Chapter 38
Darla had been focused on everyone’s reactions to William’s arrival, so the furtive looks that Elizabeth and him had exchanged when they thought no one was watching or Aimée’s jealous reaction to those looks, hadn’t escaped her notice.
She couldn’t care less if William and Elizabeth had met before or just today as Angel had claimed, or even if Aimée had been involved with the blond man as she suspected. The only thing that truly mattered to her at the moment was the idea that had surged in her mind after she realized that her goddaughter and her husband’s bastard were so obviously attracted to the other.
If her plan worked she would kill two (or more, as the case might be) birds with one stone. It was almost foolproof, as long as William accepted to be recognized as Rodrigo’s son and the De Alcazar name, and there was no way he wouldn’t. Especially if she sweetened the deal by offering him some properties and a beautiful bride; and of course, as long as Elizabeth agreed to marry William, which didn’t seem quite so impossible after seeing them together earlier today.
It wasn’t that she truly wanted her darling Elizabeth to marry William, after all Darla loved the girl almost as if she were her own daughter and she had been truly crushed when Angel decided to marry Aimée instead of the blond girl, but for what she’d just seen she’d seemed more attracted to William than to Riley Finn, who was her son’s choice for her, so she was sure that she wouldn’t object to her plans either.
Darla just needed to convince Joyce and Angel to help her carry out her plans. She didn’t expect it to be too difficult, especially regarding Joyce. The woman would jump at the chance of having her other daughter married to a De Alcazar. Angel though, was another matter. He seemed to be quite fond of William, but who knew how he would react when she told him that William was his half-brother, or to her idea of marrying him off to Elizabeth?
His reaction might be marginally better if it was she the one who told him though, rather than any random stranger that might have known his father in what seemed like another lifetime or even worse, if Snyder decided to open his mouth or show her son the letter he claimed her husband had left. No, it was much better this way, she’d tell him that she didn’t realize William was his half-brother until now, she could even show him she was willing to sacrifice her pride and tell the world that her husband had a bastard son, and in turn, she’d be free of Snyder’s threats. And even if the damned letter appeared, she could feign ignorance about it and say that she only noticed now that they might be brothers because of William’s resemblance to her late husband.
So, all in all, she’d work to her advantage the fact that William had reappeared. She would look magnanimous in her son’s eyes, and Snyder wouldn’t have as much of a hold over her. And of course, it didn’t hurt that her daughter-in-law would probably suffer a coronary in the process.
Just thinking of how much more the redheaded girl would squirm when she discovered what Darla intended, brought a big smile to her face that she quickly hid from the others. Some might try to hinder her plans, but she wasn’t about to let them. She needed to do this. This was the only way to stop Snyder from blackmailing her in the future.
Deciding there was no better time than the present to put her plan in motion, Doña Darla pasted what she hoped was a warm smile on her face, and broke the uncomfortable silence that had settled in the room right after Angel left with Aimée. “Elizabeth, could you do me the favor of showing our guest to his room in the east wing and making sure he has everything he needs while I discuss something with your mother in my study?” Darla asked, smiling even wider when she noticed the bright smile that her goddaughter threw at her. Oh, yes, Elizabeth wouldn’t mind at all the plans she had for her.
“Certainly, Aunt Darla,” Buffy nodded, surprised by her godmother’s request, but not about to question her good luck at being able to spend a little more time with William.
“B-but—” Joyce tried to interject, not too pleased with the idea of her daughter being alone with that man again, even if he looked a lot like Rodrigo De Alcazar, and might actually be related to him, it wasn’t proper, but Darla interrupted her.
“You may choose any of the unoccupied rooms that is to your liking, William; and of course, we expect you to join us for supper in about two hours.”
“Er, right, thank you,” he said, completely floored by Doña Darla’s sudden courtesy, but unable to hide that he didn’t mind at all spending more time with Buffy as he offered her his arm and they walked out of the room.
