And then she was standing just before him and he was reaching out to take her hand from Ed. He ran his thumb gently over her skin, but he refused to break eye contact. Elizabeth’s cheeks began to flush pink as he stared tenderly at her.
She patted the lapels on his morning coat and smiled up at him. “You’re promising to love me forever,” she whispered.
He smiled and said playfully, “Only if you let me lead.”
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. “In your dreams,” she replied.
He laughed softly. “Oh, you will be.”
Someone cleared his throat rather noisily and they turned to face the pastor.
“Dearly beloved,” he began.
Elizabeth Madison Bennet, niece of Edward and Madeline Gardiner of Montclair, New Jersey, and Fitzwilliam Louis Darcy, son of the late George and Anne Darcy of New York City, New York, were married last week in a private ceremony at the couple’s home in Central Park West. The bride is a United States Marine Corps veteran and graduate of Penn State University where she earned an MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. The groom attended Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude, later earning an MBA and the prestigious Dean's Award from the same institution.
The former Ms. Bennet is the recipient of both Belgium’s Order of the Crown and a United States Civilian Service Medal, an award given by the Secretary of Defense. She currently works for Witness, a non-profit agency that produces crime-fighting software for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, and volunteers with New York City’s Computers for Youth.
Mr. Darcy is the co-owner of Darcy Acquisitions and majority owner/CEO of FORGE. He volunteers with SCORE and the Boys and Girls Club, as well as sitting on the boards of the Darcy Foundation, The Children’s Aid Society, and the Central Park Conservancy.
After a honeymoon to an undisclosed location, the couple plan to make their home in New York City.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Three years later
“Burgers are up!” Ed Gardiner called from the grill, wielding his spatula skillfully. “Who’s hungry?”
“I’m waiting for steak,” Todd announced, rubbing his stomach and licking his lips.
“You’ll be waiting a long time,” his father replied, tossing two burgers on a plate and handing it to him. “It’s burgers or nothing, kid.”
Elizabeth glanced over at Todd and pulled a face.
“Burgers,” Todd agreed, shoulders slumping, and walked away to the picnic tables where the rest of the food was set out.
“Load me up, Dad,” Jason piped up from beside him, holding out his plate.
Ed served the rest of the kids and then tossed on the steaks Elizabeth had brought with her.
“We could have brought steak for everyone,” Elizabeth told her uncle in a low voice. “You know Will doesn’t mind.”
“The kids don’t need it, and they certainly shouldn’t get used to it,” Ed replied. “They can eat steak when they can buy it themselves.” He flipped another burger. “The boys are growing like weeds, and it’s already a struggle to keep their bellies full. It’s a good thing people need working toilets.”
Aunt Maddy strolled over, a baby on her hip and another small child clutching her skirt. “Hey, sweetheart,” she smiled.
“Andrew,” Uncle Ed said seriously, “are you taking care of your mother?” The two-year-old gazed up at his father, his fuzzy blond hair sticking out at crazy angles from his head and nodded wordlessly. “Good man,” Ed told him.
Elizabeth smiled. Andrew had been a surprise, and Aunt Maddy had declared he was really, truly the last Gardiner child. She reached out for the child her aunt was carrying, but her sisters interrupted her.
Lydia cried out a hello and asked Andrew if he wanted to play. Kit grabbed the smaller child from Aunt Maddy and rushed away. Moira was lying on her stomach in the grass while Sarah braided her hair. They were talking about . . . well, Elizabeth wasn’t sure she’d understand even if they told her. Mary was standing on the deck, arguing some arcane point of law with her fiancé. The young man leaned in to brush a quick kiss on Mary’s lips and Elizabeth smiled.
“No,” Mary was saying, “I’m too busy to fly out to see him this summer. He’s going to come see me for a weekend.”
