Beginning, Section II
Part 15
The first time Elizabeth went to the pool again for a waterpolo game was a few weeks later because she had had swim meets all the time, and she was a bit sad to see that Charles had apparently delegated his coaching to his sister. Charles had been a friendly, if influenceable coach. Whereas Charles would yield to lots of pleading groans whenever he assigned them something difficult, Caroline would definitely not. She told them to be offensive, and no whining. Neither Jane nor Elizabeth dared ask Caroline where Charles was, because it would sound as if they did not appreciate her style. William was not there either, and it bothered Elizabeth, although she had no idea what she would say or do when she would see him.
Elizabeth lingered in the shower area afterwards, but she did not see William. It had been rather silly of her to think he would show up, when the schedule clearly said he did not have to play home that Sunday. Caroline passed through the shower area with the baby, and with Jane already dressing, Elizabeth grabbed the chance.
"Where is Charles?" she asked.
"Oh, he had to play away," Caroline answered. "It would have been a bit of a hurry if he'd had to coach you first, so I said I'd do it, since I have to watch Richard play in ten minutes anyway. I hope you didn't mind. You won."
"No, I didn't mind," Elizabeth said slowly. It made sense. So Charles was not avoiding Jane. She could have thought that up herself. Her mother had told her, being told by Mrs. Lucas of course, that Richard had transferred to them. Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Lucas had also noticed in their administration that he lived at the same address as Caroline, and Elizabeth had had to feign much surprise over it. "I'm sorry my mum bugged you so much about your pregnancy." Mrs. Bennet had cross-examined Caroline on the subject of her pregnancy one day, and she had told her daughters all about it. "She dragged all of us with her to the GP to get us on the pill."
"Oh, how embarrassing. She invited me as well, you know, but I said I had no need for a pill. Now she thinks I want a second baby, and she kept going on about my going against the club's interests by not being able to play."
"Didn't you say you and Richard were providing future members for the club?" Elizabeth joked.
"But I am not!" Caroline protested. "Just the one, and whoever Richard is providing future members with is not my business."
Elizabeth laughed. "Oh, sure. Poor Richard is pining away until you notice him, and you talk about him cheating on you as if you don't care. Who are you kidding?"
"He's not pining away, and don't you think that sounds an awful lot like you and William?" Caroline snapped.
"Hmmm....I had not thought of it that way yet. Maybe there are more similarities," Elizabeth said, and they both had some new things to think about.
William knew Elizabeth was playing that afternoon, and he would have loved to go and watch for a while before he had to leave for his own game, but he was afraid that everyone would know who he had come for, and he did not know how Elizabeth would like it.
He had seen her a few times in passing, but he had pretended that he had not seen her, because he had not known what to say. He knew that had been very stupid of him, and that it had probably not won her sympathy, but even convinced her of his indifference. He would have to act soon, or the damage would be irreparable.
When Elizabeth came to the training the next week, Charles was back in attendance. Jane was a bit nervous at first, but they soon chatted away like old times, and Charles was in grave danger of forgetting to train the rest of the girls.
Elizabeth got a little thrill when William showed up and took over Charles' role, while Charles and Jane took the opportunity to disappear, presumably to the bubble bath. Her thrill was short-lived, however, when he did not single her out in any way. Was he pining away for her like Caroline had said, or not? It did not very much look like it.
Afterwards, she lingered in the shower yet again, thinking that she was building up quite a reputation for being late, but her patience was rewarded when William also came to take a shower. He did not say anything until the last of the girls had left for the dressing rooms, and only then did he look at her.
Part 16
"Hi," William said tentatively.
"Hi," Elizabeth replied.
William turned to press the button once again. "They are not very hot today."
"No," Elizabeth agreed.
"Maybe when I push all the buttons?" he asked. "Sometimes the water is hotter when they are all running."
"You could try." Elizabeth was impressed by his long speech.
They pressed all the buttons and all the showers started running. "Hey!" came a voice. A pool attendant looked in from the pool. "Don't waste so much water. Oh, Lizzy! It's you sweetheart! Forget I said anything." The pool attendant came to kiss her hand. "Do you still love me?"
"Of course!" Elizabeth laughed.
Elizabeth saw that William looked rather jealous. "Don't worry. He's just nuts," she said when the pool attendant had left. "I'm not flirting with him or anything."
