by Elaine Owen
“Wickham will never have the chance to sully Pemberley with his presence,” Darcy answered. “He will be joining the navy soon.”
“The navy!”
“Yes.” Here Darcy’s features took on a smug expression. “Wickham was surprised to find that he had enlisted in the navy when he took Miss Lydia’s hand in church. Perhaps he did not read the marriage contract as well as he should have beforehand, but it is too late now. He will be unable to cause much trouble for anyone for months at a time, and he will have little ability to spend his own money or Lydia’s dowry. He may even be a better man for it, after a few years. So you see, there is no scandal and no reason to remove Georgiana from our care. The colonel is more than willing to attest to the good influence my wife has had on my sister.”
The look on Lady Catherine’s face reminded Elizabeth of a cornered deer. She slowly laid the pages of Darcy’s letter back on the table and paused for a moment before speaking with obvious reluctance. “I suppose, in the end, that Miss Bennet is the daughter of a gentleman.”
“I am indeed,” Elizabeth answered, raising her chin proudly. “My connections are not as illustrious as your own, but they have served me well enough up to now.”
“And as to fortune—well, we need say nothing of it. The de Bourghs have never concerned themselves with such petty matters. I will never stoop to greed and vulgarity!”
“I am sure that you will not,” Darcy said shortly. His aunt ignored him.
“And it is gratifying to hear that the Bennet family is more respectable than I had been led to believe. I was sure that they must be, after meeting Miss Elizabeth in the spring and judging her for myself. Such a sensible young woman could only have come from a fine, sensible family.”
Elizabeth had a sudden spasm in her throat that caused her to cough into her handkerchief for a moment. “You are all kindness, your ladyship.”
Lady Catherine made an impatient motion with her hands, preparing to stand. “This unfortunate business has, I am afraid, taken me away from Anne far too long. I ought to return to her at once.”
“Would you like some tea before you go?” Elizabeth interjected quickly, a false brightness in her voice. “Our selection here is nearly as extensive as that of Rosings, I believe.”
Lady Catherine rose to her feet and looked at Elizabeth with ill-concealed irritation. “No. If that is all the business we need to conduct today, I will take my leave. It is a long ride back to town.”
“We will wish you a pleasant journey, then,” Elizabeth answered, with as much politeness as she could summon.
Her ladyship had already gained the door, but she turned to look back at Darcy one last time. “Do we have an understanding?”
He met her gaze evenly. “We understand each other exceedingly well.” Their eyes locked, and Lady Catherine looked away first.
“Good day to you, nephew,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “Good day to you too—Mrs. Darcy.” With impressive dignity she left the room, the sound of her cane echoing through the halls as she went.
Elizabeth waited until she was out of earshot before beginning to laugh. “I am not sure if I have been welcomed to the family or roundly insulted!”
“That was the warmest welcome you are ever likely to receive from my aunt,” Darcy responded. “She will not dare to insult you again after today.”
“I thank you for defending my honor so ably. It was almost worth being insulted to see the look of shock on her face when you said she was never married to Sir Lewis!”
“I do not foresee that Lady Catherine will ever visit Pemberley again.” Darcy sounded regretful, not angry, and a shadow passed over his face.
Elizabeth immediately sobered. “Would you really wish her to do so?”
“I wish this matter had ended in a much different manner.” Darcy frowned and stood, turning his back to her in order to stare out the window, his arms crossed around his chest.
Even a relative as difficult as Lady Catherine might be painful to lose, Elizabeth thought. Perhaps she should not have teased him about it. “I will see you at dinner,” she said to his back but received no response, and she left the room in silence.
After dinner Darcy came to where Elizabeth was sitting in the parlor, sewing and listening to Georgiana sing while she accompanied herself on the pianoforte. He leaned down to speak for her ears only. “Will you come into the garden with me? There is something I would like to show you.”
“Gladly.” Elizabeth put down her sewing and went with her husband at once.
Outside, they strolled together in silence in the darkness, with Elizabeth’s arm tucked securely into his, but despite their proximity Elizabeth felt as though she were walking alone. “I thought you had something you wanted to show me, William?” she finally asked.
“We may have to wait a few minutes. I beg for your indulgence.” He lapsed into silence once again, and Elizabeth decided she had to speak.
“William, may I ask you a question?” she asked, using her gentlest voice.
“Of course,” he said in surprise. “I am at your service.”
“Are you angry with me for some reason?”
“Angry? Why should I be angry?” He sounded even more surprised now, and he stopped walking in order to face her fully.
“You have hardly spoken to me since the moment Lady Catherine left the premises. I thought perhaps you were upset with me for being cause of a rift between the two of you.”
“My dearest, loveliest Elizabeth,” Darcy said in a tone of regret. “I apologize for behaving in a way that allowed you to think such a thing. I am not angry with you at all.”
“Then what—?”
“I am angry with myself.”
“Why?”
“I thought that I could make my aunt accept you fully, that she would come to see the error of her ways without having to use such a brutal tactic as blackmail. It is not how I would have chosen to resolve the situation.”
“Oh. I misunderstood you then. I thought you were counting the cost of a permanent break with your aunt and thinking that it was too much to pay in order to defend me and my family.”
