Sort of Valentine - A Short Story

Posted on Saturday, 14 February 2004

Note: You may think my Darcy in this story to be far from what JA intended. As this is to be only an amusing peace of fluff for Valentine’s Day I wanted to give his usual character traits like “arrogance and disdain for the feelings of others” the nicest possible explanation – he is simply not paying attention to what is going on around him, be it fashion wise or other, thus sometimes putting people off. His fastidiousness reveals itself in work matters but not in his haircut. If anyone still objects to this Darcy – just undress him! Enjoy.

With a content sigh Esther Bennesch boarded the train that would bring her from Brighton Beach’s Little Odessa to central Manhattan, to Darcy & Son, Lawyers.

When she’d landed at JFK two months ago, thoroughly disillusioned, broken-hearted and quite below zero on self esteem she’d never have guessed to be able to pick herself up so quickly. True, Esther wouldn’t go near a man for good, but she was able to see the world in general and the November-like NY in particular with a cheerful eye and it had been some weeks since she’d cried at the sight of happy couples (or at the sight of their favourite chocolate brand or at the advertisement of a film they’d seen together).

Esther’s state of contentedness was mainly due to the place she worked at –Darcy & Son, Lawyers.

Hired for some months to help with the Austrian side of a deal about restitution and damages for Holocaust survivors, she thrived on the quiet harmony the whole place spoke of. The firm, situated in an old stone building on the east side, was really small by NY standards and not one of the executives seemed to ever have heard of even the most commonly applied management principles in other law firms, hire and fire, etc. Therefore to look for ruthless competition in Darcy & Son, Lawyers. would be vain and the owners were rewarded by hard working, absolutely loyal employees who made the firm very successful.

Old Mr Darcy, who had retired after a heart attack, had made a name for himself first as District Attorney of Manhattan, then as a highly respected criminal defense lawyer who had always managed to steer clear of the really bad guys. His son Fitzwilliam had at first seemed to follow in his father’s footsteps but later specialized in international law.

Esther had done a thorough research about the firms where she applied for a job after finishing her law degree in Vienna and she’d been so impressed with Darcy & Son that she very nearly had not sent her resume as her career path had been rather odd.

So when the phone rang one night at four in the morning her surprise at someone introducing himself as Fitzwilliam Darcy yanked her wide awake. When he kept asking her however about the Viennese Philharmonics she grew rather indignant.

“Is that all you called me about at four in the morning?!”

The silence on the other end stretched and Esther was sure she’d blown it for good until Mr Darcy spoke again.

“I am terribly sorry, Ms Bennesch, it seems I added instead of subtracted the hours, that has happened before, please forgive me, time zones always confuse me. Otherwise I think I’m quite sane, I hope this unfortunate incident doesn’t prevent you from joining our firm for a special project.”

Of course not! By the time her soon-to-be employer had outlined what was expected from her, Esther was completely hooked and would have stomached a great many more phone calls in the wee hours to get this job.

As it turned out that was not necessary at all – her new colleagues were nice and helpful, she found a reasonably priced flat in an old brownstone and her work was thrilling. Esther covered everything about the project from actual legal work to preparing the others involved for the meetings with Austrian officials, which would be tough. She explained the different approaches of Austrian and US politics and legal systems, she fed them information about their opponents, about soccer and downhill racing. Mr. Darcy she never saw although they emailed daily.

At first Esther thought that a bit rude but was prepared to give him the benefit of doubt. Other lawyers she met from other firms thought such behaviour as not odd at all, just her belief that her new boss would greet her personally. Well, they got along just fine via email and Mr Darcy even showed some signs of a dry humour, but not enough to encourage Esther to present him with her welcome present, an inflatable globus which would help him with time zones.

Channukah passed, and Esther got over the holiday, but just barely. She felt very lonely and could not but think of what last spring her dreams had been about what would happen by then. By now she was able to distinguish between what had been self-deluding by herself – she had read so many things into their relationship that simply weren’t there - and what had been her partner’s fault, but at times such as this, it still smarted.

