First Impressions of a Second Nature

by Kate Speck

  Immediately, he grabbed her waist and his lips landed on hers, his one arm gripping her tightly against his body while the other hand was behind her neck, and he leaned her head back to open her mouth for his tongue to probe deep inside her.

  After another minute of the most fervent of kisses, he slowly released her. “I want to make you my wife desperately, Elizabeth, and I will not make it long if you keep teasing me like this. Marry me tomorrow. I will get a special license. Let us marry quickly,” he begged.

  Elizabeth took a deep breath to calm herself. She had never thought she could feel such passions and burned with desire to be this man’s wife in body. “Oh, Will, I do wish we could marry quickly. But you know we must behave. Three weeks. My brother will be home and we have so much to plan.” She caressed his face gently as he smiled. “You are so handsome when you smile. I should say more handsome.” They began to walk again. “You must have had so many women chasing you.” She grew sullen. “Did you, were you intimate with Sally at Netherfi…”

  Darcy cut her off. “NO! Elizabeth, I never went near her. Nor anyone else since… since I was a young man. I had a few visits to a respectable establishment when I was one and twenty. After my father fell ill, I gave up those practices and secluded myself at Pemberley for a few years. I never thought I could feel so much for a woman as I feel for you and although I must admit that I had wished to make you mine without the sanctity of marriage when I kissed you in the library, my love for you had multiplied to so much more. I love you more than for my physical needs and I will be faithful to you all of my days. From what your father tells me, I missed your season in London, as I was still in mourning after my father passed. If I had met you then, we would have been married three years ago. I would have fallen in love with you and scooped you up before anyone else would have spoken to you.”

  Elizabeth gleamed, “I was so awkward then. I do not believe any woman is truly accomplished and ready for marriage at seventeen. But you shall have a twenty-year-old wife in three weeks and I will be positively ancient!”

  Darcy laughed. “I do agree seventeen is very young. Georgiana is just sixteen and she is shy and so unconfident of herself. You will be such a good sister to her. I hope you will like her, even with her near slip last summer.”

  Darcy proceeded to tell Elizabeth about his sister’s near elopement with George Wickham and the heartbreak these past months. Georgiana was residing either at Pemberley or with Lord Matlock, whom he was not certain would be a good influence, but his cousin Lady Felicity, who was widowed and left extremely wealthy, was very kind and supportive.

  Darcy explained that his uncle, the earl, was pretentious but respectable and a good politician. His wife had passed several years ago due to illness and the viscount was in Scotland to manage businesses there with his wife and three children.

  Elizabeth was saddened for Will’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, who had returned from the war with a large scar on his face, and although well connected, he was unable to find a woman who could see beyond his appearances. He sounded like an honorable man, not dallying with loose women to keep his vows to his uncle after all these years, and to care for his ward with such gentleness.

  Elizabeth and Darcy spoke in detail of the rumors that Miss Bingley had shared with her brother and determined their course of action, and returned to the house to discuss it with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.

  Although Darcy flushed in embarrassment with the wink that Mrs. Bennet sent his way, Elizabeth only beamed, proud to have her betrothed by her side and discreetly holding his hand whenever possible.

  ∞∞∞

  The merry group spoke at dinner and made plans for the next three weeks. The Bennets determined that they should travel to London in two days and Mr. Bennet himself would put the wedding notice in the papers.

  The wedding was planned to take place on the sixteenth of December in Meryton Chapel and Darcy would return to town the next day to obtain the settlement papers and make arrangements for Darcy House to be ready for the new mistress.

  Jane had requested to go to the Gardiners for a week before joining the other Bennets at Sterling House and it was agreed upon to have a grand dinner to introduce all of the family members to each other next week.

  As Darcy readied to return to Netherfield for the night, he kissed Elizabeth’s hand in the foyer while the Bennets gave them a few moments of privacy.

  “I will see you in two days, my love. I will return to London in the morning and I promise to do all in my power to get Bingley straightened out. I do hope you will not begrudge me for my friend. He was truly heartbroken because I believe he loved your sister very much. It was only due to my interference that he did not ask for courtship earlier and it could have been all prevented had not my pride…” Darcy could not speak further as Elizabeth’s finger was on his lips.

