A Good Name: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Variation

by Sarah Courtney

  “They can’t stay together all the time,” Will said firmly. “They love to play with each other during the day, but they have to go to their own homes to sleep. Tomorrow, Pookie can come back and play with Bear-Bear.”

  Georgie sighed a great, gusty sigh. “Oookay. Bye-bye, Bear-Bear.”

  “Bye-bye!” Emmy said.

  Emmy’s mother stepped forward and gave Will a quick, hard hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. Her voice sounded shaky. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” She swallowed and took a quick step back, and the door closed before Will even had a chance to react.

  “Well, that went about as well as I could expect,” Will said as he walked along the hall back to the welcome desk. “It’s time for Mom to take you home and put you to bed now, Georgie.”

  Georgie was examining her bear very closely. “Yep. Bear-Bear’s bedtime.”

  “Bear-Bear is Emmy’s bear, Georgie,” Will said. “You can keep calling your bear Pookie.”

  “I know!” She put one hand on her hip. “Pookie is having a sleepover with Emmy. Bear-Bear is having a sleepover with me.”

  Mom and Dad were waiting at the welcome desk to give Georgie a ride home, as Will was planning to stay later to play basketball with some of the teens, but he stopped short at Georgie’s words. “What?” He leaned down to look at the bear.

  Sure enough, it wasn’t Pookie. He could see, now that he was looking closely, that this bear was brand new and fluffy-looking, without any of the wear that Pookie had received over the last three and a half years. “Uh, Georgie? Why didn’t you give Emmy Bear-Bear? Now she has your Pookie!”

  Georgie shrugged. “Bear-Bear is having a sleepover at my house tonight. Now you have to take me back to visit Emmy and Pookie tomorrow, or Pookie will be lost forever!”

  Will couldn’t help but laugh. “All right, Georgie. We’ll see Pookie tomorrow.”

  Georgie gave him an angelic smile. “I know.”

  August 2008

  “This one, Will!” Georgie said as she bounced onto Will’s knee.

  He grunted as he took a look at the book, then sighed. “The Story About Ping? Again? We just read this last night.”

  She tucked her head under his chin and snuggled up close to his chest, holding her old crocheted blanket close. “I want the duck story again, please.”

  He shook his head. “All right, but then I get to pick the next book, okay?” He felt her nod.

  Will stroked her soft golden curls as he read her favorite story to her and Blankie. His mind wandered as he read the too-familiar story, and he wondered what to read her next. It was one of their very last times to read together for a while.

  In just a few weeks, he’d be on his way to Virginia Tech. He and Dad had endlessly discussed what the best major was in order to take over the business someday, and ultimately he had decided to take a double degree in engineering and business. He’d go on to get an MBA later, but he thought that having an engineering background, even if it was only an undergraduate degree, would help him understand the technology that the company was developing and that he’d ultimately be a better CEO for it.

  He was excited to go to Virginia Tech. It was a good school, and Charlie was planning to apply next year, which was great. Richard had gone to UVA, so Will wouldn’t see him as much. The VT shooting in April had freaked Mom out and she had tried to insist that Will go to UVA with Richard instead, but Will and his dad worked hard to reassure her. The news had shaken Will, too, of course, but not enough to change his mind.

  He wasn’t excited to leave his family, though. His family. It sounded so good to say those words, and to have the sort of family he was sad to leave.

  Six years ago, he would never have imagined that he’d be going to college at all, let alone such a good school. He’d have never imagined that he’d have a little sister he adored and parents he hated to leave. He felt a pang as he thought of the mother he’d lost, though. A mother who seemed like a distant memory now.

  But he was excited for a new adventure. He had been assigned a roommate and was anxious to see what it was like to share a room. His things were packed and ready to go. The last time he’d had to pack everything, it had been into trash bags. Now it was in plastic crates, tubs, and suitcases. Okay, and into a few trash bags as well. They were very convenient for stuffing into the back of the Audi!

