charlie. You see, he was her boyfriend first."

"You stole a man away from your cousin?" Granny Bess sounded censorious.

"No, I didn't. I mean, when he first came to town, he asked her out. They went out for about two weeks and then decided they weren't right for each other. We've been dating about three weeks, but I'm afraid that Charlie won't understand."

"Did she not want to break up with him?"

"I don't really know. She did at the time, but since then she's been saying things that make me wonder if she really meant it. According to Darcy----"

"Darcy? Who is she?"

"He, Granny Bess. Darcy is a man, the boyfriend. I mean my boyfriend."

"What kind of a name is that for a boy?"

"It was his mother's maiden name. And Sarepta Elisabeth isn't a name you hear every day, either," Elisabeth retorted playfully.

"You just try calling me Sarepta, young lady."

"Careful there, Granny Bess. When you call me 'young lady,' you sound like Ma."

"I'll take that for the insult you meant it to be. Does your young man go by a nickname?"

"I don't think he does. If so, he's never said it to me. But you can understand why I don't really want Darcy meeting my mother." Or you, she added silently.

"Me, either, I suppose."

"I wasn't thinking that."

"You most certainly were. I could hear your thoughts over this telephone line."

"I'm too old to fall for that, Granny Bess. I know you're not telepathic and that you don't have eyes in the back of your head." Elisabeth sighed. "I know it would be wrong of me to ask you to lie to Charlie about...about me and Darcy, but if there's any way..."

"You're right, it would be wrong. At the same time, it would be wrong of me to tell her when the person she needs to hear it from is you. So I'll make you a deal. Charlie came to visit me today, which gives you two weeks to tell her yourself. Otherwise, I might slip up."

"Two weeks should be fine," Elisabeth agreed. "Thank you, Granny Bess. I'll pay you back, I swear."

"Bring that Darcy of yours to dinner tomorrow night, too. One more person between me and your mother should prevent me from attacking her with my salad fork."

"I can't guarantee that he'll be there. I'm not sure if he has to work, but if he doesn't, I'll ask him if he wants to come."

"All right, then. I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Okay. I love you," Elisabeth said softly.

"I love you too, Ellie." Granny Bess hung up the telephone.

Elisabeth sighed heavily.

"You got talked into bringing Darcy, didn't you?" Jenna asked.

"Oh, be quiet. If you hadn't gone and blabbed to Chazz, I wouldn't be in this mess." Elisabeth took a few steps into the kitchen and opened the freezer door. Inside was a brand-new pint of chocolate ice cream.

Elisabeth's invitation to meet her mother, of whom Darcy had heard so much, started him pacing almost before the words were out of her mouth.

"I didn't really want to do this, either," she told him as she watched him pace across his living room and back. "In fact, if my Granny Bess hadn't coerced me into coming, I would've stayed at home. I'm not really looking forward to my first family dinner since...well, since I told them about the baby."

"Granny Bess?" Darcy asked weakly.

"Yeah. She's going to be there. Actually, we're saving my mother's life by going, because she and Granny Bess don't get along at all. In fact, I know she wouldn't have come if Ma hadn't told her I would be there."

"Great," he mumbled, pacing even more furiously.

Elisabeth didn't say anything for a minute. "You're going to wear a hole in the carpet if you don't stop that," she said.

"I know."

"It won't be so bad, really. If I didn't know how my mother would react, I'd tell you to wear one of those thousand-dollar suits you have hanging in your closet."

"I don't own thousand-dollar suits." He stopped pacing long enough to flash her a small smile. "They're fifteen hundred dollars apiece."

He almost chuckled when Elisabeth pretended to faint, throwing herself dramatically onto his couch.

"Seriously, though," she said, sitting up, "my mother is the sort of person who would know to the penny how much you spent on a suit. Which is why I want you to wear something casual and far less expensive than fifteen hundred dollars. If you decide to come, that is."

Darcy stopped pacing. "You mean I don't have to be there?"

"Technically, it's optional. I'm sure my mother wouldn't see it that way, but you do have a job and I did mention to Granny Bess that you might have to work."

"I don't have to work."

"I know that, but she doesn't. My mother doesn't, either. So if you're...not up to meeting them, you don't have to go."

Darcy stopped pacing. It was a nice thought. He could put it off for a while---preferably a long while---and...

And in the end, he'd have to meet her family anyway. They might remember that he didn't meet them the first time they'd invited him to come and be offended.

That's ridiculous. Her family would understand if you had to work.

Then again, this was Elisabeth's mother and family. Who knew what they would or would not understand? And didn't he want to make as good an impression as he could? Maybe she was right about not going with the expensive suit, but he could impress anyone just by being himself.

Couldn't he?

"I'll go," he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

"You will?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll go. I might as well get it out of the way. Maybe I can act so horribly that your mother will never invite either of us back again."

Elisabeth shook her head. "No way. I've tried that and it didn't work. Hell, I got pregnant and she's still invited me back into her house. Granted, it took about three months, but I still have to come home for dinner. And she knows the only reason I'm going to be there is because she invited my grandmother."

"Is this your mother's mother or your father's?" he asked. He then added, "I only ask because you said we're going in order to save your mother's life."

"Actually, it's my father's grandmother, so she's my great-grandmother. She raised my father, which is why she doesn't get along with my mother."

"I sense a story coming here." Darcy took a seat on the couch next to Elisabeth.

"There is. My grandfather ran out on my grandmother and my dad when Daddy was young. My grandmother died..." Elisabeth was finding it tough to talk past the lump in her throat. "She died of kidney failure, just like my father did, when Daddy was nine. Granny Bess and Grampa Roy took him in and raised him."

Darcy saw something more than grief in her eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked, putting an arm around her.

Elisabeth nodded. "Dr. Knightley, my obstetrician, was a bit worried when I told him that, but after my father...after he found out that he had the same thing his own mother died from, he made me and my sisters get checked out. We were all fine, but because I'm pregnant I have to watch my blood pressure. I guess the type of kidney failure my father and grandmother had was caused by high blood pressure."

"So that's why you don't like hospitals," Darcy said softly.

Elisabeth nodded. "My father's disease reached the point where he had to have a transplant. We were all tested to see if one of us could donate, but of course, it was our luck, none of us could. Daddy said at the time..." Elisabeth sniffled. "He said that maybe it was a good thing, because if we didn't match, hopefully we wouldn't get what he had. But it still meant he had to wait for an organ which never came. We watched him as he...he...but he never once complained about what had happened. Not to us, anyway." Elisabeth snorted. "My mother did, though. Every day, until she married Mel."

"Is that why your grandmother doesn't like her?"

Elisabeth shook her head. "Oh, noooo. Their mutual dislike goes back much farther than that. Granny Bess says she couldn't stand Ma from the moment they met. 'She was attractive and needy and I knew she would suck the life out of your poor father. The world has to revolve around her and my poor grandson was likely to try and make sure it did.'"

"And did he?"

"No, not really. Granny Bess says she was always pleased that he managed to withstand the pressure to do so."

"So why doesn't your mother like her?"

"She sees Granny Bess as an interfering old bat who can't keep her opinions to herself. And she's right, but that's why she's Granny Bess. If she were any other way...well, I just can't see it."

Darcy chuckled. "Were you named after her?"

Elisabeth nodded. "And that's another thing which really irritates my mother. She wanted to name me Cathleen Rose, but after she gave birth, she slept for the better part of two days without telling anyone what she'd planned to name me. So someone comes up to my father and tells him that they need a name for the birth certificate, so he tells them Elisabeth Cathleen. Ma was furious."

"I can sort of understand why," Darcy said. "After all, she did have to give birth to you."

"Oh, she wasn't mad because Daddy was presumptuous enough to name me, although she was probably mad about that as well. What got her so upset was the fact that he named me Elisabeth. According to Granny Bess, she screeched so loudly that she wasn't about to name any child of hers after 'that nosy old witch' that she was heard in China."

"But your father won the argument."

"By then, it was too late. Everyone had received the birth announcements with my name as it is today." Elisabeth grinned.

"Your family is strange about names," Darcy said.

"Are you so sure you want to meet them?"

Darcy pretended to give the matter some thought. "I'll be brave, for once," he replied. "Bring on the family."