  “Shhh… Their love life is not ours to fix. We can do all to help and assist, but they will need to sort it out on their own. I blame Miss Bingley for spreading such venom but I do not blame you at all, Will. You were right. Jane was too quiet to not let her feelings show more. She should have revealed more to Mr. Bingley how she felt about him so he would have no doubt of her heart. They were the ones conversing together in the corner for hours; they danced together and should have known each other’s thought better than us bystanders. Let us worry about our future together. I want to be selfish for once and think of our happiness.” She lifted to her toes and kissed his lips gently.

  Darcy smiled and kissed her in return. “I love you, Elizabeth. I look forward to making you happy and giving you all of your heart’s desires. Good night, my love.”

  Elizabeth stood at the doorway until the carriage could not be seen and returned inside with a smile on her face. She only wished for everyone to be so happy and prayed that her betrothed could talk some sense into Mr. Bingley before it was too late.

  Chapter 19

  “Bingley! Are you in here?” Darcy shouted, as he barged into his friend’s study as his wont. The butler at Bingley’s townhouse knew him well and Darcy always had come and gone as he pleased.

  Darcy was unprepared for what he saw when he entered without knocking.

  Bingley was mid-coitus with a woman under him, with his bare buttocks pumping away between the woman’s open legs, and the copulating couple was moaning loudly in passion, not having heard Darcy’s entrance.

  “BINGLEY!” Darcy roared.

  Bingley’s head popped up from the couch. “Damn it, Darcy! I just need ten more seconds.”

  Darcy heard the woman moan, “But, Charles…”

  Bingley laughed, “Two minutes!” He continued his thrusts.

  Darcy growled and closed the door as he exited and stood by the door. He could not believe that his friend was so dissolute in his own home, with his maiden sister who could have been witness to such an activity.

  Several minutes later, the door opened and the maid exited, curtseying at Darcy with a smirk on her face.

  Sally! Damn you, Bingley! Darcy cursed.

  He entered the study and closed the door behind him, ready to unleash his indignation as he saw Bingley button up his falls.

  Bingley raised his hand and began first, “I know, I know, Darcy. I should not have had Sally here right now but she is certainly the cure for my heartbreak. I need to move on and find some amusement until I find my next angel. And I care not if you disapprove; I will marry whomever I see fit as my wife, with or without your blessing. If I had not waited to ask Jane for courtship, she would have never fallen for Wickham’s seduction.”

  Darcy fumed at the accusation but he took several breaths. I took myself to drinking with my heartbreak but Bingley copes by using women. I must have compassion on my friend. Elizabeth would wish for me to be kind, instead of my beating him to a pulp. Well, perhaps beat him first and then be kind.

  “Bingley, do you honestly believe that I delayed you from asking for courtship because I did not wish for your happiness? That I inten
tionally withheld my approval because I wanted you to be alone and miserable?” Darcy asked.

  Bingley took a seat after pouring himself a drink and offering one to his friend. He sighed and responded, “Of course not, Darcy. You prevented me from making a terrible mistake with that Miss Pope and I have always found your advices to me to be sound. Perhaps it was good that I did not ask Miss Bennet for courtship. It would have been embarrassing to find her such a loose woman if we had been formally courting.”

  “Bingley, do you still honestly believe that Jane Bennet was in such a scandalous activity? I do not understand why you would consider her so immoral.” Darcy took a deep breath. “All right, Bingley. Let us say that Miss Bennet had been doing something… something so unvirtuous. Can I ask you the same? I just saw you in here with Sally and you were doing what you accuse Miss Bennet of. Why is it acceptable that you are fornicating with a whore but Miss Bennet cannot be seen alone with a man without such vicious rumors to circulate?”

  “Sally is not a whore! She is a maid. And because I am a man! Women are supposed to be pure and clean, and men, well, we can do what we like. It is expected of us to enjoy ourselves and be worldly. You are not so chaste yourself, Darcy! Who are you to judge me?” Bingley yelled.

