I pulled my phone out of his eye line. “Manda, she’s come to visit her little brothers.”
“What? Why?”
“Because she loves us so much.”
“No, dude, really, why?”
“She said she’s got something for me.”
“Why not me?” Jax asked. “I’ve been good!”
I laughed. “I doubt it’s a reward for any perceived goodness. She probably wants to yell at me for something.”
Jax looked unsure. “Would she bother coming all this way for that?”
I shrugged. “How am I supposed to understand anything our sister does?”
“Hm, good point.” Jax nodded.
By the time Amanda arrived, Jax had decided it was a reward for something and he was quite put out he wasn’t getting one.
Amanda walked into the common room as though she owned the place, obviously looking for me. When she found me, she looked stern and beckoned me over.
“Oh, consider me corrected, Oz. I don’t want whatever she’s dealing out. You can go on your own.”
“My brother, ladies and gentlemen, the gallant fop,” I said dryly as I stood up.
I was barely to Amanda before she grabbed me and pulled me down the corridor to Jax’s and my room. She opened the door and pulled me in.
“Right, so I had some luck, but wanted to offer you something else instead.”
I looked at her, thoroughly not comprehending a word she said. “Pardon?”
She rolled her eyes. “I know you said you thought only hers would do, but I wanted to at least give you the option. You don’t have to take it. But, well, I love you boys and it would make me happy-”
I took her by the shoulders and smiled. “Mandy, what are you on about?”
She blinked. “Oh, Mum’s ring.”
“What?”
She pulled two boxes out of her bag and held them up to me.
“You got it?”
She grimaced. “I did, but,” she selected one box, “I wanted to give you this.”
I frowned, not recognising the box. I took it and opened it. What I found made me swear strongly.
“Mandy, I can’t accept this…”
“Why not?”
I looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Mand, this is your mum’s ring…your real mum…”
“I know that, Oz.” She fidgeted a little. “But, well, I want you to have it, give it to whoever you want, keep it, I don’t care.”
“Mand, no I can’t.” I tried to give it back to her but she shook her head and pushed my hand back towards me.
“You can and you will. I have two reasons for this Oz; one, I thought Jax might want the option of Mum’s ring, second, this one will mean just as much to you. If you ever ask her, I want you to give it to Lily. I want her to know there’s a place in our family for her.”
“Mand…” I breathed, not knowing what to say to express my gratitude.
She cleared her throat and I knew she was fighting back tears.
“Right, look. I’ve got Mum’s and I think Jax should have it, honestly. Anything so Fleur doesn’t get her hands on it. But, I don’t think we should give it to him now. We don’t need to give him any reason to go proposing to Anne already.”
I laughed. “No, true. We’ll give it to him when we deem him ready.”
“When who’s ready for what?” Jax asked. “Oh, man, I knew it was presents!”
Amanda laughed. “It’s not presents, Jax.” She shared a look with me and I knew we came to the same understanding.
“Amanda’s just given me her mother’s ring,” I said.
“Well, we all knew Mum gave you her ring. You’re supposed to give it to Fleur,” Jax said, smiling.
“No, Jackson. Amanda has given me her mother’s ring.”
It took a moment, but understanding finally dawned on Jax. “Oh…”
Amanda stepped forward and held out the second box, one Jax and I knew as well as our own faces. “And, this, Jax, is for you.”
Jax looked at us, gobsmacked. “Why?”
I shrugged. “Because, if I ever do propose to…anyone, I’m only going to need one ring.”
Jax reached out and took the box, opening it reverently.
“But, this does not give you permission to go and propose to Anne now,” I said sternly.
“But-”
“Jax, we are not Dad. We’re still at school for pity’s sake.”
Jax nodded as though he agreed, but I could see the gears turning.
Heaven help us… I thought as I shared another look with Amanda.
Chapter Fifty-Five
We’d decided we needed to do more walking, get our fitness up, do something else with our time expect eat cheesecake and kill zombies.
“I’m not sure whose terrible idea this was,” I laughed as it started raining.
“It was yours!” Anne replied.
We made a run for the rotunda and managed to make it before we got too wet. I held the door open for Gemma and Kate and we skidded inside with a laugh.
I’d never really been in it before, but it was a beautiful old building. I had no idea what it was for, but it was a round, glass structure with stone columns, marble floor and a roof painted with stars.
“It’s a shame Marie missed this,” I said, looking around.
Marie had started our walk with us, then decided to go and practice her piano or something. Hopefully, she’d got back without getting wet.
I shook out my hair and watched the rain beat against the windows.
“It is very pretty.” Anne smiled, spinning around in the middle of the room.
I took her hands and joined her, laughing.
“Oh my God!” squealed Gemma.
“It’s Jax and Austin!”
Anne and I stopped spinning and turned to my sisters. Anne bumped into the back of me as the two boys came through the door. I put a hand out to steady her and we slid a little on the marble. I giggled, but managed to keep my footing for once.
Jax looked a touch startled and Austin was looking at him expectantly.
“Boys, how are we?” I said, smiling and trying to catch Austin’s eye.
