Imperative: Volume 2, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice

by Wells, Linda

  “There it is.” Robert shook his head. “Isn’t Fitzwilliam Scottish?”

  “He’s an Englishman, isn’t he? Probably an Anglican, too.”

  “We are not going to wage the war for an independent Scotland in my drawing room.” Mr. Kelly glared between his sons. “Colonel Fitzwilliam is a gentleman, and a highly recommended one, at that. I am willing to wait him out.” Mr. Kelly turned the page of his paper, and looked over his glasses at Sophie. “Do something with the girl, Aggie.”

  “And what do you suggest?” Mrs. Kelly asked worriedly.

  “Go visit the Darcys, and then maybe Mrs. Darcy will tell you more about the colonel.” Adam spoke to his cards and paid no notice to his family staring at him.

  “What is wrong with you?” Mitchell demanded. “Why are you always thinking up all of these … solutions?”

  “Adam is a peacemaker.” Mrs. Kelly patted his head fondly. “I see you being a minister one day, Son.”

  Robert, Stephen and Mitchell all rolled their eyes; they had each heard the same thing from their mother at one time or another.

  Mr. Kelly looked at Mitchell. “You would prefer that Adam be as negative as Stephen and suggest only gloom and doom?”

  Stephen spoke up, “I do not suggest gloom. I am a realist.”

  “You are a killjoy.” Robert threw a card on the table. “Leave the Darcys to their honeymoon and leave her alone.”

  Mitchell turned to him. “Why are you so nice all of a sudden? You always called her a spinster …”

  “Shh.” Robert kicked his leg.

  “Mother!” Mitchell whined.

  “You are too old to cry for Mama.” Mr. Kelly admonished. “And no, I will not defend you, either.”

  Sophie’s sharp voice came across the room. “Could you not hold your fascinating discussion when I was absent? I hear every word. Twenty feet does not make an effective barrier from your chattering.”

  “We are sorry, Sophie.”

  “You are the worst of all, Stephen.” She turned to them. “I am sorry that I am pensive and cannot entertain you as the object of your jokes and pranks. I would think that you grown men would have better things to do with your time. Why doesn’t anyone go after Robert for not marrying? Why hasn’t Stephen found a position as a clerk somewhere? Why is it always about me? I am tired of it!” Sophie turned and left the room.

  “Poor thing, she is frustrated. She looks at you boys who are free to do anything you wish while she must wait to be married to have any status at all.” Mrs. Kelly sighed. “A woman’s lot is not easy.” An uncomfortable silence fell over the five males in the room.

  “She has it bad.” Stephen finally whispered.

  “You did not hear a word she said.” Robert sighed.

  “Yes I did, I just don’t like seeing her hurting over someone who probably won’t return.”

  “Why don’t you just wait and see. The man must have only just arrived in London. His cousin seems to be confident in his return.” Mr. Kelly admonished his sons.

  “I spent a bit of time with the colonel and the Darcys and I would not mind being related to them.” Robert said thoughtfully.

  “Ohhhh, so they can put you in the way of rich girls.” Stephen winked at his father, who shook his head and watched his eldest son’s face colour.

  “I am not thinking of myself!”

  “Ask me no secrets and I will tell you no lies …” Stephen sniggered.

  “Speaking of secrets …” Mr. Kelly looked at his wife, “Do you know if Mrs. Darcy is Mr. Darcy’s second wife?”

  “His second?” Astonished, she shook her head. “If she is, then he certainly behaves as a man who has fallen in love for the first time. Why would you ask such a thing?”

  “We were speaking of children and protecting them. I had the oddest feeling that when he spoke, it was as if he was protecting a child of his own, a daughter.”

  “He could certainly have fathered bastards, couldn’t he?” Robert looked at his Father.

  Immediately, Mrs. Kelly objected. “I do not want to hear this conversation. A gentleman such as Mr. Darcy would not have natural children.”

  “Any man could, why I …” Stephen received a furious glare from his father and cheeks colouring, he looked at his mother. “I know of classmates who have them.”

