Bygone

Howard keeps the staff busy receiving packages for her. Somehow he knows to send M&Ms, which makes Darcy cry again, which scares the maid. It’s just that Steve would have had to have told him.

She also receives a big metal box. The maid stops her from opening it.

“It’s a film reel, Miss Lewis.” The maid answers, and this time, Darcy manages not to wince at the sound of her maiden name. Howard insists that the staff not know her real identity. “It wont work if you expose it to light.”

“Film reel? He sent me a movie?” Darcy asks in disbelief. Howard Stark just 50s version Netflix mail’d her. She turns the box over and finds a handwritten label. “An Affair to Remember.”

The maid gasps.

“Big deal?” Darcy asks her, reaching for another Kleenex. Being sick at Howard Stark’s mansion is kind of the best. Her golden tissue box never runs out, lattes are delivered every morning, and the doctor makes daily house calls.

“It’s only just come out.” The maid gushes. “It has Cary Grant in it!”

“How do I watch it?”

“In the theater, miss. Bernard will run it for you.”

“Can I eat in there?” Vegging in front of a movie is sounding real good right about now.

“In the theater?”

“Yeah. I can eat dinner.”

“During the movie?” The maid clarifies again.

Vegging is apparently not a thing. But it’s okay, because in the world of Howard Stark’s scarily well-trained staff, any thing can be a thing.

Darcy is set up with a tray in the theater, and dinner is served there. She requests a blanket and has her choice of three. She wonders when these people will learn as she takes all three.

On her third day she wakes up feeling slightly better. Midway through her shower she can breathe clearly again, and she gets shampoo in her eyes when she realizes she hasn’t contacted Rebecca and John.

And JJ will be.. four. Four years old.

Darcy calls Howard at his office, and his secretary Lorraine tracks him down.

“Hey kid, did you get the violinist?”

“Violinist? What?”

“Never mind.”

“Yes, never mind, I just realized I haven’t seen Rebecca or John. Do they have a phone yet? Do they live at the same house?”

“Already called them. Well, Jarvis did. They’ll be there Friday. A driver is bringing Mrs. Prescott and young JJ up in the morning, and Mr. Prescott will arrive in evening.”

Darcy sits back in her seat. “I don’t care if you’re only doing this for Steve, you’re a good friend and I’m calling you one of mine.”

“Hey, what’s this? I’m bringing you an entire stack of lab notes, and we’ll see how you’re feeling then.” Howard says.

“Bring it on Howard.”

Of course then she has a coughing fit and Howard almost laughs her off the phone.

“Say kid, did you hear about the Dodgers?”

“What about them?” Darcy asks. It’s too early in the season for them to be in the pennant race. Again.

“O’Malley’s moving them.” Howard says. “Out to L.A.”

“What the fuck?” Darcy demands, even as it clicks into her brain. The LA Dodgers. “They can’t leave Brooklyn. They’re the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers! They’re our bums! What the actual-“

Howard hangs up, the coward.

She’s still worked up when the violinist arrives to give Darcy an afternoon show in the music room. He takes himself very seriously, and the staff lines up in the hallway, so Darcy suspects that she’s getting a very rare treat.

At the end he bows with an abrupt flourish, his hair flopping on his head. Darcy bites back a smile and applauds him.

Thursday she feels nearly as good as new, and she can hardly sit still for her excitement at seeing Rebecca again.

She takes a walk around the grounds. The staff bundle her up like she’s about to mount an excursion to Antarctica. They pester her to choose what she’d like for dinner when she comes back, and to take a nap.

The nap was mentioned several times. Darcy can recognize when she’s being wrangled. But she also wants to wake up early in the morning, so she requests Italian and retreats to her bed.

She’s watching the news on the television when someone interrupts her dark cave of solitude.

“I heard someone wanted Italian.” Howard says. “I come bearing the best in the state.”

Howard eyes her set up in the theater with amusement, but is a willing participant. They split the enormous spread he’d had brought in from some fancy restaurant.

They lounge under blankets and Howard toes off his shoes.

Midway through the second movie he has an idea and drags Darcy down to his make-shift lab.

She abandons him at midnight, not wanting to sleep through any of Rebecca’s visit. He hardly notices her exit.

The following morning Darcy is waiting on the front steps when Howard’s car pulls to a stop. Rebecca practically flings herself out of the car and into Darcy’s arms, squeezing her tightly.

“I’ve missed you so!” Rebecca declares fiercely.