A blizzard covered New York ten inches deep in snow and Esther spent every spare hour skating at Central Park. As she once or twice a week came to work at four in the morning because she wanted to catch someone in Austria after their morning meetings she often took long lunch-breaks during which she went skating, then going back to the firm to finish her work load. The snowing continued and Esther even considered borrowing skis and ski to work over Brooklyn Bridge but let the thought drop after measuring the distance – she was in NY to work and not to train for the Olympics.

Sometime during January Esther noticed that she was at least able to think of maybe ever having a relationship again. Actually it happened not quite that way but in a much more embarrassing manner. Her neighbour, Mrs. Stein, was rather old and her arthritis gave her trouble getting up and down the four flights to her flat, but her humour was as dry and her tongue as sharp as ever. So one Saturday after attending the synagogue together, Esther waited for Mrs. Stein who was chatting with some acquaintances. During their slow walk home her neighbour remarked

“I cannot be sure about your heart but your eyes at least seem to work again, my dear, I am glad.”

Esther was puzzled by that remark but knew Mrs. Stein well enough to expect to be on the receiving end of one of her witticisms soon.

“Well, I got the impression that you noticed that Mrs Levinson’s nephew is indeed a man.”

Blushing deep red Esther realized that she had been thinking along those lines, in a rather innocent way, as she had wondered whether young Levinson wouldn’t make quite an accomplished dancing partner.

Mrs. Stein patted her hand.

“Please do not take offence from the idle chatter of an old woman, what I want to say is that whoever you are pining for across the pond is surely not worth your time and energy and that I am glad you’ve begun to come out of hiding. Aren’t there any young men at your firm?”

Esther had heard quite a lot from her female colleagues about the trouble of finding an unmarried, nice, straight man in New York City. She hadn’t thought about her male colleagues that much. The one man she probably talked most to in the firm was Diego, the night porter. But she wasn’t going to tell that to Mrs. Stein.

“I really haven’t thought about it. I write to Mr. Darcy twice a day usually but have never seen him.”

“Pishposh, writing! And by computer, when you cannot express yourself with the paper you choose!”

There Esther had to laugh.

“Truly, Mrs. Stein, you cannot convince me that you ever wrote on pale violet coloured, scented paper!”

“Of course not! But you can say a lot without saying a word. For instance when I wanted to tell a young man off who was too sure of himself I took paper from the drugstore or the post office.”

“Well, the equivalent in e-mailing would probably be to send the mail without correcting the typos. But somehow I do not think Mr. Darcy would be pleased. And all we ever write about is work.”

“Darcy, that name rings a bell. I will have to look up in the dance card, but I think I might have danced with your boss´ father on my debut.”

Esther thought grandfather more likely but choose not to point it out.

“Esther, you are a good girl, but if you want to be pleased with yourself because you refrained from mentioning that it most likely was Mr. Darcy´s grandfather please do it in a less obvious way.”

Esther bowed her head to hide her chuckle.

“Let´s get some sacher cake for coffee, Mrs. Stein.”

The beginning of February was slow at work for Esther since the first week of this month was a holiday in Austria. In her comparative idleness, she graced the men she met with some glances and some thoughts but no one caught her fancy. She realized some facts that had escaped her before though. Never having been somebody to pay close attention to what she was wearing, Esther now realized that she really stuck out. Not that it mattered, she never met any customers or lawyers from other firms but how she could have overlooked what seemed to be almost a lawyer’s uniform made her see how preoccupied she had been.

Man and women alike were dressed in the most sombre of suits, no loose hair, colour scheme ranging from black to dark grey. Esther made a mental note to think about whether this difference between the States and Europe could be of any importance for her briefing of the team who would do the actual negotiations.

And she decided at least not to wear her tartan-mini combined with short-sleeved black wool sweater over a green long-sleeved T-shirt (from a DKNY-sale however).

