P&P

Chapter Twenty-Nine

February was a hard month for my family. Lydia was no longer in denial after I told her the police were looking for George, but she was clearly not taking this news well. Our mother wasn't helping either.

"Why can't they catch that George Wickham already?" My mother proclaimed to my father in her usual booming voice. We were all in the living room, having just eaten breakfast, which admittedly may have been my first mistake. I should have dragged my sisters up the stairs as soon as all traces of egg and biscuits were consumed. My father tried shushing her, but that only worked her up even more.

"And that's our cue." I said more to myself as I got up from the couch and turned to face Lydia and Jane. Jane got up after I did, but Lydia, however, stayed rooted in her seat. "You okay, Lydia?"

"Yeah." She said through gritted teeth. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm here with my family, in a warm house, food on my plate. That won't be the case for George soon. It probably isn't now."

"Don't you think he deserves this?" I asked her unbelievingly. "After what he did to you?"

"I was the one who deserved it! I was the one who had it coming!" My baby sister exclaimed. The room went silent; even my mother's hysterics were silenced. "All he ever did was love me despite of my faults. I knew they were always there, but..."

"That's not the kind of love you should want for yourself." Jane told her. She wrapped her arms around Lydia, whose arms hung limp at her side. "I love you. Lizzie loves you. So do your friends, and your mom and dad. You don't need George to tell you what your faults are and punish you for it. We love you and your faults. They might be a part of you now, but they won't always be."

Mary and Cat came over to visit Lydia the next day. Even though they both seemed to forgive Lydia for using them as alibis, Cat was clearly bitter and Mary looked like this was the last place on earth she wanted to be.

"This never would have happened if she had invited us." I heard Cat whisper to Mary. They were in the kitchen waiting on the tea Jane was steeping, and I was eavesdropping shamelessly from behind the corner wall in the living room. "We both know it. I'm so sick of being the friend Lydia has to keep her out of trouble."

"We might be her only friends after this." Mary told her solemnly. "If we abandon her right now – while she's facing all this crap – I can't even imagine how Lydia would be able to get over that."

"You can't tell me you're not tired of it." Cat tried, but Mary gave her a look that made her drop the accusing tone. "Then what are we supposed to do? She wouldn't even talk to us."

"We keep trying." Mary said simply. "You know that she's never going to be the same after this. But maybe that's a good thing, too." I narrowed my eyes at this, wondering what good could possibly come out of this. "We all have to learn from our mistakes the hard way one day. Hers just came sooner than we all thought."

"I guess you have a point." Cat concluded. "But what can we possibly do to make her feel better after this?"

"I'd say nothing." Mary told her. "But in time she'll see that we never gave up on her, and I think she'll thank us for that. Come on, let's go back and watch another Michael Cera movie, those always used to cheer her up."

I scrambled away as quickly as possible and fell onto the sofa. When they came in, I turned to the TV, which was off. I looked around for the remote, and found it on the coffee table just as Cat and Mary reached the stairs. I tossed the remote back onto the table and slouched deeper into the sofa, wishing I never had to get up.