Dreaming of Mr. Darcy

by Victoria Connelly

  ‘Annabel?’ Oli shouted.

  ‘Oli!’ The little girl dropped the woman’s hand and came running towards Oli, and Kay watched as he caught her up in his arms and spun her around. Who on earth was she? Kay wondered.

  Oh my goodness! She suddenly thought. It’s his daughter. She had the same butter-coloured hair; that much was evident. He has a secret love child! If I marry him, I’ll be a stepmother!

  ‘Come on, Bel, I want to introduce you to a very good friend of mine,’ Oli said, bringing the girl safely back down to earth.

  A very good friend. Kay didn’t like the sound of that, but what else could he say in the circumstances? This is your new mother, and you are going to love her as much as I do?

  ‘Kay, this is Annabel,’ Oli said. ‘Annabel, this is Kay.’

  The little girl’s face flushed the colour of pink roses, and she gave a hesitant smile. ‘Hello,’ she said.

  ‘Hello,’ Kay said, thinking that she was the prettiest little girl she’d ever seen. But why hadn’t she heard of her existence before? How had Oli kept her hidden for so long?

  ‘Annabel’s Teresa’s daughter,’ Oli said.

  ‘What?’ Kay said, looking startled.

  ‘Teresa’s daughter,’ Oli repeated.

  ‘But I thought…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I thought she was yours,’ Kay said in a whisper.

  Oli grinned. ‘She’s an angel, isn’t she?’

  Kay nodded in relief, but she was surprised too, because the girl bore so little resemblance to the harsh mother Kay had got to know over the last few days.

  ‘Where’s Mummy?’ Annabel asked.

  ‘She’s busy filming,’ Oli said.

  ‘She’s always busy filming,’ Annabel said.

  ‘I’m sorry to turn up unannounced,’ a voice said, and Kay suddenly became aware of the woman standing in the doorway.

  ‘That’s okay,’ Oli said. ‘Always good to see you both. Oh, let me introduce you both—Kay, this is Clare, Annabel’s nanny. Kay runs the bed and breakfast.’

  ‘I hope it’s all right, me turning up like this,’ Clare said. ‘Teresa said it would be okay.’

  ‘It’s no problem,’ Kay said, liking Clare immediately. She had a lovely round face and smiling eyes.

  ‘Here, come on in, and let’s get some lunch. I’m starving,’ Kay said.

  ‘Me too,’ Annabel said with a giggle.

  ‘You’ve just had lunch,’ Clare said.

  ‘But I want to have lunch with Oli,’ the little girl said.

  ‘I’m afraid I’ve got to get over to the film set.’

  Annabel gasped. ‘You’ve got no trousers on!’

  Clare’s eyes darted down to Oli’s legs, and her mouth dropped open.

  ‘You’re right,’ Oli said, ‘and I really should do something about that.’

  They all entered the hallway, and Oli disappeared up the stairs in a half-naked streak.

  Kay stood looking a little awkward. ‘I’m afraid we’re all booked up here,’ she said.

  Clare nodded. ‘That’s okay,’ she said. ‘Teresa said she got us a room somewhere up Cobb Road.’

  ‘Oh, good.’

  ‘We’ve booked in, but I wanted to call here on the off chance of her being around.’

  ‘I don’t think she’ll be back until the evening,’ Kay said. ‘Do you have a car? Maybe you could drive out to the set.’

  ‘Can we, Clare?’ Annabel asked excitedly.

  ‘We’ll have to see,’ Clare said. ‘Now, why don’t you go and sit over there?’

  Annabel did as she was told, entering the sitting room and walking straight over to the window. ‘We can’t see the sea from our flat, can we?’

  ‘No,’ Clare said. ‘But we’ve got a very fine view of Primrose Hill.’

  Kay went through to the kitchen and made two cups of tea. ‘Are you sure I can’t get you anything to eat? I’m going to make myself some pasta so it’s no trouble.’

  ‘No, really, we’ve just eaten.’

  A sudden thudding was heard on the stairs, and Oli appeared in the kitchen doorway. ‘All dressed,’ he said.

