Darcy Meets Elizabeth In Kentucky

by Glenna Mason

  “Yes, Miss Elizabeth, I understand.” Elizabeth had full confidence that he did and that everything would be perfection.

  Friday afternoon finally arrived. Elizabeth sped home from class and chose her favorite riding habit. “Good! I'm ready,” Elizabeth said. “And just in time, too!” she added excitedly, hearing a car in the driveway. However, glancing out the French doors of the upstairs hallway, she saw it was Claire's new red car, circling the trees and pulling to a stop.

  “Oh, drat!” Elizabeth complained aloud. “Well, it can't be helped” she said, as she headed for the stairs. The thought of Claire, nevertheless, clouded her countenance.

  Opening the door, just as Claire reached for the knocker, Elizabeth jumped and caused Claire to start in surprise.

  “Oh!” Claire exclaimed. Then said, “I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I'm just edgy these days.”

  “I knew that you were there and I was equally startled,” Elizabeth admitted. “Please come in!”

  Entering the hall, Claire said, “I see you are ready for a ride.”

  “Yes, a friend is coming over, and we are going out before dark, but do come to the study. We have a few minutes, before he is scheduled to arrive. How are you feeling today, Claire? You look positively wonderful.”

  Following Elizabeth into the study, Claire, seating herself primly on the edge of one of the chairs, said, “I wanted you to know that I have started my novel.” Claire pulled several sheaths of paper from the soft satchel in her lap.

  “I was hoping that you would be kind enough to go over the first two chapters and give me your honest assessment. I have also included a basic sketch of the characters and a bare bone plot outline, which is subject to change.”

  “Well . . .” Elizabeth hesitated, somewhat shocked to be asked and definitely dismayed.

  “I am good with words and emotions—a poet always is, but since this is my first effort at a major prose fiction, I need a little advice and direction.”

  Elizabeth, while feeling trapped, still was reluctant to agree to the commission.

  “I also want to ask your forgiveness for the ungracious way I attacked you the other day, when you so generously offered me your plot. I am not myself, you see. Please can you look past my impertinence and help me?”

  Elizabeth could hardly refuse now. “Of course I accept your apology. I would be glad to read these two chapters and give you my opinion,” she said, emphasizing the word two. Then she added, “For what it is worth, Claire. I have never been able to put my own novel together and may not be much help. However, since I spend a lot of my time analyzing works of literature, I'll be happy to try.”

  The chimes of the front door rang, announcing Darcy's arrival. She could hear Peter scurrying down the front hall toward the front door.

  “Well, my dear Elizabeth, I must run. That is all I wanted.” Claire arose, placed the pages on the open desk in the corner of the room and clasped her satchel to her chest like a baby. “I will call you soon, but in the meantime there is no hurry. I am just commencing Chapter Three. Take your time.”

  “I am pleased that you think I can help, Claire.”

  At that moment Peter appeared at the study door. “Miss Elizabeth,” he announced very formally, “Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy to see you.”

  Standing aside, Peter bowed to Darcy, who arrived in the doorway, handsomely attired in tweed.

  “Thank you, Peter.”

  Elizabeth turned to Claire, “Claire, this is my friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Fitzwilliam, Claire Evans.”

  “How do you do?” asked Darcy, waiting for Claire to offer her hand, which she did.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Darcy.”

  “And you, Miss Evans,” Darcy replied pleasantly, adding “Claire Evans is a familiar name. Are you by any chance the poet?”

  “Why, Mr. Darcy, how kind of you to know my work.”

  Claire winked at Elizabeth and exited.

  “Shall we?” Elizabeth asked, grabbing his arm lightly and hastening down the hall to the porches on the rear. “Gypsy and her friend Asbestos await their exercise.”

  The ride was perfection. The two riders glided over multiple fences, circled the perimeter of the farm, passed by Netherfield, the Bingleys’ ranch style house, and then walked the last field home to cool the mares, after an exhilarating race across the next to last field.

  “Asbestos,” Darcy mused. “Now there's a name for a horse. Is she hot to trot?” he questioned, bursting into laughter at his own little joke. Elizabeth laughed with him.

  “Are you a comedian too, along with your other accomplishments?”

  Then she explained, “We are not as organized here with our nicknames as you are, Fitzwilliam. But Asbestos does have some significance.” She gently patted the neck of the flaming red horse. “Her actual name is Out the Blazing Flame. It gets more and more difficult to name thoroughbreds. We send in multiple names, hoping that at least one of them will not be taken already. That is obviously the reason horses’ names get wilder and wilder.”

  “Don't I know it! The same is true of standardbreds. Your farm is exceptionally beautiful, just as I always pictured Bennet Farms, Ltd.”

  “Thank you. We are very proud of our mares and foals. And we have a superior staff,” Elizabeth said, as they reined in their horses at the barn. “Next time we’ll curry the horses ourselves, but I've signed Jake up for tonight, since we need to shower and dress for dinner.”

  At the house, Elizabeth and Darcy split at the top of the stairs, she to her room to shower, he to the guest room across the hall. A half hour later, precisely at seven-thirty, the two met in the hall again and descended the staircase hand in hand.

