Chapter 38
Lizzy, Darcy, and Georgiana were still at breakfast when Mr. Jackson announced that Teddy had returned to Pemberley and wished to speak to the master at his convenience.
“Thank you, Jackson. Tell Teddy that he should visit with his mother first, and then we shall talk in the library.”
As soon as Mr. Jackson mentioned Teddy’s name, Georgiana’s face lit up. Lizzy had suspected that she had a romantic interest in the son of her lady’s maid and that look had confirmed it. But there was nothing wrong with a young girl admiring a handsome young man, especially one who was her brother’s hunting partner and companion. Of course, Georgiana did not know that Teddy would be leaving for North America in the spring, and Lizzy knew that she would be unhappy when she learned of it. But once she had made her debut, this beautiful girl with her dazzling smile would have the young gents flying to her like moths to a flame.
While Darcy was meeting with Teddy, Elizabeth received a note from Lady Helen asking if she could call the next morning. Of course, it was impossible to deny the request, and so she wrote a response, her first on the Pemberley stationery. After signing her name as Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy, she handed it to Lord Granyard’s groom. When Darcy emerged from the study, she showed him Nell’s letter.
“Well, you may receive her, but I am still annoyed and have no wish to see her until next nightfall. So I shall go riding tomorrow morning.”
“Coward.”
“Sticks and stones,” Darcy said, laughing. “Besides, she asked to visit with you, not me.”
“Speaking of visits. What news from Teddy?”
Darcy gestured for Lizzy to follow him into the study because, with all the Darcys in residence, the junior servants were everywhere.
“Apparently, there is a war going on in Herefordshire. There are three groups of Frenchmen: the elite, the bourgeois, and a group of farmers and herders from the Pyrenees. It seems that the first two have been lording it over the other members of the pack, and there has been a peasant revolt. The farmers have elected to emigrate en masse to French-speaking North America, so that will bring the population down to a manageable size. The males will join Teddy and Rupert in the spring, and once they are established in Quebec, they will send for their wives and children. That should be interesting because there are no she wolves in the French delegation, so these men will have to cook and clean and do everything by themselves.”
“As you did,” Lizzy added.
“Yes, as I did, and I have no doubt of their eventual success as these are rough mountain men, but they are as quarrelsome a group as I have ever met.”
“This does not affect the two candidates for my lady’s maid, does it?”
“Well, we are down to only one candidate as the other has accepted a marriage proposal from one of the emigrating Frenchmen and will join him once the group is established in their new quarters.”
“The thought of working in your household scared off one of the women, did it?”
“It was not me who scared her off. Teddy told her frightful tales about the razor tongue of the mistress of the manor, displays of impertinence to your husband, and…” That was all he could get out before Lizzy punched him in the arm.
“I suspected you had violent tendencies, so I shall have to tame you.” He lay down on top of her on the sofa, and she made no objection.
***
Unsure of what Nell might say, Lizzy had secured Darcy’s permission to meet with Lady Helen in his study. Her purpose in coming was twofold. First, she wanted to know if Alpha was annoyed with her as he had given her that impression at daybreak and, second, had he met with her prospective groom?
“Both of those matters are pack business, and I have nothing to do with that. You will have to speak to Mr. Darcy.”
“I believe he is upset with me because of what I said to you here at Pemberley. I did not mean to give offense, but you can imagine my surprise when I learned that he was interested in you, and not just because of your lack of rank. You see, I was bitten while Mr. Darcy was away in North America, and fearing risk of discovery, my family insisted that I live in this dreadful, damp convent in Ireland. But when Mr. Darcy returned to England and learned of my fate, he came to Ireland and brought me home. How would you interpret such a generous gesture?” she asked Lizzy, but did not wait for an answer.
“And we get along so well in the wild. We never argue, and Alpha is so attentive to all my needs. He loves to groom me, you know. I merely have to look at him with what he describes as ‘eyes the color of a summer sky,’ and he comes and rakes his claws through my luxurious fur. I think it is his favorite thing to do.”
