by Zoë Burton
“She entered the back sitting room, the small one with the green furniture?”
“I know it,” Darcy nodded. “Ever since your sister arrived, Elizabeth has felt uncomfortable in the formal parlor and has settled herself in that sitting room. I suppose you do not know if she was within when Jane entered?”
“Jane never came out, so I assume she was.” Bingley’s mien, with its creased brow and uncharacteristic frown, reflected his distress and worry. “I cannot apologize enough for my sister. I knew she was unhappy with your marriage, but I had thought her more sensible than this. She assured me she had moved on! Instead, she tries to come between you and your wife; and she engaged to another, willingly and advantageously.” Bingley shook his head, his shoulders rising and falling as he blew out a great breath, laden with irritation. “Her betrothed should be here by tomorrow, I think. I sent an express to my aunt the day after Caroline arrived, urging Mr. Meade to come immediately to Netherfield to collect her, and to bring the funds for a common license. I am glad I did, because it is clear that she needs some occupation beyond gossiping with the neighbors, staring out of the window, and interfering with the happy lives of others!” Bingley shook his head in disgust as he awaited Darcy’s reply. With any luck, Darcy would remain his friend and not cast him and his sister aside. How could Caroline behave so?
“Very good.” Darcy paused, taking a deep breath as he strove to overcome the rage thundering through his veins. Despite his best efforts to school his features into a more accepting and relaxed mien, his mask of severity, the one that had sustained him through countless uncomfortable encounters over the years, was firmly in place. Darcy did not wish to lose one of his closest friends, but he could not allow a connection that would bring a woman such as Caroline Bingley into his life. Her scheming ways had the potential to jeopardize his marriage and harm his wife. As difficult as it was, Darcy knew he had to make this clear to his friend. “Bingley, you know you have my respect and my friendship. You will always be welcome at any of my homes, and I will gladly visit yours, but your sister I cannot abide. I would rather not have her near, even when I visit you. I need not add, I am sure, that an invitation for her to come to Pemberley will never be extended.”
Bingley could not fault Darcy for such a sentiment. He felt it himself—that nearly all-consuming anger that still rolled off Darcy and was evidenced in his stiff stance, Bingley held his hands up, palms out. “No need to say it. I agree wholeheartedly. I will never inflict her upon you again. Would that I had sent her back immediately upon her arrival.”
“I am sorry, my friend. Truly, I am, and I wish you free of her with all due haste.” Darcy attempted to give his friend a reassuring smile, though the effort was tight and likely not as effective as it could have been. He did not envy Bingley’s position in having to deal with a sister such as Caroline, but he was still too concerned about another possibly hurt and angry lady in a room down the hall to be able to truly sympathize with his friend’s circumstances. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must find Elizabeth and discover what damage there might have been.” Bowing, Darcy took his leave, heading immediately to the room his wife preferred.
From the moment he entered, the look on Elizabeth’s face did not bode well for him. So focused was he on his wife and her expression that his mind barely registered Jane scrambling to rise from the floor.
“Mr. Darcy.” Elizabeth’s voice was, as always, pleasant. If one did not know her better, he might think she had nothing to disturb her peace. Darcy, however, did. He knew her better than anyone, save Jane. He was well aware of the cold and biting undertone to her words.
“Elizabeth, before you rush to judgement, allow me to tell you what happened in the garden a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, please do. I should dearly love to hear it.”
Jane glanced fearfully from one to the other. She was intimately acquainted with her sister’s moods, and knew this one was not good. She could also tell from the set of her new brother’s shoulders and his thunderous frown that he was also very angry. She was beginning to regret her hasty confession to Elizabeth. What if I was wrong and he wasn’t kissing that woman on purpose? Jane’s hands twisted nervously. She began to sidle toward the door, hoping to escape before her sister and brother engaged in their first argument, but she didn’t get far.
“Stay, Jane, please. There is nothing my husband has to say to me that you cannot hear.”
