"It is alright," Darcy said quietly. "Wickham has fooled people far more careful than you. That is what he does."
Elizabeth looked up at him, then toward the stairs.
"I am going to check on her," she said.
"All right." He looked toward the stairs too. "Tell her I would like to talk to her later. When she is ready."
Elizabeth nodded. She started for the stairs, then stopped on the first flight.
"Will."
He looked at her.
It was the first time she had used the short form of his first name since they started living in the same house.
"I am sorry," she said. "For all eight years of it."
He looked at her steadily, warmly, a small smile creeping to his face. “It is fine Lizzy. Go check on Mia.”
She went upstairs.
SEVENTEEN
DARCY KNOCKED ONMia's door at seven that evening. Elizabeth had come back downstairs to tell her that she wanted to see him then.
"It is me," he said as soon he knocked.
A short pause lingered before she said, "Come in."
She was on her bed with her phone, still in the hoodie, legs crossed. She looked at him with swollen eyes that suggested she had cried but was now done and was now in the quieter, more considered phase of being upset.
Darcy sat down on the chair by her desk. He did not sit on the bed. He sat at the right distance for a conversation, not too close, not performing anything.
"I owe you another apology," he said. "Not a sorry and a film ticket with popcorn. A real one."
Mia looked at him.
"I missed your competition because I got pulled into work and I let it happen. I had calculated exactly how to make both things work and then I stopped paying attention to the time and I failed you. That is the honest version of it." He looked at her steadily. "I have been failing you in that way since we started this and I am aware of it and I am sorry for it."
Mia was quiet.
"Your parents never missed a single one," he said. "I know that. I cannot be your father. I have never tried to be. But I madeyou a promise when I agreed to the terms of your parent’s will and today I did not keep it, and you deserved better than that."
Mia pulled the sleeves of her hoodie down over her hands.
"I just miss them," she said. Simply.
"I know," he said. "I miss them too."
She looked at him. Something in her face eased, very slightly.
"I have cleared my schedule and informed the office that I am on leave henceforth," Darcy said. "Christmas is two weeks away. I have cleared everything from Christmas Eve through to the new year. Every day. No work. No calls unless the building is on fire."
Mia raised an eyebrow. "Every day?"
"Every day. Anywhere you want to go. Anything you want to do. You name it and I will be there. No excuses, no emergencies. Two weeks of whatever you want."
Mia looked at him for a moment.
