by J Dawn King
“I long for a healthy child, Fitzwilliam.” She had suspected her husband wanted a daughter, especially since Georgiana married. He loved each of his sons from the fullness of his heart, but a daughter would be a precious gift to him.
“As do I, Elizabeth.” He sighed. “But to have a little girl with her mama’s beautiful eyes and curls to hold in my arms would be a pleasure. I will not deny it.”
“Then we will hope for a girl.”
They smiled at each other as she leaned into his side.
“Elizabeth, are you happy with our life? Is our marriage what you had hoped it would be?” Even he heard the uncertainty in his voice.
“You are a silly man!” Elizabeth leaned up and kissed him. “I love you, dearest, with my whole heart and soul, so, yes, Mr. Darcy, I am happy I am your wife.”
He held her close and surveyed his home, his land, and his family. Of all he possessed, of all he held dear, it was Elizabeth Darcy who captured his heart.
“You love me, truly?” He needed to hear the words.
As Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer, she felt the baby roll from one side to the other as another dull pain throbbed in her lower back. Grabbing her husband’s hand, she laid it over her extended waistline so he would feel it as well. A smile lit his face and his eyes sparkled with delight.
“Truly, absolutely, positively I love you.” She returned his smile, hugging him as closely as she was able. “You may ask me a million times a day and I will always answer the same. Yes, Mr. Darcy, I love you.”
Darcy recalled the day just over a decade before when he had searched for his sister. Then he remembered the diligence he showed in trying to find Elizabeth. He smiled into her curls, kissing Elizabeth on the forehead without being aware he had done so. His life and the life of his sister had been bleak until a ray of sunshine had walked into the cemetery.
The promise he had spoken to Elizabeth when Lady Catherine had confronted them at Longbourn, that they would be happy as Mr. and Mrs. Darcy had come true. He was a happy man.
Children’s laugher drifted to where the couple sat, bits and pieces of the conversation standing out from the others.
“Ewwww! Uncle Darcy is kissing Aunt Lizzy again.” Bingley’s eldest, six-year-old Sarah, was as precocious as Elizabeth had been. She turned her nose up and twisted her face to show her disgust.
“Ah, do not worry, Sarah,” the heir to Pemberley responded. “It is a sight we often see so we rarely give it any notice.”
“Let us play lord of the manor, William.” Bingley’s second daughter asked. While Sarah loved the outdoors, Emily gave all her attention to her dolls. She was a quiet girl who, at five-years of age, was in training to become an excellent wife.
“Oh, please, no. Let us not.” Nine-year-old William Darcy did not want to play with girls. Nevertheless, he knew his parents would be displeased if he did not. The Bingleys were guests in his home and he knew his responsibilities.
He sighed deeply so that both Darcy and Elizabeth heard him.
“Very well, Emily. I am the master. Will you be mistress or will Sarah?”
Emily Bingley had a very clear sense of what should take place in a home.
As the children’s voices moved away, Elizabeth clasped Darcy’s hand firmly in her own, her breathing shallow and her face pale.
“Oh, Fitzwilliam. I am afraid I may have misjudged who might be the next arrival to Pemberley.” The grip on his hand increased to an intense pressure.
“Is it time, Lizzy?” He was going to become a father again. Joy filled him from his head to his toes.
She looked at him with love in her eyes.
“Yes, Mr. Darcy.”
Almost The End
From the Author: If you would like to find out if they had a boy or a girl, please turn the page. If not, thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it.
POST SCRIPT
The elderly man paused before walking into Darcy’s study. With the birth of this child the Darcy’s lives would forever change. He took a deep breath and tapped on the door.
***
Darcy had been fretful. In every way this birth was different from the others. Few minutes had passed between the start of Elizabeth’s pains until her waters broke. The last five times his wife had given birth she had remained calm, at least in his presence. It had not been the case this time. He knew Elizabeth through and through. The rapidity of the birth process had her worried. That alone made him frantic.
Had the babe come too soon? Were his wife and child in danger? In every way the thought terrified him. He prayed. He supplicated. He begged for protection for his family and promised himself he would leave Elizabeth alone from this day forward so that she was never with child again. Then he recalled doing the same during each of the five prior births. Darcy sighed so deeply it rattled his chest. He would not leave her alone.
“Enter!” The doctor had come. He would learn his fate.
“My wife, is she well?” Darcy could not even wait for the man to sit.
“For a certainty, sir, be assured that Mrs. Darcy is in excellent health.”
“The babe?”
“Also in good health though she seemed quite perturbed at having her life changed so dramatically.” The doctor had served the Darcys for decades. He had watched the Master of Pemberley grow from his childhood into an honorable man who cherished his family and protected all under his care. Thus, he was overjoyed to share his news.
“She?” Darcy whispered as if he was hesitant he had heard incorrectly. “I have a daughter?”
“You do, Mr. Darcy.”
