Compulsively Mr. Darcy (27 page)

Mrs. Ching pressed a tissue to her nose and followed the hostess into the back room of Carnegie Deli.

The hostess stopped. “I'm sorry. My mistake. There's no free table back here.”

“I'd be happy to share my table,” a young lady sitting alone said. “But I'm not sharing my pickles. She has to get her own.”

Gratefully accepting the friendly offer, Mrs. Ching sat. After she ordered the matzo ball soup, she turned to her companion. “Why, you're pregnant! Oh, I feel bad sitting here when I have a cold. I don't want you to get sick.”

“Why? I told you I'm not sharing my food.” The young lady's hand covered her pickle plate. “I'm teasing. I'm Elizabeth.”

“Lorna,” Mrs. Ching introduced herself. What a sweet, friendly thing. A waiter brought two giant-sized pastrami sandwiches for Elizabeth.

“I was very hungry when I ordered,” Elizabeth said when she saw Mrs. Ching's reaction. She pointed to her stomach. “Twins.”

“That's a lot of meat.” Mrs. Ching was stunned at the amount of food in front of Elizabeth.

“These days, I eat everything. I'm also supposed to report my dietary intake to a very worried husband so he can graph it. He loves to work with numbers and graphs. Some days I make up a healthier diet to appease him. It's our first pregnancy.”

Mrs. Ching smiled. “He sounds like a devoted husband.”

“He is. He's trying to get as much work done as possible before the babies arrive. He's a workaholic. It's a good thing I met him when he was an unemployed accountant on vacation.”

Mrs. Ching wondered why Elizabeth had laughed at the end. “Please, eat your food before it gets cold.”

“Yumm. Nothing beats a New York pastrami sandwich. I've been craving this and the pickles the whole plane ride here this morning.” Elizabeth added she was in New York to take care of some family business. “Why are you out and about instead of at home resting when you're sick?”

“There's an important meeting at work this afternoon. My boss is not in town at the moment. He can be such a bear if things aren't done right. I don't trust these young assistants they have covering for me.”

“You must be a treasure then.”

Over lunch, they chatted about pregnancy food cravings. Mrs. Ching revealed she used to crave Chinese dim sum. Elizabeth agreed that sounded good and that it might be her next craving, after pickles.

Mrs. Ching asked, “Are you prepared for the little ones with supplies?”

Elizabeth made a face. “Everything is so expensive. I can't believe some of the babies' outfits cost more than my own clothes.”

Mrs. Ching hoped Elizabeth's husband job was secure, with two babies coming. Thank goodness DDF was in good shape from Mr. Darcy's diligence. Though he kept in touch with her daily by phone and email, she hadn't seen him since he relocated to the West Coast. His employees had yet to meet or see a clear picture of the illusive Mrs. Darcy. That surprised no one. Mr. Darcy was fanatical about his privacy. “If you want to shop while you're here, I know the best bargain places for children's clothes.”

“Thanks, I'd appreciate the stores' names.”

Mrs. Ching wrote the names of the stores and added her home number. “Call me if you have a craving for dim sum too. I know the best place in Chinatown. Now, I need to head to work.”

“Thanks, Lorna.” Elizabeth pocketed the slip of paper without looking at it. “Good luck with the meeting. Tell your boss to go suck a pickle if he's too much of a bear.”

Chuckling at the thought of the serious Mr. Darcy sucking a pickle, Mrs. Ching left.

***

Two hours later, Mrs. Ching positioned herself near the door of the DDF boardroom and observed the sea of serious faces. Elizabeth's pickles would do some good for this crowd, Mrs. Ching decided. Mr. Fitzwilliam and Mr. Bingley appeared grave and the meeting hadn't even started yet. A tiny young woman with unusually large eyes sat next to Mr. Fitzwilliam at the conference table in the center of the room.

Assistants arranged themselves along the perimeter of the room, ready to take notes or run errands. Mrs. Ching saw a couple new assistants, like that one who seemed to be hidden from view, sitting behind Wendy, Mr. Bingley's newly hired assistant. Mrs. Ching reminded herself to say hello to the new assistants after the meeting.

The door opened behind her. Anne de Bourgh entered. Mrs. Ching glanced at the agenda to double-check; just as she'd thought, Miss de Bourgh's name appeared nowhere.

