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CHAPTER 6 - Unexpected Surprise

"Ah, Elizabeth, there you are, I've been looking for you," Rupert Giles said as he entered the kitchen where she was having a cup of tea.

"What's up?" she queried lightly.

The older man gave his niece a contrite smile and took off his wire-rimmed glasses. Pulling out a spotlessly clean handkerchief from the inside pocket of his tweed suite, he then vigorously began to polish the already unmarked lenses. "Elizabeth, I have to apologise," he said in a regretful tone. "It completely slipped my mind that I shall be bringing a colleague home with me today. He's going to be taking over the English Literature chair at Cambridge on a six-month trial. I said that he could stay with us for a while…until he found his feet, as it were." Giles put his glasses back on then pocketed his hanky and offered another small smile. "I had every intention of telling you before now but he rang while you were visiting your parents a few weeks ago and it just went entirely out of my head."

Elizabeth sighed. Rupert Giles had a notoriously bad memory when it came to the day to day living of life in general. Ask him about the Salem Witch Trials or the Tolpuddle Martyrs and he'd talk for hours recalling every minute detail he'd ever read but remembering where he'd parked his car? Forget it. Having one of his friends over wasn't an unusual occurrence and the house was more than big enough to accommodate him but a little bit more warning would still have been nice.

Mentally reviewing the kitchen cupboards and fridge, she realised that they were low on food and would need to go to the supermarket.

"That's okay. I have to go shopping anyway," she replied absently as she checked her watch. She needed to get going if she was to get back and sort out a bedroom and make a start on dinner.

"Excellent," Giles commented in relief and turned to go only to be stopped by Elizabeth's stern voice.

"Don’t forget that Liam Connell is coming tomorrow afternoon," she reminded him.

"Who?" asked Giles turning around to look at her with a baffled expression.

"Liam Connell," Elizabeth repeated patiently. "Your publisher, remember?"

"Ah, yes…yes, of course," the older man said with sudden recollection. "I'll make a note of it in my diary when I get to the university. Goodbye Elizabeth, I'll see you later."

"Bye," she called after him then quickly finished her drink and went to the phone to call her best friend, Willow Rosenburg.

Willow was the daughter of an American tutor at Cambridge. They'd met when her uncle had invited the family over for dinner and she'd liked the petite, shy girl immediately.

Bonding over a couple of bottles of wine one evening, Elizabeth had told her horrified friend about Parker and, in turn, learned that Willow had had a crush on her childhood friend, Xander, for years. A crush that had grown into adult love on her side…but not his.

Around the same time that her father had secured his position in England, she approached Xander to tell him of her feelings. His response had been a gentle, but firm, rebuff to the heartbroken girl and, in her misery, she'd jumped at the chance to move abroad with her parents seeing it as a fresh start after years of pining for a boy who would only ever see her as nothing more than a friend.

It proved to be the best thing she'd ever done. A year after Willow had settled in England, she'd met a young man called Daniel Osbourne. Daniel, or Oz as he preferred to be known, had been backpacking around the world using the time to decide what he wanted to do with his life before heading back to America.

As soon as he'd seen Willow though, everything had changed. Smitten from the very first, he'd pursued the redhead with a relentlessness that belied his outwardly laid back demeanour.

They'd been together three years now and Elizabeth suspected that it wouldn't be much longer before her friend was telling her that they were getting engaged.

After Willow agreed to go with her, Elizabeth grabbed her coat and purse and hurried out to her car.

In the south, it was already beginning to feel like Spring, the mild weather a stark contrast to the snow laden roads of only five weeks earlier.

Five weeks.

Five weeks since she'd visited her parents.

Five weeks since William and that night.

Sitting in the drivers seat, Elizabeth felt the usual shakiness invading her limbs that accompanied any thoughts about William and determinedly forced back the memories. Memories that since that night hadn't diminished in the slightest. Every night she dreamt of him…touching her…kissing her…loving her…

At first she'd thought that maybe it was all still so clear because she was concerned about any repercussions; but, three weeks after she'd got back home, her body had provided irrefutable proof that her momentary insanity hadn't resulted in creating a child.

Although she was grateful of the fact, it didn't stop the surge of disappointment and loss that swept through her at the knowledge that, physically, she wouldn't have something to remind her of the night she'd shared with William.

Not that she was equipped to bring up a child alone…she didn't have the inner strength, the fortitude…and yet…

To have loved William so intensely and to have him love her the same way in return that that loving had created a new life…

Elizabeth shook her head suddenly and tutted in impatience at her romanticism. Truth was, she behaved like an irresponsible idiot and she was extremely lucky that she hadn't become pregnant as a result.

Turning the key, she started her car and began to drive. She still had no idea why she'd acted the way she had but the initial shock and shame she'd experienced the morning after had gone. In its place was an odd guilty awareness that it was the pleasure of those hours she remembered most and not the sick feeling of self-disgust that followed them.

In fact, at times, she wondered if she'd conjured the whole night up. If so, she had a better imagination than she realised. And yet, to have acted so wildly out of character, the only possible answer was to conclude that it had all been a wonderful dream.

Turning a corner, Willow's house appeared and Elizabeth took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. She'd not told her friend what happened, preferring to keep the precious memories to herself. Besides, how could she expect her friend to understand what she'd done, when she hadn't got a clue herself?

She was about to turn off the engine when the front door opened and her redheaded friend came out giving her a wave and cheery grin. Elizabeth smiled and waved back, watching the young woman lock the door behind her then jog down the path to the car.