  “Do they care for them?” Mrs. Kelly demanded.

  “I … I do not know.”

  “That is a no.” Robert appreciated his brother’s increasing embarrassment.

  Mrs. Kelly looked to her husband, “Mr. Darcy is a young man to be master of his estate. His father is surely passed. I wonder if he has younger siblings to look after and was just speaking of his responsibility for them.”

  “I had not thought of that.” Mr. Kelly nodded and returned to his paper, “Of course, that makes perfect sense.”

  “Father, please live for a very long time so that Robert does not have to look after me.” Stephen winked.

  “You are full-grown. You would be the first person I kicked out of here.” Robert promised.

  “May I have his room?” Mitchell asked.

  “Would you mind burying me first before you move in?” Mr. Kelly asked with a smile to his embarrassed son.

  “Could we please talk about something else?” Mrs. Kelly said with no little distress, and then setting down her sewing, left the room.

  “There you’ve gone and done it, Stephen.”

  “Me? I didn’t talk about Father dying!”

  “But you started it all by talking about Sophie.” Robert pointed out.

  “Then that settles it, no more talking about Sophie.” Stephen agreed and then a mischievous grin crossed his face. “For today, anyway.”

  “YOU HAVE BEEN STUDYING that letter for twenty minutes, is something wrong, Harding?” Susan watched her husband from her chair by the fire. “Who is it from?”

  “Fitzwilliam.”

  “Oh?” Placing a ribbon in her book, she set it aside. “How are they? We have not heard from them in weeks … not that I expected a daily letter, but you would think that they had plenty of time to write a short note.”

  Judge Darcy looked up to his wife with a small smile. “You are sounding like a worried mother who does not want her children to go off on their own.”

  “Of course I worry about them, all alone up there, trying to keep Georgiana hidden.” She brushed at her gown to avoid his gaze. “Fine then, I am a worried mother who wants a daily letter. I suppose that I am used to Samuel being home now and I want all of my children near. How are they?”

  “Well, it seems. Elizabeth had an adventure, falling into the river about a week ago.” Susan gasped and he continued quickly when she clutched her heart, “Fitzwilliam rescued her, naturally. He shrugs it off, saying she would have surely escaped on her own, but you can feel the fear coursing through his words here …” He closed his eyes momentarily and cleared his throat. “I know that particular part of the river. That bank was forever falling in after a hard rain, and with it being March it is always raining … I remember George talking about Fitzwilliam falling in there, just like I did when I was a lad.”

  “You fell into a river, Father?” Samuel took a chair next to his father and grinned. “It seems that you were fished out?”

  “Obviously.” He glanced up at his son. “How was your day?”

  “Fascinating. I read the most unusual will.” Samuel saw his mother’s sigh more than heard it. “Forgive me Mother; I know that you have no desire to lose the both of us to shop talk.”

  “No, I want to hear Fitzwilliam’s letter.” She looked back to her husband. “Is Elizabeth well?”

  “What happened to Elizabeth?” Samuel sat up quickly.

  “She fell in the river.” Susan said impatiently.

  “She is well.” Judge Darcy assured her and smiled a little at his anxious son. “Her husband assures us of that fact.”

  “Good.” Samuel blew out a breath and sat back in his chair. “Is Geor
giana well? What else does he say?”

  “He says …” Judge Darcy rubbed his hand over his face and handed the letter to Samuel. “Go on, read it out.” Samuel took the letter and just before he began, he looked up from the page to see his father staring at his mother.

  Georgiana and I had a talk a few weeks ago. While my disappointment remains, I know that for the sake of my marriage, my health, and my relationship with my sister, I must look ahead. I asked her what she would like to happen with the baby. To my great surprise, she told me that she would prefer that it be raised by you and Aunt Susan, so that Elizabeth and I would not be burdened with this child at a time when we should be growing our own family.

  Samuel looked up when Susan cried out and put both of her hands to her mouth. His father was watching her reaction with tears in his eyes. “She told me that she wanted you to take the baby months ago, Mother.”

