Page 19 of Third Time is the Charm (Passion and Perseverance #3)
The bags under her eyes were a dead giveaway that she’d tossed and turned all night, struggling to fall asleep until well after three in the morning.
Beth groaned, at least her makeup was being professionally done today; if anyone could hide the dark circles, they could.
Her cranky, tired face on the other hand would take some more work.
She’d cracked a smile once this morning, when she’d responded to Col’s text from last night.
~ Sorry, crazy day yesterday.
- I bet. How’s Jane holding up?
~ Good, really good ?
- Are a lot of the guests there already?
Beth paused, knowing Colin was really wondering if Darcy was there, and if she’d seen him yet. How quickly her smile then disappeared.
~ I think so.
- Cool. Well, don’t worry – your dashing, dancing date is on his way.
That pulled a laugh from her lips.
~ I’ll try not to, McDreamy.
- Ugh. That was harsh.
Col hated when people referred to him as McDreamy because of his brother, especially when they didn’t bother to learn his real name; thankfully he knew she was kidding.
~ lol see you soon
Her stomach grumbled, unwilling to wait for his response.
Throwing on her yoga pants and t-shirt, Beth looked out the peep-hole in the door to make sure she wasn’t going to run into any intolerable surprises this morning before opening her door.
She had two hours before she needed to be in Jane’s suite again to start getting ready, which meant there was plenty of time for lots of coffee.
Making her way through the maze of hallways and staircases, she came down to the Equus restaurant, already bustling with guests for breakfast. Beth crossed her arms over her chest as she approached the hostess stand, already recognizing several of the people seated inside the dining room as either family friends or business associates at Longbourne; she couldn’t go in there looking like this.
“Hi,” Beth said quietly to the young girl at the podium. “I was wondering if I could just get a cup of coffee and a bagel to take back to my room.”
The girl looked puzzled for a minute, turning to ask one of the waiters who had come to stand behind her. “Ok, yeah, we can do that. It’ll just be one minute.”
“Great,” Beth said with a relieved sigh, giving the girl her room number so that she could just put it on her tab.
While she waited, Beth meandered over to the side of the public sitting room, looking out the window to the back of the castle property.
Her eyes wandered down the patio, over to the giant chess board, past which were several large lounge chairs interspersed throughout the lawn, some more secluded by the surrounding trees than others.
About to turn away, she noticed a distinctly pregnant woman making her way down towards one of the farther cluster of chairs, alone, with what looked like a muffin and bottle of water in hand. Lydia.
“Ma’am,” the hostess said from behind her.
Beth turned with a smile, taking the coffee and small carton containing her bagel.
She almost turned to walk back up to her room, where she’d originally planned to go back and enjoy her food, but then stopped, remembering that Lydia was eating breakfast outside, alone.
Now, she might finally have a chance to talk to her younger sister.
Beth slipped out the back door of the Castle as inconspicuously as possible, knowing that Jane and most probably her mother, as well as Mrs. Bingley, would be down for breakfast soon.
The morning had a slight chill to it and the fresh dew that still coated the grass in the shade stung her toes as she only had a pair of flip-flops on.
Walking quickly past the chess board and neighboring chairs, she made her way down the slight slope behind the large willow tree where there were three more lounge chairs waiting; on one of them was residing her pensive and pregnant sister, mindlessly eating her muffin.
Lydia didn’t even notice her approaching until Beth finally spoke. “Hey,” she said quietly, not wanting to startle her sister.
Lydia still jumped slightly, turning her head to see who had invaded her secluded grove. “Oh, hey, Beth,” she answered, picking up her water bottle and taking a sip.
“Mind if I join you?” Beth asked, nodding to the empty chairs.
“No, of course not,” she smiled half-heartedly. “I just needed some fresh air, and to eat breakfast without mom grilling me as to why I’m eating so many carbs.”
Beth chuckled, knowing that only their mother would berate a pregnant woman about her choice in food.
“Well, I’d be right there with you,” Beth agreed, pulling her bagel out with a wry smile. “Unfortunately, I don’t have as good of an excuse as you for craving carbs.”
Lydia just smiled and nodded, taking another bite of the muffin that she was clearly enjoying.