“Never fear that I will think that. There is no price too great to pay in order to be with you.” He bent toward her, and Elizabeth closed her eyes and lifted her face, savoring the moment. But he stopped after just a brief caress of his lips against hers. “Keep your eyes shut,” he murmured. “Turn around.” She felt his hands on her shoulders, gently pushing her to turn and face away from him. “Now you may open them.”
In front of her, shooting across the sky, was a series of falling stars, their brilliance illuminating the night sky. Elizabeth gasped. “You remembered!”
“Indeed I did. And I remember that you never told me what your wish was.”
“Do you truly want to know?”
“Of course.”
“They say,” she responded, looking at him in her half-serious, half-playful way, “that if you tell someone your wish it will never come true. But that is a chance I am willing to take.”
Darcy watched her, waiting, admiring. She rose on her tiptoes to put her arms around his neck and whisper in his ear, “My wish was to be married for love.”
“You are my wish,” he whispered back, and they kissed each other under the light of the falling stars.
EPILOGUE
It was Christmastime at Pemberley, just four months later, and Jane and Elizabeth were laughing together at their husbands’ antics outdoors. What had started as a lively walk along the snowy, cleared path in front of the house had turned into a bit of friendly banter between the two men, and then an outright challenge. Now the two of them were a safe distance ahead of the ladies, each good-naturedly taking refuge behind a separate pile of snow as the frozen missiles crossed the area between them.
“Hello there! What’s this?” Bingley’s voice rose abruptly above the general sound of laughter. “Where did that come from?”
“Attack!” Colonel Fitzwillia
m’s figure was seen rising up suddenly, dashing madly by as he hurled snowballs in the direction of both Bingley and Darcy. His military charge was so lifelike that Elizabeth half expected to see him brandishing a sword over his head. Behind him came four smaller figures, the Gardiner children, dashing headlong after their leader. Georgiana, who had been their constant attendant for the past week, followed some distance behind them, making no effort to restrain their high spirits. Snowballs flew madly in every direction. For a moment the skirmish became a general melee as Jane and Elizabeth kept their distance, delighting in the disorder.
“I never thought to see your Mr. Darcy so informal!” Jane said, her voice filled with wonder.
“But you expected to see your husband so?” Elizabeth teased. “One is hardly less astonishing than the other!”
“Charles is so easygoing that this behavior does not terribly surprise me. But Mr. Darcy!” Jane let the thought go unfinished.
“I admit to being a little startled,” Elizabeth rejoined, still laughing, “but as I have come to know, William is not always as reserved in private as he is in public.”
“You have been good for him,” Jane said with a gentle smile, and Elizabeth’s heart swelled. It was still a matter of wonder to her that she and Darcy had managed to come together at last, despite all the obstacles in their way, and be truly united as husband and wife.
“Mr. Darcy might have hesitated to invite our aunt and uncle to Pemberley before this,” her sister went on, which Elizabeth could not deny, “but I believe there must have been a goodness and kindness in him all along which your own nature encouraged him to demonstrate more freely.”
“He is the best man that I know,” Elizabeth agreed heartily. “In the essentials, he always was.”
A fresh snowball went perilously close past their heads just then, flying toward the house, and they turned to watch it as it fell harmlessly against one of the windows. Elizabeth caught sight of her aunt and uncle Gardiner inside the house, watching in amusement, and they smiled at each other fondly through the glass. A strong, familiar bond had grown between the Gardiners and Darcy, a friendship she would never have dreamed possible at the time she married her husband. To have them here at Pemberley along with her beloved sister and her husband made her happiness almost complete.
Darcy now came toward Elizabeth and Jane, trying ineffectually to brush the snow off the shoulders of his heavy greatcoat as he walked. “Young master Gardiner has a good arm,” he said as he rejoined Elizabeth, chuckling. “If he is not careful he may prove to be Colonel Fitzwilliam’s next unwilling recruit. He will need someone to take Wickham’s place.”
Wickham had not lasted long in the navy. He had deserted his ship at its first port of call, in the West Indies, and nobody had heard from him since. Lydia mourned his disappearance for a little while, but by the time the family saw his name and description appear on the desertion posters she was already beginning a dalliance with another officer. Darcy had to inform her bluntly that the money from her dowry, recently invested in a trust, would never be given to her unless she dropped the flirtation. Lydia had obeyed, but only sullenly and with many protests against her ill usage.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam may regret recruiting my cousins to his cause before long,” Elizabeth now commented, watching the continued frolicking. “My cousins are very energetic.” Even as she spoke, one of the Gardiner children aimed a snowball directly at the colonel’s head. He fired back good-naturedly, and soon he and Bingley had joined forces to vanquish the small army of attackers. The children retreated, shrieking.
Georgiana, meanwhile, had come to stand out of the line of fire with Elizabeth and her brother.
“I have not been so diverted in years!” she stated, her eyes glowing. “I had forgotten how entertaining children can be!”
“You might come to a different opinion soon,” Darcy warned her, putting out an arm to shield her as another snowball sailed by. It struck Jane instead, landing on the side of her hood, just where the edge of it met her face. Jane stood stupefied for a moment, the snow clinging to her hood and face, then she began to smile. Bingley was at her side in an instant.