Jane’s shoulders sagged as she retraced the two steps she had taken and seated herself in a chair closely enough to be seen but far enough away to avoid as much notice as possible.
Elizabeth’s attention returned to her husband, who, though he appeared displeased that she had forced Jane to stay, made no attempt to dissuade her. Her eyebrows rose, and her head tilted just a bit. Darcy took the hint.
“While I waited for you in the garden this morning, Miss Moody joined me.” Darcy did not waste words in an attempt to soften Elizabeth up. He had done nothing wrong and he intended her to know it. “I have said to you for days now that she seems to be everywhere I am.”
Elizabeth nodded and murmured her assent. Darcy had spoken in irritation every day that Netherfield’s newest guest insisted on pestering him at every turn. She felt a bit of her anger and hurt melting away.
Darcy continued, “I stood outside waiting for you. I could not have been out there for more than a few minutes, I know it, when that blasted friend of Caroline’s approached me. She began babbling about who knows what,” Darcy’s hand waved, a good indication of his impatience with the details of his story, “and the next thing I know, she has thrown herself at me. Lizzy, she clung to me like a barnacle on the bottom of a ship! I could not get her off, no matter how I tried.”
So impassioned was he in his disgust that he did not notice his wife’s lips twitch, or that his sister-in-law turned her head and coughed delicately to cover a giggle. He went on with his explanation. “I heard someone, Jane, it appears, gasp behind me. The woman, I hesitate to call her a lady, had maneuvered herself so that she was on the other side of me from the house and I could not see who approached. Once I heard it, I found my strength and threw her off me. I have been to Bingley already to inform him. I want her gone, Elizabeth. I do not know what she was thinking, but she has hurt you and used your dearest sister to do so.” Finally stopping to catch his breath, Darcy realized that he had approached his wife and stood beside her in front of the sofa she had been sitting on. Suddenly feeling the loss of strength that signaled exhaustion, he dropped down onto it, looking up at Elizabeth with a pleading expression.
Despite her amusement at Darcy’s exasperation, Elizabeth remained wary. Her heart knew that what he had said was the truth, but the thinking part of her was uncertain, not quite believing, despite his repeated assurances over the past months, that he was really so much in love with her that he would remain devoted to her forever.
“You did not kiss her?”
“I did not. She kissed me.”
“You did not like it?”
“Absolutely not!” Darcy was indignant at the thought that he might have enjoyed kissing anyone he was not married to.
“You tried to get away from her?”
“With all my strength I tried. I confess that at first, I attempted to be gentle, but I soon came to realize such was not possible, or even wise.”
“And you cast her away from you?”
“Threw her so hard she stumbled back, I did!” Darcy looked up at Elizabeth, who had remained standing while they talked. He recognized the indecision on her face. He was struck with fear that she would not believe him, his heart pounding in his chest as though he had run a great distance. “Elizabeth.” Darcy reached his hand toward hers, taking her much smaller one gently into his large palm and wrapping his fingers around it. “It is you I love, and you to whom I have publically declared my devotion. I married you, and the reasons I did so have not changed. I do not regret you; I never will. I never could. You are everything
I ever wanted and more. You know this.”
With a sigh, Elizabeth collapsed beside him on the sofa, her hand still engulfed in his. He tugged gently, and she allowed him to pull her into his arms. Both had forgotten Jane, who, seeing that they were coming to a resolution, quietly rose and tiptoed out of the room.
In the sitting room, Elizabeth leaned into Darcy’s side. She wanted to trust him, she truly did. Her head and her heart were at war; she did not know which way to turn. “You are not going to wish you had married someone else in ten years when I have given you no son?”
“No, Elizabeth, I am not. You have my heart, no matter how many sons you do or do not give me. Nothing is ever going to change that. You could grow fat and grey and I would still love you. I will never leave you. I will not betray you with another woman, either. The thought of it disgusts me. You are the woman I want, you and no other.”
“You did not kiss her?”