***
Before he could finish, the younger man had vacated the room and rushed upstairs. The doctor imagined the new Miss Darcy would have her father under her control as quick as a breath. He smiled. “Oh yes, Mr. Darcy, your life and the lives of your sons will forever change. Little girls have special powers when it comes to a father like you.”
The doctor allowed himself the opportunity to rest in one of the study’s comfortable chairs and pondered how long it would be until Mrs. Darcy was increasing again, because he was confident the lady could only ever respond in one way to her husband. “Yes, Mr. Darcy.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joy Dawn King started telling stories from an early age. However, she did not write any of them down until she was 57 years old. While living high in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador with her husband and family, she read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for the first time. It was love at first page. After she was done, she longed for more.
When searching for another copy of Jane Austen’s writings, she happened upon several books that offered alternative paths to happily ever after for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. She purchased and read as many as she could find. Finally, in early 2014, she had an idea for a story about the couple that would not go away. Thus, her first book, A Father’s Sins: A Pride and Prejudice Variation, was born.
Since then, Joy and her husband moved back to the U.S. and plot bunnies kept hopping in and out of her imagination. Now, it’s all she can do to keep up with them. But, she tries.
BONUS PREVIEW
THE ABOMINABLE MR. DARCY
(to be published Summer 2016)
Oh! That abominable Mr. Darcy!”
—Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice
CHAPTER ONE
Wednesday, 2 October, 1811
Meryton, Hertfordshire
He was by far the handsomest man she had ever seen—tall and broad-shouldered with dark wavy hair, curls flirting at the back of his collar, and sapphire eyes that sparkled in the myriads of candles lighting the assembly. Elizabeth Bennet, like the others in attendance, watched his progress as his party entered the room. His clothes were of the finest materials and the fit was excellent. She wondered if he was a fastidious man. He looked the part.
Elizabeth glanced to her sister Jane to determine where her eyes rested. The red-haired gentleman. Good! She lo
ved her sister dearly. If Jane was interested in the taller man—who the whispers of the assembly determined was Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire—Elizabeth would gaze at him no more. Since this was not the case, her eyes again drifted his way as the group walked through the crowd.
Besides Mr. Divinely Attractive and the red-haired man, two other men and two women accompanied the party. It was simple to surmise one of the pairs was married by their deliberate movements to ignore each other.
“Eliza, I believe you will have to restrain your two youngest siblings when they spy the officer’s red coat.” Charlotte Lucas, who was seated on the other side of Elizabeth, had a practical mind. They were long-time friends in spite of the seven-year difference in age. She too was surreptitiously studying the newcomers. Any unmarried man would be ideal prey for the abundance of maidens in attendance, herself included.
Elizabeth’s eyes alighted to the officer behind Mr. Heavenly Visage. He had a pleasant, welcoming smile with a touch of the sardonic. Like Mr. Stately Sculpted, his brow was furrowed. Elizabeth could not help but wonder if he had seen action on the continent. The colonel was ruggedly handsome with bronzed skin, indicating many hours spent out of doors. He was not as tall as Mr. Overtly Gorgeous, yet the shoulders of his uniform were just as broad. Neither man looked as if they needed padding to enhance their physique. Elizabeth watched his easy smile as his eyebrows rose at something Mr. Sublimely Appealing said. She immediately judged him as a man whom she might find much delight in knowing. Was he a second son to have chosen the military as a career?
“Yes, Charlotte, I believe you are correct,” she said sighing. Her younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia, were uncontrolled and ill-mannered, far too young to be out in public. Nonetheless, their mother insisted they be let loose at age fifteen to hunt down and capture a husband. The girls had long been fond of a man in uniform.
Elizabeth turned to look closely at her friend, only to find Charlotte’s eyes lingering on the colonel. She smiled to herself. It was as she had hoped! No interest in Mr. Fabulous. Sweeping her eyes around the room, she spied Charlotte’s father headed in their direction, most likely to retrieve his daughter for an introduction to the new arrivals.
“I believe you are about to be summoned, Charlotte. Now, as Mama would say, ‘Stand up straight with your shoulders back.’” Both young women chuckled. Yet, both knew with clarity why their mothers acted so. Only if their daughters married or sought work as a governess or companion would their families be relieved of their support.
As her friend walked away, Elizabeth again looked around the room. It was an interesting drama that was unfolding. The set had ended so the noise had diminished as the dancing couples moved to find refreshment or their next partner. Voices carried across the room.
“Come, Kitty and Lydia. Jane, smile, he’s looking your way. Mary, oh where is that Mary?” said a flustered and frantic Mrs. Bennet. “Lizzy can meet them later. Girls! Come! Our neighbors from Netherfield Park have arrived. Come!”
“The lack of fashion and good taste is appalling,” said the young lady in the puce dress to the woman who was endeavoring to keep up with her. “How could Charles possibly want to settle in Hertfordshire? There is no one here of quality who would not be a hardship to be in company with.”
“Unless our brother and his friends stand up with us, I fear I shall not dance this evening as Gilbert has gone to the card room. I shall not be able to roust him out.” The speaker had features similar enough to the young woman in puce and the red-headed man to identify them as siblings. They must be the Bingleys.