"Hey," Willow greeted as she opened the door and got in. Fastening her seatbelt, she said, "So, Giles sprung another unexpected guest on you, did he?"

"Yep," the blonde replied on a sigh. "One day I'd like to get a little more than a two minute warning, you know?"

Willow chuckled and nodded. "So where we off to first?"

"The supermarket and then the dry cleaners. I have to pick up a couple of blouses."

"Okay," the redhead replied, settling back comfortably in her seat.

Chatting non-stop, the two women reached the supermarket and made short work of the grocery shopping. Once Elizabeth had retrieved her freshly cleaned tops, they then went into a local tearoom and had some lunch then drove back to Giles' house.

While they put the food away, Elizabeth glanced out of the window and frowned at the wild state of the large garden. She really needed to do something about that. Definitely had to be weeded and then maybe plant some perennials that she could watch come back and multiply year after year.

Letting out a sigh, she realised that if her family knew the train of her thoughts, they'd be horrified. Stay in one place for years on end? Unthinkable! For them there was no pleasure to be garnered from running a home and all the permanency that came with it. In fact, it was so foreign a notion to them, that for years Elizabeth tried to deny the feelings in herself. As she'd got older, however, she'd learned to accept the part of her nature that demanded the feeling of stability and embraced it whole-heartedly.

Problem was, these days women were expected to have wonderful careers, bring up a family and still look glamorous and worldly. Having it all, they called it. Didn't people realise that it was virtually impossible for anyone, no matter how highly motivated, to reach such an amazing standard of perfection? That many women, when faced with the hopelessness of reaching said heights, found it only emphasised their own inadequacies?

Women were good at feeling guilty…Elizabeth knew that only too well…they really didn't need to have any extra burdens weighing them down; like spending the night in the arms of a complete stranger and handing your virginity over with no more than a whimper.

"You okay?" came Willow's concerned voice, jolting Elizabeth out of her musings.

Realising she was still staring out of the window, she turned to her friend and gave her a smile. "I'm fine," she said brightly. "Just phased out there for a minute."

Willow gave her a small smile back and said hesitantly, “You know, you’ve been a little be spacey ever since you came back from your parents house. Did something happen while you were up there?”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened fractionally and then she brushed passed her friend and grabbed a shopping bag, beginning to empty it. “No,” she said, keeping her gaze locked firmly on her task. “Nothing happened. I told you, I’m fine.”

Willow frowned, knowing she was lying. Placing a hand on Elizabeth’s arm, she stayed her friend’s movements and told her, “If you ever need to talk, you know I’m here, right?”

Elizabeth looked up into the redhead’s caring eyes and felt her restraint weaken for a moment. Part of her longed to talk about William and the wonderful night they shared but another, harder part of her that despised herself for what she did, couldn’t free the words.

“I know, Willow,” she replied quietly. “Thanks.”

The redhead smiled slightly and nodded. Removing her hand, she walked over to the fridge and finished off putting the food away. For a moment there, she had been certain that Elizabeth would tell her what was bothering her but then she’d stopped herself.

She sighed lightly. Maybe it was the fact that Dawn had got engaged. Seeing your younger sister obtaining everything you’d ever dreamed of had to be heartbreaking. Which was precisely why she had yet to tell her friend of her own engagement. No need to make her feel worse.

Elizabeth gathered up the plastic bags then placed them in a cupboard under the sink in order to use them another day. Willow’s tentative observation about her acting vague had been a shock. She’d thought she’d managed to keep a majority her musing time to when she was alone but obviously she hadn’t.

Suddenly, she mentally pulled herself up short and asked herself what the hell she was doing. She’d literally pined for the guy for five weeks. Five weeks! Would he be doing the same? No! She’d be willing to bet he’d not even given her a passing thought.

God, what was she doing to herself?

‘Face it,’ she told herself cruelly. ‘What happened meant nothing to him. It was just a brief sexual fling. You could’ve been anyone.’

Ignoring the lurch of her stomach at that last thought, she turned to her friend determinedly pushing all thoughts of William out of her mind. For good.

With a new sense of purpose, she told Willow she was going upstairs to make up a bed for Giles’ friend. The redhead went with her and after they were done, they went back to the kitchen and sat down for a cup of tea and a chat before starting dinner.

They’d only been sat a couple of minutes when the chugging sound of a diesel engine reached their ears announcing the arrival of Giles and his friend.

“They’re early,” Elizabeth commented with a glance at her watch.

“I’ll start peeling some veg for you, then I’ve got to go and meet Oz,” Willow offered as Elizabeth got up.

“Are you sure you’ve got time?” the blonde queried not wanting to make her friend late.

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said gratefully. “I’ll just go and say, ‘Hi’ and see if they want a drink and then I’ll be right back.”

She left the kitchen and reached the hallway just as the front door opened and Rupert walked in laughing at something that his colleague must have said.

“Very true, very true,” Giles commented with a chuckle as he stood aside for his friend to enter. “But however they look, you can’t deny that Citroens do give such a comfortable ride.”

“Personally they give me sea sickness; all that rolling about.”

Elizabeth froze in shock as the voice that replied sent a tremor of recognition through her entire body. Male, vibrant and achingly familiar, she found herself overwhelmed by feelings of disbelief, fear and not a little anger. ‘This couldn’t be happening,’ her mind screamed out in silent protest at who she knew was going to walk through that doorway any second now.
But it was. And there wasn’t a single thing she could do to stop it.

It was William.

TBC IN CHAPTER 7





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