Pemberley Mistletoe

by Bray, Ayr

  Elizabeth vowed to herself that if the occasion arose, she would take the opportunity to offer her mother praise and perhaps ask a few tips, this time with the purpose of listening to her answers instead of assuming the woman had nothing to teach her.

  As Elizabeth entered the breakfast parlour, she was amazed at the assembly before her. Most of the family were already awake and present, including Kitty, who until recently was inclined to sleep as late as her mother would allow. The families were learning to tolerate one another, if not actually enjoying one another’s company. Almost two full days had passed without a catastrophe, and Elizabeth was beginning to relax.

  Elizabeth had not been the only one expecting Lady Catherine’s arrival for the past four days, but still the lady had not arrived. Lady Matlock had just mentioned to her husband that they must be in the clear when Mrs. Reynolds entered the room and bent down next to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy to impart her message.

  “Mr. Darcy, sir, I have just been informed another carriage from Rosings Park is coming up the drive. The arrival is imminent.”

  Looking towards Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam responded, “Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. We will be right there.”

  The couple stood without another word, telling looks passing between them. As they reached the hallway, Fitzwilliam offered his arm to his wife and said, “I know we do not want her here, but apparently you were right; she is come. I guess it should not be a surprise that she is here. The surprise is that it took her so long.”

  “No, it is not a surprise, but no matter how expected she is, it does not change the fact that in five minutes I will wish she had not come.”

  “Five minutes!” Fitzwilliam chuckled. “You are gracious. I wish her gone already.”

  Taking a deep, calming breath, Fitzwilliam indicated that the butler should open the door. His timing was impeccable, for a raving Lady Catherine de Bourgh came storming in. “Where is she? Where is my daughter, Anne? I know she must be here.”

  “Hello, Aunt Catherine. How wonderful it is that you have come to Pemberley to join us for Christmas,” said Fitzwilliam.

  “I have done no such thing. I planned never to step foot in this house with her as mistress.” Lady Catherine pointed her walking stick at Elizabeth as she spit the word out. Then she continued her onslaught. “Now, where is my daughter?”

  “Aunt, if you will kindly refrain from yelling, and from slighting my wife, I would greatly appreciate it.” Fitzwilliam’s voice was calm and assertive, though it did little to alleviate Lady Catherine’s ire.

  “I will do no such thing. I have been brought here against my will and my better judgment.”

  “I assure you, Aunt, no one has brought you here against your will. Why, you came of your own accord.”

  “I most certainly did not. I am here only because I have learnt Anne is here. Now, where is she? I must speak to her immediately.”

  “Ah, I wondered what the ruckus was,” exclaimed Lord Matlock as he entered the foyer with Lady Matlock on his arm.

  Lady Catherine turned on her brother. “James, what have you done with Anne?”

  “Merry Christmas to you, too, sister. I hope you had a pleasant journey?” His manner was stoic and unwavering, which irritated Lady Catherine even more.

  “I most certainly did not. You know how I hate to leave Rosings Park, especially in the winter. Nothing but the most urgent business would call me away.”

  “What did you find so grave as to bring you this far north at this time of year? Of all times to travel, I would have thought you would have avoided December.”

  “Do not take that insolent tone with me, James. As you well know, Anne is my urgent business.”

  “Ah, yes, Anne. And how is my sweet niece faring? I hope she is well.”

  “Do not patronize me. Bring her to me at once!” Lady Catherine was yelling, her voice echoing throughout the manor.

  “Lower your voice at once,” shouted a clear voice from the top of the stairs. “For heaven’s sake, Mother, are you trying to raise the dead?” Anne used a commanding tone none of them had ever heard from her before. Richard was standing at her side, marveling at how each moment she amazed him more and more.

  Anne descended the stairs towards her mother with the poise and grace of a sophisticated woman in charge of her own destiny. Her newfound and acknowledged love with Richard had given her the confidence she had lacked for years.

  Lady Catherine briskly walked towards her. When they met in the middle of the foyer, Lady Catherine raised her hand and slapped her daughter across the cheek. Richard’s reflexes were sharp, and he caught her arm, but not before tears sprang to Anne’s eyes. She did not make a sound; instead, she walked past her mother to the front door and addressed the butler. “Please send word to the stables that I would like my carriage ready in an hour.”

  The entire party stood stunned. No one said a word; they just watched, unable to move. Richard released Lady Catherine’s arm, unsure if he should restrain her longer. He stood at the ready to go to Anne’s defense again should he need to. Already he felt like taking his aunt to task over her treatment of Anne, but he restrained himself for Anne’s sake. She clearly had a plan, and he did not intend to interfere in it.

  Turning to Elizabeth, Anne embraced her and said aloud, “Elizabeth, dearest cousin, thank you for hosting me, but I fear I must leave. I do hope you understand and will not refuse me a future invitation on account of my sudden and hasty departure.”

  Elizabeth returned her embrace and replied, “How could I? You have been such a delightful guest; a room will always be yours, should you ever desire it.”

  Anne turned to the Matlocks. “Aunt, Uncle, it was a pleasure to see you again. I hope our paths will meet again soon.”