William said nothing and pressed a few more shower buttons.
"Can I use your shampoo?" Elizabeth asked. Was she going to have to do all the talking?
"Sure," he answered, and kicked the bottle towards her so he would not have to come too close. He watched her pick it up. "Have you been standing here all this time without washing your hair?"
"Yes."
"What for?"
"I was waiting."
"What for?"
"You."
"Me?" William asked. He turned again to press the shower button. "What for?"
"I don't know. I was hoping you would say something, I guess."
"Hmmm," said William.
"Something other than 'hmmm' or comments about the showers, preferably."
"Oh."
Elizabeth groaned. "I talked to Richard and he explained some things."
"Oh." William's shower stopped running, so he took a step sideways to get under the shower next to him and pressed the button there. It was also, conveniently, a step in Elizabeth's direction. "I tried to let you know without telling you, but I guess that didn't work," he said with a hint of humour.
"It went wrong from the start," Elizabeth said.
"Yes," he agreed. "I was not really happy about changing clubs and having to meet new people. That's no excuse, but..."
"You met us all now," Elizabeth reminded him. "And we met you. Maybe we could try to umm...start again?"
"That would be nice," he smiled.
Elizabeth thought she was in need of a splash of cold water on her face. A smiling William in Speedos was almost too much. She turned around to press her shower button to hide her blush, and she suddenly understood why William was doing this all the time. It made her blush even deeper and she pretended she could not get the shower to work, so she could keep her face averted for a little while longer.
"Doesn't it work anymore?" His voice sounded so close behind her that she started a little. He pushed, and the water started streaming.
Part 17
"Elizabeth!" William stepped back to his own shower and Mrs. Bennet came into view. "Will you hurry? And where is Jane?"
"Don't know."
"The bubble bath?" William suggested politely.
"Jane does not like bubbles," Mrs. Bennet said with confidence. "Well, it's her own fault. I'm leaving in five minutes and whoever chooses to stay here will have to heat her own dinner."
"Okay, I'll hurry," Elizabeth said in resignation. Mrs. Bennet disappeared and she looked at William. "I'm sorry about that. I'll have to go."
"Yes," he said.
"Bye."
"Bye. Oh!"
"What?"
"Umm..." William began. "Would you like to go to town with me tomorrow?"
"To do what?"
"I have to buy a present for my sister and I don't know what girls like."
Elizabeth smiled. "Sure. Bye."
"Bye."
Elizabeth and William walked around on the busy shopping streets the next day. They had already bought a bottle of perfume for Georgiana, but neither was willing to go home just yet. "Hey, isn't that Caroline?" Elizabeth asked.
"Where?"
"There in that shop, with the green coat."
"Yes, it is."
"Who's that fat guy with her? I can't see his head," Elizabeth said.
William laughed. "That double-headed guy in the blue coat?"
"What do you mean, double-headed?" Elizabeth tried to see past the thing that was blocking her view of his head. "I only see that he has a paunch and that he is pretty bulky."
"Yes, no wonder," William laughed again.
"What is so funny?"
"I told you. He has two heads."
"Huh?"
"He's sharing his coat."
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth stamped her foot in frustration. "I want to see it too. Move aside."
William stepped aside and allowed her a view of his cousin. "See?" he asked, but Richard had just turned his back to them and walked away with Caroline.
"It looks like Richard, but I can only see his back. Where is his second head then?"
William could only laugh.
"Argh! You are irritating. Let's follow them. I want to know how he came to be so fat all of a sudden."
"Okay, since we have nothing better to do," William hiccuped.
Part 18
"Since when are they on good enough terms to go walking around town together?" Elizabeth asked. "Okay, a large person could walk between them. They're not exactly holding hands, but still..."
"I suppose Caroline wanted to go," William said. "That makes more sense than the other way around." He grabbed her hand and pulled her aside, because she was about to be overrun by a group of boys she had not paid attention to. Elizabeth hardly noticed, and she did not protest either, so he kept holding her hand.
She was more interested in what happened ahead of them. "Oh! Richard almost turned! I almost saw what you meant."
"It is not shocking," William laughed.
"I'm probably dumb, right?"
"No, but it helps if you've seen him before."
"I have seen him before," Elizabeth pointed out.
"With...uhh...the thing."