Darcy didn't think he'd ever been more nervous in his life.

If he gave the matter serious thought, he would have come up with a dozen examples from his past where he had been as nervous as he was at the moment. Most of them would've involved his aunt and her office, the most recent event being the day she'd told him he was going to work at Planet Earth Pizza for a year.

But now, as he stood on the front porch of Elisabeth's childhood home, he wanted to pace so badly his legs almost twitched.

Stop that. You would think you'd never gone through this before, Darcy told himself sternly. You've met several of your girlfriends' parents in the past.

Yet he knew that none of those previous meetings meant as much as this one did, to him and more importantly, to Elisabeth.

"Just remember. Everything is going to be fine," Elisabeth said as she rang the doorbell. "It's not like I really give a damn what my mother thinks, anyway."

She did, though, and they both knew it.

The door was opened seconds later by a tall, gangly young woman who looked to be about twenty. Darcy presumed this was Elisabeth's younger sister Lydia, though they didn't look much alike. In fact, only their eyes would've indicated to a stranger that they were related.

"They're here!" the girl shouted before turning back to give Darcy a long look. Darcy had never felt more uncomfortable in his life, because the look this girl was giving him seemed a lot like the ones Caroline Benson was always shooting his way.

"Knock it off, Liddy," Elisabeth muttered, pushing past the girl into the house.

"I don't know why you just don't walk right in. You used to live here too, you know." Lydia shut the door and followed them into the family room, where Mel was sitting in his recliner, reading a Tom Clancy novel while half-heartedly listening to the news.

"The operative words being used to," Elisabeth replied. "Hi, Mel."

Mel lowered the book and smiled at her. "Hello, Ellie." He set the book aside when he noticed Darcy and got up out of his chair.

"Mel, this is Darcy Williamson. Darcy, this is my stepfather, Mel Atchison."

Mel and Darcy shook hands politely and exchanged pleasantries as a flurry of footsteps from the direction of the kitchen led into the family room. Darcy turned to see who had arrived.

Ruth Atchison wasn't what he expected. Actually, he wouldn't have been able to put into words what he had expected, but the woman he met wasn't it. Ruth Atchison closely resembled her youngest daughter in height and appearance, except that her eyes were hazel like Jenna's instead of green. Darcy assumed from this that Elisabeth had inherited her eyes from her father. Ruth's light brown hair, unlike Lydia's wild mane, was smoothed into a sedate knot at the base of her neck. Her lips were pursed, as though she was looking forward to disapproving of the newcomer in their midst.

"Hello, Elisabeth," her mother said stiffly.

"Hi, Ma." Elisabeth stayed rooted by Darcy's side, clinging to his hand as though holding a lifeline. "Um...how are you?"

"I'm fine." Ruth's gaze lowered to her daughter's abdomen. "How's the baby?"

"Fine, according to Dr. Knightley."

Ruth nodded. "He's a good doctor. One of the girls I used to work with went to him. She says he's good. And your blood pressure?"

"Within the normal range," Elisabeth replied tentatively. "He says I'm fine, too."

"Good. I take it this is your boyfriend."

"Yes, it is." Elisabeth made the introductions, and Darcy found his hand being clasped for the briefest of moments. Ruth gave him an assessing glance and apparently found something to her liking, because she smiled at him.

"I wasn't sure what to expect when Elisabeth agreed to bring you here. Her boyfriends tend to be ruffians with no manners whatsoever."

"That's a first. You usually say my boyfriends are charming but slick," Elisabeth said.

"Are they here? Bring them in here!" someone shouted from the kitchen. Darcy noticed that Ruth's face seemed especially tense upon hearing the voice.

"That's her," Elisabeth said cheerfully.

"And thank God you're here, because I'm getting tired of running interference between them," Lydia mumbled as they made their way into the dining room.

Sitting at the head of the table as though it were her right was a wizened woman who had to be in her eighties, at least. What was left of her hair lay in thin, wispy white curls about her head. Behind thick glasses, Darcy could see, at last, who Elisabeth had inherited her beautiful eyes from. Despite eighty-plus years of life, her green eyes glowed just as brightly as her great-granddaughter's eyes did. Although she was thin and rather petite, she did not seem to be frail, as was proved when she stood up with only a cane to support her. Darcy suspected the cane was more for effect as she made her way over to them.

"So you're the one who got my granddaughter into such a mess," she said in a surprisingly strong voice.

"Er, no," Darcy replied hesitantly as Elisabeth groaned.

"Granny Bess, Darcy and I have only been dating three weeks. How could I possibly be five and a half months pregnant if we've been dating such a short time?"

"I didn't mean that mess. I meant this mess you're going to have with your cousin when she finds out about you two."

"I don't know that there's going to be any mess about that," Elisabeth said. "Charlie's a mature adult, and it's not like they were dating long."

"What's this?" Lydia interrupted. "Charlie had a boyfriend?" She turned to Darcy in disbelief. "You actually went out with Charlie?"

"She's not a freak show candidate," Elisabeth snapped. "She's an attractive young woman."

"I'm sure that's not what Lydia meant to imply," Ruth said. "I think Lydia was just surprised that Charlie was dating, that's all."

"Yes, I went out with Charlie for a couple of weeks," Darcy replied politely. "We're good friends now."

"Uh huh," Lydia said, giving him a strange look that made him as mad as her first look had made him uncomfortable.

"Well?" Granny Bess thumped her cane on the floor.

"Well what?" Lydia asked.

"Am I to be introduced to this young man or am I just going to call him 'young man' and other insults?" Granny Bess sent a pointed look at Ruth, knowing her habits well. In response to this, Ruth returned to the kitchen and started bringing dishes into the room.

"Granny Bess, this is Darcy Williamson. Darcy, my grandmother, Elisabeth Bennet."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Bennet," Darcy said politely.

"Call me Granny Bess. Everyone does." Granny Bess beamed. "It's nice to see a young man with manners. Darcy, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Ellie tells me that it's a family name, is that right?"

"Yes. My mother's maiden name was Darcy."

"And what was her name?"

"Amelia."

"Were they from around here? I think I remember a Tommy Williamson from a long time ago. But that was...heavens, I can hardly remember. But you look a bit like him."

"Dinner's ready," Ruth announced once the last dish was set on the table. She took the seat across from Granny Bess, where Mel would usually sit. Mel knew it was best to put as much space between the two women as possible and therefore didn't argue about taking the seat to Ruth's right. Lydia sat to her left, leaving Elisabeth and Darcy to sit across from each other, next to Granny Bess. Darcy was fortunate enough to sit next to Mel rather than Lydia.

The meatloaf was going around the table when Granny Bess said, "You never did answer my question. Were your parents from around here?"

"No, they weren't," Darcy replied just as the platter reached him. He took a slice and handed it over to Mel.

"Where were they from?" Ruth asked, putting a small pile of mashed potatoes onto her plate before handing the bowl to Lydia, who put an equally minuscule amount on her plate.

"My mother was from Philadelphia originally. My father grew up around Chicago."

"Then maybe my Tommy Williamson is a relative!" Granny Bess exclaimed. "He was a friend of my worthless son Frank's." She shook her head in disgust. "I still don't know what went wrong with that boy."

"I can't imagine," Ruth mumbled, taking the green beans from Lydia.

"Tommy was a nice young man, though," Granny Bess continued as though Ruth hadn't spoken. "I always had hopes of his marrying Amanda, but then that didn't work out. They went together for a while and then Tommy met Mary Mallory and that was that. I don't suppose your grandfather's name is Thomas, is it?"

"I don't believe so," Darcy said. "Who's Amanda?"

"Charlie's grandmother," Elisabeth replied as she took a roll from the basket before passing it along.

"I had seven children," Granny Bess informed him. "Grace, Roy, Jr., Lawrence, Natalie, Jeremy, Amanda and Frank, who were the twins. Why don't you know your grandfather's name?"

"It's a long story," Darcy said. "My parents were estranged from their families."

"How sad," Lydia said. "I don't think I could ever be strange to my family."

Elisabeth grimaced. "He means that they didn't speak to their families," she told her sister. "Not that they were strange."

"I knew that," Lydia defended herself hotly.

