Duty Demands

by Elaine Owen

  “It is my hope, Richard, that you will one day experience all the joys of marriage for yourself.”

  The colonel smiled, and then bowed. “If you will excuse me, I will go see if Georgiana needs assistance with the children. I will see you at dinner.”

  They both nodded and watched as the colonel went ahead of them into the house, following the same path taken by Georgiana and the younger Gardiners just before.

  “I am not entirely sure that I like this turn of events,” Darcy said, frowning slightly as they continued to walk together. “Did you have any idea of this happening, Elizabeth?”

  “I did not. This is as much a surprise to me as to you. But I think it could be a good match for both of them, despite its unlikely beginning. As I said before, love can sometimes come in the most unexpected ways.”

  Darcy’s troubled brow relaxed as he looked down at her, and he and Elizabeth, along with the Bingleys, made their way into the house together.

  That evening the three families sat together at dinner, with the Bingleys on one side of the table, the Gardiners on the other, and Darcy and Elizabeth at the head and foot. The colonel and Georgiana took the remaining seats, one on each side of the table, and together they all made a merry party. When they had finished the meal and were about to rise from the table, Bingley asked for everyone to remain seated for a moment. “I am delighted to announce,” he said proudly, keeping his eyes on Jane the whole time, “that the new year will see the arrival of the newest member of the Bingley family!”

  Jane smiled and blushed as congratulations rose all around. Elizabeth reached out and grasped her sister’s hand fondly across the table while Mrs. Gardiner smiled beatifically from her seat. Even Georgiana offered shy congratulations from her end of the table. Darcy came around the table to shake Bingley’s hand enthusiastically. “A toast!” called Mr. Gardiner, and was strongly seconded by the colonel.

  “Yes indeed, a toast!” All eyes turned expectantly to Darcy, who returned to stand behind his chair and lifted his glass, taking a moment to look around the table.

  “To our families and friends,” he said. “May those near to our hearts be ever in our homes, and may those we love continue to increase in number!” Glasses were emptied, chairs were pushed back and the ladies prepared to separate from the gentlemen. Elizabeth drew Darcy a little aside as the others left the room.

  “I would like to wait just a moment before going in, William.”

  “Are you well, dearest?” Darcy asked her. “You have seemed unusually fatigued today.”

  “The Bingleys are not the only family who will be increasing in size next year,” she told him, her eyes dancing. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you, and this seems to be it.”

  “Elizabeth!” Darcy held her by the shoulders, gazing into her eyes. “You are with child?”

  “I am indeed.”

  “When? When will the child be born?”

  “Sometime in June, probably.”

  Darcy continued to stare, his face a study in competing emotions. Elizabeth wondered what he was thinking.

  “Are you pleased, William?”

  “I am blessed beyond words. We are blessed, that we will have a child born of both duty and desire.” He pulled her close, and they sealed the moment with a kiss before going, hand in hand, to share the news with those they loved most in the world.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Elaine Owen is the pen name of a married mother of two who found her own Mr. Darcy years ago, but who never tires of reading and writing about the fictional one. She is an active member of Austen Authors (www.austenauthors.net) and also participates regularly on www.DarcyandLizzy.com. In her spare time she participates in church activities, especially those involving children with special needs, and actively pursues training in martial arts.

  Elaine’s previous works include Mr. Darcy’s Persistent Pursuit, Love’s Fool: The Taming of Lydia Bennet, One False Step, and Common Ground. All of her works are available on Amazon. Her next work, An Unexpected Turn of Events, will be released sometime in 2018.

  You can catch up with Elaine at www.elaineowenauthor.com or write to her at elaineowen@writeme.com. She also has a steady presence on her Facebook page, ElaineOwenAuthor, and on Twitter under the name OwenElaineowen1.

  Preview from An Unexpected Turn of Events, the sequel to Mr. Darcy’s Persistent Pursuit and Love’s Fool: The Taming of Lydia Bennet.

  Chapter One

  The very thing Mrs. Bennet had spent most of her adult years avoiding finally came true, but in an unexpected form. Mr. Bennet had the great good fortune of outliving his wife.

  In the end, her nerves, which had long been Mr. Bennet’s good friends, became her downfall as she succumbed to an apoplectic fit.

  None of her children were at home to see the sad event. Jane was with her Mr. Bingley at Vinings and came rushing to his side with appropriate speed, accompanied by her husband, and Elizabeth came with Darcy at the same time. Mrs. Bennet had certainly chosen a convenient time to die from their standpoint, since the Darcys had been visiting the Bingleys at the time, and so the sad announcement could be made with great expediency in their case.

  It was nearly as convenient for Kitty and her Mr. Masterson, at their small estate, Hazelton. Mary was with Kitty when the special messenger made his announcement, and for a full minute even Mary could think of no comforting platitudes to offer. They stood together in shock, and then Kitty began wailing, Mr. Masterson began directing the servants to pack at once, and Mary resumed her seat at the tea table, determined that it would be a waste to lose perfectly good scones even at a time like this. She did, however, pause for a moment to offer a private prayer for the repose of her mother’s soul. Afterward, she packed.