"A thing with a head? Oh! Why didn't you tell me so? Now I feel really stupid! I see people carrying their babies like that all the time!" Elizabeth cried. "And he only turns when I figure it out for myself, thank you very much Richard. Now I can actually see it too. Aww! That is so sweet."
"He is married," William said quickly. "But I'll carry mine like that if I ever get one."
"Would you?"
"Yes."
"They're getting on the tram. Let's keep following them."
"Why?"
"We have to go home anyway, so why not?"
William frowned. "But they'll see us."
"Well, then we'll make our presence known. Come," Elizabeth tugged at his hand. "Hello!" she cried out cheerfully. Caroline and Richard turned.
You did it, Caroline looked meaningfully at Elizabeth and her hand holding William's.
You didn't, Elizabeth looked back.
You did it, Richard looked meaningfully at William and his hand holding Elizabeth's.
You didn't, William looked back.
The tram arrived and they climbed in. There were only three free seats, so Elizabeth and William both took one. "Why don't you sit on Richard's lap, Caroline? We can't do that, but you can, since you're married."
Before Caroline could say she would be just as happy to stand, Richard had already pulled her down, and of course the baby began to cry.
"Now she has to undress Richard to get to the baby," Elizabeth whispered to William. They were both looking on very interestedly.
"Only his coat," William said.
"Yes, but don't you think it all looks very strange to a person in the front of the tram?"
They both laughed.
"Could you two share a seat? I can't do it like this," Caroline asked.
Part 19
"Us?" Elizabeth stammered.
"Share?" William stammered likewise.
"Yes. Is that so strange? You two selfish beings have a seat to yourself, whereas I have to share one with two other people," Caroline snapped. She was always getting snappy when she could not stop her baby from crying, and there was no way she could get him out of Richard's coat while she was sitting on Richard's lap. Just like there was no way he would stop crying while he was still under Richard's coat. "Hush sweetie," she whispered into the coat. "Darling, don't cry. I'm here. Shall I give you a kiss?"
"But what do you want to accomplish by sitting here and Richard there?" Elizabeth asked.
Richard had been silent up to now. He had not exactly been enjoying having a crying baby against his chest, but Caroline sitting on his lap with one arm around his neck to steady herself, speaking endearments near his face -- unfortunately not meant for him, but was nice to know that she was capable of speaking them at all, anyway, because he had never heard her do so before, and who knows if she might address him by such terms in the near future -- was very interesting. He decided to speak up, nonetheless, when several heads began to turn in the direction of the crying baby. "Well, I suggest the three of us move to your seats," he said in a bored tone. "I thought it was pretty obvious."
"Oh!" said William. "I see."
They all changed seats, and Elizabeth sat down on William's lap rather awkwardly. "I wouldn't mind to stand, if you want," she said.
"No, it's okay. You're not that heavy."
They were very intent on watching Caroline taking out the baby and giving it to Richard. She then looked out of the window as if the whole business did not interest her.
"They are so odd!" Elizabeth leant back to whisper to William.
"Why?"
"Well, she looked really concerned a minute ago, and now she looks as if she doesn't care."
"Oh," lied William, putting his arms around her waist to stop her from sliding off his knees. "I wasn't really watching."
Richard, who did not mind holding the baby at all, whispered to Caroline. "You do it."
"I can't get him silent."
"Yes, you can."
"I can't," she said stubbornly.
"Try."
"He likes you better."
"No, he does not."
"Yes, he does."
"No, he doesn't."
"He knows his mother was drunk when he was conceived."
Richard could not stand it any longer. "If he knows that, he also knows that he was conceived because his father was in love with his mother. You take him." He held out the baby.
"What?" Caroline stared at him.
Part 20
"Take him," Richard said again, after he had stared back at her much too long, he thought.
Caroline took the baby automatically and calmed him. She could not think very clearly. She kept hearing his words over and over again.
"See? You can do it."
"Could you repeat what you just said?" she asked, just to be sure she had heard it correctly.
"See? You can do it."
"No, what you said before that."
"Take him?"
"No," Caroline said in agony. "Before that."
"I can't say that here," Richard looked around. "In the middle of a tram full of people. Everybody is listening and I don't even know if you would want to hear it again." Say you do.
"I do. I didn't hear it properly I think," she said, in case he had not meant what he had said about being in love with her.
"Then how can you know what it is that you want to hear again?" Richard asked. Say you heard it, but you just couldn't believe me.