  Darcy smiled slightly. “No, I am not chaste but I wish I were. That intimate bond between man and woman is special and I will be faithful to my wife, no matter what gentlemen are allowed by society while ladies are not. When I vow ‘with my body I thee worship’, it will be forever.” He sipped his drink and looked at his friend. “You PAY Sally to be your maid; you PAY her to pleasure you, and she IS a whore. You have a harlot in your household with whom you fornicated, in the middle of the day, in your unlocked study, and that is not the manner of a gentleman. Miss Bingley could have walked in. I could have arrived with Georgiana and my baby sister could have…” He took a deep breath to calm himself.

  “Bingley,” Darcy continued after a few moments. “Let us find out what was actually witnessed by Miss Bingley’s maid. Have you spoken to her without Miss Bingley’s presence?”

  Bingley scratched his head. “Well, no. Caroline assured me that she relayed to me the entire story that she heard from Nancy and also told me that she gave her extra coins out of her own allowance to keep the secret from going any further. Caroline was very… descriptive of what Nancy witnessed and I had no reason to doubt her.”

  Darcy scoffed, “And Miss Bingley had never lied to you before? She has been such a model of honesty and honor that you have no cause to doubt her words?”

  Bingley stood and pulled his hair. “Damn it! Why did I take her for her word? Caroline has been deceitful more than I can count on my hands and she is constantly making up stories to increase her allowance or to get me to take her to parties.” He opened the door and hollered at the butler, “Colin! Get Nancy immediately and do not let my sister see it. Quickly, man!”

  Turning back to Darcy, he continued, “Blasted, Darcy! I have been so miserable that I was drowning my sorrows in Sally’s large bosoms. I used her at Netherfield for a month until Louisa had her return here, and I kept fuc… using her since yesterday and had not thought of anything else than my own pleasures. I am such a cad. Sally is a whore. She is a terrible maid and Mrs. Colin hates her but I made Louisa keep her on so she could warm my bed. I will release her immediately. You are right,” he buried his face in his hands. “It is dishonorable for such an arrangement and most unfair to my future wife; whoever that might be.” He sighed. “I hate myself. I know I am still young and have much to learn, but I wish life were simpler. Find love, marry, have children. Why could it not be so easy?”

  Darcy chuckled, “If life were so easy, we would never learn, never grow from our mistakes. We must go through trials to gain wisdom and we must be tested to see if we are worthy, and it will continue on until we decide to stop growing or we are dead. Elizabeth has taught me a great lesson and even with both of our prejudices and pride, we finally understand each other.”

  Bingley’s brows lifted, “Elizabeth?” He was prevented from speaking further when there was a knock at the door.

  “Nancy, take a seat.” Bingley commanded. “First and foremost, I want you to know that you are not in trouble. No harm will come to you if you tell the absolute truth. If Miss Bingley should treat you badly because of what you disclose to us, Mrs. Hurst will find you another position or compensate you and write you an excellent reference letter. Can you please tell us what you saw in Meryton when you witnessed Miss Jane Bennet with Mr. Wickham?”

  Nancy flushed red in understanding that there must have been some untruths told by her mistress. She hated being Caroline Bingley’s maid but the pay was good and her mother needed her financial support.

  “Mr. Bingley, I do not know what your sister told you but I only reported to her that I saw Miss Bennet on the side of the milliners building with Mr. Wickham’s hands on the walls, trapping the poor lady between them. It did not seem like she was enjoying his attentions and she quickly ducked from under his arms to run into the store. I thought he might be a rake in trying to seduce her but she got away quickly and I told this to Miss Bingley. I thought they were friends and she might wish to keep Miss Bennet safe. I meant no harm, sir. I swear I did not make up any stories or gossip it to anyone else. I only told Miss Bingley and no one else.” She began to cry in fear.

  Bingley huffed, “And Caroline, did she give you any extra pay to keep the secret?”

  Nancy hiccupped, “No, sir. She actually… she told me she would release me without a reference if I told this to anyone. I… she will certainly let me go now, sir.” She began to cry copiously now.