Miss de Bourgh coolly took a seat directly across from Mr. Bingley. “I thought we could talk about our new acquisition in Chicago. I see you don't have that on the agenda. We'll add it to the end of the meeting.”

The meeting started. Mr. Bingley formally announced he would chair the meeting in place of Mr. Darcy. The CEO was stuck in California for personal reasons. After taking care of some routine business, Mr. Bingley gave Mr. Fitzwilliam the floor. The latter announced a new plan to revamp computer security at DDF. A long question and answer session ensued with some board members in favor and some against.

“We need more concrete proof of why and how our security system is not safe,” Miss de Bourgh stated.

Some board members nodded in agreement. One said, “Has there been a breach, Richard?”

“There's no overt breach. We simply want to be cautious and upgrade to the highest level there is,” Mr. Fitzwilliam said.

“You're going to have to do better than that to prove to us why the expense would be worth it before we vote,” added another board member. “You moved the board meeting from next week to today for it. There must be a good reason. How about a demonstration?”

Murmurings around the room rose in agreement with the last speaker's statement.

“I can give you a demonstration. I'm Tina Darling and I'm the computer expert Mr. Fitzwilliam has been consulting with. I can show you how easily it is for me to break into your current computer system in just a couple of minutes.” The young lady walked up to a board member sitting next to Miss de Bourgh and pointed to his laptop. “May I?”

“Sure, sugar. I've got nothing dirty in there,” he drawled and winked. The crowd tittered.

Ms. Darling returned to her seat and worked with the laptop. She bit her lip and flipped her bangs, looking more nervous as the minutes ticked on. Mr. Fitzwilliam began to shift in his chair and Mr. Bingley's hands fidgeted with the papers in front of him.

Miss de Bourgh leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Ms. Darling, if you don't get through his DDF laptop in the next decade, you can try some of our other ones. Or do you need a password for security clearance?”

As if she had been waiting for such an opportunity, Ms. Darling eagerly reached across the conference table for Miss de Bourgh's laptop. “No password needed, but I'll try yours.”

A few minutes later, with a satisfied tone, Miss de Bourgh said, “Stumped, Ms. Darling?”

“Just give me a few more minutes,” Ms. Darling said. “It's harder than I thought.”

“Of course it is. I myself recommended the security system to our CEO.” Miss de Bourgh laughed aloud. A handful of the other board members joined in.

In the midst of the increased din in the room, the door opened behind Mrs. Ching again. She started when Elizabeth from the deli slipped in. Her entrance was unnoticed by almost everyone else in the room.

Eyes widening in surprise when she saw Mrs. Ching, Elizabeth came and sat right beside her. In her hand, she carried a paper bag with the Carnegie Deli logo. She whispered, “Pickles.”

“What—?”

“Shh!” Elizabeth put her finger to her lips and turned toward the action.

Miss de Bourgh motioned Ms. Darling to turn the laptop around. “Time's up. Let us see what you've discovered.”

“Are you sure?” the computer expert asked.

“Yes.”

Shrugging, Miss Darling turned the laptop to face Miss de Bourgh.

A loud gasp escaped from the board member sitting next to Miss de Bourgh.

Immediately, everyone else lurched close, including both Mrs. Ching and Elizabeth. Gasps reverberated throughout.

“Oh my! No wonder you didn't want to miss the meeting,” Elizabeth whispered to Mrs. Ching. She returned to her chair and focused her attention on opening the twist tie of her Carnegie Deli bag.

“That's my private stuff.” Miss de Bourgh ran around the conference table and fought to get through the huddling mass. “How dare you! Give me back my laptop!”

Mr. Fitzwilliam grabbed the laptop. “You gave her permission to break into it, and this laptop is DDF's property.”

Miss Darling took the computer from Mr. Fitzwilliam, her fingers flying on the keyboard again, and taunted, “Besides your icky pictures, you have what looks like child pornography on your laptop, and that's a crime, sugar.”

“The girl's over eighteen,” Miss de Bourgh screamed. “There is no Darcy present. The bylaws says those who called the board meeting will be dismissed.”

A small voice spoke up, “They have a Darcy here.”

A young woman stepped forward. Mrs. Ching's mouth opened. Why, Miss Darcy had been sitting hidden behind Mr. Bingley's new assistant Wendy the whole time!

“Some of you may remember meeting Miss Georgiana Darcy years ago,” Mr. Fitzwilliam introduced his cousin. “She's grown up.”