"Alright, I did hear it properly, but I just can't believe you really said it."
"Why?" he asked carefully.
Caroline shrugged and pretended to straighten the baby's clothes. She could not help smiling. "Just because."
Richard was going to say something, but he checked his smile when he caught William and Elizabeth staring at them with considerable interest. He was glad that they could not possibly have heard them. They had been speaking very softly. "Are you comfortable?" he called out sarcastically. To his great amusement they both turned slightly red, but William did not remove his arm from around Elizabeth's waist.
As it was, they happened to be very comfortable. It was a pity that the tram was nearing Central Station and they had to get off. Elizabeth got up reluctantly. "Are you two -- three, I mean -- going back home as well?"
She did not receive an answer right away, because the others were busy hanging the baby under Caroline's coat. "Is this better, darling?" Caroline said to either the baby or Richard. "Yes, we are going back home."
"Who did she say darling to?" Elizabeth whispered to William with a mischievous smile.
"Richard," was William's opinion. "She was asking a question, and you just don't ask a baby if it's better, because he won't answer. It must have been Richard. They're getting along very well, and they have these suspicious little smiles on their faces."
"They're getting along very well," Richard whispered to Caroline. "They're sharing little secrets. I don't trust those suspicious little smiles."
Elizabeth was looking at Richard and Caroline so much that she almost walked into a stationary tram and she burst into giggles. William stuck his arm through hers. "You need a guide!" But because he was looking at Elizabeth, he walked into an old lady. They both laughed and quickly ran into the station.
"You were right," said Caroline as they followed slowly. "They are getting along very well. Why are they laughing? It was not even that funny. Let's not sit with them on the train. They keep looking at us for some strange reason."
On the train they were quick to sit down on the last two places in a full compartment. Elizabeth and William had to walk on to the next one. "There's enough places here," William said. "Shall we run back and tell them?"
"Umm, no," said Elizabeth. "Somehow I don't think they'd be interested, and that baby gets on my nerves." They talked animatedly and did not even see it when Caroline passed with James to change his nappy, nor when she returned.
Part 21
"Let's go and have a drink," William suggested when they got off the train. In the crowd of people they did not see Richard and Caroline anywhere, and he did not want to say goodbye to Elizabeth just yet.
"Where?"
"Oh, anywhere. My place?"
"I've never been there yet. I'd like to see how you live," Elizabeth said. "If you have a tidy room and all."
"Of course I do."
They walked to William's house, and when they arrived there, Elizabeth saw something familiar. "Hey, that's Jane's bike. I wonder what she's doing here."
"I don't. I share a house with Charles."
"Oh."
"Do we want to disturb them?" he asked doubtfully. He suddenly recalled the big grocery bags that Charles had brought in this morning, and the bottle of wine protruding from one of them. "I think they planned a candlelight supper or something, and unless Mr. Bingley called in outside help, I doubt that he'd eat a meal in his bedroom. I don't think it would impress a girl to sit in the middle of his junk. They'll be in the kitchen the whole evening. Unescapable. I'd feel like trespassing."
Elizabeth thought it too bold to suggest that William and she could stay in William's bedroom all the time. Besides, what would Jane and Charles think of that? "Where do we go? A pub? I'm not taking you to my parents."
"I wouldn't want to go there," William said hastily. "A pub would do nicely."
They walked back in the direction of the centre. About halfway Elizabeth decided she was really cold. "We're going right past Caroline. Can't we just stop in with some excuse so I can get a little warmer?"
"If your hands are cold, I can warm them," William offered.
"I bet you can," Elizabeth said archly. "But it's not just my hands. Hmmm...what excuse can we come up with? Can you think of anything?"
"The truth?"
"They'd think that very odd."
"Who cares?"
"So, do we go?"
William nodded. "We could at least try." They walked to the door and rang the bell.
"Hello," said Caroline in a less than welcoming voice.
"We are cold and we need a place to spend the evening," Elizabeth explained.
Caroline stared at them for a minute and then she moved her head. "Well, you're welcome if you are willing to babysit for us until midnight."
"Babysit?" William asked.
"Yes. So we can go out."
"You are going out with Richard?" he asked incredulously.
Caroline looked at him as if he were very stupid. "Had you thought I'd be asking you to babysit Richard for me while I went out with James?"
"No, no, but I didn't know you were on going-out terms," he explained.
