Page 57 of First Impressions (Passion and Perseverance #1)

Chapter Forty

“Hello? Jane?” Beth called as she walked into her parent’s home, Phil not far behind her. “Dad?”

Beth heard her mother’s cries coming from upstairs and she was about to go up the stairs when Jane appeared in the hall from the kitchen.

“Beth! Thank God you are here,” she said as she walked toward her sister to give her a hug.

Jane’s eyes were red and swollen from crying and Beth was pretty sure that hers were not much different.

As she embraced her sister, she saw Charles coming out of the kitchen holding two cups of tea.

She was surprised to see him and when her body stilled and pulled back, Jane turned to look at Charles and then sheepishly back to Beth.

“He was at the apartment when I got Lydia’s message.

He refused to leave me when I was so upset,” she explained to Beth as a blush crept onto her face.

“And then when dad called me that mom was beside herself, he brought me home. We were just making some tea to bring up to mom. She won’t stop crying and she keeps saying that she won't eat until we find Lydia.”

Of course, she won’t. Beth couldn’t help but roll her eyes, which earned her a hard stare from Jane.

Of course, their mom was upset; her daughter was pregnant and missing but her pessimistic self couldn’t help from wondering how much of her distress was caused by the thought of the gossip that would ignite once word got out and what she was going to have to tell her ‘friends.’

“She’s a mess, Beth. Take it easy on her,” Jane said as she moved past her to give Phil a hug. “Thank you for coming; I know dad could use your help.”

Beth blushed as she said hello to Charles, unable to give him a hug since he was holding the tea cups.

I wonder how much Darcy has told him. What if he told him everything that we did?

That would be awkward. What if he told him how I refused him?

God, that would be so much worse. She shuddered and moved towards the stairs, eager to get into a larger crowd of people; even if that crowd included her hysterical mother.

They entered the sitting room that adjoined her parent’s bedroom.

Her mother was lying on the chaise, arm draped over her face wailing ‘Why?!’ over and over again.

Her father was sitting in the chair next to the fireplace with his head in his hands, clearly distraught and at a loss over how to console his wife.

“Hey, Dad,” Beth said as she moved toward him to give him a hug.

“Oh Bethy, what has your sister done?” He hugged her back with tears in his eyes.

“Beethhh!” Her mom cried her name. She let go of her dad and knelt down beside her mother. “Where is she, Beth? Where is my darling little girl? Where is she?”

She grabbed her mom’s hands and whispered, “Shh, we’re going to find her. Uncle Phil is here to help dad. We’re going to find her, mom. It’s going to be ok.” She felt a tear slip loose, and in spite of her thoughts only moments ago, she saw her mother’s completely genuine dismay.

Jane came over to see if her mom would drink a cup of tea, allowing Beth to stand and join her father, Phil, and Charles.

“Do you have any idea where they would have gone?” Phil asked.

“No. She didn’t say anything specific. She just said that they are running away.”

“Have you called the police?”

“Yes, but it hasn’t been forty-eight hours so they won’t file a ‘missing persons’ report yet.”

“Can’t you track her phone and see where it is?” Jane suggested, still sitting on the floor by her mom.

“The police already suggested that but she disabled the ‘Find My iPhone’ feature. We also tried using Kat’s phone to locate her through the ‘Find My Friends’, but she disabled that too,” her father replied defeated.

“Charles, you knew George; do you have any idea where they would go?” Beth asked him, grasping at straws .

“I don’t. I wish I did. He lived with Darcy and his father when I knew him but that was a long time ago.

As far as I knew that was the only house he ever stayed at but after Robert passed away, everything went to Darcy and George left.

I don’t even know where George was staying in the city because he certainly wasn’t staying with Darcy. ”

“Would he try to go to one of Darcy’s other houses?” she continued.

“I don’t know. The only other one that they really stayed at sometimes when they were younger, aside from the Rockefeller house on the Hudson, was a house in Newport, Rhode Island,” Charles looked distressed and lowered his voice as he continued with his thought, “But I just don’t see him going there.

He’d most likely stay with friends and if I had to be honest, I would look for places that Lydia might go because I can’t see George staying with her.