  Richard’s mind was racing. Did she actually intend to leave Pemberley, or was this a bluff? What would he do if she departed? The questions swirled in his mind, then a moment later he answered them without reservation. He would go with her.

  Anne then turned to Richard, who stood in the doorway of the drawing room, under the mistletoe. Right there, in front of the assembled party, she arched up on her tip-toes and kissed him full on the mouth. He was shocked at first, but then returned her kiss, resting his hands on her hips.

  “Stop that this instant! I will not allow you to ruin your reputation and your prospects with such wanton behavior!” bellowed Lady Catherine.

  While the kiss infuriated Lady Catherine, it gave Lady Matlock pause; it was obvious the two had shared a kiss before. Her son looked slightly embarrassed but extremely pleased with himself.

  Elizabeth shared an I told you so look with Fitzwilliam in regards to their earlier musings about the two.

  Lady Matlock stepped into the fray and addressed the entire party. “Let us take a few minutes to get to the bottom of this. Catherine, in the future you will keep your hands to yourself. I had better not catch you striking Anne again, or I will strike you. Am I understood?” Lady Catherine began to object, but Lady Matlock raised her hand to stop her. “Anne, it is too late to begin a journey. I insist you stay at least until tomorrow. I know you do not want to see your mother, and we will all respect your wishes and not force you into company with her, if that is your decision.” Anne also began to respond, but Lady Matlock silenced her as well. “Finally, once we get this whole business sorted out,” she waved her hand between Lady Catherine and Anne, “we will hear what you two have to say for yourselves.” She pointed to Anne and Richard. They would have felt guilty had they not noticed the small smile that graced her lips, but her narrowed eyes meant business and everyone knew not to trifle with her when she had that look about her.

  Anne nodded at her aunt immediately, but Lady Catherine stood glaring at her for a full minute. Before she responded to her sister-in-law, she scolded Anne again. “If you leave this manor without my permission, you will be disowned and lose Rosings Park forever. I will not be made a fool running all over the country chasing after an ungrateful daughter.�
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  “Let me be rightly understood, Mother.” Anne said the word with disdain. “I am of age and will come and go as I please. You have dictated my life for far too long, and I will not have it anymore.”

  “Stubborn girl! I am furious with you! Is this how you treat your mother after I have given you everything you ever desired?”

  “Everything I ever desired! That is hardly the case, Mother.”

  “Pray tell me what you have ever desired that I have not provided you,” Lady Catherine said with indignation.

  “Love, that’s what!”

  “I love you as much as any mother loves her child.”

  “That is not the love I am referring to. You have denied me the opportunity to experience the love of a man of my choosing.”

  “I have already explained that once you join me in London we will find you a suitable husband. He will be a nobleman with wealth and connections. You will come to love him.”

  “That is not what I want. I want to find true love.” Anne spoke with feeling and emotion that few had ever seen in her.

  “Anne, I insist that you marry a man who will allow you to continue to live in the manner in which you were raised. I know you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up.”

  “Mother, I have no intention of marrying a man just so I do not have to quit my sphere. I have told you already, I shall marry whom I want, regardless of wealth or connections. Those things do not matter to me. They never have. Now that Fitzwilliam is finally married, I am allowed to express my opinions on the matter without the risk of injuring him.”

  Fitzwilliam looked sharply at his cousin. “You were not waiting for me, were you?”

  “Not in the sense of wanting to marry you. Come, Fitzwilliam, you know better. I was waiting for you to make your choice so Mother would see, once and for all, that you were no longer an option and I should be allowed to make up my own mind.”

  “Make your own choice?” Lady Catherine spluttered. “How preposterous. Never!”

  “Why is that preposterous, Mother? Why should I not make my own choice? It is common for a man and woman to choose one another. Arranged marriages are surely a matter of the past.”

  “If you intend to live at Rosings Park then you will marry whom I choose for you.”

  “Perhaps I do not want to live there. I have been thinking for quite some time now that London may suit me better. I have already inquired with the housekeeper, and though the house in London has not been opened in many years, I only need send a week’s notice for it to be prepared.”

  “Anne, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away ’til you have given me the assurance I require.”

  “And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. You may want me to marry some hoity-toity Londoner, but would my giving you the wished-for promise make a marriage at all more probable? Supposing you do find someone willing to marry me, what if I then refused? Would my refusing to accept his hand make him change his mind? I would certainly think so. Allow me to say, Mother, that the arguments with which you have supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous as the application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken me if you think I will just marry whomever you chose. I may have been very little out in the world, but I assure you I have been out enough to understand what love is and to know I want it in my marriage. Nay, not want, I demand it in my marriage. I will not marry anyone unless I love him.”

  “You have no regard, then, for my decisions as your mother! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with certain persons must disgrace our family in the eyes of everyone?”

  “Mother, do you think I care about what everyone thinks?”

  “You should!”

  “No, I should not, and neither should you. You should care for no more than to be happy with the object of my love, and support me in a marriage to him. I am resolved to act in that manner which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness without reference to you or anyone else.”