“I’ve missed so much!” Darcy replies, because while she’d seen Rebecca only a week ago, she’d missed four years. As if to illustrate the fact, a small blonde boy climbs out of the car. “Oh, bananaballs, is that JJ?”

“JJ, come see your Aunt Darcy.” Rebecca holds out her hand.

The boy looks up with inquisitive dark eyes. “The good one?”

Rebecca grins. “John teases his sisters with that,” she leans closer, “but it’s true.”

“You’re pretty.” JJ says solemnly, then he grins a crooked grin that’s one hundred percent Bucky. For a second Darcy feels as if she’s been punched in the stomach.

“You’re a charmer, Mr. Prescott.” She accuses formally, and it makes him giggle and there’s Rebecca.

JJ is provided with a croquet set while Darcy and Rebecca share a small hot brunch spread nearby. JJ quickly abandons the mallets and instead throws the balls one after another, then runs to where they landed to throw them back.

“He’s so big.” Darcy winces. “I hate when people say that, but for me it was just a couple weeks ago that I held him in my lap at Christmas.”

“In some ways it seems like that to me too.” Rebecca admits. “But when it comes to you, it’s been every bit of the four years. When Howard called John wanted to drive up to get you.”

“John’s still coming tonight?”

“He could hardly wait, but he needed to stay at the shop to finish up an order for Howard so he could bring it up with him.” Rebecca catches Darcy’s hand. “You are happy here, right?”

“He wouldn’t be able to keep me away from you if I wasn’t.” Darcy promises. “John’s doing work for Howard?”

Rebecca waves her hand. “Howard does almost all of his commissions through John now. We don’t do the ladies formal wear, but just about everything else we’re responsible for. And you’ll never guess what John is bringing up for you.”

“Howard is a giant softie. And so is John.” Darcy winces as JJ loses his balance and topples over. The boy bounds back to his feet and chases after a wayward ball. “What? What is he bringing? You two have the best surprises.”

Rebecca laughs, the same bright laugh Darcy remembers from nights sharing that narrow bed across from Steve’s window. “Pants, Darcy. At least three pairs. And a few new dresses. Styles have changed quite a bit.”

Darcy keeps her hands curled around her coffee cup and just looks at Rebecca.

“What?” The other woman asks.

“Tell me everything. Everything I’ve missed.”

“I’ll just hit the highlights, shall I?” Rebecca teases. “Erwin passed away, just after you left. Maureen isn’t doing well now either, but she’s moved in with Geraldine and Monty.”

“John and I bought the country house so the family can still use it. I’ve miscarried again, so there’s that.”

Darcy grabs for Rebecca’s hand at the flash of pain in her friend’s eyes.

“And JJ, he’s so bright. He already knows his letters and numbers. And he can sew a slip stitch.” Rebecca laughs, but it comes out watery. “He knows cap sleeves from puffed from trumpet.”

“And your marriage?”

“John is wonderful.” Rebecca dabs under her eyes and smiles. “I - it’s hard, but I always remember how lucky we are. I got him back, and we’ve got JJ. How are you Darcy, how long has it been for you? Not that long, right?”

“Since Steve?” Darcy asks. “Less than a year, for me. It’s funny though, because now I’ve been without him longer than I had him. I decided that would make it hurt less, and then promptly realized I’m an idiot who knows nothing.”

“Darcy.” Rebecca reaches across the table to brush her fingers over Darcy’s hair.

“I was doing so well, and then this morning I dreamed I was in bed with him. Just sleeping, you know? And when I woke up, for just a second, I thought he was there.” Darcy shrugs. “And then he wasn’t. It just seemed so damn real for a second. I could smell him.”

Rebecca’s eyes fill up with tears. “When I woke up today, I forgot I wasn’t pregnant for a few minutes.”

Howard comes out twenty minutes later to find them with their arms wrapped around each other, each sporting red rimmed eyes.

“This won’t do.” He states, looking at them with his hands on his hips. He looks out to the yard and winces. “He’s doing it wrong.”

“Howard.”

“Drinks!” Howard turns to the maid that has followed him out with a bottle of whiskey and several glasses. He turns and looks at Rebecca, eyes narrowed. Darcy holds up three fingers behind Rebecca’s back and Howard nods, with a wince that was there and gone so fast that Darcy nearly missed it.

Howard insists on pulling them out of their seats to join JJ on the lawn for a game of croquet.

They play croquet and sip drinks. JJ runs circles around them until he suddenly comes to lean against his mother with his thumb in his mouth. A butler appears out of nowhere and offers to take him back to the house for a nap. JJ trustingly holds out his arms and is carried away.