  Georgie shifted in his lap, bringing Blankie up to her face and nuzzling it. Will got a whiff and attempted not to gag at the smell. Blankie was overdue for another bath in the washing machine.

  Finally, Ping got his spanking and was back on his own boat with his aunts and uncles and cousins and all those other ducks.

  “Again?” Georgie asked hopefully.

  “How about George Shrinks?” Will suggested.

  Georgie sighed. “Okay.”

  He dumped her gently into the easy chair while he went to fetch the picture book treasury that included the story. When he returned, he smiled to see her curled into the side of the easy chair, sucking her thumb.

  “Hey,” he said softly. “No thumb, remember?”

  “I forgot,” she said with a mischievous grin.

  “Suuure you did. Okay, up you go!” He scooped her up and sat down with her on his lap. “Now for Georgie Shrinks!”

  She laughed. “He’s not Georgie, he’s George! I’m Georgie!”

  He tousled her hair. “That you are, kiddo, that you are.” He shook his head as he started to read. Seriously, whatever were his parents thinking naming her Georgiana? And he’d changed his name to be different! Maybe he should suggest she change her name to Wilhelmina when she grew up. He grinned at the thought.

  Part II

  First Impressions

  February 2016

  Will closed his eyes and leaned against a column briefly. At least, it was intended to be brief. As soon as his eyes closed, though, he could feel himself relax and realized that this was a bad, bad idea. He was going to nod off if he didn’t keep his eyes open.

  Deciding they needed to stay open and actually doing it were two very different things, though. It took a supreme act of willpower to convince himself to open them.

  He gasped with surprise when the first thing he saw was two very bright blue eyes right in front of his.

  Charlie Bingley bounced back on his heels so quickly he spilled a bit of his drink on Will.

  “Well, crap, Will, if I’d known you were sleeping standing up, I’d have used a bull horn. Would’ve been a lot more fun!”

  Will rolled his eyes. “Knock it off, Charlie, I’m just tired.”

  “Of course you are,” Charlie said, his voice softening. Great, just what Will didn’t need—more sympathy. “You gotten any sleep lately?”

  “Not a full night since the accident,” Will muttered.

  His parents and Georgiana had been in a serious car accident six months ago. He still woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He had come so close to losing his entire family. It was a constant battle not to beg them to never, ever ride in one car or plane together again.

  His father’s serious injuries had meant that Will had had to become acting CEO in place of his father, a role he had been woefully unprepared for. Between the stress of the job and his worry for his family, as well as the nightmares that plagued him, the last six months had been some of the worst of his life. His father’s gradual recovery, though, had given him hope that relief was in sight.

  This morning had been the final blow. Dad had come into the office and asked to meet with Will. The subject of the conversation, though, hadn’t been when Will would hand the reins back to Dad.

  “Retiring?” he’d shouted. “But . . . you can’t! How can you?”

  “Will, I’m tired,” Dad said. He wheeled his chair closer to Will. “I’ve worked hard to get myself back physically, and I think I’ve made good progress.”

  “You’ve made fantastic progress,” Will said eagerly.

  “But it’s made me realize tha
t I’m just not up to getting back into the grind again anytime soon. Being recovered enough to walk a few steps with the cane and being recovered enough to go to resume my duties as CEO of a major corporation are two very different things.”

  “Dad, you’re only fifty-eight! That’s young in the business world!”

  Dad chuckled. “I suppose it is. But it’s young when you’re healthy and fit. It’s not so young when you need a wheelchair and can’t manage more than a few steps with a cane. Old bodies don’t recover as fast as young ones, Will.” Will winced. He’d noticed that his father was much thinner than he’d been before the accident. And there was more silver in his hair than there had been before. Still, he wasn’t old. Far from it.

  Will tried to keep his breathing regular. He stood up quickly and paced to the window and back, running his fingers through his hair.