  The banter between Anne and Lady Catherine was intense. Everyone felt they should leave them alone but found they were unable to, so each stood quietly out of the way. Everyone’s full attention was on the conversation. Lord Matlock wondered why his sister was so adamant that Anne marry a wealthy Londoner. Why shouldn’t she be allowed to marry for love? Elizabeth and Lady Matlock were intently listening for the part that would include Richard, for they both knew he was sure to be mentioned. Richard, however, was dreading the moment he would be noticed, and he was sure that moment was quickly approaching.

  “You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin yourself, your family name, and the estate, and to make yourself the contempt of the world.”

  “Neither duty nor honour nor gratitude,” replied Anne, “have any possible claim on me in the present instance. No principle of any would be violated by my marriage with a man I love. And with regard to family and friends, I think it is evident in Fitzwilliam’s marriage to Elizabeth that the only familial indignation is yours, and no one cares if they lose your good opinion.”

  “And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Anne, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to Pemberley with the sole purpose to bring you to your senses. I hoped to find you reasonable; but, depend upon it, I will carry my point.”

  “No, Mother, you will not,” Anne replied steadily.

  “Yes, Anne, I will, for your father’s will was highly specific when it comes to your marriage. You have only two choices: marry your cousin Fitzwilliam, or marry a man of my choosing. If you do not, you lose everything; your dowry, Rosings Park, the house in London, everything.”

  The entire party looked at Lady Catherine, with her eyes glinting as she smiled like an evil Cheshire cat who had just caught her prey. Lady Catherine knew how much Anne loved Rosings Park. Although her daughter talked big now, Lady Catherine understood that when it came right down to it Anne would do almost anything rather than end up on the streets, even marry someone she did not love.

  Anne stood shocked; she did not know what to say. She had anticipated the possibility of losing Rosings Park, but she had not thought she would lose her dowry. In fact, she had planned on using it to set up house with Richard. The interest on fifty thousand pounds was a considerable sum, and she anticipated that the two of them could live quite comfortably for their entire lives. She had even hoped her mother would approve so far as to let them live at the London house since she never used it. Anne was not sure she was prepared to live the life of an officer’s wife, on an officer’s pay. She hesitated, and Lady Catherine knew she had won.

  Finally, when silence had fallen between mother and daughter, Lord Matlock stepped in. “Now, let us all calm down and think this through rationally. I am sure there must be a way that Anne can marry for love, and you, Catherine, can be happy with her choice.” He smiled lovingly at his niece, whose instant relief spread across her face. “Come, let us take a few days to enjoy Christmas together, and as soon as it is over I will dedicate myself to assisting the two of you in sorting this out. The first thing I will do is send to London for Sir Lewis’s will. Let us read the article and see if what you say, Catherine, is spelled out as you say it is. Perhaps you misunderstood.”

  “Misunderstood? Harrumph! I highly doubt it. I have read his will a hundred times over, making sure I understood it perfectly. We could have all been saved this trouble if Fitzwilliam had just married Anne as he was supposed to.”

  “Aunt, Anne and I decided long ago that we had no intention of marrying. We do not love one another as a husband and wife ought. I love Elizabeth, and I believe Anne loves another.”

  “You cannot possibly mean Richard! I wil
l not stand for it. I do not care that she kissed the fool; we shall all forget about it. No, Anne will have a proper coming out and find a husband in London. For heaven’s sake, I never dreamt she needed a coming out or she would have had it years ago. This is all your fault.” Lady Catherine waved her hand at Darcy. “Her marriage had been planned from her infancy until that strumpet came along and lured you away.”

  “Lady Catherine, you will desist insulting my wife or you will be confined to your room for the duration of your visit.”

  Anne and Richard had been offering one another telling looks. Anne was encouraging him to speak up, which he finally did as Lady Catherine closed her mouth after Fitzwilliam’s rebuke.

  “Aunt Catherine, I assure you there is someone who knows and loves Anne, even though she never had a coming out.”

  “Oh, really? And who might that be?”

  “Me. I love Anne.”

  Lady Catherine cackled like a rabid hen, “Oh, that is rich! A military officer seeking the hand of one of England’s brightest gems.”

  Lord Matlock bristled at his sister’s response. “Catherine, I bid you watch your tongue. That is my son you are talking about.”

  “Your son, perhaps, but not your heir. He is a lowly second son with no chance of inheriting. James and Roslynd already have two sons that are in line ahead of him. Nothing could persuade me to allow Anne to marry him. Heaven forbid the shades of Rosings be thus polluted. No, Anne will marry an eldest son with a title, or I shall forbid her to marry.”

  “You cannot forbid her to marry. To deny her such joy is a selfish act, and I will not allow it. What care you for a title? You planned on marrying her to Fitzwilliam for years, and he does not have a title. Surely such things can mean nothing to you.”

  “Not allow it? What say have you in the matter?” Lady Catherine ignored his reference to titles; she felt she need not explain herself.

  “I am the patriarch of this family, and I will not allow you to do anything that will hurt any member of it.” Before she could respond again, Lord Matlock turned and addressed Fitzwilliam. “Take me to your study. I need ink and paper to begin my own inquiries into Sir Lewis’s will.”