Miss Georgiana looked petrified, then she glanced in Mrs. Ching's direction and her face relaxed. Mrs. Ching smiled and gave a little wave. She hadn't seen young Georgiana for years and didn't think the young lady even remembered what she even looked like. With some embarrassment, Mrs. Ching saw Elizabeth copy her greeting.

After waving and smiling at Miss Georgiana, Elizabeth noisily ferreted around her pickle bag. Oblivious that she now had the whole room's attention, she pulled out a pickle and took a big bite.

Crunch. Crunch
. The sound of Elizabeth munching the pickle was the only one heard for a long moment.

Self-conscious that people might think she had brought an uninvited guest to a board meeting, Mrs. Ching nudged Elizabeth on the shoulder, trying to get her to leave.

Elizabeth swallowed. “I'm sorry, am I making too much noise chewing? My husband hates it when people do that, though he pretends he doesn't mind when I do it. I just have this craving for crunchy, green, dill pickles. I don't like it when they're yellow and mushy and old. I like them green and fresh and have a snap when you bite into them. These Carnegie Deli green pickles are the best.”
Crunch. Crunch.
Again, Elizabeth took another bite and munched happily.

“You! Why you!” Miss de Bourgh said. “What are you doing here?”

“I invited her,” Mrs. Ching defended Elizabeth. She didn't know why Elizabeth was here next to her chomping noisily on a pickle, but Mrs. Ching wasn't going to let anyone harm the pregnant lady—even if she herself thought her new friend must be very odd.
Oh
dear, she followed me here
, Mrs. Ching worried. One never knew about people with mental problems who may be off their medications during pregnancy.

Elizabeth nodded. “Yeah, she told me she knew the best place for dim sum in Chinatown. I have a craving now. Hey, after the meeting, let's all go for some. You get a better deal if there's a large crowd to share.” She frowned at Miss de Bourgh. “Well, at least those of us who aren't going to be arrested for child pornography could go.”

Miss de Bourgh moved toward Elizabeth.

“You touch one hair on my wife's head, and you're dead,” a steely voice said from the doorway.

At the fury in Mr. Darcy's eyes, Mrs. Ching's hand went to her heart.

Miss de Bourgh's face paled and she stood rooted.

Elizabeth waved her half-eaten pickle at Mr. Darcy. “Hi, love. You've made it.”

Mrs. Ching needed to sit down, quick. She was too old for this kind of shock, she decided. Elizabeth gently patted her on the shoulder.

Mr. Darcy ignored everyone else and walked toward his wife. With his back to the rest of the room, he bent and carefully inspected her. Elizabeth reached in the bag and pulled out another pickle. With a quirk of her eyebrow, she offered it to Mr. Darcy. Lips twitching, he shot her a warning glance. He then turned and decisively dismissed the board meeting.

His employees and the board members filed out. Mrs. Ching stood to follow.

Elizabeth placed a hand on her arm and whispered, “Lorna, you stay.”

“Mrs. Darcy?” Mrs. Ching felt compelled to confirm. When Elizabeth smiled and nodded, Mrs. Ching whispered, “But you told me you wanted to go bargain shopping for baby clothes.”

“I do want to go bargain shopping for baby clothes. I've always been a bargain shopper,” Elizabeth whispered back. “What a coincidence, you working here. Who's your bear of a boss? I'd like to offer him a pickle.”

“You just did.” Mrs. Ching allowed herself a tiny smile and nodded when Elizabeth's eyes widened and mouthed, “Mrs. Ching?”

The next moment, they both sobered as they turned back to the near-empty room.

Three people Mrs. Ching didn't recognize approached Miss de Bourgh.

“Anne de Bourgh, I presume?” an unfamiliar young woman asked. Miss de Bourgh responded with a haughty look, which turned ashen at the sight of the badge the young lady flashed. “I'm Eleanor Dashwood of the FBI Anti-Child Pornography Task Force. You are now under arrest for possessing and transmitting child pornography…”

“My word!” Mrs. Ching whispered when Miss de Bourgh screamed she was set up.

Mr. Darcy approached and, without words, simply stared at her. The screaming abruptly stopped. Miss de Bourgh's gaze dropped to the floor.

After the agents and Miss de Bourgh left a few minutes later, heavy silence hung in the room. Mr. Darcy walked to the window and stared out, his body stiff. Elizabeth put down her pickle and signaled for everyone else to leave. Silently, they did as she requested.