Elizabeth thought Mary’s biological father had done well with her. He hadn’t asked for anything she wasn’t willing to allow, and Mary was good at setting limits with which she was comfortable. It amounted to a few visits a year and a lot of emailing and texts, but she was sure Mary was richer for the relationship. Kit and Lydia had not tried to discover whether Mr. Goulding was their father, and so far, they both seemed content with that decision.
There was a commotion near the back gate on the other side of the yard, and the rest of the crowd tumbled in, Charlotte pirouetting ahead of them all while holding a soccer ball over her head, Charles Bingley shaking his head at her, Richard and Oscar arguing about a play, Richard holding Jane’s hand, Will bringing up the rear and striding directly for the swings. Terry Fitzwilliam stepped through the back door from the house, casually dressed in slacks and a maroon polo shirt. Uncle Ed caught Aunt Maddy’s eye from across the yard and motioned ambiguously to the dogs and then to the senator’s footwear. Aunt Maddy nodded.
Elizabeth greeted the conquering heroes. “Good game?” she asked, deadpan.
“Spectacular!” Charlotte crooned. “We practically have enough to field our own team now. We just need a few more women.” She stared pointedly at Jane.
“No.” Jane said flatly. “I would rather jump out of a plane. You people are out of control.”
“Chicken,” Charlotte teased.
Jane stared back. “Yes.” She planted her feet and placed her hands on her hips. “I’m finally going on the trip that should have been our honeymoon, and I’m not getting injured before I go.” She lifted an eyebrow at Richard. “And neither are you.”
Richard chatted with his father and brother. They were hardly ever out of the office these days. His father, two years into his final term, had many projects he hoped to finish before he retired. Even with their long working hours, Richard knew they wouldn’t complete everything. Four years in government time just wouldn’t be enough.
Oscar said he was looking ahead with pleasure to the time when their father was no longer the sitting senator from New York, when he could also sit back and make some decisions of his own. Richard suspected that Barker’s scheme to implicate Georgiana had affected Oscar more deeply than he let on, and the laws his brother had broken to get the man implicated and then convicted made it impossible for him to run for office, even had he wanted that life.
Oscar clapped him on the shoulder. “How’s married life, brother?” he asked, and Ricard detected a bit of envy.
“Not bad,” Richard replied. “You should give it a try.”
“Maybe when we’re out of office,” Oscar said wistfully. “Now that I’ve seen what you and Will have, I don’t want to settle for anything less.”
“Atta boy, Oscar,” Richard said with a grin. “I knew you had it in you.” He glanced over at his father and grinned at his older brother. “Do you think he’ll ever get Senator Everest to go out with him?”
Elizabeth grinned impishly at Jane, a very upstanding, responsible member of the community, who was currently sticking her tongue out at her younger sister. Will seemed unsurprised at the exchange as he approached carrying their dark-haired baby girl in his arms, her head buried against his shoulder. She reached up to kiss the girl on her nose.
“Did you have fun with your cousins, Madeline Anne Catherine Darcy?” she crooned.
The girl held out her arms, and Elizabeth took her. Will shook his head. “She never wants me to hold her anymore,” he said unhappily. “I must be doing something wrong.”
Elizabeth kissed the girl’s forehead. Warm. “She’s teething, Will, that’s why she wants me. When she wants to do fun things, it’s always you. Trust me, you’ve got the better end of
the stick here.” She nuzzled her daughter’s ear and grimaced a bit when Madeline began to gnaw on her shoulder. “That’s it, use me like a chew toy.” She sighed.
Will kissed her and went to grab a teething ring from the baby bag inside.
Charles waved to Lydia. “Are you ready for Monday?” he called.
“Yes!” she yelled across the yard at top volume. “I can’t wait!”
He laughed and scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not sure I know what I’ve gotten myself into,” he told Elizabeth as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other while patting Madeline’s back. “We’ve never had an intern before.”