María was about to follow them, when Darla’s voice stopped her. “María, could you ask Miguel to send a peon to retrieve William’s baggage from his ship?”
María looked at Doña Darla with curiosity etched in her face, nodding her acquiescence as she left the room. She couldn’t understand why Doña Darla wanted her to leave William and her niña alone; even for the few minutes it would take her to go look for Miguel, or why she had suddenly had such a marked change of attitude regarding William. She’d been almost…civil to him. Not that she could actually ask any of those questions, but there were ways to find out, especially if the two women were going to converse in the study room.
Darla turned towards Cordelia, who had been on the background wondering what that had been all about. “That’d be all for now, Cordelia. I’ll be in my study if Angel needs me,” she said, dismissing the girl, before turning to Joyce. “Shall we have that talk now, Joyce?”
* ~ * ~ *
“See? You were both wrong, Aunt Darla isn’t as bad as you thought,” Buffy said happily when María joined them in the hall outside the living room.
“Hmm, we’ll see, niña, we’ll see,” María replied, sharing a worried look with William. They both knew that it wasn’t like Doña Darla to change her attitude so drastically towards anybody; she had to be planning something, but what? She knew firsthand that the woman couldn’t be trusted and she had the feeling that her niña would be caught in the middle somehow in all this.
“In the meantime, explain something to me…is it so difficult for you two to follow the simplest of instructions?” She threw them an annoyed look. “It’d be a miracle if someone inside that room didn’t notice how you feel for the other. Of course, don’t you worry,” she mocked William’s words, out loud this time. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, pouting slightly, before turning toward Buffy and enveloping her in a loving look that earned him a blush from her. “But look at her, how could I not? She’s so beautiful, she looks like an angel; you couldn’t expect me not to watch her, could you?”
The older woman sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes once more. “You know what? I’m not in the mood to get into this right now, so…is there anyone in particular that the peón should ask for in your ship?” she asked William.
“Eh, yes, he can ask for Xander,” Spike answered, even more confused than before. María was actually going to leave him alone with Buffy and Doña Darla had been civil to him? Maybe his luck was improving.
“Bueno,” María said, smiling at him in that unnerving way that was beginning to grate on his nerves. “And before you go and celebrate that I’m leaving you alone with mi niña, just know that I won’t be long and afterwards, you and I will have a very long conversation, comprende?”
Spike gulped visibly. Then again, maybe not. “Y-yes, si…er, Ma’am.”
* ~ * ~ *
Darla felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as she entered her study room followed by Joyce; and well, at least part of it had. She inhaled deeply, steeling herself for the part she’d have to play with her sister-in-law. “I imagine you have some questions about William, dear?”
“Yes, I do have some, but I-I decided not to ask them before out of respect to you,” Joyce said shakily.
“And I thank you for that, Joyce. I know it must have been difficult not to ask then.”
“A little, maybe.” Joyce laced her hands over her lap, sighing. She really didn’t want to upset Darla but she needed to know if her suspicions were right. “It’s just that…well, I know it’s none of my business, but it’s just that he’s…he looks so much like…”
“Like Rodrigo?” Darla supplied, continuing right after Joyce nodded. “Yes, I have to agree he does look a lot like him.”
“A-are they…related?”
Darla shrugged, sighing. “I can’t see how they could not be. Being honest with you, well, I-I had my suspicions before…before Rodrigo d-died.” Her voice trembled and her eyes filled with unshed tears, making it seem to Joyce like she really found it difficult to talk about that, when in reality she was only preparing the foundation for her plan to work.
“Suspicions?” Joyce asked softly, moved by her sister-in-law’s distress but curious over what she was going to tell her.
“Rodrigo b-brought William here before he died, he didn’t tell me anything but I…I suspected that he might be his son because of their resemblance. Then Rodrigo died and William escaped, and well, I convinced myself that it had just been my imagination. It isn’t though, no one that knew Rodrigo, and now sees William, could say he isn’t his s-son,” she said shakily, as a few tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Oh, darling, I’m so sorry. What are you going to do now?”