"Gee! We're married. Do I have to find excuses to go out with my husband? I am not going to make up excuses for that."
"Never mind," said William. "I didn't know it was such a sore point."
"Do you say yes?"
"Yes," said Elizabeth, pushing William in. "They have heating."
"But they also have a baby," he protested.
"Heating is more important."
Part 22
"We're going out," said Caroline to Richard, who was stretched out on the couch in front of the tv and who was not eyeing William and Elizabeth very enthusiastically. When the doorbell had rung, he had still been sitting and he had got as far as placing his hand so strategically that his little finger touched Caroline's little finger, and he was contemplating the stereotypical male stretching act¹ to speed up the process of getting his arm where he wanted it. Understandably, he was not too pleased with the interruption. Having the girl in your lap in a tram was definitely completely different from sitting next to her in your living room.
It was because of his preoccupation with these gloomy thoughts that he did not quite understand Caroline's meaning. "Oh, have fun," he said with a slight hint of disappointment. Just like in the song Suzanne² he turned up the volume because the moment had passed, lines from random songs that were applicable to his life flashing through his head. All I wanted was a sweet distraction for an hour or two. Had no intention to do the things we've done. Fooled around and fell in love. Just when he was thinking which songs he could apply next, he heard Caroline's voice again.
"They're going to babysit for us."
"What?" he called, fumbling with the buttons to get the volume down. "I didn't hear you."
"Why do you put that thing on so loud then?" Caroline asked in annoyance. "It's the TMF³ Awards for crying out loud! Don't tell me you like the VJ's dresses, if you can call them that, even? There is one dressed in a red bin bag."
Richard protested, "the girl who won that award isn't wearing a bin bag. She looks like she just stepped off a tractor." The very au-naturel country girl began to sing and Caroline turned off the sound. Richard thought the song was very applicable to himself and he glared at her. "What did you do that for?"
"Come on, let's go," she said impatiently. "We're going out."
"What? Me too?" Richard asked in a low voice so William and Elizabeth, who were still standing near the door, would not overhear.
"You and me, dummy."
"Oh, and them?" he asked curiously.
"They're the babysitters."
Richard jumped off the couch with renewed energy. William and Elizabeth seated themselves on the couch, with about the same distance between them that had originally been between Richard and Caroline, but which had diminished gradually with each trip to the toilet and to the baby. Richard grinned at William and disappeared to his bedroom. "Enjoy yourselves."
"That baby of yours...is he asleep?" William asked suspiciously. "What do we do when he starts to cry?"
"Put on a video," Caroline suggested.
"Huh? Does he watch videos already?" William looked surprised.
"No, but we have all those films about people -- mostly men -- who don't know what to do with their baby. They're bound to have a scene in it that will solve your problem. My personal favourite scene is when Jack clothes Sarah in a tea-towel, puts a sock on her head and stuffs her into something that looks like a paper bag. Too bad we don't have a video camera so you could tape whatever you do."
"Yeah..." said William, unconvinced, while Elizabeth was laughing.
"Well, bye," said Caroline, and she pulled the door of the living room shut behind her. "Richard, where are you?" she knocked on his door.
He pulled the door open. "I had to get myself ready, you know. Put on a nice scent and all."
"Yeah..." said Caroline, not quite daring to make it sound like "yeah!"
"Do I look well enough to go out?" Richard asked.
Caroline thought he looked too well to go out, and that perhaps it had not been such a wise idea to lend their living room out to William and Elizabeth. Perhaps she should just have kicked them out and then she could have been alone with Richard and he could have finally got round to do what he seemed to lack the courage for. As if I'm so dense that I didn't notice what he was doing! But on the other hand, she was not brave enough to put him out of his misery either. There is always this very small chance that I am wrong. "Yes, you look tolerable enough."
"Good." He pulled on his coat. "Where are we going?"
"The cinema?" she suggested.
"Is there anything good showing right now?"
"Uhh, I don't know." Does it matter?
"We'll see, then," Richard said. Since he had not absorbed much of the programme they had been watching on television before either, he did not really care. They got their bikes out and noticed Richard's had a flat tyre. "Shall I ride yours?" he offered.
"No need," said Caroline, busy trying to remove the baby seat from her bike. "I'm not taking this into town. They might steal it. I can ride with you on the back."
"Really?"
"Sure."
