Eliot breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at his bank account online. That was a much more comfortable number. Now that that weight was lifted from him, there were some deeper issues they needed to address.

Eliot sat in one of the chairs across from Charlie’s desk. “We need to talk.”

Without hesitation, Charlie closed his laptop. “I know. Let me start by saying I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for?”

“For getting too caught up in the idea of it all. I thought if we could just get our names out there with this one big client, the rest would come rolling in.”

“Maybe it will, but sacrificing money we almost didn’t have for a maybe wasn’t a smart move.”

Charlie offered a weak smile. “But we’re good now, right?”

Eliot shook his head, the pit in the bottom of his stomach sitting heavily. Every fiber of his being wanted to run from this difficult conversation, but he knew he had to speak up now, or everything would just spiral out of control again. Maybe not soon. Maybe not with the de Bourgh events. But someday.

“I don’t want the big events, Charlie. I mean, I don’t want to have to take every job that comes our way, but I want to make some changes. I only want to work with couples we feel are a good fit. Not because of money, not because of profile or exposure. But because I got into this business for the love of it, and if I stop loving it, what’s the difference between doing this and working behind a desk?”

“But that’s what I’ve been saying, Eliot. If we just push for a little while—”

“No, Charlie. I’ve run the numbers. If this job works out well, I’ll have the financial freedom to be able to choose my couples for the next year, and I want to do that. But just like I don’t want to be forced down a path I don’t want, I don’t want to force this on you.”

“You’re sure you want to focus on just weddings, Eliot? I mean, I know this whole de Bourgh thing has been difficult, but just think—”

Eliot continued to shake his head. “Charlie, I think we need a change.”

“What are you saying, Eliot?”

Eliot closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, stealing himself. He opened his eyes. “We may want to consider splitting the company after the de Bourgh events are complete.” The words hung in the air like a sword from a string as Eliot waited to see how Charlie would take them. It felt right. It felt good. First and foremost, Charlie was his best friend. Yes, he’d been shit to work with the last few months, but that didn’t wipe out the years of friendship between them. Eliot would do anything to protect that friendship. If it meant figuring out how to work together, he’d do it. If it meant splitting the company, okay.

“Yes,” Charlie said, slowly, his eyes wide with surprise. “Is it terrible that I feel relieved?”

Eliot finally allowed himself to smile. “No, I feel the same way.”

“It’s not that I don’t like working with you, Eliot—”

“It’s just that it’s time,” Eliot said firmly. “We’ve both grown the last few years, and not necessarily in the same direction. And that’s okay.”

“I know you don’t want to do the de Bourgh event. Do you want me to just handle it all on my own? I’d still pay you your half, of course. ”

Eliot shook his head. “No, I like the idea of seeing our last project through together. I’ll start lining up other events, but I won’t treat this one any differently. And I’ll stop resenting it.”

“It helps when you know there’s an end in sight, doesn’t it?” Charlie said wryly.

“Thank god, there’s an end,” Eliot agreed. “Do you mind if I keep the name Brightside Weddings?”

“Of course not! As long as you don’t mind me promoting the de Bourgh events as a collaboration between Brightside and whatever I end up going with.”

“Darkside?” Eliot suggested with smile.

“How about Pain in My Side?” Charlie replied.

Silence fell.

“Are we good, then?” Charlie asked. “You and me. This isn’t the end of us?”

Eliot reached out a hand, and Charlie took it. “Never the end of friendship. Even if you were an stubborn ass.”

“Pot and kettle.”

Feeling substantially lighter, Eliot jumped to his feet. “You still have that whiskey hidden in your bottom drawer?”

“Of course.” Charlie pulled it out along with two glasses. “To the end of us?”

Eliot raised his glass for a toast. “To the end of the business, but never friendship.”

Charlie returned his cheer, and sipped at his drink. “So just weddings?”

Eliot shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to do a little charity work too. Maybe try my hand at a couple fundraisers. But not for the money.”

“You realize you’ll have to charge people if you want them to take you seriously.”

Eliot smiled. Charlie never stopped. But now that he was confident of their path, he didn’t mind it. “Well, if I have to charge them, I will. But I’ll just turn around and donate it to them.”

Charlie shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

“Kettle and pot,” Eliot said, and the two friends lifted their glasses to each other again.