"Elisabeth, quit picking on your sister," Ruth admonished.

Elisabeth opened her mouth to say something but opted not to speak. Darcy wished he could be daring enough to squeeze her hand at the table, but he wasn't.

"Sometimes being estranged from your family isn't a bad thing," Granny Bess commented as she cut her meatloaf into small slivers.

"Now she says that," Ruth mumbled before taking a bite of mashed potatoes.

"I was never more ashamed of a member of my family than I was the day Frank's wife, Mickey, told me that he'd walked out on her. Roy and I helped when we could, and then Mickey got sick and died...and never once did we hear from Frank. Not even when his poor little boy was an orphan. I still don't know to this day what happened to him, but maybe that was for the best. If I ever laid eyes on that worthless, no-good son of mine, I'd probably thump him with this cane." Granny Bess gave Darcy a calculating look. "What happened in your family? Did your parents think they were Romeo and Juliet?"

"Granny Bess----" Elisabeth started to say.

"In some ways, maybe," Darcy replied before Elisabeth could tell her grandmother to butt out. "My mother came from a prominent family, my father...didn't. They eloped. By the time her father found her, she was pregnant with me."

"One sure way to avoid an annulment," Granny Bess commented. "Sensible, if that's what she wanted."

"It was."

"So where are they today?"

Darcy fiddled with his fork. "They died a long time ago," he said quietly.

Granny Bess took a bite of meatloaf and swallowed. "That's a shame. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"One. Ginger. She's in New York."

"Is that where you're from originally?" Ruth asked eagerly.

"It's where I moved from, yes," Darcy replied. He saw something in Ruth's eyes that made him want to tread carefully in answering these questions. He'd known they were coming. He wasn't sure how the reaction to his answers would be taken, though.

"What did you do there?" Ruth asked.

"Nothing much," he replied. "This and that."

And there it was----something in Ruth's eyes indicated that her attitude toward him had cooled somewhat. "And now you work at Planet Earth Pizza with Elisabeth."

"Yes. I'm a waiter there."

"Did you attend college?"

Darcy almost wished he were being grilled by Granny Bess again. Her questions were more personal but easier to deal with than Ruth's.

"I did," he replied.

"And yet you're working as a waiter in a restaurant. You must've gotten one of those liberal arts degrees like Charlie got."

"Ma, Charlie double majored in English and psychology. It's not her fault that she's had trouble getting a full-time job," Elisabeth defended. "So maybe it's not Darcy's fault that he's had trouble getting a job."

"Has he even looked? Honestly, Elisabeth, I don't know where you find them, but obviously this one is just like the rest. He might be better looking than that George, but really. A waiter? Will none of my daughters ever find a decent man who can support them?"

"I can support myself just fine," Elisabeth said.

"And what about that baby? Who's going to support him or her?"

Darcy tensed, knowing that Elisabeth was still talking of having her child adopted. Elisabeth blushed and gave Granny Bess a panicked look. Obviously, her grandmother knew nothing of the arrangement.

"Oh, I forgot. You're giving it up. To you, that baby's just a toy."

Elisabeth stood up. "I don't know why I bother sticking around for the main course. If the only reason you tricked me into coming was because you wanted to harass me more about this----"

"Sit down, Elisabeth." The words were spoken quietly but carried enough force to have been a shouted order. Elisabeth looked at her grandmother for a long minute before sitting back down. Granny Bess gave Ruth a hard look. "Leave Elisabeth alone. It's her life, and her baby. We'll hear no more of this discussion."

Ruth looked like she wanted to protest, but she instead stuck some green beans in her mouth.

"Elisabeth's not giving the baby up," Darcy said into that ugly silence.

Five sets of eyes turned his way, Elisabeth's the most stunned of all.

"She...she isn't?" Ruth asked, incredulous.

"No. She's not. I've agreed to be her child's father."

"What about the baby's real father?" Granny Bess asked. "What does he have to say about this?"

"George and I have a court date next Monday to have his rights terminated," Elisabeth replied, her voice trembling. "He doesn't want anything to do with the baby."

"Isn't that typical of men?" Lydia said. "Pigs, all of them." She looked at Darcy apologetically. "Sorry, Darcy. I should say most of them."

"Why didn't you tell me you were keeping the baby?" Ruth stood up and rushed over to her middle daughter, throwing her arms around her. "Oh, Ellie! I'm so happy! I'm going to be a grandma!"

"God help that child," Granny Bess muttered before taking another bite of meatloaf.

"And you're getting married! This is wonderful! I had no idea...and you said you'd only been dating a short while! I didn't think you would...well, never mind that. Will you be getting married before or after the baby's born?"

"We're not getting married!" Elisabeth snapped.

Darcy got a bad feeling that he'd spoken out of turn. Maybe he should've discussed his thoughts of the last several days with Elisabeth, but he'd gotten so frustrated with that mother of hers that he hadn't been able to help himself.

Darcy took a bite of meatloaf----which was too dry, in his opinion----and glanced over at Elisabeth's grandmother. The woman was watching him with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"All Darcy said was that he'd agreed to be my baby's father. We haven't even discussed marriage yet. Maybe someday we will, but for the time being, we're taking things slowly."

Ruth went back to her seat and back to her disapproval. "How much do you make at that job of yours, Darcy?"

"Three twenty-five an hour, plus tips. I usually do pretty good on tips, especially now that I've got the hang of the job," he replied.

"Do you have an future plans?"

Elisabeth answered before he could. "Yes. He'll be going back to his job at De Bourgh Enterprises next March."

"Back to...what does that mean?" Ruth asked.

Darcy looked at Elisabeth and raised his eyebrows, hoping she would get his meaning and not mention that he'd been exiled...or that he was related to Catherine de Bourgh. When she nodded, he knew she had.

"Doesn't De Bourgh Enterprises own Planet Earth Pizza?" Lydia asked.

"Yes, they do," Elisabeth replied. "Darcy's doing a study on ways to improve sales. In order to do so, he's working at the grunt level. And he's found many things in need of improvement. Haven't you, Darcy?"

"Yes," he replied. "For starters, the whole store needs knocked down and rebuilt, preferably in an area where more people will be able to find it. The store's location is dreadful. Something closer to the highway would be superb. Then there would be an update of the equipment, because those computers they have are atrocious. Some of the employees would have to go due to laziness and inappropriate attitude."

"J.P., for a start," Lydia muttered. "He delivered a pizza to me and my friend Eden the other day and was rude as hell."

With each sentence Darcy spoke, Ruth's eyes got a bit wider. If she'd thought he was lying before, she could have no doubts now about Darcy's true worth.

"You make good money at that job, don't you? As a...researcher or whatever?"

"I did, before I took a slight pay cut. I expect to be back to my old salary when I return." He hoped.

"And...what amount..."

"Where did you and your sister grow up?" Granny Bess interrupted, taking firm control of the conversation. She didn't let go of it for the remainder of the meal.

"We hope you'll come back soon. Elisabeth, you should bring him over more often," Ruth said as Elisabeth and Darcy did their best to escape.

"Maybe sometime," Elisabeth replied. Maybe never. "We really need to get going."

"He's a nice young man," Ruth continued.

"Yes, he is. And as he's still standing here, you can address any comments about him to him, or save them for later."

Darcy was about to make a dash for the car when he felt a hand encircle his wrist. He turned his head to find Granny Bess holding onto him. She motioned for him to lean down so she could whisper in his ear.

"I'd love to hear the real story about your job," she said. "Come and see me soon. And bring Elisabeth with you."

Darcy almost laughed. "I will," he promised.

Once they had gotten to the car and were speeding out of the driveway, Elisabeth turned to Darcy and asked, "Are you sure you want to get involved with my family now that you've seen them at their worst?"

He stopped before turning onto the street. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Chapter Thirty-One

There were days when you knew work was going to be fun. Those were usually the days when you were working with people you liked, you knew there wasn't going to be much business, and you weren't nearly six months pregnant.

Then there were days like this, Elisabeth thought as she got dressed on an extremely hot and humid Friday night in August, when it just didn't pay to get out of bed, much less get dressed and go to work.

