Where dreams come true, Part II

Here is the second and final section of Where Dreams Come True. You can find Part I here. Enjoy!

Lucy

Elizabeth was standing outside of Boma, one of Animal Kingdom’s restaurants with Jane, Charles and Katie waiting for their table to be ready. Her thoughts were far away. Well, not that far away, really; she was recalling seeing the mystery man over the last two days. He seemed to be everywhere. Why she was so drawn to him baffled her, but there it was. What mattered more was how she behaved herself around him, and in that, she was afraid she had let herself down. They had shared the elevator once, and Elizabeth had been glad to have Katie to distract her at the time. It kept Elizabeth from starting a conversation with him. What was the point? He was there with his wife and children, after all. She had spotted him with a pretty brunette, his arm casually laid across her shoulders, and not only the little boy, but also an older girl. They were probably just the type of happy family she dreamed of having.

Then, just earlier that day, she and the gorgeous man passed each other in the lodge’s spacious lobby. Walking by him, she had smiled, resulting in some stern self-scolding.

I don’t believe I just did that! I smiled at a married man! Elizabeth Bennet, what on earth were you thinking?! Don’t even try to tell yourself you were just being friendly, you know darn well that wasn’t just a friendly smile.

She had continued berating herself for half an hour while taking a walk around the lodge’s grounds and muttering about dreams never coming true except for the nightmares, which, she realised, was the word that best described her dating life as well.

Elizabeth shook off her memories and focused on what was happening around her. The dining room, with its African-inspired décor and tantalizing aromas, was enticing, and she hoped they would be seated before Katie became any more restless.

She was just returning her phone to her pocket after checking the time, when she heard her brother-in-law exclaim, “I don’t believe it! Tom Fitzwilliam! What on earth are you doing here?”

This was followed by a voice with a British accent saying, “Charles Bingley? Oh my goodness!”

As Elizabeth turned around, she saw Charles embracing a man she had never seen before. Just beyond the two men stood a brunette woman she recognised, two children, and the gorgeous man. His eyes met hers, then his head jerked as he looked between Charles and his old friend, Jane and Katie, and Elizabeth.

Charles said, “Jane, this is the old university friend I’ve told you about—Tom Fitzwilliam. We lost touch after he returned to England. I can’t believe it. The coincidence of you being here is…unbelievable!”

“I know,” Tom said, then laughed. “Disney magic, do you suppose? What else could account for us both being at Disney World, in the same lodge, at the same time, and then having dinner reservations at the same restaurant at the same time. It is so good to see you again.”

“So, you’re eating at Boma tonight?” asked Charles.

Tom nodded. “We have reservations for, oh, now I guess.”

Charles and Tom decided to ask one of the hosts if the two families could be seated together; it was soon arranged.

“Introductions; we haven’t done introductions!” Tom said.

Elizabeth broke eye contact with the still-unnamed man to look at Charles and Tom. She had quickly calculated that there were two couples plus two other adults—she was single, and she hoped that, perhaps, just maybe, her mystery man was, too, and that the pretty brunette woman and two adorable kids were with Tom. Don’t be ridiculous, Lizzy. Even if he is single, we are both on holiday and far from home. Tom has that trace of accent, and Charles said he lives in England. Mr Gorgeous probably does, too.

Tom said, “This is my wife, Georgiana, and the little ones are Rebecca, she’s six, and Sam, who’s four. And my brother-in-law, Will Darcy.”

“And this is my wonderful wife, Jane, and our little girl, Katie, who is also four. We don’t know if the new one will be a he or she yet. Jane’s sister, Elizabeth,” Charles added indicating Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and Will looked at each other again.

He mouthed, “Sister-in-law.”

Elizabeth nodded, and smiled. He smiled in return.

The host told them their table was ready, and Elizabeth and Will followed their families into the seating area.

“Uncle Will, you promised to sit with me!” little Sam said.

Georgiana explained that her son was very fond of his uncle. “He’s so young, I’m not sure he remembers the last time he saw Will, but since our visit started, he’s completely attached himself to his uncle.” She smiled at her brother.

“You don’t live in London?” Charles asked, looking at Will.

Will was sitting towards one end of the table with Sam next to him; Elizabeth was across from them and one space over. It was the best she could get. Feeling like a silly schoolgirl, she found herself holding her breath while waiting for his answer. How far from Toronto would be too far to pursue a relationship?

“No, I don’t.” He glanced at Elizabeth, before turning back to Charles.

“Will’s in Toronto,” Georgiana said.

