Darcy then remembered what Mr. Wickham had written him earlier and repeated in his latest letter, suggesting he lighten up and live a little.
There was now some urgency in that pursuit. Darcy decided to try at least the first three of the ten yoga positions Sean had taught him.
Elizabeth got in the last word. As Darcy held her close, his legs entwined around her, she happily exclaimed, “Ooh! You are a dear boy!” Darcy moved his head behind Elizabeth and kissed the nape of her neck. To him, it was even more intimate than yoga love-making. To her, it was even more a proof of his love, far above his passion.
Elizabeth Bennet Darcy thought: We always will be together.
Fitzwilliam Darcy's last thoughts that night were: This is the good life. My life with you, dear Elizabeth.”
What it all came down to, Darcy felt, was really very simple. Everyone, he included, merely wanted to be loved. Now, finally, he felt more full of love with Elizabeth, both received and given, than he ever had dreamed of. Had her love released him from feeling unfulfilled because of what had haunted him from what he felt as his father's unrequited love?
Darcy dreaded leaving Elizabeth to go off to war. But he told himself, there is one thing which a man must do, and that is his duty.
Elizabeth thought, Of all horrid things, leave-taking is the worst.
Darcy decided the time was appropriate to demonstrate Sean's yoga positions on Elizabeth. After experiencing the first one, Elizabeth enthused, “You dear boy!” A world away in the Australian Outback, George Wickham cuddled with his partner Sol on a cot in their bunkhouse, and thought: Loving you is the best of all possible worlds. Wickham's fingers were crossed.
After Darcy demonstrated the rest of the yoga, and before falling off to sleep in each other’s arms, the Darcy’s read each other’s minds again, thinking: Loving you is the best of all possible worlds.
Neither Elizabeth's nor Darcy's fingers were crossed.
The End
Clouds Over Pemberley Page 22