Elizabeth watched as Sir William Lucas, accompanied by his wife, two daughters, including Charlotte, and their two sons, approached the Netherfield party; his voice booming to the far corners of the assembly hall.
“Mr. Bingley, might I introduce you to my family?”
As he brought forward his wife and children, Elizabeth spied her mother herding four of her daughters to a spot behind Sir William, a position where she would be noticed. Elizabeth slunk back into her seat, wishing she was in any other location to avoid witnessing her mother’s antics to promote her own daughters to the gentlemen. Furthermore, she detected regret on the faces of Mrs. Long and Mrs. Goulding that they might have been outmaneuvered.
As Elizabeth anticipated, both of Mr. Bingley’s sisters acknowledged the Lucas and Bennet ladies with barely a slight nod and then looked away with practiced ennui. In fact, the two were twittering behind their fans. Elizabeth’s ire grew as she saw the embarrassed blush creeping up her eldest sister’s neck at the supercilious sisters’ slight. Jane Bennet was above reproach and therefore was, in Elizabeth’s opinion, entirely undeserving of their condescension.
Elizabeth’s anger was lessened as she realised Mr. Bingley’s attention was solely for Jane. The taller man? Mr. Sublimely Appealing looked straight ahead to the opposite wall, giving a slight bow once all the individuals had been presented. Was he above the present company? Was he shy? Perhaps he is mute or he has difficulty with his tongue? A stutter, maybe? He was an interesting riddle to be puzzled out in her own mind.
Once the social niceties were concluded, Mr. Bingley led Jane to the dance floor as the colonel did the same with Charlotte. Conversation flowed between the latter couple, while the former gazed at each other with infant feelings of admiration.
Before Elizabeth could return her own gaze to the handsome gentleman, she heard her mother’s voice with a dread that made her quiver.
“Mr. Darcy, I have another daughter who is not presently dancing. I am sure you would not neglect the young ladies who are without a partner?”
Sure enough, Elizabeth realised Kitty and Lydia had been claimed for the next set and her quiet sister Mary had returned to her book on a bench in the corner. Her mother had turned and was pointing in her direction, wagging her handkerchief at her. Elizabeth was seated with three other young women who had not been claimed by a dancing partner for the current set. She felt the heat as her face flushed. Why? Oh, why does my mother have to embarrass me so? Possibly the man would not realise which of the four ladies Mrs. Bennet was attempting to draw his attention to. She could only hope.
Elizabeth glanced up at the gentleman and gratefully realised his eyes had not moved from the point he had been focused on since he had entered the room. Curious to determine what had captured his interest, she looked behind. Bare panels of wood! There was not even an unusual knot or burl in the planking to attract the eye.
Elizabeth knew in her gut that his reaction to the matriarch of the Bennet family would be telling as to the type of man he was. Therefore, when he offered her mother another bow and walked away without saying a word, Elizabeth realized he had been repulsed by her mother’s blatant attempt to coerce him to favour one of her daughters. From Elizabeth’s vantage point, it was not a flaw. Even she knew her mother’s conduct had been vulgar.
Elizabeth suspected what was coming as if she had written a script for their actions. As soon as Mr. Practically Perfect decamped, Miss Bingley followed. Where she went, her married sister followed; two shadows attempting to move in harmony with the reality.
As Elizabeth turned her attention back to the dance, she heard Charlotte’s laughter and realised the colonel was exactly as she expected him to be—pleasant company. Mr. Bingley’s grin radiated satisfaction with his partner, and Jane’s cheeks were pink with joy, not embarrassment. They made a lovely pair, all smiles and blushes. Watching them made Elizabeth smile as well.
Elizabeth had no way of knowing how the candlelight danced in her eyes as she found pleasure in the interest Mr. Bingley was showing her sister. However, Mr. Darcy noticed. To him, she was a mystery, and he wondered which family she belonged to. He appreciated that she was seated regally, as if overseeing her little kingdom. Rich golden highlights danced in her dark hair from the chandelier above, leaving her in a pool of brilliance—as if the heavens were nodding their approval.
Darcy drew in a breath, consid
ering how his attention had been caught so quickly by a country miss. Yet he assured himself he would soon discover her to be as inane and superficial as almost every other unmarried young woman he met—more concerned for his estate and his family name than himself. The company he had met so far gave credence to his thoughts.
When the dance ended, both Mr. Bingley and the colonel escorted their ladies to where Elizabeth was seated. She stood at their approach and curtsied deeply as Charlotte and Jane introduced the gentlemen.
“Miss Elizabeth, if you are available for the next set it would be an honour for me to stand up with you.” Upon closer inspection, the colonel was older than she had first presumed, or his experiences in the military had prematurely caused lines around his eyes and mouth. Elizabeth was determined to find out.
When the music started, it was a slow country dance where they would be able to converse during much of the set. Elizabeth smiled in delight at the realization.