“You asked that already, my love. No, I did not. I was an unwilling participant.” Darcy used his fingers to gently lift her chin and turn her face toward his. “Before you ask, I did not enjoy it. She tasted bitter, not sweet like my lovely Lizzy.” Leaning over a bit, he gently brushed her lips with his. “Mmmm. So sweet.” He kissed her gently once more, before pulling back and looking deep into her eyes.
Elizabeth made a choice. Her heart knew this man would always be true to her, so she told her head to sit down and be quiet. “I believe you. I love you, Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
“I love you, as well. You are my heart.”
Elizabeth turned her body so she could snuggle in closer to him. “Then come here and kiss me.”
Ever the gentleman, Darcy honored his lady’s request. It was some time before the couple left the room.
Chapter 6
Elizabeth’s sister had some thinking to do; she loved Charles Bingley with all her heart and dearly wished for a proposal. However, his sister and her machinations must go. She had observed Miss Moody’s fawning over Darcy and was affronted for him, as well as for her sister. If Mr. Bingley was going to allow his sister to arrange his life and harm those he—and Jane—held dear, then she would have to make certain he understood his proposal would not be accepted, should he ever get around to making one. Jane decided to seek him out and try to discover which way he leaned in regards to Caroline and her friend.
While her sister and brother discussed the events in the garden, Jane knocked on the door to Bingley’s study, having asked a maid in the hallway to share his location. Hearing the occupant’s call for her to enter, she slid the door open and slipped into the room.
“Miss Bennet, are you well?” It appeared that Jane had been crying, and that alarmed him.
“I am not.” Jane looked down at her hands, clasped in front of her. This had already been a trying day and what she needed to say to this man that she loved so much was not going to be pleasant. Gathering her mental fortitude, she stiffened her spine and looked up. “Your sister’s friend, Miss Moody, has behaved in a manner unbefitting a gentlewoman. In fact, she hardly warrants the name. My dearest sister sits just down the hall, in tears, because of the actions of that woman.”
Uhoh. Bingley swallowed. The distress he felt from his earlier conversation with Darcy had only just begun to abate. With her short speech, Jane had caused his stomach to once again churn and his palms to sweat. “I am so sorry, Miss Bennet. Darcy was already here; he related the whole of it to me. I will see to it that Miss Moody is gone in the next four and twenty hours.”
“Thank you.” Jane’s serenity was becoming more and more threatened the more she spoke, but this was too serious a situation to allow herself to give in to her feelings. “I believe, sir, that your sister is somehow involved in this incident. I would have her dealt with, as well. It is better that you do it than for me to. I am aware that I am seen by outsiders as mild, unassuming, and mindless, but I can assure you that when I am in the right, I am firm in my stance, and capable of being just as vindictive as my mother, not to mention more prone to pulling hair to make my point than any of my sisters are. I believe that you feel just as strongly for me as I do for you, and I would hate for anything to jeopardize our future together.”
Bingley swallowed. Her meaning was clear. “I, as well.” Oh heavens, I have to fix this! Nothing can be allowed to come between us! Bingley’s increased heart rate and shaking hands were the visible evidence of his panic. He walked to the sideboard and poured himself a drink, thankful that the focus required to keep from spilling it helped calm him.
After a further, brief discussion, Jane once more stepped into the hallway, heading to the staircase and her rooms.
Thirty minutes later, Bingley heard another knock. This time, it was a footman, who bowed and announced a visitor.
“Mr. Albert Meade to see you, sir.” He stepped out of the way to allow a tall, thin, well-dressed gentleman to enter.
Mr. Meade bowed in greeting to Bingley, then extended his hand. “Mr. Bingley, it is good to finally meet you.”
“Indeed, it is! I am happy to see you. How were the roads?”
“In Yorkshire, they are always tricky, but once on the London road, they were better.”
Bingley nodded. “Good, good. And the weather?”
Meade smiled. “The weather was pleasant. I know that we have just met, and that you are anxious to put me at my ease, but I confess I would rather get down to business now and take the time to know you later.”
Bingley chuckled. “I do not blame you a bit. My sister is a bit slippery at times.”