“Well, you must be doing a lot of business to have one now,” she replied, and Charles’s grin grew. Charles had started his business even before he finished school, and though he’d struggled at first even with FORGE’s endorsement, the past year had been highly successful. “Lydia’s probably the most prepared intern you’ll ever meet, Charles,” Elizabeth reassured him. “You’ll have more trouble getting her to wait in line for the water fountain than you will getting great media campaign ideas from her.”
“Actually,” Charles said, straight-faced. “I find her rather shy and retiring.”
“I know you’re not talking about me,” Charlotte said, joining them. “How’s business at Bingley Boys, Inc.?”
“It’s Pied Piper Marketing, as well you know,” Charles said with long-suffering shake of his head. “We’re doing well, thanks. How’s the gallery going?”
Madeline’s four upper teeth sank into Elizabeth’s arm. “Ow!” she exclaimed, just as Will returned and handed Madeline the teething ring. “Sharp teeth, little one.” Madeline grasped it in her little fingers and Will guided it into her mouth. “Want to take her now, Dad?”
Will shook his head. “No, I think she’s happy where she is,” he told her teasingly.
Madeline happily turned her attention to the ring, and Elizabeth relaxed. “I have to thank Georgiana—these rings are amazing. How did she find them?”
“Professional shopper?” Charlotte suggested. She looked at each thoughtful face. “Hey, I was joking.”
“I think G should be a personal shopper,” Elizabeth grinned. “Beats law school, right Mary?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Mary replied drily. “Totally different areas of law.” She led her fiancé down the steps into the yard. “She’s considering going into human rights law.”
“Is she?” Elizabeth asked. “Oh,” she said, realizing something, “that’s why she called Will for Laura Annesley’s number. I thought she was getting a recommendation for a class assignment.”
“She was,” Mary replied, “but she had a personal interest, she said. She liked the lawyer Laura sent her to, and it kind of grew from there. She called to ask me how I liked law school, and I told her I love it.” She took Doug’s hand.
Will’s eyes darkened, and Elizabeth gave him a nudge with her hip.
“What?” he asked, annoyed.
She laughed softly. “You are in so much trouble when Madeline starts dating.”
Will shook his head. “That’s never happening.”
“Dream on, Bruce Wayne,” Charlotte hooted. “You’re in big, big trouble.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “I promise, Will, I did not say anything to Charlotte about Batman.”
Charlotte laughed. “No, you didn’t need to. Oscar has the entire storybook on Will and Richard.”
“Oh,” Charles said abruptly, “I meant to tell you I really liked your gallery preview, Charlotte. Did you and Oscar sign the deal?”
“We did!” She crowed. “I can’t wait for the very public grand opening. Oscar,” she called, “Charles says congratulations on a very wise investment!”
Oscar raised his hand in acknowledgement and resumed speaking with his father and brother.
“A man of few words,” Elizabeth noted wryly. “Oh,” she said, grimacing and handing Madeline to Will, “I smell your cue.” She’d gotten a full whiff of the diaper, and it made her a little ill.
He grabbed Madeline. “The fun stuff, huh?”
“Oh, this is totally the fun stuff,” she concurred smoothly. “The not-fun stuff is when I’ve got her changed into a nice dress, both of us out the door, and then she has a blow-out poop in the elevator five seconds after the doors close. The nasty-look count from the neighbors is getting really high.” She shook her head in mock despair. “We are not popular in the building right now.” She tipped her head to address her husband. “You’re free to come help me with that the next time it happens.”
Holding Madeline away from his body, Will leaned over to his wife and challenged her calmly. “I’ll be home a lot more soon, and you won’t be able to pretend you have it so much worse than I do.” His words might have annoyed her had he not given her a blinding smile at the end. She knew he was looking forward to it. She was too; she just hoped he wasn’t sorry when he realized what he was in for. Will walked back into the house a second time to find the diapers.
“You know, you should just keep the baby’s bag out here,” Charlotte said, amused.