  ‘Are you sure you haven’t got time for something to eat?’ Kay asked, rather sorry to have lost the half-naked Oli from her life. Perhaps—once they were married—they’d walk half-naked all day around their plush London apartment together.

  ‘I really haven’t time,’ Oli said. ‘I’ll see you later, all right? Maybe we’ll have time for that meal together then.’

  Kay smiled, hoping he was right and already planning the outfit she’d wear. She’d have to make time to go shopping and surprise him with something beautiful that actually belonged to her this time.

  ‘Oh!’ Kay said, suddenly realising she was still wearing the soggy hairpiece and had a bag of wet clothes to sort out before Beth saw them. ‘I must get this dress dry.’

  ‘Can I help with anything?’ Clare asked. ‘I could start lunch for you.’

  ‘Oh, thank you!’ Kay said. ‘That’s so kind. I’m absolutely starving.’

  Kay left the kitchen and went up to her bedroom, placing the wet hairpiece and dress above her bath to drip dry. She felt terrible about the dress. It would be the first and last time a film star would lend her any clothes; that was for sure.

  After hanging up the soggy items, Kay slipped out of Nana Craig’s stripy dress and cardigan and placed them on a Lloyd Loom chair next to her bed. She would wash the dress and return it with a big bunch of flowers to thank her. When she slipped into a cotton shirt and a pair of jeans, Kay’s tummy rumbled, reminding her that she left Clare downstairs in the kitchen.

  As soon as she was on the landing, Kay heard Clare’s voice. She was calling for Annabel—over and over again.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ Kay asked as she reached the hallway.

  Clare didn’t answer.

  ‘Annabel!’ she called, moving from room to room.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Kay asked as they almost crashed into each other outside the dining room.

  ‘Annabel’s missing! Is she upstairs?’

  Kay shook her head.

  ‘I don’t understand. She was here a minute ago. Where could she have gone?’

  ‘She wouldn’t have gone up on the Cobb, would she?’ Kay asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘She wouldn’t have gone up onto the Cobb?’

  ‘She shouldn’t have left the house,’ Clare said, her pretty round face white with anxiety.

  ‘But I think she must have,’ Kay said.

  They looked at each other, and a second later, they were both out of the door.

  Chapter 27

  Tell her,’ Adam said to himself as he took a bend in the road a little quicker than usual. ‘I have to tell her.’

  It was the only way. He knew it. His nana knew it. Soon everybody in Dorset would know it, except Kay. But how would he tell her? She was under some crazy illusion that he was in love with Gemma, and he was pretty sure that Kay had fallen under the spell of Oli Wade Owen. Where did that leave things? It was like some Shakespearean comedy where each member of the cast is in love with the wrong person.

  Turning into a narrow lane, he startled a pheasant and splashed through a long puddle that hadn’t drained away yet. Some of the roads in the valley were still impassable, but Adam had taken the long way around to avoid the worst of the flooding.

  ‘Kay,’ he said as the car reached dry land again, ‘I know I’m not cut from the same cloth as Oli Wade Owen. I’ll never be a leading man. I’ll never play the great roles that you love. All I can do is write them.’

  Adam shook his head. That was too negative. He was doing nothing but showing his own shortcomings, and that would never do.

  ‘Kay!’ he began again. ‘I’m in love with you.’

  That was certainly to the point, but would he be able to pull it off? For a moment, he thought of her sweet rosy face and her bright eyes that were always darting about and shining with c
uriosity. He had never met anyone like her. She was so fresh and funny and—

  ‘What am I going to say to her?’ he said, sighing as he reached Lyme Regis. More importantly, what would she say to him? He dreaded to think. But he had to say something, or he would burst.

  ***

  Kay was running up and down Marine Parade and dodging the tourists in her panic. ‘Annabel!’ she called into the wind. ‘Annabel!’ Her heart was racing in time with the pounding of her feet, but there was no sign of the little girl anywhere.

