A Chance at Happiness
Page 12
Prompted by something in his voice, or some indiscernible movement in his being, she lifted her head and met his gaze, unflinching.
“Yesterday you accused me of running away to London, of striving to separate my friend from your sister, and departing with all hast, preventing even a farewell between them.” Darcy grimaced. “You are right. I did engineer that, or help to engineer it.” He would not take sole responsibility for that which was, at least in part, Caroline Bingley’s suggestion.
“But it was not merely an attempt to separate my friend from your sister. Indeed, in that, I acted in error and can only hope to make amends.” He held his hand up to prevent the inevitable questions that must have burned on Elizabeth’s lips at this mention of Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet. “But, Elizabeth, it was not only my friend and your sister I sought to part. I sought to remove...myself. For I felt, then, that I was in danger of losing my own heart to a young lady in Hertfordshire. I wager I had been losing it by degrees long before I became aware of it.” He tapped the heavy leather-bound book on the table. “Perhaps like your Benedick here.”
Lizzy’s smile grew, as with one word he betrayed that he was indeed familiar with Much Ado and would have understood her meaning even without her explanation.
“There, too, I acted in error, and in cowardice. But now, it seems, Providence affords me the chance to undo things.” He grimaced. “Providence, or my cousins, for both Anne and Richard, in their own way, have pointed me to this path, and now I know I must walk it, be it untrodden and shaded from view.”
“You speak as if it were a dreadful thing, Mr Darcy,” Elizabeth ventured at last. “But surely even the most fearful journey, when undertaken with a companion, is not so fearful after all. I wager it may even be enjoyable, if one is with the right companion.”
“And would you consent to be my companion, Miss Elizabeth? It is too soon to ask it, I know, and yet it seems so long since first the question occurred to me. Perhaps, had I stayed in Hertfordshire...”
“And yet, perhaps not,” Elizabeth said. She bit her lip, hesitating a little before continuing.
“Mr Darcy, you have apologised for your abrupt departure from Hertfordshire, but I must apologise for my behaviour at our meeting here. I blamed you for that which was not your fault. Or at least, not entirely your fault.” She smiled, her eyes shining with fun. “I am quick to judge and slow to change my judgments, and yet in this, I wonder if we are not alike.”
A clock in the hallway chimed, recalling Darcy to himself, and he straightened.
“Miss Bennet, the evening is drawing on. I ought to see you home to Hunsford, for surely Mr and Mrs Collins will be wondering what has become of you. I will arrange for the carriage and then perhaps we might begin the journey, for it is but a short distance to travel together.”
Elizabeth smiled, as if she deduced some hidden meaning in his words, and, emboldened by the gentle expression, and the comfortable mood that had descended on the pair, Darcy determined to ask the question that had been on his lips all day, and many days before it.
“I wonder, Elizabeth, whether I am presumptuous in thinking our feelings are not so very different from one another’s. My cousins bid me be brave, and yet I find I am not as brave as once I thought myself capable of being. Not even as brave as Mr Collins, though it pains me to admit it.”
At this, Elizabeth laughed.
“There is bravery, Mr Darcy, and then there is foolhardiness.”
“Which is this?” He was unaware he had spoken his musing aloud, until Elizabeth slipped her hand into his, and then, without a word more being said, the question was uttered, and answered, and another young couple took their first faltering steps towards home together.
Epilogue
Two letters went forth from Rosings, penned by Mr Darcy with Lizzy’s able assistance: one to Mr Bennet, and one to Georgiana.
The first contained all the usual particulars a gentleman must ask of his beloved’s guardian and contained an addendum in Lizzy’s own hand.
Yes, Father, it is true. Had you asked me, before I came to Kent, whether I cared for Mr Darcy I would undoubtedly have thought you mad, and yet I now see that even in the midst of my denials I would have been deceiving myself. I believe I cared for him at Netherfield, though I certainly did not recognise it then. Now I know it to be true, and can only thank Providence that we were afforded a second chance, and the wisdom to seize hold of it. Be happy for me, Papa, and grant your consent. I cannot give you a reason other than that it would make me very happy indeed.
It preceded its sender, but only by a day, for Lizzy could not be prevailed upon to remain at Kent when there were all the particulars of a wedding to arrange. She bid a tearful farewell to Charlotte, whose life had improved immeasurably with her friend’s short visit, and the pair promised to reunite soon, for there would be another wedding recalling them all to Rosings, Mr Darcy assured them, once his aunt’s wounded sensibilities eased and she recognised the wisdom of the match between her daughter and nephew, albeit not the nephew she might have wished for.
Lizzy was welcomed home with open arms, for Mrs Bennet remarked that she had known from the very moment she first laid eyes upon that charming Mr Darcy that he would marry one of her daughters, and Lizzy being the favourite for the match. The only pain that remained to tarnish Mrs Bennet’s complete and total happiness at this wonderful news was the knowledge that poor Jane languished, still, heartbroken and alone in London.
Of this, Lizzy said little, but a mischievous smile played about her lips for a week that could not be solely attributed to the joy of her growing affection for her affianced, or the excitement of planning a wedding. In fact, the wedding itself began to take shape only in the vaguest of forms, for Elizabeth was hoping it would provide not one but two happy unions. She took to racing to the window whenever a letter arrived and examining all the post for news from London, although she would not explain why, however strongly her mother pressed.
She said nothing of Rosings’ third letter, sent in two parts to two recipients. Elizabeth told Jane her happy news but implored her to remain in London one week more, before returning to Hertfordshire to rejoice with her in person. She remained cryptic on her reasoning but trusted that Jane, with the obedience owed to a bride in advance of her wedding, would do this one thing her sister asked of her and remain, a little while longer in Gracechurch Street. The second part, Mr Darcy delivered in person, arriving at the entrance of Mr Bingley’s house with a spring that had not been seen in his step this many a month. It was the smile that adorned his usually grim features that quite unnerved Charles Bingley, who received him, and understood only too well the cause for his friend’s delight when Darcy explained all that had happened in Kent.
It was then that Darcy urged his friend to take a walk to a particular part of London in which lodged at present a certain person he took a fancy to call upon, and wagered Charles would be eager to accompany him. For having changed his opinion of one Bennet sister it was only natural that Darcy should also change his opinion of the other, and having secured his own heart’s happiness he could do little but want the same for his friend.
The End
Also by Meg Osborne
A Convenient Marriage
A Convenient Marriage Volume 1
Longbourn's Lark: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Three Weeks in Kent: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Suitably Wed: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
A Visit to Scotland: A Pride and Prejudice Variaton
The Consequence of Haste: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
A Surprise Engagement: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Fate and Fortune
Too Fond of Stars: A Persuasion Variation
A Temporary Peace: A Persuasion Variation
Three Sisters from Hertfordshire
A Trip to Pemberley
An Assembly in Bath
An Escape
from London
Standalone
After the Letter: A Persuasion Continuation
Half the Sum of Attraction: A Persuasion Prequel
A Very Merry Masquerade: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Novella
The Other Elizabeth Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Novella
In Netherfield Library and Other Stories
Mr Darcy's Christmas Carol: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Such Peculiar Providence
A Chance at Happiness
The Colonel's Cousin: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Watch for more at Meg Osborne’s site.
About the Author
Meg Osborne is an avid reader, tea drinker and unrepentant history nerd. She writes sweet historical romance stories and Jane Austen fanfiction, and can usually be found knitting, dreaming up new stories, or on twitter @megoswrites
Read more at Meg Osborne’s site.