“That she is.” Meade pulled a ribbon-tied packet of papers out of his pocket. “I have brought the settlement. If there is anything that requires changing, we can have an attorney rewrite it.”
Bingley took the proffered contract and untied the ribbon. He carefully read the pages through, noting that Mr. Meade had provided handsomely for Caroline, both during his lifetime and after his death. “This is a comprehensive settlement. I am pleased with it.”
“Excellent. Shall we sign it, then?”
Bingley produced a quill and ink and proceeded to sign each page. He then handed the contract and writing tools to Meade and watched that gentleman sign, as well.
“I am impressed, Mr. Bingley,” began Meade, “with the care you took in your perusal of this document.”
“Ah, that.” Bingley blushed lightly. “One of the strongest lessons I learned from my father was that all contracts should be examined in detail to avoid surprises down the road. He related a tale to me of one of his first contracts, that he had signed without reading. He lost a significant amount of money due to a clause that, had he read the entire document, he would have objected to. Even though I was to be a gentleman, he felt it important that I learn that lesson without having to experience what he did.”
“He was a wise man.”
“That he was, and shrewd. I believe that is where Caroline gets it. She was born shrewd. Though, I confess that sometimes I feel more that we could take the ‘d’ off the word to best describe her.” Bingley’s tone of voice and expression were rueful. He was thinking about his sister’s friend, Darcy’s and Jane’s words to him, and his strong suspicion that Caroline was behind the whole farce in the garden.
Meade laughed. “Yes, I have noticed that tendency myself.”
Bingley’s eyes turned toward his companion. “Tell me, Mr. Meade, why do you want to marry my sister? What drew you to her?”
“Please, we shall be brothers, call me Meade.” When Bingley had indicated his acquiescence, Meade continued, “What drew me to Caroline was, at first, her striking beauty. I was fascinated by her looks. I asked for an introduction, and from there my feelings deepened. Your sister is a witty and charming woman. She is accomplished and intelligent. She will have to give up spending every season in London, though I see no problem in going down occasionally, at least until we begin to have children.”
“Do you believe she returns your feelings?”
“That I do not know, but I believe that she will sooner or later, even if she does not right now. I did not dare risk someone else catching her eye while I tried to convince her, so I secured her as soon as I knew my own feelings.”
“I wish you well, then. Welcome to the family!” Bingley shook Meade’s hand again before settling back in his seat and apprising him of the events of the last few days.
“You believe Caroline is behind all this?”
“I do. My sister is sly. She knows not to dirty her own hands and has confessed to me that she understands Darcy is no longer available. However, she hates to be thwarted, and is not above trying to come between them and make them as unhappy as she feels.”
“I can certainly see why you want her out of your hair so quickly. I confess to some jealousy; it is not good to know the woman you love is willing to separate a former suitor from his new wife.” Mr. Meade’s grave demeanour told the tale of his discomfort with the idea. He could not like that Caroline’s focus was on any other gentleman. He held himself stiffly in his chair, fists clenched as they lie on the arms of it.
“Darcy was never her suitor except in her head. He repeatedly said he would never marry her. Caroline simply refused to see reason.”
“Perhaps we should find the local church and purchase that common license, then.”
Rising, Bingley agreed. “Let us do it now. We will need to inform my sister, sooner rather than later.”
“I agree. What if we do that as soon as we return?”
“Capital idea.”
“Do you intend to confront her about her friend?”
“I do. I think it would be best if the lady leaves right away, so as soon as we return, I will speak to her.”
With that, the gentlemen left the house.
While Bingley and his soon-to-be-brother were making their way to the local church, Caroline was speaking with Imogene. Though she was uncertain of the success of the event and was hesitant to pay for a service that might have failed, Caroline knew it would be best to get her friend out of the house and back to London as soon as possible. She gave Imogene the funds she had promised, threatened to ruin her if she exposed Caroline’s part in the scheme, and sent her on her way in Bingley’s extra carriage.