It was one of the rare occasions when she had to close. She usually worked days, but Sean and Rachel had a four o'clock meeting with Tasha's case worker in Springfield and Bubba was going to some drunk-fest with a bunch of his high school buddies, so she was stuck working from three-thirty to close, which meant she wouldn't leave until at least one in the morning. She then had to be back in the store by ten.

In the past, this wouldn't have been a problem for her. She'd had her share of nights where she'd gotten little sleep before having to work again, and although she would be the first to admit that she was usually grouchy the next day, she'd been able to handle it...more or less. Now, needing a minimum of seven hours of sleep in order to keep herself awake during the day, the prospect of not getting the sleep she needed exhausted her before her shift even started.

Not only that, but she was going to have to work with the Gossip Sisters. Caroline was closing, and was sure to complain about that the whole time because she felt she had to close too often. Lucy was the last waitress scheduled before the closer, and Louisa was, fortunately, scheduled to get off work at nine, so she wouldn't have to put up with all three of them for the whole night. The only bit of good news in this whole thing was that she'd get to work with Charlie and Darcy. Charlie was in at four and stayed until nine, while Darcy was working a split shift. He'd worked until two in the afternoon and would be back in at five. He would leave at eight.

Darcy. Elisabeth pulled her work shirt on and started buttoning it up. She'd been thinking about what he'd said at dinner the other night, and she'd come to the decision that she should be well and truly mad at him. It had been so damn arrogant of him to come out and say that she was keeping her baby and that he was going to assume responsibility for it. They'd only been dating for three weeks, for God's sake! No one even knew about them, and yet he was assuming they were going to be together for a long time. Not only that, but as Granny Bess had pointed out, it was her baby, not his. If anyone was going to be making unilateral decisions about it, that person would be her. Yes, when she thought back on it, she had every reason to be mad.

But she wasn't. Every time she thought of the way he'd spoken up at dinner that night, she felt something she'd never felt before. Elisabeth wasn't sure it was love, but it was a rather pleasant feeling. It did, however, leave her with small fears that she was going to turn out like her mother, who always needed a man around to make such decisions.

Elisabeth and Darcy hadn't really had time to talk since that night. She didn't know if they were trying to avoid each other, both afraid of what the other would have to say about that night, or what. All she knew was that they were going to have to have a talk, and soon, because if he'd truly been serious---and the last comment he'd made before they'd left the driveway made her think that he was---then they had three months to get their act together before the baby arrived.

Just one more thing I have to worry about, she thought as she slipped on her shoes, wincing when they pinched at her feet. With a frown, she realized that she was going to have stop by Walmart and buy a pair of cheapo shoes to wear until she had the baby and her feet hopefully went back to their normal size.

The night didn't get off to a bad start. Elisabeth walked into Sean's office just as Bubba was finishing up with the computer.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey." He clicked the mouse and saved his work. "I don't know what Jack did to these computers this time, but it seems to have worked. I haven't had trouble with them all day."

"Finally, things are around here working the way they should," Elisabeth commented.

"Well, not quite. Guess what decided to spring a major leak in the middle of the lunch rush today?"

"Oh, no. Again?"

"Uh-huh."

"Did you call Pepsi?"

"As soon as I could. They, of course, claimed they'd send someone as soon as they could, and we all know what that means."

"Next August, if we're lucky. How'd we do today?"

"Damn good. We've got about thirteen up so far."

"What are we up against?" Elisabeth tried to work out a kink in her back without success.

"Uh...twenty-seven hundred, I think. Don't quote me on that." Bubba smiled. "You'll be proud of me, El. We've got enough breadsticks, pan dough, pastas, and sauces for an entire weekend."

"Really?" Elisabeth claimed a seat just far enough away from Bubba that she didn't have to smell him.

"Uh-huh. Delivery was dead so I had Chazz doing whatever he could. You know how hard he works, especially since...well, anyway, he had everything done in two hours flat. You're ready for whatever comes your way."

"Don't say that," Elisabeth groaned. "It's inevitable that when you say that, something happens and I end up not being ready for it."

"You should try to be more positive, El," Jack said from behind her. She turned and smiled at him. He was holding his apron in his hands, obviously having just finished his shift. "After all, you won't have to deal with me tonight."

"I'd take you over Louisa and Caroline any day. Are you sure you don't want to pull a double?"

"Has hell frozen over yet?"

"It gets pretty cold around here during the winter," Elisabeth replied. "Since this is my version of hell, I would say it's frozen over many times."

"Nice try." Jack smiled at her. "You'll survive, Elisabeth. That's why they pay you the big bucks."

Elisabeth snorted. "Right. I forgot all about that. Why are you in such a hurry to leave today?"

Bubba whistled an atonal but familiar-sounding tune. Elisabeth turned to Jack, who was wincing.

"Oh, hell," Elisabeth mumbled. "It's your birthday, isn't it?"

Jack nodded. "Thirty-three today, and don't I feel it."

"Damn. I forgot to get you something." Elisabeth sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it."

"Want me to hog-tie Charlie and deliver her rolled up in a carpet to your front door?" Elisabeth suggested. "She comes complete with a smart mouth and a brain stuffed full of useless trivia."

"Hmm..." Jack pretended to consider this. "If I thought she'd be a willing participant, I'd say yes. Since she wouldn't be, I'd better take a pass on that. Just get me a nice card with some dirty joke on it, okay?"

"Now that I can get for you."

The conversation was interrupted by someone pounding hard on the back door. Elisabeth started to rise from her seat, but Jack put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. "I'll get it," he said before walking away from the office towards the door. Elisabeth couldn't see who was there from her vantage point but after she heard the door open, she heard someone playing "Happy Birthday" on a kazoo.

"Charlie, you're a sweetheart, really you are," she heard Jack say.

Charlie's reply was muffled. A moment later, she said, "Thank you. Now, take this before I drop one or the other or both."

Jack walked back toward the office, Charlie close behind him. Jack was carrying a clumsily-wrapped gift while Charlie carried a cake box. Elisabeth was surprised by both, because she hadn't been aware that Charlie had known when Jack's birthday was, or that she'd bought him a gift.

"You never bring me presents and cake on my birthday," Bubba complained.

"Yeah, and if you start thinking about it now, by Monday you'll figure out why that is," Charlie retorted. "Happy birthday Ash----"

"Hey! None of that on my birthday," Jack warned. "I knew I should've taken that to the grave."

"You owed me, though," Charlie pointed out.

"True." Jack smiled. "Thank you, Charlie. You didn't have to get me anything."

Elisabeth watched her cousin struggle with a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure as she said, "Of course I did. It's your birthday. I hope you like it because I can't take it back."

"Can I open it now?"

Charlie nodded. Jack ripped into the package like it was the first birthday gift he'd ever received. Underneath three layers of wrapping paper was a box marked "PLANET EARTH PIZZA CHEESE."

"Just what I always wanted! My very own box of cheese," Jack quipped.

"I hope it didn't spoil. I did leave it out at room temperature for several days," Charlie told him as he opened the box.

Jack went very still as he looked at what lay nestled inside, protected by tissue paper. He picked up what looked to be a long, narrow hunk of wood from Elisabeth's point of view. He stared at it with deep pleasure written all over his face.

"Charlie, you really didn't have to do this," he said.

"Well, I figured that you wouldn't have thought to get one and I didn't know if they'd provide one for you. I don't even know if you'll have an office, but if you do, that'll make it easier for your students to find you. I had Danie take a look at a couple other offices in your department to tell me what I should get for you."

"Let me see," Elisabeth said, but Jack was focused too much on his gift----and on the gift-giver----to heed her request.

"I have an office," he said. "This will look great."

"There's more to it," Charlie said, motioning back to the box. She waited until Jack pulled out a picture frame. He studied it, a bit confused, before she added, "It's for your diploma. Every professor I know has his diploma hanging somewhere in his office, so that's for yours."

Elisabeth was now thoroughly confused. What diploma? Jack's high school diploma? Why would there be any pride in hanging that up on the wall?

"I have one already, but...it's not nearly as nice as this." Jack set the frame and the hunk of wood down and pulled Charlie into a hug. Charlie flinched slightly before putting her arms around him. "You're the best, Charlie. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Elisabeth took the opportunity to reach up and grab the box from the table where Jack had set it. She looked in to find that the picture frame was a polished, classy-looking wood she'd never be able to identify in a hundred years. What she'd thought was a narrow hunk of wood was actually a plaque inscribed with John Middleton, Computer Science.