The morning of the engagement party arrived with the three of them plus caterer, florist, and a small crew transforming the large, permanent pavillion they’d rented into a champagne draped 1920’s style dance hall.

“This looks amazing,” a voice said behind Eliot.

Eliot turned to find a brown-haired man looking around the main ballroom in wonder. “Thanks.”

“You guys did all this in just a few hours?”

Eliot glanced at the watch on his hand. “It’s been about four hours, actually. We’ve got a lot to do still. Who are you anyway?”

“I’m Darcy and Gina’s cousin, Will.”

Eliot blanched and hurried to correct the possible slight. Will waved him off. “It’s nothing. You’re under a deadline and I know my aunt. Demanding woman.”

Eliot forced a smile but refrained from outright agreement. He knew better than to offer any comments on the clients to anyone not working for him.

“So, who do I need to write out checks to?” Will asked.

Light bulbs flashed in Eliot’s mind. “Oh, you’re here to pay everyone.”

Will grinned and rubbed his hands together like an evil genius. “Yes. I’m the money man today. Darcy is busy keeping his mother away until it’s show time.”

“That would be helpful.” Eliot slapped his hand over his mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Will placed a finger over his mouth with a mischievous smile. “I won’t tell.”

“Darcy has been surprisingly helpful,” Eliot said, feeling a little bold. “Nothing against your aunt, it’s just that based on previous interactions with Darcy, I didn’t expect it of him.”

“How so?” Will asked. “Do you have scandalous stories of my cousin acting badly? I would absolutely believe it.”

Eliot blushed, and busied himself with untangling a strand of glass beads to hide it. “More that he just didn’t seem like someone I would expect to smooth things over so easily.”

Will nodded and picked up another strand of beads, his fingers deftly straightening them. “Darcy can come across as, well, to put it bluntly, completely unsocialized. But he really shines when he’s fixing problems. As long as they’re not personal. When it comes to business, family and friends, he’s an absolute bulldog, but often to his own detriment.”

“How do you mean? I’m not trying to be nosy, I just can’t picture the Darcy you’re describing.”

Will laughed and gestured around the room. “This is a prime example, but the most recent one I can recall is that he convinced his best friend that the omega he was interested in didn’t like him back.”

Eliot’s spine stiffened. “Bing?”

Will blinked in surprise. “Oh, you know Bing Lee?”

Eliot forced himself to shrug. “He’s an acquaintance.”

“Ah, well. I was trying to protect the identities of the innocent and not so innocent, but yes.”

“What was wrong with the omega?” Darcy had been the reason Bing had stopped calling Jane?

Will shrugged. “He didn’t say. But Darcy has a pretty good judge of character. If he says she was a bad egg, she was probably a bad egg. But don’t tell him I said that. I’m trying to get him to stop meddling and focus on his own love life.” Will laughed, and Eliot echoed him mirthlessly.

What right did Darcy have to keep Bing and Jane from each other? What reason could he have against Jane?

“Are you finished with that one?” Will asked, startling Eliot from his thoughts. He gestured to the strand in Eliot’s hand.

“Oh, almost.”

To think, he’d almost been starting to think well of Darcy. But Will’s revelation unearthed the memory of George Wickham sharing his own story of Darcy’s meddling. There was something deeply wrong with Darcy Pemberly. Did that mean there would be something deeply wrong with the child Eliot carried inside him? He pressed a discreet hand to his soft stomach.

No. Even if Darcy’s genes did contribute to the child, he or she had just as much of Eliot. He handed a straightened strand of beads to Will. Would it be so bad if he didn’t tell Darcy about the baby? Wouldn’t the child be better off without someone like that in their life?

Ms. de Bourgh arrived clad in a black sheath dripping glass beads across her bust and hem. Her hair was done up in a classic 1920’s style of carefully arranged pin curls and upon her arm was her fiancé, Rupert Smilton. This was the first time Charlie and Eliot had a chance to meet the man. He was at least a decade younger than de Bourgh, but he was handsome. His mustache was immaculately trimmed and curled.

“Social climber,” Charlie whispered to Eliot.

“Undoubtedly if he’s willing to put up with her.” Not that Eliot was much interested in Ms. de Bourgh or her partner. Her son, dressed in a dark suit and looking sinfully delectable, stood behind the groom-to-be maintaining a remote expression. Eliot wondered if he was thinking of Jane now. Wondered if he was worried that she and Bing might meet here.