  Darcy spoke kindly to the maid, “Nancy, I have heard from Mrs. Hurst that you have been very capable in handling Miss Bingley’s demands and I wish to offer you a position in my household.”

  Nancy’s head popped up in surprise. She had always wished to work for the Darcys, who had a reputation of being the kindest and the most generous of masters. “But Miss Darcy already has a maid, sir. Has something happened?”

  Darcy smiled. “There will be a new mistress in my home and the new Mrs. Darcy will require a proficient maid who can care for her needs. She shares a maid with her sisters currently but she will need to have her own as Mrs. Darcy.”

  Bingley sat in shock with this news. He shook his head and dismissed Nancy quickly. “Thank you, Nancy. Please see Mrs. Hurst and let her know you will be moving to your new employer’s… today?” He questioned Darcy and with his friend’s nod, continued, “Today. You are most pleasantly and blessedly dismissed, Nancy.”

  As soon as the door closed, Bingley stood and embraced his friend. “Miss Elizabeth! You are betrothed to her? How is this possible? Congratulations, my man!”

  Darcy chuckled, “She has accepted me at last and we will be wed in three weeks. I will be asking Richard to stand up with me but I certainly hope you will attend. I had wished to speak with you about staying at Netherfield for a week prior to the wedding.”

  “Of course, of course,” Bingley jovially agreed. “My home is yours, and I will be happy to host you and your family for the celebration. I was of mind to return there immediately and ask Jane for courtship. Perhaps I can propose and get a special license and we can have a double wedd…”

  “Bingley! Bingley!” Darcy raised his voice to capture his friend’s attention. When Bingley turned to face him from pacing in front of the fireplace, Darcy continued. “The truth of the matter is, you abandoned Jane Bennet, leaving her with derision for disappointed hopes and in misery of the acutest kind. She was devastated when Miss Bingley wrote to her that you had returned to town to pursue my sister, my sixteen-year-old baby sister, and you left her, believing such vicious rumor instead of accepting her for who she is. Had she ever shown you any behavior of being a loose woman? She will be my sister by marriage and I cannot endorse you to her, should you choose to continue to be so foolish and a womanizer. I caught you fornicating with a ma
id not half an hour ago and you are already considering marriage to my future sister? I will not have it. No, sir. You will need to deserve her. My Elizabeth will not accept you and may even give you a good slap for using Sally again.”

  Bingley groaned. “I hope you will not tell Miss Elizabeth about my indiscretion. I am humiliated. I cannot believe I believed Caroline. This is all her fault! I am going to evict her from my homes and cut ties with her.”

  Darcy sighed loudly, “And therein lies the rub. You blame everyone else when you have only yourself to blame. You chose to leave without finding out the truth. You left the woman you proclaim to love, believing her spoiled and unqualified, and yet you blame your sister’s cruelty instead of accepting Jane Bennet for the serene and virtuous woman you know she is.”

  “But you left, too! You left Netherfield first and left me to doubt myself.” Bingley defensively yelled.

  “But I returned the same day after you told me what you had heard about Wickham. I knew Wickham is a seducer, and with Miss Bennet’s true dowry, he could not resist trying to get his hands on a quick bet rather than work for a living. I left Netherfield after Elizabeth refused me.” He heard Bingley gasp and smiled, turning his eyes to his friend. “I proposed to her, citing that her undesirable family and little dowry did not matter to me and that I would hide her away where society would not scorn her. I was disrespectful but I loved her so much that I was willing to lower myself to be with her. But she vehemently refused me and I returned to London to drink myself to an early grave until my cousin set me down. She was right about everything and when I returned yesterday, I found that we both had a change of heart and determined we could not live without each other. She will be my wife and I will not hesitate to cut ties with anyone who does not respect her as my wife. Your sister, Bingley, I will no longer acknowledge her. She spread the worst of gossips by telling you that Wickham was tupping her in the back alley like a common whore. I do not know if I forgive you for believing such a vile slander but I do admit that I delayed you in courting Miss Bennet and will assist you to meet with her again. What you do from there is up to you. I have my own courtship and wedding to worry about and I will not run your life. You are a grown man, Bingley. Get used to making your own decisions.” Darcy concluded.