Yes, I wanted to smile at him and see him smile at me, but I was, for the moment, a touch more interested in what the boys were doing here. There was an air of expectation hanging around them and I felt laughter threatening to escape. I looked back to Jax, biting my lip to stop myself laughing.
“Good, good. How are you?” Jax asked.
“Fine. Aren’t we fine, Annie?” I asked, trying to nudge her out from behind me, but she seemed determined to hide.
“Good, that’s good.” Jax smiled widely. “Marie said you were headed this way.”
“Right, yes, of course.” I nodded.
Austin looked at Jax with exasperation. Gemma and Kate were clutching each other and failing not to giggle.
I was about to open my mouth to suggest Gemma, Kate and I had something very important to do, but Jax got in before I had a chance.
“Well, looks like the rain’s stopped, we’ll uh…see you later.”
“Oh, yes. Later.” Anne finally spoke.
“Right. Ladies.” Jax bowed and hurried out.
Austin rolled his eyes and finally looked at me. “Excuse us.” He nodded once, with a hint of a smile, and followed his brother out.
“What the hell was that all about?” Kate asked as she and Gemma looked out the window and watched them walk away.
I plonked down on a bench. “I’m sure I don’t know. Those Coopers are some very strange boys.”
Anne sat next to me, although she was quite a bit less relaxed than I was. Which was remarkable, considering Austin’s wet hair had done a stellar job of quite vividly reminding of the time I’d seen him wet at Pemberley. I took a deep breath and forced my mind not to wander down impure paths.
“Oh my God!” Gemma squealed again.
“What?” I asked, not bothering to move.
�
�They’ve stopped.”
“Who’ve stopped where?”
“Jax and Austin,” Kate replied, looking back to me for a moment. “They’ve stopped under one of the trees. Jax is wandering back and forth, waving his hands around and Austin’s just…watching him.”
They were silent for a while and I wondered what the boys were doing. I didn’t, though, care enough to get up and see for myself.
“Jax just bowed,” Gemma said.
“Now, Austin’s bowing.”
Gemma hit Kate as though she wasn’t right next to her watching. “They’re coming back. No, Jax is coming back. Where’s Austin going?” Gemma turned to me.
I snorted. “How in the hells am I supposed to know?”
Gemma and Kate scrambled from their perch as Jax came back into the rotunda.
“I…uh…” He smiled at Anne and was looking an awful lot more confident than he had when they’d burst in there previously.
“Right, Gem, Kate, haven’t we got that…?”
“What?” Kate asked and I wanted to throttle her.
I winked at them. “We should…”
“Why are you winking, Lil?” Gemma asked. “What do you want me to do?”
I sighed and hung my head. “We have that…thing with Mum and Dad…remember…” I said, looking at them earnestly.
They both opened their mouths in recognition at the same time, then nodded.
“Yes, the thing.”
“Very important thing.”
I smiled at Jax, then at Anne. “Sorry, must dash. I’ll see you guys later, yeah?”
I grabbed Gemma and Kate and dragged them out with me just as the rain started again.
“Oh, can’t we wait-”
“No!” I said.
“We can just wait under one of the trees,” Gemma said.
“Ugh, fine.”
We huddled under a tree.
“What do you think they’re saying?” Gemma asked.
I turned and found them peering at the rotunda. I could just see Jax’s and Anne’s shapes through the misted glass.
“None of our business until Anne shares it,” I replied. “Now, stop ogling.”
A little while later, Kate giggled. “Is she nodding? I think she’s nodding!”
“What?” Despite myself, I turned around and saw Anne fling her arms around his neck and he spun her around.
When they started kissing, I decided getting wet was preferable to intruding on their moment. I grabbed my sisters and pulled them back towards the main building.
“Lily!” Gemma cried.
“You know, you’re pretty strong…” Kate mused.
I sighed. “I will buy you both cake if you come along with no more fuss.”
They practically ran me down in their hurry to get to the café. I thought about sending Anne a text to tell her where we’d be, but I didn’t want her to feel obliged to be in any hurry to meet us.
****
Anne finally resurfaced just in time for dinner and had an incredibly dazed smile on her face.
“I take it, it went well,” I laughed as she plonked onto the bed.
“Oh, Lily, why is everyone not as happy as me?” she laughed.
“Annie, it pleases me to hear you so happy. Tell me everything!” She flushed and I amended my statement, “tell me all the non-dirty bits.”
She laughed again. “No, it wasn’t like that. It was just a bit odd. Wonderful, but odd.”
“Tell me, tell me!”
“Well, you all left and I asked him how he was, and he said fine. Then, we stood for a bit all awkwardly. I was asking if he was okay when he blurted out…oh, but you’ll never guess.”
“What? Jesus, don’t leave me in suspense!” I said.
“He asked me to marry him.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, doing a double-take.
I’d been so ready to jump up and down and yell hooray, but I was a bit unsure about it now.