“Relax,” Charlie said, elbowing Eliot. “You still waiting for something to go wrong?”

“What?”

“You and your superstition that something needs to go wrong at the beginning of every event for the rest to go smoothly.”

“That’s just for weddings,” Eliot said, but inside, he was thinking that Will’s unintentional reveal certainly counted. “I’m sure everything will be fine.” He caught sight of Bing, whose eyes raked over the crowd. “I’m going to check on Jane.”

He found her hiding behind a flower arrangement, rearranging it mindlessly, hiding the shorter flowers in the middle. Eliot grabbed her hands and tugged her away. “Jane, you would give mother an apoplectic fit if she saw that arrangement.” Thankfully, the venue was in DC, not Virginia, and so Eliot hadn’t felt bad about suggesting they use another florist. He couldn’t imagine the cataclysm that would fall if Ms. de Bourgh and Mrs. Bennett were in the same room.

She blinked, her eyes clearing, and then blanched at the strange, lopsided arrangement. “Oh my. I’m so sorry, Eliot. I guess my mind was wandering.”

Eliot started fixing the arrangement. “Bing is looking for you.”

“He is?” Her voice was momentarily light, her head lifting to look, and then her shoulders slumped forward. “I mean, why would he be looking for me?”

Eliot put the last flower back in its place. “Who else would he be looking for?”

“Eliot, stop.” There was only a moment of pain etched in her face before she drew her professional mask back on. “I was just having a moment. I’m fine now. If we run into each other, I will smile, and greet him, and wish him well, and that will be it.”

“Jane, I need to tell you something—”

Will appeared next to them suddenly. “Excuse me, Eliot, but do you have a first aid kit? I may have gotten a little enthusiastic with those glass beads, and, well.” He raised a bloody finger.

Eliot looked despairingly at Jane, and she misunderstood his meaning. “I’ll get it. If you’d come with me, Mr…?”

“Just, Will, please.”

Eliot didn’t have a chance to speak to Jane alone again the rest of the night. He saw her speak briefly with Bing. True to her word, she smiled and moved on gracefully. Eliot didn’t think he was reading too much into things to say that Bing looked devastated. He felt Darcy’s eyes on him often, and noticed a younger, female version at his side throughout the night. That must be his sister Gina. Eliot wondered if her personality was as much a copy of his as her looks.

The guests came. They wished the happy couple well. Food and drink were consumed. Music flowed and couples danced. The night was a roaring success, if the behavior of everyone present were an indicator.

As the night was drawing to a close, Charlie, Jane, and Eliot were taking a moment in the relatively quiet rear of the ballroom when Darcy approached.

“It turned out quite well. Mother is pleased.”

Eliot nodded, trying to discern if there was any veiled insult in his phrasing. “Thank you, Mr. Pemberly.”

Jane glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, having caught the distinction of the formality in his address. Eliot had always referred to him as Darcy before.

“I was wondering,” Darcy said, uncharacteristically hesitant, “if I might borrow a moment of your time?”

Three sets of eyes went wide before Eliot agreed. The two men ignored the whispers they both knew Jane and Charlie would exchange as soon as they were far enough away.

“What is it? Come to gloat?” Eliot asked, turning around to face Darcy once they’d exited the ballroom into the hallway.

“Gloat about what?” Darcy quirked his head in confusion as he looked around and opened a nearby door. He indicated Eliot should proceed him. “That I was right and Mother would be perfectly happy to keep you on as her wedding planners?”

Eliot followed Darcy, his mind full of the knowledge he’d gained about the man’s actions tonight, all too aware of the slight bump hidden by his jacket. “What was so important you had to speak to me privately?” Surely he didn’t intend to admit to his part in breaking Bing and Jane up. Especially not to Eliot. The room was filled with unused banquet tables and chairs, stacked high for storage.

“Not so much important as, well, personal…”

Despite himself, Eliot was curious, but he held his tongue.

“I was wondering if you would do me the honor of going to dinner with me. On a date,” he added, as if the request needed clarification.

“A date?” Eliot stammered. That had been the last thing he’d expected Darcy to say. Well, other than, “Hello, I’m an alien from the planet Zorgon and I’d like to probe you anally. Again.”