“So,” Beth began hesitantly, unsure how to break the ice with Lydia; they’d never had that type of relationship where they shared intimate things with each other, but Beth could tell that she needed someone to lean on. “What happened with George?”
Lydia knew the question was coming. She continued to stare off blankly into the trees at the edge of the groomed grass, slowly chewing her last bite of muffin, savoring the brief, sweet respite before she ventured back into the sour state of where her life was currently.
“I left him,” she answered, repeating the information she’d divulged to Beth yesterday.
“What did he do?” Beth asked softly.
Lydia gave her a sad smile and Beth realized just how much older Lydia looked. Sadness and heartbreak had aged her, along with the child she was growing, but mostly it was the emotional maturity that was now present in full force where it had been previously deficient.
“Everything… nothing,” she began nondescriptly, her eyes finally moving to meet Beth’s.
“I know I don’t have to tell you the type of person George is; you saw it from the beginning, everyone probably saw it by the end.
Selfish, self-centered, petty. He didn’t do anything like you’re probably thinking, at least not that I know of.
” Beth nodded, silently willing Lydia to continue, not wanting to interrupt her flow of feelings.
“It was my fault really; I expected too much. I expected a fairytale.” She paused here, laughing harshly at herself.
“I don’t blame mom, but I just saw marriage as the end-all-be-all.
When I got pregnant, I was so blinded by my attraction to George, and my belief that ‘of course, he wanted to marry me,’ that I couldn’t see he was trying to leave me the entire time – even after I knew that Darcy had bribed him to marry me. ”
Beth felt her heart breaking for her sister.
Yes, she’d been foolish and na?ve to ignore the blatant signs, and yes, at the time, if someone had told Beth that Lydia would end up like this, she would have thought ‘serves her right.’ But here, now, in this very moment, seeing her baby sister struggling to stay positive for her child, seeing that it was a losing battle written all over her face, seeing her ever, overly optimistic spirit simply crushed, she couldn’t find the desire to scold her or any satisfaction in knowing that she was right.
She swallowed hard, knowing how easy it was to judge until you’re knee-deep in the situation and you realize that you wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
“After we moved, everything and nothing changed. Nothing changed with George – always busy trying to get ahead at work, never wanting to bother with me or the baby. Everything, on the other hand, changed with me, not the least of which was reality that I was going to be a mom; and it looked like I was going to basically be doing it on my own. That responsibility changes you, it makes you grow up very fast. And in that process, it opened my eyes to the truth about the man I had married, and I didn’t want him to be a part of my daughter’s life if he didn’t care to be.
I don’t want to force him to be a father; I don’t want my daughter to grow up feeling like I’ve forced her father to love her. So, I set him free.”
“What did he say when you left?”
Lydia looked away for a moment before answering.
“Nothing, really,” she said softly, the memory obviously upsetting to her.
“He didn’t say anything because he doesn’t really care.
He never wanted to be married or have a child.
He told me I could do whatever I wanted.
The only thing he cared about knowing was whether or not he would still be financially responsible for the child,” she finished with a laugh of disbelief.
God, George was such an ass.
Beth could see how much it hurt Lydia that he hadn’t fought for her or their child, that he’d been ok with her leaving.
She knew it was that moment that had shattered her sister’s belief in a fairytale; just like when Darcy hadn’t followed her to Boston, in spite of everything that he’d done, a part of her deep down inside had hoped that she’d meant enough to him for at least that.
But he never came. Telling George that she wanted to leave was Lydia’s last shot, the last card she could play, to see if there was anything about her or their child worth fighting for.
“I’m sorry, Lyd,” Beth whispered, doing her best to hold back the tears in her eyes.
Lydia gave her a weak smile. “Don’t be, you know it’s for the best.” Her words were clear, but her tone said that she wished it hadn’t come to this.
Beth’s brow furrowed. “Wait, so did Darcy fire George then? What happens to him now if you leave him?” Not that she cared about George, but the only reason he got that job was if he married Lydia. Getting a divorce would nullify that arrangement.
“Nothing. I left George, he didn’t leave me. Plus, I asked him not to do anything.”