"Computer science?" Elisabeth murmured as Jack and Charlie broke apart. Bubba took the plaque from her and examined it.

"That's what I got my degree in," Jack said, holding out his hand for the plaque.

"I didn't know you..." Elisabeth closed her mouth quickly before she finished the statement. "Where'd you go to college at?"

"University of Illinois."

"And you're working here?!" Elisabeth exclaimed, trying to figure out why she hadn't known this before. "Why?"

"Because I like working here," Jack said. "I tried working at the big-deal technology places and it didn't suit me. I preferred to have a life and a personality."

"Not all jobs in the computer world are like that, are they? I mean, just because one was doesn't mean they all are."

"This is true. My college roommate's got a terrific job in the field, but I never had any luck in getting a job like his." Jack shrugged. "I didn't have anyone objecting to what I did with my life, so what did it matter if I was a highly-paid drone or a lowly-paid one?"

"The money would've been nice," Elisabeth answered.

"Yeah, that would've been nice," Jack agreed ruefully. "But you can't have everything. Thanks again, Charlie. Is the cake for me, too?"

Charlie cursed. "We have to eat it now," she said. "It's an ice-cream cake. Hang on, I'll get plates."

"Okay," Jack said, laying the plaque and picture frame back in the box.

"Think there's hope for you yet?" Elisabeth asked softly.

Jack gave her a ferocious look. "Not here," he muttered.

"Come on, Jack. A woman doesn't go to lengths like this for a guy she doesn't care about. I think Charlie's starting to realize..."

"El, you're a good friend, but do me a favor. Don't push this. If it's meant to be, it'll happen. Just because I don't think it will doesn't mean I need your help."

"I hope that cake's not ruined," Charlie said as she hustled back with six plates, a matching number of forks, and a knife in her hand.

"What kind of ice cream are we talking?" Jack asked as he opened the box.

"Mint chocolate-chip. I remember you telling me it's your favorite," she said, examining the cake closely for signs that it might not be good to serve. "I think it's okay to eat." She handed Jack the knife and grimaced slightly.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, taking the knife.

"Mmm? Oh, nothing. Just a twinge. I think I've pulled a muscle or something because it's been bothering me for the past hour or so. Can't think of what I did to aggravate it."

"Wait until we get busy. You won't be feeling a thing," Elisabeth said as Jack put a thick slice of cake on a plate and handed it to her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Jack sliced off another bit of cake and gave it to Bubba.

"Only a little bit for me," Charlie said as he went to get her a piece of cake. "I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked.

She nodded. "I haven't been too hungry all day. I thought maybe I was getting a stomach ache at first, because I wasn't hungry, but now I think it's just a pulled muscle. Thanks," she said, taking the plate offered to her. "Are you doing anything special for your birthday?"

Jack shook his head. "My...mother called this morning to wish me a happy birthday. One of my sisters called as well, but if she remembered it was my birthday, she didn't mention it. She just wanted to harass me some more about..." Jack took a slice of cake for himself and ate a bite. "Mmm...heavenly. Did you get this from Dairy Queen?"

Charlie nodded. "I get off work at nine. Want to meet me for a drink at Randy's Landing?"

Elisabeth busied herself with her cake, not wanting to say anything that might sound like meddling to Jack and embarrass Charlie.

"Sure," Jack said after a moment. "Call me when you get off work, that way I'm not sitting around for hours getting drunk."

"Okay."

Elisabeth was about to take another bite of the cake when she heard Chazz shout, "I need a manager up front, please!" With a sad sigh, she realized that Bubba was now off work. That left her as the only manager available. She set her cake aside and went to see what the fuss was about.

Darcy arrived at the same time as Caroline, Louisa, and Lucy. He wondered if Caroline had planted a homing device on his car so she'd know where he was at all times, because it seemed as though no matter what time he had to work on Friday nights, she got there just as he did. Even when he showed up half an hour early, there she was.

He grabbed his apron and hoisted himself out of the car, hoping he could get by Caroline before she could say hello and begin their Friday-night ritual where she would flirt and he would ignore her. To his surprise, she didn't jump out of her car at the same time he did. As he passed by her car, doing his best to hurry without seeming like he was hurrying, he could hear raised voices coming from the inside of the car. He'd made it to the back door when he heard one of the doors open. Lucy shouted, "You guys leave me out of this!" and slammed the door shut.

Darcy opened the door and let Lucy walk in ahead of him. She barely acknowledged his kindness, storming past him on her way to the back office.

"You've got trouble," she announced to whomever was sitting back there. Darcy couldn't see who it was but guessed it to be Elisabeth.

"Why?" Elisabeth asked, confirming his guess. Darcy wandered into the break room, still half-listening to the conversation.

"Louisa and Caroline are going at it."

"Great. What's it about this time?"

"Caroline claims that Drew made a pass at her last night when she was baby-sitting Valerie. Louisa insists that Drew wouldn't do any such thing."

Elisabeth snorted. "She married a man whose nickname when he worked here was 'Hound Dog' and she thinks he never looks at another woman? Is she blind or stupid?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Caroline tried to get me to back her up, like I was there and knew anything about it, and when I wouldn't she got mad at me. Now Louisa's mad at me too, because she thinks I'm on Caroline's side when I never said that at all. I told them to leave me out of it."

"Has Drew ever made a pass at you?"

"Of course he has. Hell, he even made a pass at Charlie once, although..."

"Don't finish that sentence," Elisabeth said heatedly.

"I wasn't going to say anything bad about Charlie. I was just going to add that she was the only one he apologized to later."

Sure you were, Darcy thought sarcastically.

"But that's not something I would ever tell Louisa. I mean, it would hurt her. Look how much it's hurt her when Caroline told her!" Lucy sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Settle down, Lucy. It's going to be okay. Just...try to stay out of it as best you can. We all know that Caroline and Louisa go through one of these spats every few months. They'll get over it and everything will be fine again...God help us. In the meantime, we're going to have a busy night and I need the three of you to get your acts together so we can get through it."

"I'll be fine," Lucy said with a sniff. "But you might want to watch out for Caroline and Louisa."

"Thanks for the warning."

Darcy heard Lucy's footsteps heading in his direction and quickly found something to do so it wouldn't look like he'd been eavesdropping. He adjusted his apron around his waist and started walking out of the room toward the office. He stepped aside to let Lucy get into the break room before moving on.

He found Elisabeth sitting alone, tapping a pencil against a stack of papers. "Hello," he said in a low voice.

Elisabeth set the pencil aside and turned to face him, a bright smile on her face. "Hello," she replied, blowing him a kiss. "Ready for tonight?"

"I thought I was until I heard that. If Drew chases after women, why does Louisa stay with him?"

Elisabeth shrugged. "It's hard telling. Funny as it sounds, I think she really loves him. She's been talking lately about having another baby, so obviously there's something there. What it is, I couldn't tell you. They fight constantly."

"Maybe that's what it is," Darcy suggested. "Some relationships are based on a lot of fighting."

"Yeah, but that's not what it should be about. If you love someone enough to marry them, you shouldn't fight all the time. I don't want a relationship like that."

"Neither do I," Darcy said softly.

"You do realize that this means you'll always have to give me my way, don't you? That way we're not fighting all the time."

Darcy laughed. "We'll have to see about that." He whipped his head around to make sure no one was around before leaning down and giving her a kiss.

Elisabeth pulled away after a few seconds, saying, "Careful there, Darce. I might have to write you up for inappropriate behavior."

"Dare," he murmured.

Elisabeth's eyes gleamed. "You're daring me to write you up? Kiss me again and find out."

"No...you called me Darce, and..." Darcy stood up straight. "When I was a kid, they used to call me Dare because I never refused one. I haven't been called that since...forever."

"Do you prefer Dare or Darcy?" she asked.

"From you, when we're alone, I think I prefer Dare. I've felt more like Dare than Darcy ever since I came here."

"Okay...Dare." She grabbed his shirt front and pulled it so that he'd bend down to kiss her again. The two broke apart when they heard the door being ripped open and Caroline shouting.