  “Dad, I . . . I can’t do this. I’m not ready yet. I was young even to be given the position as COO. I knew it, the board knew it, even you knew it. I was COO for all of a year before your accident!” He turned and walked back over to his father, and immediately felt guilty for standing up and looming over him. He took his seat, but he couldn’t keep his knees from bouncing.

  “I know.” Dad wheeled even closer until his wheelchair almost bumped Will’s knee. He put his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Will, if I could change things, I would have kept my position for another ten years at least, let you have some experience and become comfortable with the job, maybe even let you have time to marry and start a family before you take on the more public position of CEO. But we don’t have that luxury.”

  Will hadn’t cried in years. But at the thought of continuing on this path, maintaining this stress level for years and years and years . . . he almost did cry. He blinked hard. His chest was so tight he couldn’t take a deep breath. He breathed shallowly and tried not to panic.

  “Dad . . .”

  Dad sighed. “Will, it will get easier. I promise. And maybe we can revisit things in a year or two. I’ll be glad to help in an advisory role, but the company needs a permanent CEO, not a temporary one. They need stability. I’ll go before the board and explain my reasoning. You know you can do the job.”

  Will nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

  Sometimes Dad did things a little more promptly than Will would have liked. He’d managed to meet with the board immediately after his talk with Will, and after a very long and contentious afternoon during which they tried to talk Dad out of it, Will was officially the CEO, and Richard would be offered the chance to step up as COO.

  Not only that, but the board meeting and resulting decision had not been kept secret. The announcement had been made at the end of business and passed along as quickly as such news was prone to do.

  The result was a sudden spotlight on him that he could happily have done without.

  Here he was at Charlie’s engagement party, and he’d never even met the famous Jane Gardiner that Charlie talked about all the time. Charlie had only been dating her for six months, but in those same six months, Will hadn’t had time for anything but the hospital and work.

  But there was no way he could spend the evening getting to know Jane and enjoying time with his friends because Charlie’s marketing position for the same company meant that many of the party-goers were now Will’s employees or business contacts, and they all wanted to meet with him.

  “Will!” Deshaun Washington, a production manager, had said eagerly the moment he walked through the door to the party. “So glad to catch you! I was wondering if you had a moment to talk about this new supplier I’ve been researching.”

  Will had reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged off. It took ten minutes to shake Washington, and then he was waylaid by one of the board members, Marcus Crawley, who was an old family friend of the Bingleys. By the time Crawley was done “expressing his concerns,” Will was desperate for a drink.

  He found the drinks, along with Charles’ brother-in-law, Michael.

  “Will Darcy, just the man I wanted to see!” Michael exclaimed, slapping him on the back as if they were old friends. Will winced. Michael was always just a bit too much for him. Too loud, too friendly, and too drunk.

  “Michael.” He nodded and took his drink from the bartender, hoping to escape without a conversation. But Michael put out a hand to stop him while he got his own drink.

  “Listen, Will, I’ve been working on a business plan, and I really think I have the right idea this time. I’ve been talking to a few vendors and gotten great quotes. And everybody who’s tried my prototype has loved it so far.” Right. So that probably meant that his wife, his mother, and maybe Charles if he’d caught him on a good day, had complimented it. “It’s gonna make all of those lists of ‘Twenty Greatest Inventions on Amazon’ and the like. So, what do you think, wanna get in on the ground floor? We really only need $50,000, maximum, and then we’re off and running.” Michael looked at him hopefully and took a sip of his drink.

  “Uh, well―”

  “Will!” Caroline wrapped her arm around Will’s and turned him away from Michael. “Mikey, you don’t mind if I borrow Will here, do you? Thanks! Oh, Will, how have you been? Oh, I’m so very sorry about your father. So sad.”

  “Uh . . . thanks. He’s―”

  “And I heard that now he’s retiring, and you’re the new CEO! CEO at only twenty-five! So impressive, Will.” She batted her eyelids at him.