He’s been in the country for almost two months now; the first month he spent trying to find Darcy and then when Darcy turned down his job request, he went looking for Georgiana to try to blackmail Darcy into giving him a job,” he said harshly, clearly disgusted by the lengths that man would go to get what he wanted.

“You don’t think he’ll hurt her, do you?” Beth asked him quietly, suddenly afraid that George might do something reckless to get rid of the problem.

“Oh no,” Charles said reassuringly. “I don’t think he’s capable of that. More likely he will just try to get her away from her family and friends and those who could pressure him into marrying her, which would mean losing his one potential tool for leverage against Darcy.”

“I don’t think it can hurt to check in Rhode Island, though,” Phil interjected.

“No, it can’t.”

“Who was the friend he was staying with in the city? We met him. Maybe Kat remembers. He could have taken her to his friend’s apartment or another residence that he owns.

” Before anyone could respond, Beth turned toward Jane and asked, “Jane, can you go ask Kat if she remembers George’s friend’s name from the day we were at Saks? ”

“Of course.” Jane got up and went to go find Kat who had been holed up in her room. She came back a minute later with the name: Ben Cole.

“I don’t know where he lives in the city, but I think his parents have a large house in the Hamptons,” Charles said.

“Why don’t I check there, John?” Phil asked. “You stay here with Irene in case she contacts you again or comes home.”

“No, I can’t. I have to go with you,” her father shook his head vigorously, insisting that he be a part of the search. “Beth and Jane can stay here with Irene and Kat. Right, Beth?”

“Of course Dad, whatever you need.”

Her father and Phil decided they would leave tomorrow morning, see if they could find Ben Cole in the city and if not head out to the Hamptons by noon. Beth and Jane chose to stay the night, too exhausted to think about going home.

In spite of everything that was going on, when Charles gave Jane a kiss before leaving for the night, it brought a smile to her face and Beth felt her heart clench, wishing she had Darcy to lean on and comfort her right now.

As she and Jane got into the guest bed that night, Beth noticed that her sister seemed unusually preoccupied.

“Is everything ok?” she asked. “I mean besides the Lydia stuff.”

“Yeah, I just…” she broke off as if she was debating whether to tell Beth or not. “You can’t say anything, which I know you won’t, but Charles asked me to marry him.”

“What?! Jane, that’s amazing!”

“I know; I just feel like I shouldn’t be happy right now because of Lydia. It just happened earlier today but then dad called so I told Charles that we can’t tell anyone right now. Not until we find Lydia.”

“Are you serious? He proposed today? Where’s the ring?”

“He didn’t get one yet.” She laughed to herself.

“He was going to wait but when he was over earlier, he said that he just knew he had to do it then; that he couldn’t go another day without knowing that we would spend the rest of our lives together.

So it was completely unplanned. It was perfect.

” Jane was smiling to herself as she seemed to relive the moment.

“Oh my god! That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.” Beth hugged her sister, letting happy tears stream down her face.

They laughed together before settling in to go to sleep. They had a long day ahead. As Beth wiped the tears from her face, she tried to keep telling herself that they were happy tears for Jane’s engagement, not sad tears for Darcy’s absence.

The following day seemed to pass in slow motion. Beth and Jane spent the entire day with their mother, trying to console and calm her. They would succeed until something reminded her of ‘her baby, Lydia,’ at which point she would burst into hysterics again.

First, it was when Jane begged her to eat something for breakfast, offering to make her eggs or toast or even a bowl of oatmeal; well, oatmeal is what Lydia ate for breakfast most days.

Then, Jane brought her a cup of chamomile tea to drink; it was in a mug that their mother had bought when she and Lydia had been shopping together.

Beth would have thought the recollections as ridiculous as the emotional outburst they elicited if she hadn’t paused in the hallway where Darcy had told her that he wanted her to stay away from him.

Immobile, she stood reliving their encounter, seeing it from a whole new perspective; seeing him as a man so overwhelmed and confused by his intense attraction to her that it made him lose control.

She didn’t even feel the tears form in her eyes and begin to roll down her cheeks until Kat jarred her from her reverie.

“Beth, are you ok?”

“Y-yeah. Just worried about Lydia is all,” she responded as she used her sleeve to brush the tears from her cheeks.