“I can form no opinion of his intentions as I never witnessed these kindnesses,” Lizzy said, trying not to roll her eyes. If Mr. Darcy was so taken in by her beautiful coat and summer sky eyes, then why was she Mrs. Darcy and not Nell? The woman was as dense as an iron skillet. “All that is in the past, so let us leave it there. We are neighbors, and we should be friends.”
“But will I continue to be your neighbor? What does Mr. Darcy say about Monsieur Reynard? I fear he has a pointy nose. All Frenchmen have pointy noses. I cannot abide a pointy nose.”
Lizzy could not help but laugh. An entire nation with the same physical characteristic? “You will have to ask Mr. Darcy for Monsieur Reynard’s physical description, but to say that all Frenchmen have pointy noses is like saying that all Englishmen are short with big bellies. They are both caricatures used in the press to ridicule.”
“Will you please ask Mr. Darcy for a detailed description about monsieur and write to me as soon as you do?”
“Of course. But I do know one thing about the Reynard family. They are all gourmands, and when they fled France, their chef came with them.”
“Really? Gourmands, you say? With their own chef? The Devonshires have a French chef, and we frequently dine with them. I am very fond of beef in sauce bourguignon, foie gras with truffles, confit de canard, cassoulet…”
When Nell finally brought her litany of French dishes to a conclusion, Lizzy could see that Lady Helen was in a much better humor, and she hinted to Lizzy that she might have had a culinary close call. If she had become Mrs. Darcy, she would have been subjected to Mrs. Bradshaw’s cooking, and although she was a perfectly good cook, capable of producing roasts and stews, she was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a chef.
***
“William, how would you describe my eyes,” Lizzy asked as her husband brushed her hair, a task he performed each night with great pleasure.
“Dark brown.”
“How would you describe my hair?”
“Dark brown and curly.”
Lizzy grabbed the brush out of his hand. “So Lady Helen has golden hair and eyes as blue as a summer sky while I have dark brown eyes, the color of bark, and curly dark hair?”
“I would not use the word ‘bark.’” Darcy successfully ducked a flying brush. “Are you in need of compliments, my dear?”
“This morning, Nell happened to mention how your favorite thing to do in the whole world is to run your claws through her luxurious coat and to compliment her on her seasonal eye color.”
“My favorite thing to do is to run my hands over your luxurious body and to gaze into your dark eyes, which are pieces of onyx carved out of the night sky.”
“Ahhh,” she said. “That was a good answer.”
“As I told you before, Nell is a beautiful woman on the outside, but because she is also selfish and conceited, little beauty shines from within. Since you are beautiful inside and out, there is no comparison to be made. As for running my claws through her coat, when Teddy is not there, I do it so that I might have some peace but also because it makes her drowsy. It is the same as telling children a story so that they will finally fall off to sleep. On the other hand, I hope to keep you awake for most of the night
.”
“Ahhh, that is another good answer.”
After they had made love, Darcy asked Lizzy what she thought would happen in their first year together.
“You and I shall have so much fun getting to know each other better, and I shall learn how to be the mistress of this great estate. Georgiana will come out and will have a brilliant debut, but she will not marry, as she is too young, and I do so want her to marry for love. You and I shall become an uncle and aunt, twice over, with Lydia and Jane, and Anne and Lady Catherine will be frequent visitors to Pemberley. We shall have puppies, all black, running all over the estate, all named Wolfie. I shall succeed in getting Mr. Jackson to smile at least once a month with you present to witness it, and Mrs. Bradshaw will be open to suggestions from me regarding the menus. And by the end of the year, we shall discuss starting our own family.”