“I-I think I should acknowledge him as Rodrigo’s son, give him his rightful name and maybe some properties, i-it’s the right thing to do.”
“Oh, you’re an angel, Darla, not many women—myself included—would do something like that.”
“I know, but you saw how much Angel likes him, and well, it’s not really his fault.” Darla dabbed at her cheeks delicately with a handkerchief cleaning her tears.
“You’re right, of course.”
“A-and well, we could find him a suitable wife, you know? Someone of our social station, after all, he’ll be a De Alcazar.”
“Certainly.” Joyce nodded, thinking of Elizabeth immediately. William seemed a little too rough for her tastes, but he was a De Alcazar and Darla said she’d give him properties. Not even with Angel providing her of a sizeable dowry would her daughter make a better marriage. “Hmm, what do you think of Elizabeth?”
Darla suppressed the smile that threatened to bloom on her face and blow off her charade, by biting the inside of her cheek. Joyce took the bait, hook, line and sinker. “What of Elizabeth?” she asked, feigning an innocence she was far away from feeling.
“Well, she’s a beautiful girl with good moral principles, and I think she’d be an excellent wife for William.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of her, but I think you’re right, she’d be perfect for William. But…do you think she would agree?”
“She will if we both ask her.”
“I think it might be better if I ask William what he thinks about it first, so he could court her. To give her the illusion that this will be a love marriage? You know how Elizabeth is with these things.”
“But, of course, that’s a wonderful idea.”
As Joyce talked about wedding details, Darla let her mind wander as she thought how much better her life would be once William was recognized as her husband’s son and he and Elizabeth married. Snyder would probably throw a fit, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything against her. Once she did this, Rodrigo’s letter wouldn’t be of importance anymore and she’d finally be free of the awful man’s blackmail. Nothing else mattered but that.
* ~ * ~ *
María almost couldn’t give credit to what she’d heard from her post under the study room’s window. Almost, because she knew Doña Darla was capable of doing just about anything if it suited her plans. Only in this case what Campo Real’s mistress wanted actually worked for the plans William, Elizabeth, and her were designing. She wouldn’t say anything to them though, not yet, she had to talk with William about Aimée first.
* ~ * ~ *
Aimée was fuming as she paced back and forth in her room. She had begged Angel to leave her alone as soon as he’d placed her over their bed claiming that she needed some sleep, but sleep was the least of her preoccupations at the moment.
What on Earth had that been about? She understood that William was jealous—after all she had married his friend, which all in itself was something she hadn’t completely digested either—but that didn’t mean that he had to be exchanging that kind of looks with her dull sister, did it? The only explanation she’d been able to come up with was that he was using Elizabeth to make Aimée jealous and oh God, it was working. She was so jealous she almost exposed herself in the living room.
What to do now? She needed William to understand that even if she married Angel, there was no reason for them to stop their affair. She’d even beg him if needed, she’d be willing to give up anything—except her position as Campo Real’s mistress of course—so he would envelop her in his strong arms again and bring her to the stars.
Yes, she’d do that; as soon as it was safe she’d visit him in his rooms and let him know in no uncertain terms that she was ready and willing to continue their relationship where they had left it. And in the meantime, she’d have a little conversation with her sister, just in case. Not that she thought William could really be interested in her, but she would do it as a precautionary measure.
No one was going to take William away from her, no one, especially not her sister.
tbc
Next chapter: A Spuffy moment and the long awaited William/María conversation.
[Reviews - 429]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 1711 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you to Kimber, effection, MidnightGirl, Amelia-Jane and Slayer_rock_chick for reviewing. I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me to know you’re still reading and enjoying the story and it seems my muse liked it, too, since she's being much more giving to me lately. A huge thank you to Brat, for betaing this chapter for me.