  The arcades! Maybe she was in there. The bright lights and beeping machines might have lured her in. Kay ran towards them, hoping that she’d spot the girl with the long blond ponytail, but when she went in, there were only a couple of teenage boys at the slot machines.

  Clare seemed to have had the same idea, because they met outside.

  ‘She isn’t anywhere,’ Clare said, her eyes filled with tears. ‘I’ve been all the way to the Cobb and asked everyone.’

  ‘Let’s get back to the B and B,’ Kay said, trying to remain calm. ‘Maybe she’s waiting for us there.’

  The walk back was a short one, but it seemed to take an age, and when they were in view of the front door, they could see that there was no little girl there waiting for them.

  ‘Maybe we should call Teresa,’ Kay said.

  Clare’s face crumpled. ‘Oh, God. She’ll kill me.’

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ Kay said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

  ‘But I should’ve been looking after her.’

  ‘You were.’

  Clare shook her head. ‘I wasn’t. I’m a terrible nanny.’

  ‘No, you’re not,’ Kay said. ‘Come on. Let’s get inside and think this through.’

  Clare had already thought it through and was on her phone. ‘Teresa? Yes. We’re here in Lyme. I don’t know. About an hour ago. Yes, we’ve met Kay. Listen,’ she said and then took a deep breath, ‘I can’t find Annabel.’

  ***

  Gemma was sitting in a patch of sunlight on some steps leading down into the sunken garden at Marlcombe Manor.

  A voice greeted her. ‘Hello.’

  She looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun, which was getting quite bright, and saw Rob’s face smiling down at her.

  ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘What do you suppose is going on with Teresa?’ she asked. ‘She’s been pacing up and down like a caged lion.’

  Rob shrugged. ‘You’ve got more chance of finding out than I do.’

  ‘I doubt it,’ Gemma said. ‘I don’t like to bother her unless it’s absolutely necessary.’

  ‘But you’re the lead actress. You should be bothering the director,’ Rob said.

  Gemma gave a little smile. ‘I’m not that sort of actress.’

  ‘No, you’re not, are you?’ he said. ‘But I’ve seen actresses who never leave the director alone for a second. What should I do here? Is this right? What if I do it like that? They can’t make a single decision for themselves. But you’re so sure of yourself.’

  ‘Am I?’ Gemma said, sounding genuinely surprised.

  ‘I mean, you seem to know what you’re doing. There’s no nonsense about you. You just get on with the job.’

  Gemma’s eyes widened. This was a whole new Gemma she was hearing about, and it had nothing to do with the one she knew.

  ‘Take that last scene, for instance,’ Rob said. ‘It was pretty good, and you got it in one take. Well, you did, but the sound guy managed to wreck it, and then that black cloud passed over.’

  ‘You were watching it?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘I didn’t realise,’ Gemma said, suddenly feeling self-conscious. ‘I thought you guys just got on with your job.’

  ‘I sometimes do,’ Rob said, ‘but there’s something about you that is very distracting.’

  Now Gemma really was feeling self-conscious, especially when he sat down on the steps next to her, his long jeans-clad legs stretching out in front of him as he made himself comfortable. She looked away into the shrubbery at the far end of the garden.

  ‘You’re a wonderful actress,’ he said.

  She sighed. ‘Don’t,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t what?’

  ‘You don’t have to do this.’

  He frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Did Teresa put you up to this? Or Sophie?’

  ‘Put me up to what?’ he asked.

  ‘Flattering me,’ Gemma said. ‘Boosting my confidence.’

  ‘What are you talking about? Can’t a chap come up and tell you he thinks you’re doing a great job?’

  ‘It’s never happened before.’

  He looked surprised. ‘Well, it should have.’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘You don’t believe me, do you? You don’t know how wonderful you are.’

  ‘I’m not wonderful,’ Gemma said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  ‘It sounds as if somebody’s told you that,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Somebody called Kim. Am I right?’

  Gemma’s eyes shot up to meet his, and she could feel the colouring drain from her face. ‘What gives you the right to say such things?’ she said, her voice quiet and guarded.

  ‘Nothing,’ he says. ‘I’m just trying to work things out here.’

  ‘Why?’

