Read Online All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith - Free Book Online Page B

Wickham’s lies, if Bingley would come back to Jane.
    And me, swooping down on my big year’s adventure. I’d been, quite frankly, clueless. I had no idea what I was asking when I invited Nora and the others for the book group. I assumed everybody had plenty of time to lounge around with Austen. In my defense, this was a mix of cross-cultural cluelessness with ain’t-got-no-kids cluelessness. A fellow soltero like Luis could make his way through stack after bedside stack of books. But people with families—especially extended families—were hard-pressed to justify time for Jane Austen when dinner’s not ready and a daughter, son, nephew, or niece scrapes a knee and needs a hug. Even the time to see me off was one more small theft from Nora’s loved ones.
    â€œSo, we didn’t get to talk about your daughter’s wedding last night,” I said when she arrived, her usual bright, bustling self.
    â€œOh, it was lovely. But,” she added, looking pained, “the groom’s family is a bit…well, they’ve got more money than us. We worked so hard to make everything nice, but for some of them, it wasn’t enough. People here can be really critical about things, about the dresses, the dishes, what food we had.”
    I nodded sympathetically, recalling the previous night’s discussion on marriage as a way to “better” your family and on placing too much emphasis on material things. Money, the ladies had pointed out, doesn’t automatically bestow good manners. Nora had vigorously condemned the class prejudices that threatened Lizzy and Darcy’s happiness and just as vigorously supported unions based on love, not the desire for a successful merger. Clearly, none of this was theoretical for her.
    â€œ Chica , what about you?” she asked, sipping her coffee. “Tell me more about that Mexican.”
    I gave her the nutshell version of how I’d met Diego more than a year ago on an impromptu beach trip to Puerto Vallarta, before I’d had any Spanish lessons at La Escuela . A year later I went back for a week’s stay with him right after I’d finished my classes that May, so my upcoming visit would actually be trip number three (I do love repeat journeys). “He’s really a great guy—very handsome, very easygoing. I’ll be doing my next Jane Austen group with him and his friends.”
    She clasped her hands together gleefully, just as Ani had done the night before when Darcy proposed a second time to Lizzy. “That’s so romantic! We don’t find love when we’re looking for it, you know. That’s not how it works. Love finds us .”
    â€œ Vamos a ver ,” I smiled, using a favorite phrase I’d heard there: “We’ll see.”
    â€œNow I have something for you,” Nora smiled. From her enormous purse, the kind mothers always seem to carry, she pulled a neatly wrapped package. Inside was a glass plaque inscribed with a saying, on a carved wooden base.
    â€œYou didn’t have to do this, Nora!” I protested. “You’ve done so much for me already, giving your time and organizing everything here!”
    But you can’t stop a Guatemalan from being generous. “It wasn’t work, it was fun . We all enjoyed it! And reading Jane Austen gave us something special to talk about even before you arrived.”
    We gossiped on, but the time finally came, even by leisurely local standards, to pay the check. I lingered just a bit more; it’s easier to say good-bye to someone when you’ve got a clear idea of when you’ll be saying hello again.
    â€œI will be back,” I promised. “I’m just not sure when. Maybe next Christmas?”
    â€œ Que te vayas muy, muy bien, chica ,” Nora said with a hug and a kiss—travel very, very well. “I’ll be here!”
    ***
    Seeing Gustavo the driver’s familiar face raised mixed feelings