  “You never told me!”

  “It was not my place; she spoke to me in confidence. Besides, Darcy is the one who ultimately makes this decision, not Georgiana. He is the one making so many sacrifices and changes to his life for her benefit. He married Elizabeth to pass this baby off as his own, remember? I cannot imagine what he was feeling to hear her say this to him.” Samuel looked down at the letter and his cousin’s precise handwriting. “It took him some time to write this from when she told him her desires. I wonder if he felt insulted?”

  “I could see that.” Judge Darcy nodded. “But in this case, I think that it was simply Darcy thinking out the details. You know how he must analyze everything before making his move. Colonel Fitzwilliam apparently supported Georgiana’s idea wholeheartedly when he spoke to her, as well.”

  “Yes.” Samuel could not read his father’s eyes and returned to the letter. “He brings up your ages.”

  Both men saw Susan’s eyes flash and her chin lift. They exchanged smiles. “He said that should the child become too burdensome …”

  “I will let my nephew know that his uncle and I are perfectly fit for being parents again.” She interrupted protectively.

  Samuel smiled and continued, “He said that if you say no, Georgiana is fine with him and Elizabeth following the plan …”

  “No?” Susan nearly squealed.

  “I suppose that I have no vote in this?”

  Susan looked at him threateningly, “Harding, if you take this baby away from me …”

  “No.” He took her hand. “If I had offered in October to take the baby so many things would be different now.”

  “Darcy would not have proposed to Elizabeth.” Samuel said thoughtfully. “He mentions here that Richard met a nice young woman while visiting and the relationship has some potential.”

  “The smallest decision can set in motion an enormous chain of events.” Judge Darcy spoke softly.

  “Harding … I would love to take this child. I have been hoping for so long that we could …”

  “Of course you have, Susan.” He smiled a little and nodded. “I will write to Darcy today and tell him that we accept the proposal. It is an enormous task, dear. We may very well not live to see this child reach maturity.”

  “I think that this child will make us young again.” She jumped out of her chair and hugging him, fell into his lap. “Thank you, Harding.” Samuel laughed to see his father’s utter surprise.

  “I deserve no thanks. I do this to right a wrong.” Embarrassed, he looked to Samuel. “You do not mind this?”

  Surprised to be asked, Samuel shook his head. “No, not at all.” He got up from his chair and smiled from the doorway. “I will leave the parents-to-be to rest together. You are going to need it.”

  “COME ON, UP YOU GO!” Elizabeth bustled into the drawing room and taking Georgiana by the elbow, rousted her up from the piano bench. “You have not had a breath of fresh air in ages, and you need some exercise.”

  “Oh, Elizabeth … I am just too tired …”

  “You are too tired because you have not moved in weeks!” Looking at her pointedly, she shook her finger. “No excuses, the rain is seemingly gone, the temperature is quite pleasant … you have two and a half months to go and you need to be strong for the marathon to come.” Elizabeth handed her a pair of gloves and began pulling on her own in a businesslike manner.

  Georgiana looked at the gloves and said pensively, “How do you know what it is like?”

  “Obviously I have not experienced it first hand, but I have had enough well-meaning, and some not-so well-meaning women describe the process to me. One of the joys of marriage, you are let in on all sorts of secrets.” Elizabeth smiled.

  Georgiana’s eyes widened and then her cheeks coloured as she looked back down. “I suppose that I already know many of them.”

  “I suppose that you do.” Tilting her head, Elizabeth squeezed her arm. “Let’s find our coats.”

  “What if I am seen?” She looked out the window nervously.

  “We are walking in the garden, nobody can see us from the drive. Now … enough delay.” Giving her a little push, she sent Georgiana out the door. Downstairs, Judy and Jennifer appeared with their coats and bonnets. Elizabeth went down the hallway to knock on the study door, and hearing Darcy’s call, stuck her head inside. “We are going for a little walk, Will.”

  He looked up from the letter he was reading. “Where?”

  “We will keep to the garden, she cannot tolerate too much.”