  “It’s not―”

  “I’m sure your new job is very stressful,” she said, drawing out the “very.” “I know just what you need to relax.”

  He finally managed to pull his arm out of hers. “It was nice talking to you, Caroline, but I see somebody over there I need to go talk to. Privately.”

  She huffed, but he ignored her as he darted away.

  He had given up on getting to the drinks, but was still waylaid by two more women seeking rich husbands and another business associate on his path to Charlie. Finally, he had found a column that he could mostly hide behind.

  His technique worked for a while. Nobody had seemed to notice him here, and he had been able to relax. At least until Charlie found him.

  “Come on,” Charlie said, grabbing Will’s upper arm and giving it a pull. “Join the party. Relax a little. Forget that you’re a big shot and just be a normal twenty-five-year-old. Come meet my Jane!”

  Will smiled ruefully as Charlie dragged him along to where a beautiful blonde stood talking with some of Charlie’s friends.

  “Will, this is Jane!” Charlie said exuberantly.

  “I’m so pleased to finally meet you!” Jane said. “Charlie has told me so much about you. I’m so sorry about your father and everything.”

  “Thanks. He’s doing a lot better now.” He tried hard to keep his voice light, even though he was still simmering with resentment over his father’s early retirement.

  “Will doesn’t really do parties.” Charlie grinned. “But he’s making an exception for us.”

  Will flushed.

  “That’s very kind of him,” Jane said. “Would you like me to introduce you around, Will?”

  “No, that’s all right. I need to . . . call my dad and check in, anyway.”

  She gave him a sympathetic look. “Okay. I hope he’s well!”

  Will smiled weakly and escaped back to his column, cursing Charlie. He was usually so good at making Will feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations, but tonight he was either too overcome with love or too distracted by having all his dearest friends in one place. Will wished Richard were here, but he was on the opposite coast in business meetings. Will rather wished he’d taken the trip himself. Parties were so not his thing.

  He called Dad for a few minutes, mostly so that it hadn’t been a lie, and then he spent time people-watching, his favorite party activity. He was trying to decide if a particularly drunk couple had come to the party together or met that night when Charlie approached him again.

  “Hey, Will, you should co
me dance. Jane would dance with you if I asked her to.”

  Will winced. “Nah, that’s okay.”

  “Well, she has a sister, Elizabeth. I could introduce you. She’s a great dancer.”

  Every party was the same with Charlie. Last time it had been Stephanie. And before that, Becky. And then there was Emma, and Sabrina. Every opportunity Charlie had, he was pushing some other woman at Will. All of them were only interested in one thing—his checkbook. One dance, and they were ready to shout to the rooftops about an imminent engagement.

  “She’s right there,” Charlie said, indicating a woman with chestnut hair who was talking to Jane. “She’s almost as pretty as Jane is!”

  “She’s okay, I guess, but not pretty enough to get me on the dance floor. Charlie, leave off. I have no interest in dancing with whatever floozy you’re trying to throw at me this time.”

  The woman talking to Jane suddenly turned fully to Will, and he sucked in a breath. Oh, but she was beautiful. Her brown eyes flashed with sudden emotion, and her curly hair bounced as she walked away from Jane.

  For a brief moment, Will thought she was headed towards him. He stiffened, but she walked right past him. He turned to see her join another woman with bright red hair and freckles. The two leaned in close for a few minutes, then both burst into laughter. The one Charlie had tried to set him up with looked back at him, eyes twinkling. He swallowed.

  Maybe she wasn’t a Caroline or one of the other women who were suddenly all over him now that he was suddenly the face of the company. Maybe. But it was too hard to tell these days, and he certainly didn’t have time for a love interest anyway, not when he was barely keeping afloat as it was.

  He rolled his eyes and turned away.

  March 2016

  It was rather strange, Will thought, that Charlie had been dating Jane for six months before Will met her at their engagement party, and now it seemed like he saw her all the time.