  Lydia, influenced by her military husband, had the most practical approach. The messenger had not long been at Godfrey House when he was dispatched back to Longbourn with a businesslike missive. Did Mr. Bennet want them to come at once? If he did, how did he plan to house his five daughters, their four husbands, the various children, and all their servants? Would it be best if they planned on taking rooms at the inn in Meryton, or did Aunt Phillips perhaps have accommodations for some of them? Had he had time yet to arrange for poor Mrs. Bennet’s services? Please reply at once, she said, so that they could make the necessary arrangements.

  No children, Mr. Bennet said by quick reply. He wanted none of the grandchildren present to aggravate his own nerves at such a time. Arrangements had already been made, and the services would be carried out as soon as all of Mrs. Bennet’s five daughters could be present. As for accommodations, he really did not care where they stayed so long as they stayed out of his way. He told them to make whatever arrangements pleased themselves. The said daughters made their way to Longbourn with all appropriate speed, accompanied by their appropriately supportive husbands, and services were carried out in due course.

  Mr. and Mrs. Collins were present at the services. Mr. Collins would lose no opportunity to comfort where comfort was not wanted or needed, and he prevailed on his newly bereaved cousin tediously, until Mrs. Fret threatened him with bodily harm if he said another word. Collins was, to be honest, slightly disappointed. It was the duty of Mr. Bennet to predecease his wife, was it not? Had history followed its divine order, Mr. Bennet would have died first, and he himself would now be in de facto possession of Longbourn. Instead it looked like he would have to keep on waiting for what should have rightfully been his already. He would return to Hunsford with ideas for multiple sermons on the vengeance of a divine being.

  Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were present, along with Mrs. Gardiner, who was now a widow herself. She comforted her nieces as best she could and was comforted by them in return. Mrs. Phillips comforted herself by looking at her well-to-do nieces and imagining the pin money they all enjoyed, wondering how generously their husbands shared their wealth.

  It was a successful funeral, if such functions can be measured as succes
sful or not. The minister spoke with touching eloquence on the life of Fanny Bennet, and afterward, her friends and relatives spoke movingly of how much they would miss her. She had been, they all said, a most devoted and attentive neighbor, eager to participate in the life of the community, concerned for the good marriages of her daughters (in which she had succeeded marvelously in four out of five cases), and a steady and loyal companion to her husband to the end. In other words, the usual kinds of falsehoods were told and accepted without question at Fanny Bennet’s funeral.

  Afterward, all the Bennet daughters and their matching husbands sat around the dining room table at Longbourn with their newly widowed father and made plans. It was not long, just a few weeks, before those plans were carried out, and a messenger of a very different sort was sent to the Collinses. Mr. Collins repaired speedily to Longbourn, gratified that divine providence had chosen to smile on him after all, though perhaps not as kindly as he had first hoped.

  Longbourn would be let to Mr. Collins, the house and surrounding properties together, for a very small fee each year. The small fee was so small that Mr. Bennet wondered why he bothered charging Collins anything at all. He certainly did not need the money. He and Mary would be well supported by his married daughters and would spend a portion of their time in each of their households by turn in the upcoming years. But it was the principle of the thing—Collins should not receive for free what could not be truly his for, hopefully, a number of years yet. Accordingly, the contract was drawn up and signed, and Mr. Collins prepared to take possession of Longbourn in just under a month’s time, which made him smile with happy anticipation. The parsonage was beginning to be a bit cramped for him, Mrs. Collins, and their three children, and even he had begun to tire of constantly dancing attendance on the ever imperious Lady Catherine. It was time for a change.

  And so Mr. Bennet stood in the graveyard at Longbourn church one dreary November day. In the distance he could see the carts and carriages hired by Mr. Collins, transporting his family’s possessions to Longbourn’s back door. He himself had left through the front door not half an hour previous, his own few possessions having preceded him only a short while before.

  He stood with hat in hand for a few minutes, contemplating the grave of one Fanny Bennet. His contemplations were not all pleasant. He had held little affection for Fanny, but he had held some, and there was a part of himself that felt he had let her down by being the one to outlive the other. It was not the natural order of things, or so he felt. He ought to have been a better husband to her when she was alive, he thought, so that she might have been a better mother to their children. He ought at least to have passed before she did, so that she could have enjoyed the life he would now have with his various children, a life she would no doubt have enjoyed more thoroughly than he would.

  But what was done was done, and could not well be undone. He said a quick prayer, replaced his hat on his head, and began to turn away from the grave that was already beginning to fill in with grass and leaves. But before he left, he placed his hand on the newly placed gravestone and caressed it briefly, remembering the first days of his marriage with Fanny. Then he strode away, mounted the stairs that had been placed before the carriage with an ornate D engraved on the side, and rode away from Longbourn forever.