Elizabeth started; Will must have noticed out of the corner of his eye, because he redirected his attention to her.

Georgiana continued, “We moved there from England when we were children. I moved back about ten years ago, but he stayed. I met Tom and the rest, as they say, is history. We were visiting Will, and he suggested we escape the Canadian weather for a while.”

“What a coincidence!” Jane cried. “Another one!”

Her remark caused a few looks of confusion among the other family.

Still looking at Will, Elizabeth explained, “She means because I live in Toronto.” She tore her eyes away from him to look at the others so that her interest wouldn’t be so obvious and she wouldn’t appear rude.

As Jane, Tom, and Charles chatted, and Georgiana occupied Rebecca and Katie, Will leaned towards Elizabeth and quietly said, “Toronto?”

She smiled. A spark. There are definitely sparks.

Tom asked her what she did for a living, and she said, “I work for a publisher of academic texts. I’m an editor.”

“She’s helping Charles with a book,” Jane said. “She was down here for a conference, and we thought it would be the perfect chance to bring Katie to Disney World.”

“After the conference, I relocated to Animal Kingdom and…voila!”

“Voila,” Will repeated.

Throughout dinner, the conversation at the table was nonstop and very enjoyable. Charles and Tom renewed their friendship and caught up on news. Georgiana and Jane discovered they had a great deal in common, even beyond motherhood. Even their children got along, thanks in part to Rebecca’s efforts to amuse the two younger ones. Elizabeth kept expecting to discover something she didn’t like about Will, but it didn’t happen. If anything, she found more to admire the more she heard. She wished she could talk more just to him, and he seemed to share her wish, but they were part of a much larger group, including several rather demanding youngsters who wanted to show off their aunt and uncle.  They all ate a great deal, and after a visit to the dessert buffet, the parents among them began to consider retiring to their rooms so that their offspring could get to bed. Before the group split up, they made plans to spend the next day together exploring the Magic Kingdom.

“What are you going to do, Lizzy?” Jane asked. “Want to come up and have a drink with us? Katie is already half asleep; it won’t take long to put her down.”

Elizabeth sensed an opportunity and crossed her fingers beneath the table where no one would see her hands. Come on Disney Magic, do your thing! She began to stand and ended up speaking faster than she usually would when she replied, “Sounds great, Jane, but I think I’ll pass tonight. I ate so much, I’m going to burst. I thought I’d go for a walk—”

***

“A walk?” Will interrupted, standing so fast he was fully upright before Elizabeth was. “That sounds great. Mind some company?”

The longer dinner had continued, the more impatient he had become; heir snippets of conversation had not been enough. He still could not believe his luck. Tom knew her brother-in-law. She wasn’t married, and she lived in the same city he did. Things like this just did not happen in real life, and yet here he was, and it was happening. Part of him wanted to rush forward and rejoice, but part of him, the part that had been disappointed in the past, waited for the punch line. It hadn’t happened yet, and he mentally crossed his fingers that it wouldn’t happen at all. Not this time, please universe. She’s intelligent, interesting, beautiful, and available. And there is just something about her. I want this; I really, really want this. The ‘this’ being what he sensed happening between them.

Elizabeth’s smile answered his question.

“Georgie, Tom, you don’t mind, do you? We didn’t have plans,” Will asked.

“Go ahead, Will,” Tom said.

After a quick good night to the kids, Will and Elizabeth headed for the exit.

They walked the grounds of the resort for over an hour, taking a leisurely stroll and barely noticing their surroundings. They spoke about everything, quickly moving through a succession of topics as though running through a checklist to discover if there were any significant incompatibilities before continuing. Their conversation was easy, and it took very little time for him to relax and put aside his lingering concern that a major bombshell would drop and end what seemed to be a very promising beginning. Elizabeth, too, seemed to grow easier as the minutes passed.

Once the preliminaries were out of the way, and the evening began to get chilly, they went inside and sat in the bar, this time digging deeper in their quest to get to know each other. They spoke about their jobs (Will was a lawyer), where they lived (Will downtown; he didn’t mention it was a four bedroom, 5 bathroom penthouse on the waterfront, and Elizabeth midtown, in the Yonge-Eglinton area), their childhoods, their families, their favourite books and music, what they liked to do during their ‘down time,’ friends, likes and dislikes, politics, birthdays, and really anything that occurred to either of them.

It was a wonderful evening. The time flew by, and although he could have sworn it was no later than ten o’clock, he realised they were the only ones remaining, other than the hotel’s staff.

