Page 62 of First Impressions (Passion and Perseverance #1)
Chapter Forty-Four
She really thought that she was going to be much more nervous about this meeting than she was right now, sitting and waiting for Mrs. DeBourgh to arrive.
Maybe it was because she’d been thinking about it all night; maybe it was because she’d gone over every possible response to any questions about her and Darcy - from clever lies to the blatant truth, she’d cycled through and rehearsed them all.
As she sat there though, she still hadn’t decided which answer she was going to give.
Maybe it was just because, after everything that had happened with Darcy, she knew that there wasn’t a chance for them to be together anymore which meant that there was nothing for Mrs. DeBourgh to worry about.
Maybe all of the nervous apprehension had turned into resignation, knowing that it didn’t matter what or how much of a relationship she admitted to having with Darcy; it was over and there was a greater chance of hell freezing over before marriage was ever a word brought up between the two of them again.
Taking another sip of her tea, she had to laugh to herself at her current situation: having to answer to her semi-boss about a man whom said-boss believed was in a relationship with her daughter but now thought was in a relationship with her except that relationship no longer existed even though Beth wished that it did.
Oh, the webs we weave. Maybe it had nothing to do with that, but she was about to find out. Her phone buzzed with a text from Anne.
Good luck!
She responded, Thanks!
When she looked up from her phone, she saw Mrs. DeBourgh walking towards her with an unusually sour look on her face that erased any doubt. Oh, this was definitely about Darcy.
“Miss Bennet.” Her address dripped with displeasure as she sat down. “I’m confident that you are well aware of why I’ve asked for this meeting. ”
Beth’s eyes widened and her eyebrows raised, partly in surprise at the directness of her statement and partly as a non-verbal response.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. DeBourgh. I can’t say that I am. I would assume to go over how Gardiner, and I, met your business needs at the White Party.” Beth tried to play it off; she was too smart to come out and give away any more information than was necessary to this woman.
“Miss Bennet,” she replied, her tone even harsher.
“I did not get where I am today by letting little nobodies, like yourself, play games with me. So you can play coy all that you want, but my position in the world has afforded me the power to be direct with you; whether you are going to return the courtesy or not is up to you. I’ll admit that I was very pleased with the work you and your firm did for me and I was looking forward to pursuing that mutually beneficial relationship permanently.
However, it was brought to my attention yesterday that not only is your younger sister Lydia married now and your older sister, Jane, engaged to Charles Bingley, but that you yourself are about to be engaged to Mr. William Darcy, the man my daughter has been planning to marry since she was practically born.
Obviously, this cannot be true as I’m confident that the ring Mr. Darcy won in the bidding is for Anne.
However, I felt that it was my obligation to inform you that there are these rumors being spread around and I would ask you to put an end to them before my daughter gets hurt. ”
Wow, this woman was completely clueless about her daughter. Beth thought for a moment though, before responding, not wanting to say anything that would get Anne in trouble with her mom - that was between the two of them.
“Mrs. DeBourgh, if you’re so confident that it isn’t true, that these rumors are completely unfounded, then I’m sure you don’t need to waste your time meeting with me to confirm it,” she finally replied, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
“Miss Bennet, just because I’m confident of its outrageous falseness doesn’t mean that I’m not going to do my due diligence in having it unequivocally refuted by the very person at the center of it all,” she began in a huff.
“Don’t play games with me, Miss Bennet, I’m in no mood.
I’m confident that you know these are the rumors going around, whether you are the one who instigated them or not is immaterial at this point.
Now, you will tell me whether there is any foundation to them or not! ”
“Mrs. DeBourgh, just because you hired me to do my job, doesn’t mean you own me or have a right to any information whatsoever about my personal life.” Beth retorted, tired of being pushed around.
“Do not test me, dear. Let me be clear; there can be no truth to these assertions because Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter, do you understand?”
“Well, if that’s the case, then you can be sure that he wouldn’t also propose marriage to me.”
Her responses were infuriating Mrs. DeBourgh.