"That was close," Darcy said with a grin.

"Yeah." Elisabeth was trying to remember how to breathe. When she'd gotten herself somewhat under control, she said, "We need to talk later."

"Yeah," he agreed, knowing what she was talking about. "We do. I wanted to say I was sorry about..."

"We'll talk later." Elisabeth took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind of everything but business. She exhaled. "You do realize that you've officially become a full-fledged employee of Planet Earth Pizza, don't you?"

Darcy frowned. "I thought I did that when I went through the training videos and the weekend of hell where I worked twenty-eight hours."

"No, no. That was just the training run. You don't become a true member of the Planet Earth Pizza family until you've eavesdropped on a conversation, which you did today."

Darcy chuckled. "Elisabeth, I've eavesdropped on plenty other conversations, starting with one you had with Charlie and Jack my first day here."

"Yeah, but that was about you. It doesn't count if the conversation's about you. And it doesn't count unless you bring it up to an unrelated party."

"I see. Well, I'm glad I finally became an official staff person here. Should I be worried that it took four months?"

Elisabeth laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much. You're a slow starter but you learn fast."

"I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!" Louisa shouted as she entered the office area. "Elisabeth, is there any way you could get someone to work for me? I can't work with that...that..."

"Sister?" Darcy offered.

Louisa gave him a terrifying look before turning her attention back to Elisabeth. "I can't work with her. I refuse. She's a lying little..."

"I'm sorry, Louisa, but you don't have a choice. Sean's out of town, Bubba's out of his mind or he will be soon enough, and Jack's already worked today."

"Jack might be willing----"

"Not likely. Today's his birthday. He's got plans."

Louisa punched the wall and grimaced from the pain. "Then send her home. You've got enough wait staff here tonight."

"She's my closer. Are you volunteering to close wait tonight?" When Louisa didn't answer, Elisabeth continued. "I didn't think so. Do the best you can to avoid each other for the night. I'll tell her to do the same, okay? That's all I can do."

Louisa didn't look very happy with this, but she reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes before heading to the break room. A minute later, Darcy saw Lucy scurrying out of there toward the front.

Not thirty seconds later, Caroline appeared. "You have to send her home. She's being a total witch to me and I'm not going to put up with it. God knows I put up with enough crap around here without having to take it from her."

"She's not going anywhere unless she walks out the door, and the same goes for you. I'm telling you the same thing I told her. Stay away from each other for tonight. Don't talk to each other, don't look at each other...hell, don't even think about her. Just concentrate on the customers, okay? That's what I need for you to do."

"But her creep of a husband was..."

"I'm aware of the situation, but there's nothing I can do. I'm trying to stay out of it because it's not my business. What is my business is this store and how much money we make tonight."

Caroline huffed. "She'd better stay as far away from me as possible, because I might just pop her one." With that, she flounced away.

Elisabeth buried her face in her hands. "It's one of those days," she mumbled. "I knew it would be."

Business had been slow but steady until five-thirty, when within ten minutes of each other, three tables of at least seven people walked in the door. By the time those three orders had been taken, there was a line that almost went out the door. Elisabeth was glad for it, because it made Louisa, Caroline and Lucy too busy to cause trouble. Elisabeth was whipping out orders as fast as she could. Louisa was running dough and making the spaghetti, bread stick, and garlic bread orders. Chazz, who had been close to leaving when he was scheduled off at five-thirty, had volunteered to take over the cut table and register duties.

Elisabeth had surprised but grateful, and when Chazz had given her a glimmer of a smile, she had a quick flash of guilt at the realization that Chazz was missing Jenna almost as much as Jenna was missing him. On the heels of this came frustration that the same pride which had kept the two of them apart for so long because they were afraid to tell the other how they felt about one another was coming between them again.

She had only a brief minute to consider Jack's idea of locking them in a closet before the orders started piling up and she had to get back to work. She didn't realize it, but she was humming as she worked and was actually enjoying herself. She loved it when it was busy, despite the exhaustion she felt after it was all over.

Charlie, Darcy, Lucy and Caroline were working as hard as they could to get everyone satisfied and out the door as quickly as possible. Elisabeth knew they were doing their jobs without having to set foot in the dining room because she had yet to answer a customer complaint. Things were going so well that she wondered if maybe her fears about the day had been unjustified.

Seven o'clock came along, but one could hardly tell from the full tables in the restaurant. Elisabeth kept a close eye on her dough count, worried only that they might run out of bread sticks, which were a popular item that night. Topher had been about to leave because delivery was dying out when Elisabeth asked him to prep her a box of bread sticks. He wasn't happy about it, but he did agree to do it. Elisabeth set the pans on top of the oven when he was finished, where they would heat up faster than they would in the proofer and be ready to use.

She had become so wrapped up in making pizzas and keeping on top of the orders that she didn't have time to notice much else until Darcy came up to her at seven-fifteen with a worried frown.

"Something wrong? Did we forget bread sticks or something?" she asked.

"No, it's not that. It's Charlie."

"What about Charlie?" Elisabeth asked as another order started printing.

"She's not feeling well. She keeps pressing her hands against her right side about here." Darcy placed his hands high on his rib cage. She's complaining that it's hot and she's feeling dizzy."

Elisabeth frowned. "Okay. She's probably getting heat exhaustion. We'll have her take a chair into the walk-in and sit for a few minutes."

"I don't think that's it. I think it might be something more serious than that."

"What do you think it might be?" Elisabeth asked, a sudden chill running down her spine.

"I don't know. Is there a history of heart trouble in your family?"

Elisabeth shook her head. "The men do. The women live to be a thousand years old. You've seen Granny Bess. We're all like that. Besides, if it were her heart, wouldn't she be feeling pain on the left side?"

"Not necessarily."

Elisabeth glanced around Darcy's body to see Charlie walking back to the wait area. Her face glowed with sweat but she looked pale.

"Louisa? Can you take over for me for a second or two?" she asked.

"Sure." Louisa took the printed order and got out what she needed to make it.

Elisabeth walked over to the computer that Charlie was standing at. "Charlie, are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. I think..." Charlie hissed in pain and pressed her hands in a similar spot to where Darcy had indicated, just under her right breast. Blinking back tears, she said, "Something's wrong, El. I've never had pain like this. Maybe something I've eaten today has given me food poisoning."

"What have you had to eat?"

"I had a bowl of cereal and a piece of that birthday cake we had for Jack. And a bowl of popcorn."

"I feel fine, so it's not the cake. Did the milk taste funny this morning?"

Charlie shook her head. "If it's not food poisoning, what is it?" She turned worried eyes to Elisabeth.

Elisabeth didn't want to alarm her any more by bringing up Darcy's possibility. "Maybe it's indigestion. I have some Tums if you want to take them."

"I don't think that's it, but it's worth a try."

Elisabeth rushed to the back room and quickly located her purse. Fortunately, she'd taken to leaving her roll of Tums in a side pocket so she'd have easy access to them. She brought the roll back to the front and gave them to Charlie.

"I wish we still had milk," she said as Charlie peeled back the paper and took two of them. "It could be an ulcer. Milk helps ulcers, doesn't it?"

"I don't know," Charlie said, popping the tablets into her mouth. "I hope these work."

"Me, too. If they don't, let me know."

Charlie nodded, grabbed her tray, and got back to work by heading out to the beverage bar. Elisabeth didn't have time to stare after her, but worry continued to plague her as she returned to the make table. She asked Darcy to keep a close eye on Charlie in case the pain got worse.

It was nearing eight. Business had slowed down a little, enough for Elisabeth to take a quick break and long for a cigarette as Louisa lit one up. The dining room was down to about half-full, so she took Darcy off tables. She contemplated taking Charlie off tables as well, but against her better judgment left her on for the time being. Neither Charlie nor Darcy had reported any problems since she'd taken the Tums, so Elisabeth had hopes that it was just a bad case of indigestion and nothing more.

With a little free time, Elisabeth went to the office to get away from Louisa before she broke down and begged for a drag from her cigarette. She checked the numbers and was pleased to see that they'd just surpassed the total from last year with four hours to go. She sat in the chair, which was probably a mistake since the adrenaline was starting to wear off. The minor aches and pains were catching up to her now, and she had a bad feeling she was going to need some help getting out of the chair.