“My goodness,” Elizabeth said when he pointed it out and she checked the time on her phone. “We’re meeting for breakfast at 7.30 tomorrow, I mean this morning.”

She laughed, and Will smiled. He had already decided that her laugh was one of his favourite sounds of all times, and he hoped to hear a lot more of it in the future.

“Time to call it a night?” he asked. His expression said that he knew it was and his words were part statement as well as question.

Elizabeth made a noise of agreement and nodded her head. It was easy to tell that she was as reluctant to end the evening as he was.

“Walk you to your room?”

She smiled and nodded.

As they stood in front of the door to her room, looking at each other, he said, “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“I’ve had a wonderful time tonight.”

“So did I,” he replied. He had never felt such a connection to anyone in his life. If he was any judge of things—and he really, really hoped he was—she felt the same way. Will had found her lovely at first sight, but after spending time with her, she quickly became the most beautiful, interesting, compassionate woman he had ever known.

Her hand slipped into his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Involuntarily his smile broadened, and she responded with a similar gesture.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “I mean, later. In a few hours.”

“Later,” she agreed and with one more squeeze, said goodnight and entered her room.

***

The Fitzwilliams, Darcy, Bingleys, and Bennet spent the whole of the next day together. It afforded Elizabeth more of a chance to get to know Will and see him in action (and vice versa). She had never felt such an easy, quick connection to any man before, and while she would have expected to be disturbed by her feelings, she wasn’t in the slightest. There was just something about him. After their long evening together, she had decided that, not only was he gorgeous, but he was also a good man. He was smart, caring—he clearly loved his sister and her family—and funny. She was too rational to decide that she was going to spend the rest of her life with him after so short an acquaintance, but the more she saw of him, the more she liked.

The end of the day was marked by some sadness. Elizabeth and her family were leaving the next morning.

“We have an early flight,” she told Will when they took an after-dinner walk. “Charles and Jane need to get back to London. Ontario, that is.”

They laughed about the coincidence of both of them having sisters in London—one about 150 kilometres from Toronto, the other about 5700 kilometres away.

“And I’ll be here for a couple of more days.”

“I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time with your sister and her family.” She stopped as they entered a lookout point along one of the trails behind their resort. She leaned her back against the wooden fence and looked up at Will.

He nodded. “I’m sure I will. Rebecca and Sam are a lot of fun, and I do like being able to spend time with my sister. And Tom; he’s a really good guy.” Will took a step closer and lowered his voice. “It won’t be the same, though.”

She smiled in reply.

“Can I call you when I get back to Toronto?”

Elizabeth’s smile widened. “I had hoped you would. If not, I would be forced to call you.”

He chuckled. “And we can see…”

“Where this is going,” Elizabeth finished for him.

They exchanged smiles. Will moved to her side, resting his forearms on the fence and looking out over the savannah that was the resort’s major attraction.

“Georgie, Tom, and the children leave at the end of the week. Perhaps next weekend?”

Elizabeth turned and copied his position. She pointed out a pair of giraffes, partly obscured by the tree from which they were pulling leaves. “Sounds perfect.”

They choose to say their goodbyes privately that night, rather than in front of their families in the morning. Will once again escorted Elizabeth to her room, and after they spent another fifteen minutes talking and she went inside, she threw herself on the bed.

She laughed with gleeful anticipation of the future. Where dreams come true, indeed!

***

As he walked back to his room, Will felt like jumping for joy but was contented with smiling happily for everyone to see. He immediately began planning his next meeting with Elizabeth. Thank you, Disney magic! Yippee!

Epilogue

The reader can be in no doubt of what followed. Being intelligent adults, our dear couple knew that holiday romances often did not translate well into ‘real life.’ However, when they met five days after Elizabeth’s departure from Disney World, it quickly became obvious that their connection was very real, very wonderful, and very strong.

That night they shared their first kiss. After having dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant, they were walking several blocks to a lounge to continue their date. They stopped at a red light and stood as far back from the busy road as possible, knowing it might take several minutes for the signal to change. Will was speaking fondly about his niece and nephew, and it tugged at Elizabeth’s heartstrings. Unable to restrain herself, she kissed him. He responded as you might expect, and they remained where they were until the traffic lights had gone through two cycles before a honking horn distracted them, and they continued their walk.

Their relationship progressed from there, and when Will visited his family in England the following July, Elizabeth went with him.

As his wife.

I hope you enjoyed this short, happy tale. Until next time!

Lucy