“I am sorry, my love; we should not have encouraged the children in such liberties. Allow me to help clean you off.”
“You needn’t,” Jane began, but Bingley was already brushing the snow off her cheek and out of her eye. His hand lingered under her chin while he gazed at her, his expression tender.
“Is that better?”
“Much better, thank you.” Neither moved as they stood looking at each other, and Elizabeth turned hastily away, her eyes sparkling in amusement at Darcy as she did so.
Georgiana, too, noticed the intimate moment. Embarrassed, she moved away and called to the children, admonishing them to have more care in the future. “And you have been outside long enough,” she added. “It is time to go inside and warm up before supper. Go to the side door, please, so that Mrs. Reynolds can clean you off first.” With encouraging words, sweetness, and a surprising amount of firmness, she cajoled them into following her commands and then followed their footsteps into the house, leaving the two couples and Colonel Fitzwilliam together.
Elizabeth took her husband’s arm as they turned back to the house, the colonel walking on her other side so that they formed a comfortable trio. Bingley and Jane trailed a little behind.
“Without a doubt, Georgiana has found her element,” Elizabeth commented as they walked along, pleased at the development. “Who would have known she would have such a natural talent with young children? They are just what she needed in order to boost her own self-assurance. She will be a splendid mother one day.”
“Not any time soon, I hope,” said Darcy, good-naturedly. “I am not in a hurry to lose my sister.”
“You must be mad, Darcy,” the colonel answered, walking with his usual tall, proud, military stride. “You know that Georgiana will receive offers of marriage as soon as she comes out next year. There is no way you can hold on to her forever.”
“No, but I doubt she will be inclined to accept the first offer that comes her way. She is still very young.”
“Even if that first offer comes from me?” The colonel spoke so offhandedly that Elizabeth missed the significance of what he said at first. Darcy, however, did not. He stopped stock-still to stare at his cousin.
“Richard! What do you mean?”
“I realize I may not be what she wants. Twelve years older than she is, a second son, not blessed with a great fortune. But if I have your permission, I would like to court her after she comes out.”
Elizabeth glanced at her husband and saw that he was struggling with the idea. Why had such a possibility not crossed her mind? Elizabeth silently admonished herself. It was only natural, now that the idea had been suggested to her.
“I will resign my commission if she accepts me,” the colonel went on, “and be more than content to stay at home. I find that I quite like the idea of being a family man—but only if Georgiana will be a part of that family. And not,” he added, with a touch of humor, “in the manner of a cousin.” Despite his lighthearted manner, Elizabeth could see the tension in his tightly held fists and in the guarded yet hopeful look he directed at her husband.
“How long have you felt this way, Richard?” Darcy asked after a moment, astonishment on his face. “What made you begin to see her as a woman, and not as the young girl you have always helped to protect?”
“It was seeing her this past summer, after you were married, that made me first think of it,” the colonel answered. “Around Mrs. Darcy she was completely different from the shy, awkward girl I knew before. Now, after seeing you and your wife so content together, I find I want the same thing that you have. Besides,” he finished with a twinkle in his eye, “I should take myself out of the running, before Lady Catherine insists on me as a match for Anne!”
Lady Catherine had begun to search for a husband for Anne soon after returning to Rosings, but no likel
y suitor had made his address. Neither Darcy nor Elizabeth was surprised to think that she might look to the colonel to fill the role. They were, however, surprised that the colonel’s interest had turned in this direction.
“What do you say, Darcy?” the colonel asked. “Will you allow me to approach Georgiana and say my piece, when the time is right?”
Darcy’s face wore the expression that Elizabeth had come to know meant he was grappling with a difficult decision. “Georgiana is so young,” he finally said. “And she is already predisposed to look to you as her guardian. If you approach her the wrong way, she may agree for the wrong reasons. Believe me, you do not want that.” He and Elizabeth exchanged a meaningful look.
Elizabeth laid her free hand on top of Darcy’s, recalling the expression on Georgiana’s face when the colonel had appeared on the path outside Pemberley and the unusual high spirits she had shown in his presence. “Let us not be too hasty to make a decision. Love can sometimes be found in the most unexpected ways.”
Darcy looked at her questioningly. “Do you think so, Elizabeth? Is it your opinion that we should allow my cousin to court my sister?”
“I think she should be told of his interest in her, when the time is right. She should have all the information she needs in order to make an informed decision, and then she can decide for herself.”
“Very well.” Darcy pressed her hand as it lay in his. “Richard, if your feelings are in a year what they are now, I will allow you to speak to Georgiana. But she ought to have her season first. Allow her to be exposed to all that society has to offer. After that, if your affections are unchanged, you may make your case to her.”
“My affections will not change. They have already withstood several months’ suspense.”
“Then a year should not pose a problem.” Darcy’s voice was firm but courteous, and the colonel nodded reluctantly.
“I will wait, then, for her to have her season. Thank you for hearing me out. I had not expected such a favorable response to such an unexpected question, but it is clear that marriage has changed you, Darcy.”