Still, it had been a good night's work so far. Tomorrow she'd be paying the price, sure, but she refused to think about that. She heard the hum of voices coming from the dining room, mixed in with the voices she recognized coming from the kitchen and wait station. She heard the roar of the ovens, which would drown out all other sounds if she concentrated on it enough. The telephone sounded, startling her for a second. She reached out to take the call but the ringing stopped before her hand touched the receiver. Someone else had picked it up already.

Elisabeth sighed and knew she had to get up. With a loud groan, she slowly rose from the chair and started to walk back to the kitchen. Whoever was on the phone would have an order for her to make. She peeked into the break room and noticed that Louisa wasn't there, but her cigarette was still burning.

A wave of longing rushed through her, so intense that she nearly wept. She had to have a drag off that cigarette. Charlie was distracted by the customers she had in the dining room and she'd never notice a thing. Surely she could sneak a tiny little puff. Louisa wouldn't mind or censure her for it. Hell, Louisa was hardly in a position to cast stones. She'd smoked the whole time she'd been pregnant with Valerie.

Elisabeth had taken two steps in the direction of the waiting cigarette when she heard Louisa start to scream.

"You lying, back-stabbing little..." Louisa let out a string of curses. Elisabeth groaned and rushed as fast as her tired legs would take her. The battling sisters weren't where she thought they would be, which was the kitchen or wait station. She didn't see them in the delivery area, either.

"Tell me they're not out in the dining room," Elisabeth breathed.

"Wish I could," Darcy said as he walked over to a computer. "They're at the beverage bar."

"What happened?"

"I think Caroline accidentally spilled soda on Louisa, although it might've been intentional."

"I told them to stay away from each other."

"Louisa wanted a drink. Caroline happened to be there." Darcy sighed as he started tapping the screen to place his order.

"This is my area, you witch! Stay off of it!" Caroline shouted.

"I don't suppose we could rustle up some mud, throw them into it, and charge five bucks to watch them go at it, could we?" Chazz suggested. He was still around because, as he put it, he had nowhere else to go.

"I don't think so," Elisabeth replied. She walked out to the beverage bar, where the two were still shouting at each other. The entire restaurant had fallen silent.

Louisa's face and shirt were drenched in what was probably Dr. Pepper. Her face was a mottled red, her eyes bulging. It was not a pretty sight. Caroline's face was identical to her sister's, only drier.

"I know you've been after Drew since the day you met him," Louisa snapped. "I've seen the way you act around him."

"Please! I can barely stand the man! He's a jerk and a loser and you're a loser for marrying him in the first place!"

"Excuse me, ladies..." Elisabeth stepped between them before they could do any physical damage to each other. They shouted the same curse at her at the exact same time. Elisabeth paused just long enough to keep her temper in check before continuing. "This discussion should take place somewhere other than here. As far as I'm concerned, the two of you can kill each other as long as you don't do it in the middle of this restaurant."

Caroline glared at Louisa, who glared right back at her. Elisabeth was on the verge of grabbing someone's shoulder and throwing them in the direction of the back when Louisa stomped off, Caroline right behind her. Elisabeth hurried to catch up to them, nearly getting hit in the face with the back door when Caroline tried to slam it.

When she got outside, Caroline and Louisa were shouting at each other again. Elisabeth was tempted to slap them both if it would shut them up.

"SHUT UP!" she finally shouted, only to have them repeat the curse they'd shouted at her in the store. Elisabeth again stepped between them. "One of you is going home. I don't care which one it is, but one of you has to leave. I'm not going to put up with this crap on my shift. If you two can't work together, we'll see if there's a way to make sure you don't, starting tonight. Which one of you wants to go home?"

"She should have to go, the lying little witch!" Louisa yelled.

"So I get punished because your husband's..."

"Caroline, go home." Elisabeth had decided she'd rather work with Louisa than Caroline, if for no other reason than because Caroline had been making too many passes at Darcy.

Caroline's mouth gaped. "I have to go?"

"Yes, you have to go. You threw a drink in Louisa's face, so that means you get to go home tonight."

"This isn't fair! I have as much right to work as Louisa does, but I'm the one who has to leave!" Caroline called Elisabeth several rude names before adding, "I'm going to tell Sean about this. We'll see who gets in trouble then, Elisabeth Bennet!"

Elisabeth refused to respond as Caroline went back into the store for her belongings. The exhaustion Elisabeth had managed to keep at bay so far began to sink in as she realized she'd just sent her closing waitress home. Darcy had already worked nearly eight hours. Charlie had to be at her other job at seven the next morning. She doubted Lucy would volunteer to stay behind, as she tended to do as little work as possible.

"Louisa, I don't suppose I could convince you to stay behind tonight and help me close wait, could I? I'd be willing to let you stay on the clock as a cook if you would."

Louisa thought about it for a moment. Before she could give an answer, Caroline stormed out the doors on her way to her car. Elisabeth motioned for Louisa to join her inside, the prudent move since she heard Caroline squealing her tires on the way out of the parking lot.

"I don't have a baby-sitter for Valerie past ten," Louisa said.

"Who's watching her now?"

"My mom. I suppose I could ask her if she could watch her until Drew gets off work...let me call before I give you an answer."

"Okay." Elisabeth slowly made her way back into the kitchen, where she found Chazz trying to make a large thin pepperoni pizza. He was going far too slow, but at least someone was trying to make the three orders that had suddenly appeared. Elisabeth peeked her head into the dining room and found that there were people standing around waiting to be seated. Darcy was busily clearing them a table while Lucy and Charlie tried to get to tables waiting to place their orders.

Elisabeth was about to tell Chazz to get back on the cut table when she saw Charlie swaying at the table she was standing in front of. Elisabeth gasped, "Dare!"

Darcy turned to look at Elisabeth, who pointed him in Charlie's direction. He immediately rushed over to grasp Charlie's arm and lead her back into the wait station.

"I'm fine," Charlie murmured. "I just felt...a little dizzy for a second. I'll be fine."

"You should go to the hospital," Darcy said. "The Tums didn't help?"

Charlie shook her head. "It still hurts," she whimpered.

"She spent a few minutes sitting in the walk-in," Darcy added. "I told her to go while Lucy and I watched over her tables. She's also eaten a bread stick, in case it was just really bad hunger pangs. Nothing seems to have helped. You need to go to the hospital, Charlie."

"Did the pain continue all this time?" Elisabeth asked. When Charlie nodded, she asked another question. "Why didn't you tell me? I would've let you go so you could get to the hospital!"

"Because we were busy and I knew you needed me. Now you need me more because you just sent Caroline home."

"Don't worry about being needed. I don't need you that much. How about if you sit in the walk-in for another minute or two before going to the hospital, okay?"

"Okay." Charlie shuffled to the walk-in to cool down for another minute or two.

"Elisabeth, I don't think she should drive herself there," Darcy said. "I mean, what if she accidentally passes out at the wheel or..."

"You're right," Elisabeth murmured. "I don't know why I didn't think of that." She exhaled sharply. "You take her."

"No. Without Caroline and Charlie, you need me to stay."

"I might have Louisa to close wait. Although I don't want to do it, I can call Sean and beg him to help me out in the kitchen until we get settled down."

"You still need me to stick around. Call Jack and explain the situation to him. He's waiting for Charlie to call him anyway."

Elisabeth nodded in agreement. "That's a hell of an idea. Get back on the floor and back on tables."

Darcy made a smart salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Elisabeth was smiling as the made the call to Jack.

Darcy finally got off work just after ten. He knew he'd regret it in the morning when he had to drag himself back in at eleven-thirty, but he had a feeling that when he counted the money stuffed in his apron pockets, it would be worth it.

Instead of going home, which would've been the sensible thing to do, Darcy decided to go to the hospital to see how Charlie was doing. He found Jack's slightly battered Pontiac Grand Prix and parked next to it.

Once inside the hospital, Darcy found himself very unsure of what he was doing there. He had no idea where Charlie would be. It had been two hours since she'd left the store. For all he knew, she'd been rushed to emergency surgery or something. He doubted the nurse standing at the front desk would be of any help, but he figured it was his best shot so he headed that way.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Yes...um, a young woman came in about an hour ago. I don't know if she's still here or if you can tell me anything, but...her name is Charlie."