Richard sat down on her luggage carrier and held on to her waist very lightly. He did not really have to do that in order to stay seated, but he liked it.
"Attention! A post," Caroline yelled. There were always posts in the middle of the bike lanes whenever they intersected a road, to prevent cars from entering them.
Her steering was not superb, because Richard's knee hit the post rather roughly, but then it is very difficult to steer a bike for a young lady with a tall young man on her luggage carrier. "Ouch!" he cried out.
"Oh!" Caroline cried and braked. "I am so sorry! Are you okay?"
"Yes," Richard said as he limped around a little. "You hit my good knee, fortunately."
"Do you want to ride?"
"I could try."
Caroline went on the back this time and she held onto the belt of his jeans. At least, that was what Richard assumed, since his belt was awfully tight all of a sudden and he had only eaten three Easter eggs. She gave a little feminine cry as he rode over a bump on purpose and grabbed him around the waist. Much better, he thought with a satisfied smile.
1. in case this is not correct, Mark, feel free to correct me
2. it´s in Dutch, so you won´t know it
3. The Music Factory, which is far more popular than MTV Europe (less adverts)
Part 23
"Well," said Elizabeth. "There we are." She looked around herself.
"Yes," said William, playing with the remote control. There was nothing he liked on television and he kept checking all the channels.
"We are warm."
"Yes."
"But we haven't had dinner yet."
"No."
"What shall we do about it?"
"I suppose it's too unlikely that they left without eating their dinner," William said doubtfully.
"I don't know, but we could check the kitchen." Elizabeth jumped up energetically. "Come," she dragged him up. They went into the hall and stared at the various doors. "I wonder which one it is."
William tried a few doors. "Bedroom. Another bedroom. Oh! Contains baby, this one. Good to know. Bathroom. Then this must be the kitchen. And it is."
Elizabeth looked around while William glanced into the pots and pans. "Hey look! This is their calendar of sorts."
"They already had dinner," said William in a disappointed tone.
"They had planned to go shopping today, but they hadn't planned a date."
"Oh," said William. "I wonder what they're doing. They probably won't tell us, though. Maybe if I write it on their calendar?"
"Write what on their calendar?"
"Well, to call me to tell all about their romantic date," he said and scribbled something down for the day after.
"They're going to want to know what we did," Elizabeth said.
William put his arm around her. "They may know we ordered dinner, but that's it, I guess."
Part 24
"Well, how did it go?" Richard asked when he and Caroline returned. "Was he good?"
"Who? William?" Elizabeth said.
"Like we would tell you!" William added.
"Ugh. No, I don't want to know that! I was talking about the baby."
"Oh, he's been good, hasn't he, William?"
"Yeah," William nodded.
Caroline looked suspicious. "Did you look in on him at all?"
"Yeah," William nodded. "He was very quiet."
"In fact," said Elizabeth. "William said he wouldn't mind having one himself if it would be as quiet as James. Right, William?"
"Is he still alive?" Caroline cried, and ran into the hall.
"Yes, of course he's still alive," William said to Richard. "What does she think? He's just been sleeping all the time. There's not much else he can do."
"I wouldn't say that!" James's father objected and he began to list the baby's progress in a very detailed manner.
"He's still alive," Caroline reported back. "I'm sorry. He's my baby and I just don't always trust anybody other than Richard..."
"Ugh," said William, who had never seen his cousin look at anyone the way he looked now. "Let's go, Elizabeth. I'll take you home." He took a few steps in the direction of the front door.
"Yes, you do that, and don't forget the goodnight kiss," said Richard in his euphoria.
"I won't if you won't," William countered.
"Oh, sure. Come here, Elizabeth," Richard said immediately, stretching out his arms. He hugged her and gave her three kisses on the cheek, leaving William and Caroline to look on rather jealously. He/she never does that to me! they both thought.
"I did not mean Elizabeth," said William. "I meant Caroline."
"Go right ahead," said Richard. "As long as you don't kiss her on the mouth."
"Uhh, no thanks," said William hastily. He pulled his arm through Elizabeth's and advanced to the door a little more. "It is not that I find Caroline repulsive, mind you, but I don't quite believe you when you say go right ahead ."
"I'm glad you don't find her repulsive, but you shouldn't find her too unrepulsive either."
"No, I swear she has the right amount of unrepulsiveness," William said. "Sorry, Caroline. You have my permission to slap him."