  “Is she ill?” He said worriedly and then smiled a little with Elizabeth’s sigh. “Forgive me.”

  “What will you be like when I am with child, I wonder?” She winked.

  “A bloody nutter, is what I will be.” He muttered loud enough for her to hear, and watching the door closing behind her, looked down at the letter that did not seem quite so interesting anymore.

  Laughing, Elizabeth rejoined Georgiana and the two of them stepped out into the sunshine. “Your brother is a dear soul.”

  “What is he doing?”

  “Working.” Elizabeth shrugged. “He received a package this morning from Pemberley. Mr. Barnes sent him a pile of correspondence and news. I expect that records of the rent payments are in there as well, since quarter day is passed.”

  “I guess that Mr. Ferguson will have the same for him here?”

  “Certainly. That is something that impressed me about Fitzwilliam; he is a very interested master.” Elizabeth slipped her hand around Georgiana’s arm as they began strolling towards the garden. “I remember an evening with him at Netherfield, he was determinedly scratching away at a letter, a letter of business, so Miss Bingley described.” She laughed, “I will have to ask him, but I do believe that he was attending to it so studiously to avoid speaking with her.”

  “Where were you seated?”

  “Mmm.” Elizabeth thought, “I was on a sofa across from him.” She stopped when she saw Georgiana’s smile. “Oh, you do not think that he sat there to stare at me?”

  “He does it now when he can look upon you openly. Have you noticed?”

  “Dear man.” She said softly.

  “I am surprised that he did not ask you to sit with him while he worked.”

  “Oh, I will join him later. He is working with important things right now; I do not want to be a distraction. And I have no doubt that I would be as I speak enough for both of us.” Georgiana shook her head. “Don’t you understand? It took me a little time to understand it, since I grew up so differently, but he loves working on the estate business. This is his pride, and immersing himself in it is pleasurable for him.” A sparkle came to her eye, “However, I will not hesitate to remind him that he does not have to complete it all in one day.”

  Georgiana spoke quietly, “I forget how many times I would creep down the stairs in the middle of the night to find him asleep on a pile of letters on his desk, with the candles burnt down to stubs.”

  “Oh, Will.” Elizabeth whispered and smiled sadly, “I think that what you witnessed was not pride or pleasure, but desperation as he
tried to take over from your father. Now he is secure in his work, otherwise, he would not let me help him. So many lives rest on his shoulders.” Elizabeth looked at her sister and smiled. “Poor Richard is almost in the same boots now.”

  “But what of Albert?”

  “Albert knows his limitations, I think.” Elizabeth murmured and looking around the beautiful landscape, saw sheep with their new lambs dotting the surrounding hills. “Fitzwilliam told me that I would see green here of the like I had never known before, and now I understand what he meant. It is so lovely.”

  “Would you prefer living here to Pemberley?”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Why?” Georgiana looked around. “Because it is bigger?”

  “No, no, Pemberley is home. It is where Fitzwilliam’s family is from. This place, as lovely as it is, will never be anything more than a pleasant place to escape to until some Darcy son moves in and raises his family here. Hopefully, one of ours.” Elizabeth smiled.

  Georgiana walked along quietly. “I would not mind living here.”

  “Why? Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to live here!” She laughed and squeezed her hand.

  “No.” She smiled and looked at her. “I guess I feel that I do not belong at Pemberley anymore.”

  Elizabeth stopped walking. “Please do not say that.”

  “But … you found this Mrs. Annesley to be my companion, and … she will take me to live in London.”

  “Is that why you reacted so quietly when I told you about meeting her?”

  “I guess.”

  “Georgiana, we were simply thinking of you and the baby. And your future.” She looked at her carefully. “You will be sixteen soon.”

  “If I was not pregnant, Fitzwilliam would have allowed me to attend private dinners this Season.” She whispered and looked off to the placidly grazing sheep. “I … I do not know that I would have wanted that.”

  “I can assure you that he would not have pushed you forward. After all, this is the man who prefers to hide in a corner at public events. Besides, I think that privilege would have waited for when you were closer to seventeen.”