“All right, my turn,” Darcy said. “In the coming year, Nell will marry Monsieur Reynard, and the couple will eat their way to wedded bliss. David and Goliath will finally accept you, or at least stop grumbling when you walk by. As you said, Georgiana will make a brilliant debut, and I agree that she should marry only if she is in love. I shall not deny her what I have. I shall see you grow into your role as mistress of Pemberley, and I shall endeavor to be the best husband I can be. I could tell you that I will be more in love with you next year than I am at this moment, but that is an impossibility as I am filled to overflowing.”
As they lay in each other’s arms, they continued to talk well into the night about their future together, but neither thought to say anything about the other incarnation of Mr. Darcy.
Chapter 39
William and Lizzy’s first year of marriage could only be described as blissful. The sole rough spot was Lizzy’s cool reception by the ton, but after six weeks spent in the company of women who were immoral and unkind and delighted in ridiculing those whom they considered to be beneath them, she decided it was a compliment to her character that she did not fit in.
It was during their second year that the couple had their first disagreement. Darcy steadfastly refused to come to his wife when she was fertile, and Lizzy knew his reasons. In addition to his fear of losing her in childbirth, he believed that his children would reject him once they learned of his other nature. She decided to take the matter into her own hands. With potpourri sachets scattered about her bedchamber, a nightgown covered with scented powder, and a body bathed in perfumed water, her husband’s ability to determine where she was in her cycle faltered, and Lizzy became pregnant.
Although Lizzy’s labor was hard and long, there were no complications. Darcy was so delighted by the birth of his son, David, that he agreed to father a second child, and Fitzwilliam Jr. arrived two years later. Darcy was relieved that both of his children were boys. It would be easier for lads to understand that their father was a werewolf. His sons would see their Papa’s transformation as something to be marveled at and not repelled by. But what would a daughter think? He was soon to find out that a little girl would think that her father had hung the moon.
***
Over Lizzy and Darcy’s objections, Georgiana, in her twentieth year, married the widowed Viscount Wilston, the heir to Granyard Hall, and became a mother to his three children. Although Georgiana liked her husband very much, she did not love him, and Lizzy was convinced that she had married into the Granyard family for the protection it afforded her brother and because she loved another. After ten years of marriage, her husband, now the Earl of Granyard, died of a fever, and the Dowager Countess and Mrs. Brotherton returned to Pemberley. It was shortly after Granyard’s death that a handsome, dark-haired stranger, Thomas Benson, bought a farmhouse near Lambton. Although an Englishman, the gentleman had gone to America when he was a young man and had made his fortune in steamships, plying the waters of the St. Lawrence River in Canada. After selling his business, he decided to return to his home country to live the life of a gentleman farmer.
Mr. Benson chose New Year’s Eve to introduce himself to his neighbors at Pemberley. He had learned that the Darcys celebrated a new year’s tradition of welcoming a dark-haired stranger into their home, and so the gentleman came bearing a gift of a pine wreath to ensure long life and good luck and was invited to stay for supper. Despite the lapse of more than a dozen years, Georgiana knew Teddy Brotherton as soon as she saw him. As she had told Lizzy long ago, everything about a werewolf changes, except the eyes, and Georgiana knew those eyes.
Their marriage raised eyebrows among the elite of London society, but Georgiana had tired of their company and was perfectly content to remain in the country with her husband and their two children. Mr. Benson proved to be a stellar citizen and eventually served as the mayor of Lambton. Many people remarked on how well Mr. Darcy and Mr. Benson got on and how much they had in common, especially their need to always be on the move and their love of large black dogs.
***
From their earliest years, the Darcy children heard stories about wolves who became men during a full moon and who fought evil in both their incarnations. These stories were the favorite of all three, and when it came time for Darcy to tell his children of their Papa’s other life, the boys thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world and were thrilled to be let in on his secret. But Annie immediately understood that there were people out in the wider world who would hurt her father if they knew that he was a werewolf, and because of this, Annie told her parents that she would never marry.