  He gave her a smile that unsettled her. ‘Because there’s something extraordinary about you.’

  ‘You don’t know me,’ Gemma said, and she stood up.

  Rob stood up too. ‘Maybe I don’t know you all that well,’ he said, ‘but I’d like to.’

  Gemma shook her head. ‘I’ve got to get back.’

  ‘But they don’t need you for at least another hour,’ he said.

  She started to walk away, feeling flustered. Nobody had ever talked to her in that way before. It was as if he could see into her very soul, and it was a very unsettling feeling.

  ‘Ah! There you are,’ Kim Reilly said as Gemma rounded a corner and nearly crashed into her. ‘Good gracious, girl! What are you doing?’

  ‘Nothing. I was just going back—’

  Her mother didn’t give her time to explain. ‘You really shouldn’t be flirting with the crew, Gemma. I saw you with that man, sitting on the steps all cosy together.’

  ‘I wasn’t flirting with him.’

  Kim’s mouth, which had been recently plumped up with collagen, almost disappeared in a thin line. ‘You have to remember, you’re an actress. It isn’t right that you should be milling around with such people. They’re no more than labourers.’

  Gemma’s mouth dropped open. ‘Mum—’

  ‘It’s a good job I was here to rescue you.’

  ‘I don’t need rescuing.’

  ‘Of course you don’t. You always make such sensible decisions about men, don’t you? Like the time you went out with that doctor who turned out to be married with four children.’

  ‘He didn’t tell me,’ Gemma said with a sigh, wishing her mother wouldn’t drag out all her mistakes every time Gemma even thought to look at a man.

  ‘As long as you’re my daughter, you’ll always need rescuing,’ Kim Reilly continued. Luckily for Gemma, one of the girls from wardrobe waved over to Kim.

  ‘Ah, there’s Sherry,’ Kim said. ‘What a darling—she’s going to do my colour chart for me before we start thinking about costumes. I want to look my very best.’

  Gemma groaned as her mother flitted across the lawn, waving to everyone she passed. What had she done to deserve this? she wondered. It was like being ten years old again when her mother used to turn up early at the end of her drama class and holler advice to her from the auditorium. This was much worse, though, because not only was her mother advising her about her performance as an actress, but she was also dispensing advice about her love life, which was incredibly unjust, because when did she have time for a love life? All she had was a big love muddle. Whilst she was harbouring some sort of mad crush on Oli Wade Owen, she was being haplessly ma
tchmade to Adam, and now there was this Rob guy on the scene. Goodness only knew where it would all end!

  Chapter 28

  Clare was crying in earnest, and Kay was doing her best to comfort her.

  ‘She’ll turn up. I’m sure she will.’

  ‘But where could she be?’ Clare asked. ‘She never runs off. It’s not in her nature to.’

  Kay pursed her lips. She’d never been in a situation like this before. Well, not since Andy Edwards had gone missing in the Natural History Museum on a school trip when she was nine and had been found cowering under the blue whale crying his eyes out.

  ‘You don’t think she went after Oli, do you?’

  Clare stopped crying. ‘She adores Oli.’

  ‘Yes,’ Kay said, having seen the evidence for herself.

  ‘But she wouldn’t have left the house, not without saying something.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Kay said. ‘Are you absolutely sure?’

  ***

  Gemma was having her hair tidied away by a girl from the makeup department when a screech of tires sounded on the gravel driveway.

  ‘Captain Wentworth’s arrived,’ the girl from makeup said, her eyes sparkling. It was the usual effect of Oli turning up anywhere. Eyes would sparkle, lips would pout, and hearts would race.

  ‘Yes,’ Gemma said, ‘and Teresa looks ready to pounce on him. He must be horribly late.’

  Gemma and the makeup girl had been watching Teresa pacing up and down for the previous twenty minutes. They had never seen her looking so worried. Had something gone wrong? Was the film about to be shut down? Had the money run out?

  ‘What’s it like?’ the makeup girl said.

  ‘What’s what like?’

  She giggled and looked away. ‘You know—kissing Oli.’