The woman’s face was beet red and she looked like she was about to reach across the table and strangle Beth right then and there.
Beth was kind of enjoying it - putting this woman in her place; she was also slightly concerned about what the consequences of that might be but not enough to let herself be bossed around anymore.
“They have been essentially engaged since they were born, even though it might not be official yet and these rumors are an insult to that. Now, are you engaged to Mr. Darcy?”
Beth hesitated, the potential ramifications of her persistent subversive responses weighing on her, and then responded, “No, I am not.”
The relief that passed over the older woman’s face was palpable.
“And do you swear that you will never agree to marry Mr. Darcy should he, in a state of pure insanity, propose to you?”
“I absolutely will not.” Not that that was ever going to happen again.
“Miss Bennet! Either you make this promise to me or, mark my words, I will destroy you. I will destroy not only your career but the firm you work for and I will make sure that no company that has any aspirations of going anywhere looks at hiring you. ”
“Mrs. DeBourgh, I will never promise that. I’m not going to sit here and let you try to intimidate and insult me and bully me into something so ridiculous and unreasonable.
If Mr. Darcy is going to marry Anne, then what difference would my promised refusal make?
I don’t know what impression I’ve given you as to my character but I’m not a push-over.
I don’t care what you threaten me with, I will never make such a promise to you; you are talking about my life, my relationships, topics which you have zero right to be concerned in.
Now, if that is all, I should get going. ”
“I don’t think so. You need to think very closely about how much damage you are about to subject not just your life, but the lives of your family and friends to.
Don’t think I don’t know that George Wickham knocked up your younger sister and had to be forced to marry her and don’t think I won’t make sure that she and everyone else knows it.
Don’t think I won’t convince everyone, every business who matters that your father sold Jane off to the highest bidder in order to sell his firm.
And last don’t think that I won’t hesitate to inform Darcy himself that you’ve been spying on him and feeding me information on him this entire time; what do you think his opinion of you will be then?
” She smiled smugly, assuming she had dealt the winning blow.
“Mrs. DeBourgh, I don’t think there is anything left for you to possibly threaten or insult me with. So, on that note, I’m leaving.”
Beth stood up and Mrs. DeBourgh followed suit saying, “So you think he wants to marry you then do you?”
“I never said anything like that. All I said was that I refuse to promise something that may or may not affect my future and my happiness to a complete stranger who has no regard for my wellbeing or wishes.”
“Well if that is your final decision, I can see that I’ve wasted my time expecting you to behave like a reasonable person,” she said with disdain. “You only have yourself to blame for the consequences that will follow should anything impede my daughter and Darcy’s engagement.”
And with that statement, she stalked out of the restaurant and hopefully, out of Beth’s life for good.
Beth went to reach for her phone and realized how badly she was shaking.
Making her way to the ladies’ room, she splashed some cold water on her face, not knowing how she had found the strength to stand up to Mrs. DeBourgh like that.
She needed to talk to Anne but not here, not now.
She was too shaken up. A few deep breaths later, she was in an Uber and on her way back home, anxious to talk to and warn her friend about what her mother had said.
“Hey, what happened? Are you ok?” Anne immediately answered her call.
“I’m not sure. Your mom asked me about Darcy,” Beth began, trying to coherently relay their altercation. “Did you say anything to her?”
“No! I try to bring up Darcy as little as possible around her; otherwise she just jumps right to our supposed engagement. What did she say?”
“She said there are rumors that I’m about to be engaged to him and she wanted me to swear to her that I would never do such a thing.”
“Are you?? Did you??”
“I, ahh, well no. We aren’t engaged so at least that was a truthful answer that I gave her. Not that he didn’t already ask me though…” she trailed off.
“But you said no?” Even though she asked, Anne didn’t seem shocked by her revelation.
“Yeah. You don’t seem surprised. Did he tell you already?” She knew that she still shouldn’t feel jealous of his and Anne’s relationship, but she wanted that same type of closeness with him.