Darcy and Lizzy understood their daughter’s reasons for making such an offer, but they encouraged her to find a partner with whom she could enjoy a marriage as wonderful as that of her parents. Even though she attracted the attention of many fine gentlemen, she gave them no encouragement. Unlike her mother, who had grown more comfortable with each succeeding nightfall, Annie became more anxious with each full moon. Every time her father went out, she feared that something awful would happen to her beloved Papa. With each passing year, her worries increased, and she would plead with him not to go out when the weather was anything less than ideal. By the time Darcy entered his sixth decade, Lizzy had her own concerns and mentioned them to her husband. As expected, she was rebuffed.
“We have this argument every single nightfall,” Darcy said in a harsh tone of voice, which did nothing to deter Lizzy.
“Untrue. We have only had this argument for the last three years—since you turned sixty. You are not as young as you used to be. You have arthritis in your hind legs and shoulders and a sore back. When you come through that panel after nightfall, you are practically creaking.”
“If it bothers you, then stop sleeping on the sofa while I am gone.”
“Never!” She went over and put her arms around his neck and kissed the top of his head. “If you ever come through that door, and I am not here, you will know that I have gone to meet my maker.”
“Elizabeth, do not say that. You know I hate when you say things like that.”
“Then show me how much you love me by sleeping in the hidden room.”
“No.”
And so it went, month after month, until a particularly nasty ice storm barreled in from the north, and with every tree and bush encased in ice and icicles hanging from every eave, Lizzy pleaded with him not to go out in such weather. After uttering a few mild oaths, he stormed off and passed his daughter in the hall without saying a word to her.
“Mama, Papa has a raspiness in his chest. I am sure he has pneumonia,” Annie said with tears in her eyes. “There is no way he can hunt tonight, so I do not understand why he must go out. With Uncle Teddy gone, if something happens to him while he is out there,” she said, pointing to the window and beyond, “we will not know it. And by the time we find him, he will be dead.”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Lizzy said. The same thoughts had occurred to her, but having it said aloud was more than she could bear. “I agree and I intend to do something about it,
so go to bed. Everything is under control.” Lizzy immediately went to her husband’s room.
“While you are out there tonight, you might wish to visit me on the terrace because if you insist on going out in this awful weather that is where I shall be. I can be as stubborn as you are.”
Darcy sat down on the bed and nodded his head in acknowledgment that she had won. He actually had not intended to go any farther than the cave, but he had said nothing to Lizzy or Annie, knowing that if he readily agreed to their scheme, the pair of them would be after him to remain in the house every nightfall, and he hated being cooped up.
“I am henpecked and chickpecked by the two women in my life, and if I am to have any peace, I must do as they ask.”
“Thank you,” she said and hugged him, but he refused to put his arms around her waist, and so she put them there herself. “I shall go and get your water bowl. Do you want any meat?”
“Yes, and a bone as well. Since I will not be hunting for the next two days, I shall have to find ways to kill time. Now won’t I?”
“You know Annie and I will visit you.” Before leaving, she blew him a kiss.
Although she had succeeded in keeping him indoors on this particular nightfall, the time for a permanent solution had come, and so tonight she would implement a plan that she had been thinking about for the last few years. After the entire house was asleep, Lizzy went down to the study. After putting her ear to the hidden door and determining that Will was asleep, she slid back the panel.
“So you snore as badly when a wolf as you do when a man. I suspected as much,” Lizzy said to her sleeping husband. “Look at you. You are dead to the world, but you were going to go out on such a night. What a mule you are.” She spread out a blanket and sat down next to him. After running her hand along the length of his coat, she could hear the change in his breathing as he responded to her touch, and she whispered to him, “‘Entreat me not to leave thee or return from following after thee; for wither thou goest, I shall go.’ I love you, Fitzwilliam Darcy.” She put her finger into his mouth and pressed it against his tooth. After squeezing her finger to make sure that there was blood, she lay down on the blanket and backed into him. As he did when he was in his human form, he rested his front paw on her arm, and they spooned, or as much as a wolf and future wolf are capable of spooning.
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