Page 46 of Second Chances (Passion and Perseverance #2)

“Beth! What are you doing! I need you downstairs with the favors! Jane is going to be here any minute!” her mom screeched, standing at the doorway, forcing Beth back to the present.

In a moment of lucid thought that Beth didn’t know that she possessed, a mask of normalcy came over her, covering all trace of the shock she’d just experienced.

“I know! I just didn’t know which room was which, but I figured it must be the last room since I’ve barged into all the others.

” Beth’s words conveyed the perfect amount of exasperation at the lack of detail in her mother’s instructions, as she ushered her mom back into the hall, shutting the door behind her.

If Irene had thought something suspicious was going on when she came upon her daughter staring blankly at a piece of artwork on the wall, the thought was quickly trumped by the immediacy of the party going on below them and her need to return to it.

Focusing on only the task at hand, Beth walked purposefully to the last door, opening it to reveal the favor bags sitting neatly along the floor.

Her mother and she gathered the small gifts and made their way back downstairs.

Beth made a show of arranging the gift bags neatly on the entryway table, insisting that her mom get back to the guests needing a moment to process everything that had just come to light.

Once alone, she still couldn’t manage to hold onto a single train of thought.

All she could see was Darcy’s face on the canvas over and over again, looking at her with that hunger in his eyes; except, he wasn’t looking at her, he’d been looking at Caro.

Her phone buzzed, it was her, letting Beth know that she and Jane were on their way.

She’s going to be here any minute. What are you going to do?

What could she do? She couldn’t leave. She couldn’t confront her, especially without talking to Darcy first.

What was she even going to say to him? How could he not tell her ?

Pain bloomed in her chest. She was trapped. All that she could do was pretend like nothing had happened, like there was no problem between them, like Caro hadn’t stalked and threatened her, like Caro wasn’t trying to ruin her relationship with Darcy so that she could have him all to herself.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Her heart was racing, but she had no choice. Caro had no clue that she had seen the drawing. It was her only saving grace that, for Caro, nothing had actually changed.

Now, how she going to be able to pretend that nothing had changed, that was the issue.

Her stomach turned at the thought of talking to Caroline now, knowing that it was she who had hurt Darcy the way that she had.

If Caro had just been a normal ex-girlfriend, who hadn’t traumatized the love of Beth’s life, who hadn’t played with his emotions, who hadn’t threatened her and her family, this wouldn’t be an issue.

Except maybe there would be a little bit of jealousy because Caroline is drop-dead gorgeous, and Darcy had ‘loved’ her.

Ok, fine.

All of these thoughts were playing across Beth’s mind when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey! Where have you been hiding?” The playful warmth of Charlotte Lucas’ voice melted through the cold anxiety that intensified as every minute brought Beth closer to facing Caroline.

“Hey, sorry! It’s been a crazy morning trying to get everything ready for this,” Beth explained with a forced laugh. “I literally just changed and brought the favors down and Jane’s about to walk in any minute. Nothing like cutting it close!”

Char looked at her suspiciously. If Char had been Jane, she would have known something was off, but she wasn’t; she and Beth hadn’t seen too much of each other recently which meant that Char took Beth at her word and didn’t press her concerns further .

“Caroline just texted me that they are on their way, so we should get everyone ready for the surprise,” Beth continued, Caroline’s name leaving a bitter taste in her mouth as she ushered Char over to the rest of the group of guests.

Gathering everyone in the living room off to the right of the entrance, Beth and Irene hushed everyone into silence, waiting for the bride-to-be to make her entrance. Thankfully, they only waited a few minutes before Beth’s phone buzzed to tell her that Caro and Jane were here.

Beth’s heart clenched when the door opened and Caroline entered the house first, rage coursing through her body. The moment anticipating Jane’s entrance, however, reminded her of the role she had to play and, leading the group, yelled, “ SURPRISE!” as her sister entered the house.

For a second, all Beth could see was the mix of astonishment, excitement, and happiness exuding from Jane’s face.

All of the negative emotions that had consumed her in the past fifteen minutes subsided as she rushed up to hug and greet her sister, both of them laughing with happy tears in their eyes.

They were quickly overwhelmed as Irene and the rest of the guests made their way forward to congratulate Jane.

Beth carefully moved back out of the mass, letting Jane enjoy the crush of attention.