The woman flipped through a few folders before asking, "Are you a relative?"

"Cousin. A very close cousin. We also work together." Darcy thrust his right shoulder forward so she could see the Planet Earth Pizza logo on the front.

"Oh. Charlotte Lucas. She's in room five, right over there." The nurse pointed to the room directly across from where they were standing.

"Can I see her? I mean...she's okay, isn't she?"

"I can't tell you that, but you can go in. She's with the gentleman who brought her here."

"Thank you very much," Darcy said with a smile as he backed away from the counter. He turned and headed for Charlie's room. He pushed aside the curtain that had been drawn and looked inside.

Charlie was laying on the bed, her shirt untucked from her black pants and with her shoes off. Her right hand was still pressed to the right side that was paining her. Jack had taken hold of her left hand and looked as though he was never planning to let go.

"Knock, knock," Darcy said quietly.

Two sets of eyes turned his way.

"You left the door open," he quipped.

Charlie started to chuckle, but her mirth soured when she grasped her right side again.

"Sorry," Darcy said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay. If I laugh or don't laugh, it's still going to bother me. Thanks for coming." Charlie offered a watery smile.

"What do they think is wrong with you?" Darcy asked.

"They're not sure. They said it could be a liver problem or my gall bladder. Jack says I should hope for the gall bladder because that's not as big a deal as a liver problem."

"You can live without that. You can't live without a liver," Jack said. "I realize that sounds like the dumbest damn statement ever uttered, but if it comes down to one or the other, I'd rather it be the one that will do the least damage."

Darcy didn't want to point out to Jack that with every word he spoke, he revealed more and more of his true feelings to Charlie. Although maybe not, because Charlie looked to be concentrating too much on the pain to notice anything.

"Have they given you anything for the pain?" Darcy asked.

Charlie shook her head. "Don't ask me why. That was the first thing I asked for when I got here, and I'm still waiting." Charlie raised her right hand, and that's when Darcy noticed for the first time that she'd been given an IV. "What the hell this stuff is supposed to be doing, I don't know."

"I had to leave the room when they gave her that," Jack admitted. "I'm a little squeamish about needles."

"You and me both," Charlie muttered. Just then, a short, pudgy man with thick red hair walked into the room. He wore a long white coat. His name tag read "Dr. Parnell."

"Hello, Charlotte. I'm Dr. Parnell. I see that you've been having consistent pain on the right side?"

"Yes," she told him.

Jack and Darcy stepped out of the room to give Charlie and the doctor some privacy.

"This is a hell of way to end my birthday," Jack said, worry written all over his face. "When Elisabeth called me..."

"I know," Darcy said. "She nearly collapsed onto a table in the dining room, she was swaying so bad."

"Oh, God," Jack murmured. "She's in so much pain, but do you know what her first thought was? She wanted to call her boss at Heartland to tell her she wouldn't be able to make it in to work tomorrow."

"She didn't call her parents or her sister or anything?"

"Yeah, but her father's a truck driver, and her mother went on the road with him this week. I think she finally called her grandmother and asked her to keep trying her house until one of her sisters got home. Neither one has called yet."

The doctor reappeared, writing something on Charlie's chart. Jack darted back into the room, Darcy close behind. Darcy took a seat on a stool on the right side of Charlie's bed while Jack stood, recapturing Charlie's hand, on her left.

"So what did he say?" Jack asked her. "Did he at least give you something for the pain?"

Charlie shook her head. "I'm going to go have a sonogram or ultrasound or whatever in a while. The X-rays didn't show much of anything."

"So until then, they can't give you anything?" Jack's face was furious.

"I don't know, Jack. Settle down. You'd think you were the one in this bed instead of me." Charlie grimaced. "Sorry. I'm a little out of it right now."

"Don't apologize," Jack was quick to say. "I understand."

"Have...um, have Danie or Andie called yet?" she asked.

Jack shook his head. "They'll transfer the call to that phone over there as soon as one of them does. You know your sisters, Charlie. They'll probably be out till all hours."

"This is, unfortunately, true," Charlie said right before letting out a soft moan. "Oh, God...what if this is something serious? What if I'm dying? What if I've got a tumor that's just now showing up and causing trouble or..."

"Don't think that way," Darcy said quickly. "You're going to be fine."

"Oh, God...it hurts."

Jack pried his hand free of Charlie's, flexing it slightly. "Ow," he murmured. "That does it."

"Where are you going?" Charlie asked plaintively.

"Don't worry. I'll be right back, and you'll soon be out of pain." Jack took backward steps out of the room.

"I'd better make sure he doesn't get thrown out," Darcy said. "Will you be okay on your own for a second?"

Charlie nodded, so Darcy stood up and got as far as the curtain before he heard Jack snap at the nurse standing at the front desk, "What's in that IV you've got her hooked up to?"

The nurse glanced at Charlie's chart and replied, "Something to control nausea, sir."

"Nausea? She's not sick. She's never complained of being sick. She's in pain. Why haven't you given her anything for the pain?"

Darcy rushed forward, because Jack's voice was rising and the nurse had taken a step backwards. "Jack, come on. She's just doing her job," Darcy said, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"If she'd been doing her job, Charlie wouldn't be in pain, would she? She'd be fine. She's not sick, so why give her something for nausea?"

"I...I can't tell you that, sir." The nurse took another step back.

"Then find me someone who can."

Darcy tightened his grip on Jack's shoulder. "Excuse him, ma'am. He's been under a lot of stress lately. Come on, Jack. I'm sure she'll find someone who can help Charlie out." He started to drag Jack away. Jack came along, reluctantly.

Within ten minutes, Charlie was given a painkiller.

Elisabeth finally arrived at the hospital at one-thirty, bleary-eyed and ready for sleep but knowing she needed to see how Charlie was. She stumbled into the emergency room, glancing around for Jack, who had promised to stay with Charlie until she was released.

"Elisabeth!"

Elisabeth turned at the sound of Darcy's voice, automatically starting to smile. "What are you still doing here? Don't you work tomorrow morning?"

"I do, but I felt I had to stay."

"That's sweet of you, but unnecessary. Jack promised me he was going to stay with her."

"Oh, I wasn't just here for Charlie. I was here to keep Jack from killing Charlie's doctor and any nurse who dared to come in because he didn't think they were doing enough for her."

"Where are they now?" Elisabeth asked with a yawn.

"Jack's pretending to watch a bad television show. Charlie's sister Miranda just arrived, so she's with him. Charlie's just back from having an ultrasound done. The doctor told Miranda that it looks like she's got gallstones, which is a good thing when you consider that it might've been worse."

"What's going to happen? Will she have to stay overnight?"

Darcy nodded. "They told her she could go, but she insisted on having the surgery tomorrow morning. She wants this out of the way. She'll probably be out for two weeks."

"I was afraid of that," Elisabeth said. "She's going to hate that. It'll mean missing time from both jobs, which she really can't afford. She has to use two sick days for every day she takes off from Heartland, because she works those double shifts. I don't know how many she has. And Planet Earth Pizza...well, there's no such thing as benefits."

"Does she have insurance?" Darcy asked with concern.

Elisabeth nodded. "She pays an arm and a leg for it, but she's got it. Thank God her father insisted when she had to go off of his. I'd hate to think of where she'd be without it."

"Yeah."

Elisabeth stared at the tiled floor. "You ever have one of those days when you know you shouldn't have gotten out of bed?" she asked.

Darcy smiled ruefully. "More than my share, I think."

"Yeah. Me, too."

Darcy glanced around before leaning toward her and giving her a kiss. "You should go to bed. Charlie's going to be taken care of, don't worry. The doctor told Jack to go home because he won't be allowed to see her, and by the time he would be, she'll be in surgery."

"Did anyone get a hold of her parents?"

"Miranda said it was being taken care of. So go ahead and go. You need the rest."

Elisabeth yawned again. "I think you're right. We still need to have that talk, though."

"Later, when you're fully awake."

"Right." Elisabeth gave him another kiss, told him good night. She went home and promptly fell into bed.

Continued In Next Section