“But it’s so much more fun making him run back and forth,” Elizabeth joked. She stretched her arms above her head. “Truthfully, Will sleeps so deeply even a train couldn’t wake him. I’m always on night duty. Normally that would be okay, but then I’m up all day with her, too. It’s tough to gather enough brain cells to work even part-time, forget about knowing where the baby’s bag is located.”
“Why aren’t you using a nanny?” Charles asked.
Elizabeth frowned. “Will keeps telling me to hire someone, and we do have a babysitter. I guess I cause my own issues. I just don’t want to miss out on anything.” She glanced over at her cousins, her gaze landing on Andrew. “It all goes so fast.” She excused herself and walked up behind Jane, tossing her arms around her sister’s waist.
Richard tossed his turf shoes next to the steps and began to peel off his socks. “Oh,” Elizabeth groaned, holding her nose. “I think Madeline’s diaper smelled better than that.”
“You know, Jane,” he said, ignoring Elizabeth to address his wife, “we could extend the trip to a month. I’m sure Will won’t mind putting off his early retirement.”
“He’s not retiring,” Elizabeth said, feeling very put-upon. “You know that.”
“You and your ideas,” Jane said, rolling her eyes. “You wanted me to fly to Vegas on a red-eye, Major Worst Wedding Idea Ever,” Jane huffed. “You are officially out of the Big Idea business.”
“It was a romantic gesture,” Richard protested, “and more importantly, we’d have been married ten months earlier.”
“Oh, that reminds me. Mary!” called Kit, who had walked up behind them. “Now that I’m home for the summer, we need to finish the fitting. Can you schedule me in next week?” She turned to them and confided, “This was a much bigger job than Lizzy’s gown, but I used it for one of my final projects this spring. The train was a nightmare.”
“Okay, adult shift!” Uncle Ed called as the last of the kids left the table. Jason, Todd, and Moira tossed all the garbage from the meal into a green plastic trash bag Sarah was holding while Andrew tottered around behind his brothers. Will came back outside without little Madeline, and Elizabeth offered him the smile of a loving mother relieved to be able to eat an unhurried meal with her husband.
“You got her to sleep?” she asked hopefully. “This is her normal time, but usually with all the kids around . . .”
“Hey,” he said with a grin, “Dad’s got skills.” He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked to the table.
“How’s your family Charles?” Aunt Maddy asked as she handed a stack of paper plates down the table.
“Good,” he replied. “Louisa’s officially taken over the CEO’s position at my father’s company.” He paused, and his face lit up. “You probably haven’t heard about Caroline,” he grinned.
Everyone murmured things in the nega
tive or shook their heads.
“She’s getting married!” he laughed. “Poor bugger.”
Lydia snorted, and Kit poked her in the ribs with an elbow. “That’s your boss, Lydia,” she hissed.
“Total shocker,” Charles was saying, “She finally told my father where to . . . um . . .” He began again. “My father has always said Caroline is only as good as the man she marries, and she finally told him off. She moved to London and within six months, some bigwig at Turner/Duckworth Designs proposed.”
“Does she love him?” Lydia asked.
“Oh, I’m sure she does,” Charles assured her, “but then, she would never have allowed herself to fall in love with anyone poor.”
There was a ripple of quiet laughter. “The best thing, though,” Charles finished, fork pointing up in the air for emphasis, “is that she’ll be in England. Permanently.”
Lydia tossed her arms up in the air. “Yes!” she squealed. Mary shook her head and Kit glared at her.
“Lydia,” Aunt Maddy said firmly, and Lydia dropped her arms.
Charles turned to Will. “So you’re finally stepping down, I hear,” he said. “When does that start?”
“Stepping back,” Will corrected him, “not down. The company’s gotten so large, I need to work on strategic planning without having to manage the day-to-day at the office. I want to spend more time at the Foundation, too.” Elizabeth watched him smile gently, the way he did when he thought of his family. “And I want to be home more.”
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