As she scanned the room to assess the whole situation, she caught Caro’s eyes, quickly keeping hers moving across the rest of the room.

Spotting Char on the periphery of the guests talk to her mother, Beth decided to make a beeline for their company, hoping to avoid at least a private conversation with Caro at all costs. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quick enough.

“Beth! What a wonderful job you and your mother did,” Caro exclaimed as Beth felt her icy hand grab her arm to detain her.

Plastering a fake smile on her face, she turned to face the woman trying to destroy her.

“Thank you,” she replied hollowly. “It was a bit of a craze this morning, but we were able to pull everything together.” Beth saw Caro’s eyes flicker with interest at her subtle change in demeanor .

“I see,” Caro continued, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly on Beth, “so, what do you think of my house? I haven’t been able to do much with it yet, but I hate to start because I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying here…”

Why? Because you think you’ll be moving back in with Darcy soon? HAH!

“I’ll be honest, I haven’t too seen much of it,” Beth replied, not taking Caro’s bait. “I ran late this morning so this is probably the first time I’ve stopped and actually taken a look around, but it seems very nice.”

“I thought so. At least it will be a great investment property when I move out,” Caro continued, even more suggestively as a sly smile crept over her face.

“Oh, definitely!” Beth exclaimed, plastering on a smile even though her gaze was hardened with hate. “Oh, you know what” I need to go check with my mom about the favors; I’ll catch up with you later.”

Beth turned around and walked away, hoping she was going in the direction of her mom, while leaving Caro staring after her.

She couldn’t stand to be in her presence any longer, with her coy remarks, her subtle attempt to provoke Beth into delving deeper into her personal life, all the while knowing that it was she who was trying to destroy Beth’s relationship with Darcy.

Beth couldn’t help but think about every conversation that they had ever had; her anger rising as she thought about how each time Caro was only toying with her, pretending to be concerned, looking for a friend, when all the while she was truly planning on ruining her relationship.

Beth grabbed one of the cocktails sitting on the small bar in the dining room, taking a large sip of the fruity mimosa within, hoping to wash down the taste of bile in her mouth and her stomach’s urge to vomit.

Thankfully, Beth found Irene in the dining room talking with Mrs. Bingley.

Perfect. Any enemy of Caro’s is a friend of mine.

If she could ensconce herself in conversation with Caro’s mom, that might be enough of a deterrent to prevent Caro from approaching her again .

“Mrs. Bingley, it’s so wonderful to see you again,” Beth exclaimed, greeting Jane’s future mother-in-law.

“Good afternoon, my dear. This is a lovely little party you’ve put together,” Mrs. Bingley replied.

Mrs. Bingley was a very reserved woman, who, along with her husband, had very similar ideas about life and marriage as Irene Bennet.

Well, it was more like Mrs. Bingley had specific ideas about social norms that she insisted that Mr. Bingley follow.

Naturally, though, this was the main reason that she and Irene got along so well.

Beth hadn’t spoken to her very much before now; most of what she knew had been relayed from Jane.

Mrs. Bingley was dressed as if she were here to attend tea with the Queen of England herself, but then again, every time Beth had seen her before, this was the style and caliber of clothing that she had chosen to wear.

She was very pleasant, but never got too emotional about anything, whether it was good or bad; it seemed that Charles had inherited his congenial manner from his father.

“We were just discussing the troubles of raising girls,” Irene interjected, clearly eager to get back to the discussion.

There must be some juicy gossip involved…

“Ahh, yes, well, I was saying that it seems that you’ve lucked out here with Jane, Irene. If only my Caroline were so well-behaved,” Mrs. Bingley continued on a sigh.

“I thought you and Caroline were on good terms,” Beth exclaimed, falsely, “at least, I would have never thought otherwise…”

If Mrs. Bingley was anything like Irene, she wouldn’t hesitate to discuss her woes with her daughter.

Turn around is fair play, Beth thought with a smile. Time to figure out what Caro is really doing here.

“Yes, yes, if only that were the case,” Mrs. Bingley lamented. “Unfortunately, my daughter is very headstrong and focused on what she wants, regardless of the effects it will have on her family.”

“Well, her artwork was a pretty big success in Italy, she was telling me,” Beth instigated, hoping that she would reveal more .