Caroline's alarm had been increasing steadily and she exchanged a helpless look with Elizabeth. "I'm being offered as a kissable object, I'm being -"
"Which is a good deal better than being offered as a slappable object, like me," said Richard.
"I lost it!" Elizabeth announced.
"Go and find it!" Richard replied. "I know where it is."
"What, your brain?" she asked.
"No. Is it missing?" Richard asked in his hyper, bright way. "I hadn't noticed that yet, but I think I can do tolerably well without one for the time being. Things won't start to get desperate until next week or so when I have exams, but don't come to visit me then, because you might be shocked at seeing my brain in full gear. Until then, I rely solely on Caroline's brain."
"I think you're taxing it too much," Caroline mumbled. "The battery seems to be dead." She exchanged another puzzled look with Elizabeth. They had both lost it.
"But it's rechargeable, right?" Richard asked cheerfully.
"You really ought to recharge Caroline's mental batteries," said William. "So she can write another essay like that brilliant one she produced for you last week."
"Huh?" said Caroline. "I must really be in need of a recharge."
"We'll leave you to it," William smiled mischievously. He opened the front door and stepped out. "By all means tap off some of Richard's energy. Wear him out! Tire him! It's rather exhausting."
"Bye," said Elizabeth with a yawn. "Gosh! I'm really tired, sorry. I didn't mean to illustrate William's point."
"That's okay," Richard grinned brightly. "Well, when you two need someone to look after your baby in the future, feel free to call on us."
"That is very -" William began.
"Considerate of us?" Richard asked. "Yeah!"
"Presumptious!" William finished.
"What?" Richard's face fell. "Were you planning on asking other people?"
"You might be too much for them," said Caroline.
"Not if I don't take you. Didn't I just say - oh, never mind!"
"Bye," said Caroline. "And Richard, we've all lost you."
"Bye," said William and Elizabeth.
"William hasn't lost me. He never lost me for a second, right William?"
"Right," William grinned. "Once he puts you on the right track, I assure you that you'll never lose him again. He has a one-track mind, even if it's kind of curving. Bye!" He whispered something to Elizabeth and she giggled as they walked away.
Richard closed the door behind them.
"I don't get it," Caroline said. "How can he understand you? What track was he talking about that you're going to put me on?"
"Well, he knows something that you may not fully understand. Yet," said Richard. "I confess we were talking on a hidden level now and then."
"But how could you tell him he could kiss me! I don't want to be kissed by him!"
"He knew what I really meant. I was telling him not to kiss you on the mouth, because then I'd be seriously upset."
"So would I!"
"Do you object to kissing or to William?" he asked seriously.
"Do you think I object to kissing?" Caroline asked in a small voice.
"I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of finding that out." Richard placed his hands on the wall next to Caroline's shoulders.
"I hope it's a pleasure," she mumbled, feeling a bit lightheaded from staring into his eyes.
"For me it would be."
"For me too, how funny."
"That must be because we are married."
Caroline thought he was taking far too long to come closer and she could not stand it anymore. She kissed him.
Part 25 ~ Conclusion
William and Elizabeth resolved many things during their walk home. They exchanged such things as apologies, confidences, kisses, secrets, and of course normal conversation, which naturally made up the greater part of the total number of words they exchanged.
But when they next appeared together in public - in the pool, that is - they were obviously a couple, and they were certain they would remain so for the rest of their lives.
Richard and Caroline also resolved many things in their own home. Though they had been an official couple for quite some time now, the next time they appeared together they were most definitely an obvious couple as well.
Mrs. Bennet was understandably very pleased that two of her daughters had such talented boyfriends - because Jane had Charles - and she became a fervent supporter of Longbourn's men's first team. It would always be a mystery whether it was due to Mrs. Bennet's cheering - "of course," she said - or due to the influx of three new players, but Longbourn's men's first team got promoted to a higher division at the end of the season.
With Caroline back in the water and their capable coach Charles directing their every move even the ladies managed to get a promotion, and even Mr. Bennet had to admit that the girls were not as bad as that.
And at the tournaments that took place at the end of the season, everybody showed exemplary behaviour. The girls of the first team had forbidden each other to do anything that would upset the team structure now that they would be classed in a higher division the next year. They had seen the second team's degradation - half the players there were on maternity leave.