To her embarrassment, Esther had fallen asleep on her table. She had gotten up at three in the morning because she needed to reach one of Chancellor ------´s cabinet members before the Council of Ministers commenced, which was customary at nine a.m. every Tuesday in Austria. When she woke with a start, it was three p.m. and she delved into work. Getting her memos ready for Mr Darcy based on what had been going on in Parliament and in the Council of Ministers had her preoccupied so that she didn’t notice that the firm had gone unusually quiet for 5.30 on a workday.

Esther didn’t notice the man until he stood in her door. As she looked up she thought him to be looking very odd indeed but quite friendly. He might have confused the firm with the publishing house next door for he looked very much the distracted author but the fact that they were on the fifth floor put Esther on guard. She didn’t mean to be paranoid but up here it was quite clear that this was a law firm and no publishing house.

The man was dressed in an amber coloured corduroy suit at least fifteen years out of fashion and a shirt so faded that Esther suspected it still to bear washing marks from his school days. No tie and unruly locks coming down to his collar completed the picture. Cautiously she enquired

“Can I help you?”

“Ah, no, - why are you still working?”

Esther glanced at her watch.

“It is not even six, yet.”

“Yes, but today’s Valentine’s day.”

“Did you come to pick somebody up?”

At the puzzled look that crossed the man’s face, Elizabeth began to get a little bit impatient. She wondered whether she’d read too many NY – thrillers or too little. Maybe she should already scream bloody murder as a stranger was blocking her only escape route in an otherwise empty building. But then she decided to trust her instincts and not attack the poor guy with whatever she remembered from teenage judo lessons. She was after all fairly new in this firm, there was the remote possibility that he was a colleague she’d never met so far.

“No, I do work here.” came the belated answer. The man seemed to do a fair amount of staring at her. Due to her late revelations about dress codes Esther put this down to her tartan, deep down it irked her somewhat, especially considering the corduroy monstrosity he wore.

She stretched out her hand nevertheless.

“Esther Bennesch, pleased to meet you. I am here for a few months for the restitutions case.”

“Forgive my manners, I assumed, er, that is – Fitzwilliam Darcy at your service.”

Esther could not help a deep blush.

“Oh dear.”

Mr Darcy looked at her questioningly, so Esther felt the need to explain.

“You hired me not solely for legal work but also as sort of a counsel about the cultural and political differences between Austria and the States.”

“Right, and I’ve been wanting to tell you you’ve done a splendid job so far. Still you should not be working so long today.”

“Thank you, I hope to get it right and to pin down the important aspects. That’s why I am a bit embarrassed at being caught completely overlooking something like the importance of Valentine’s Day here. I didn’t realize that I ought to have a date or at least leave early in order to pretend that I have one until I read the pitying glances of my colleagues.”

“Well that makes two of us and I do not have the excuse of growing up somewhere else.”

“I think my colleagues will try to console me tomorrow with sharing their chocolates. Maybe you can get some from your secretary? – I have the memo ready for tomorrow, do you want it now?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Esther printed out the document and handed it to Mr Darcy. He looked it over and then addressed her

“Ms Bennesch, I’ve been wanting to talk to you in person for a while, there are some aspects in our case better suited to talking through than putting them in a memo where overtones might get lost. Are you free now?”

“Yes, sure.”

Esther hesitated, her office wasn’t more than a cubicle; not big enough to host such a meeting with any comfort.

“We can go to Susan’s office ´round the corner.” she offered

“Ah, yes, but aren’t you hungry?”

Just then Esther’s stomach answered the question.

“Sorry, yes, I am.”

“Do you know Luigi´s two blocks from here?”

“No, but don’t you think any restaurant is booked solid tonight?”

“Quite possibly so, but it is early yet, Luigi will be able to squeeze us in. Forgive me if I’m detaining you, Diego told me you keep unusual hours, if you’d rather go home to get some rest –“

“Then I’d have told you so.”

That had come out harsher than intended, so Esther added with a twinkle

“ I got my rest during my lunch break, longer even than I planned, that’s another reason why I’m running so late.”

“Then shall we have dinner?”

“Yes.”

“I will get my coat. Shall we meet in the lobby in five minutes?”

“All right.”

He was gone and Esther wondered whether she didn´t have a date on Valentine’s Day after all.

The End