She was laughing again. “I was nodding before I realised what he’d said and said yes just as he stammered that he obviously didn’t mean marriage marriage, but that he already knew he was in love with me and wanted to be with me. He started babbling, telling me he was quite sure he’d want to marry me one day, but he knew it was early, even though his dad only proposed after knowing his mum for a few months, and they were our age at the time. Then he said that didn’t really matter at the moment and we could deal with that later and would I go out with him.”
Her excitement was contagious. “And?”
“And I found myself telling him I thought I’d quite like to marry him one day, too.” She blushed and looked away from me. “You probably think it’s all too soon and I’m an idiot, but I do love him, Lily.”
“Far be it for me to tell you what you feel, Annie,” I said, moving to sit next to her and hugging her. “You know if you love him or not, and you know if you want to marry him one day or not. He’s an adult, and you’re nearly eighteen. Plus, it’s not like you need to save for the wedding! Hell, marry him tomorrow if you want!” I said with a laugh.
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad? I love you like a sister, and seeing you happy is the most important thing in the world.”
“Would you believe, he loved me this whole time, but believed I was indifferent?”
I feigned surprise. “No, no I didn’t. See, I told you he wasn’t like the other boys. He’s too kind and modest for his own good.”
“I am the luckiest girl alive! I can’t believe someone as good as Jax loves me!”
“I can.”
“Oh, Lily, if only I could see you so happy. If only there was such a boy for you.” Her tone was slightly pointed, but I ignored it.
“If you were to give me forty such boys, I could still never be as happy as you, Annie. Until I am as sweet and good as you, I could never have your happiness. But, I am content to be me. Who knows, maybe Seb has a friend for me?”
We descended into fits of giggles which were halted when there was a knock on the door. I opened it and found one of the school’s secretaries.
“Lily Brewer?”
“Yes.”
“Come with me, please. You have a visitor in the principal’s lounge.”
I looked back to Anne and made a face, but followed the secretary to the lounge. I had no idea who the hell would be visiting me in the principal’s lounge. I looked down at my clothes, still a little wet as they were, and decided I didn’t much care about my state anyway.
The secretary let me in and I was surprised to see Lady Celia sitting regally on a chair waiting for me. There was no one else in the room.
“Lily,” she said simply.
“Lady Celia,” I replied just as simply.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Very well, I will get to the point.” Lady Celia sighed. “You will know why I am here, of course.”
“No, I really wouldn’t,” I answered, sharply.
The look on her face cautioned my tongue.
“Lily, you should know I am not to be trifled with. You may choose to be dishonest with me, but I assure you, I will not be dishonest with you. It has come to my attention that you and Austin are to be…acquainted. Knowing this must be false, I decided to let you know how I feel about such things.”
“How lovely of you. But, if you know Austin and I can’t be…acquainted, I wonder why you bothered coming to visit me.”
“I thought to hear you refute the claim.”
“I hardly see how you had to do so in person. And, if we are to be acquainted, your coming here isn’t really likely to do much about it, is it?”
“If? Am I to understand you are not?
“I’m not likely to tell you, am I?” I retorted.
“You will tell me, Lily. Has my nephew made you an offer?”
“You have declared it to be impossible.”
“I would not put it past you to have bewitched him and made him
forget his duties.”
“Because I have magical powers now,” I scoffed. “And, if I did, I’m not going to own to it.”
She stood abruptly. “Do you know who I am?”
“An insufferable old bat by all accounts,” I snapped.
She was incredulous. “I am unaccustomed to being treated in this manner. You will give me a straight forward answer, Lily. I am Austin’s aunt, and have the right to know his dearest concerns.”
“But, you have no right to mine. And attempting to browbeat me will not make me want to divulge my secrets.”
“You will never be with Austin. He is going to marry Fleur van Wilhausen. What witty remark have you to that?” She was losing her cool façade.
“Only this: if that is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will make an offer to me!”
“His mother and Fleur’s intended them for each other since they were very young. Have you no propriety? No regard for the wishes of his family? Were you, perhaps, unaware he was destined for her?”
“How could I not know? But, what is it to me? If this is your only objection to me being with your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from him because other people want him to marry Fleur. If Austin doesn’t want her, why can’t he choose someone else? And, if he chooses me, why should I not say yes?”
“Because you will be shunned, dear; society, the family, everyone will despise you.”
I laughed. “Oh noes! How could I ever survive such a thing? I would think, Celia, that anyone fortunate enough to be Austin’s wife would be surrounded enough by happiness that she wouldn’t care one whit about you and Fleur shunning her.”
“You are infuriating. Fleur and Austin are destined. They both come from noble lines, are both vastly wealthy. Their union is wished for by many. And, who would divide them? A poor nobody from the colonies?”
“Austin and I are equal where it counts. I couldn’t care less about his money, he’s much more than his property or bank statement.”
“Tell me once and for all, are you engaged to him?”
I look at her, stunned that she could honestly believe such a thing. “No, I’m not.”
She smiled, evidently pleased by my answer. “And you will promise me never to enter into such an agreement?”
“Piss off, I’ll do no such thing!”
Netherfield Prep: A Modern Reimagining of Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice' Page 36