  “It's warm enough. Let's sit on the porch,” Elizabeth said.

  He reached the door first and opened it for her. Elizabeth was dressed in an emerald green chiffon cocktail dress, chosen especially to accent her family emeralds, a necklace and earrings. Normally Elizabeth's eyes were clear blue, but she had that rare quality in which her eyes adjusted colors to match the color she was wearing, when it was any one of various shades of blue or green. So tonight they sparkled a bright green. She carried a shawl, in case it got too chilly outside.

  Darcy, dressed in black tie, formally seated Elizabeth on a porch chair and pulled another up close to hers.

  “Your sapphire blue eyes are emerald green tonight,” Darcy said. “Cat’s eyes.”

  Taking her hand in his, Darcy reflected, “Elizabeth, I truly believe I have never seen eyes so enchanting. They literally take my breath away with their color and their slanting.”

  “Are you a poet too, Darcy?” Elizabeth said, smiling, breaking the spell, just in time too, as Peter arrived on the porch with a silver tray of whiskey sours and assorted cheeses and nuts.

  Darcy laughed heartily at himself and his accidental rhyming, which turned a romantic gesture into a moment of memorable fun.

  They clicked glasses and rested back in their chairs, enjoying the pure pleasure of being together.

  “You are one beautiful woman, Elizabeth Bennet.”

  “And you are one handsome male specimen, Fitz Darcy.”

  They smiled happily. The sun was falling fast now; streaks of orange, rose and purple crisscrossed the darkening sky. The temperature plummeted. Elizabeth shivered and wrapped the white shawl around her shoulders.

  “Let's take the drinks in,” Darcy said. “I like looking at you without your shawl.”

  “Then let's,” Elizabeth agreed.

  Almost as soon as they settled in the library by the fire, Peter announced, “Dinner is served, Miss Elizabeth.”

  “Thank you, Peter.”

  Elizabeth's dining room was a long rectangular room with a banquet sized table. Bold red wallpaper splashed with ivory flowers and pale green leaves, decorated the wall above the chair rail, below which the blood red continued. A room sized oriental in brilliant red covered most of the hardwood floor and red roses filled three vases placed at an equal distance down th
e center of the table. The crystal chandelier shone brightly and three crystal scones added light from the wall. Two sets of candelabra flanked by three additional sets of candlesticks completed the lighting.

  A fire burned in the fireplace, removing the chill from the room. Peter had placed settings at each end of the table. Darcy and Elizabeth shouted at each other through two courses. Finally Elizabeth stood. Darcy immediately rushed down the length of the table to pull out her chair, almost toppling her. They burst into joyous laughter.

  “Bring the wine and water glasses, Fitz,” Elizabeth directed, as she began down the table carrying her plate, place mat and flatware. Darcy hurried down, placed the glasses at Elizabeth's new setting and pulled the chair out to seat her. The two erupted into renewed laughter.

  Peter, alarmed by the commotion, rushed into the room, but seeing the scene joined in the fun with a smile of his own, barely smothering his own laugh.

  After serving the main course and pouring the appropriate wine, Peter and Amelie left the wine decanter and the water pitcher on the table, so the couple could dine in privacy. He only returned when Elizabeth chimed the elegant dinner bell to remove the dinner plates and serve a chocolate chiffon pie for dessert along with coffee and amaretto. Dinner took over an hour; it was nine-thirty when they retired to the library for brandy. Sipping Courvoisier, they examined Elizabeth's early editions.

  Elizabeth showed Darcy her prize possession, a Dickens. Darcy leafed through its silken pages. Then Elizabeth told Darcy how she acquired it, as a gift from Sir William, found especially for her on one of his many trips to England. At first Darcy was surprised.

  “Of course,” he finally remembered. “You are located near the Stantonfield Farm.”

  “Sir William's our next door neighbor. He is my mother’s friend from her childhood in Meryton, England,” she said. “We are very close. Sir William learned to love Kentucky through his visits to my mom and dad. They called him when Stantonfield became available for sell. Then he helped my father get off the ground in the thoroughbred industry about ten years ago, with his expert advice. My father is a doctor, not a businessman. As you know, we had saddlebreds for fun until then.”

  “Oh,” said Darcy noncommittally, looking like a man torn between two loyalties.

  Elizabeth understood his reticence. Unbeknownst to Darcy, Elizabeth was fully cognizant that her hopefully beau-to-be stole her neighbor's and good friend's horses.

  She changed the subject easily by pulling a Thomas Hardy from the shelf and commenting, “My last real boyfriend was named Hardy Thomas.” Darcy glanced at her with a slight concern.

  “It was a long time ago—grad school actually,” Elizabeth declared with amusement. “The only reason I remember his name is because of this nice copy of Return of the Native.” She leaned forward and pecked Darcy on the cheek. “I have forgotten what he looks like.”

  Darcy's hazel eyes widened at the kiss.

  Elizabeth checked the clock on the mantel. It was nearing eleven.

  “Can I get him to stay over?” she wondered. “I'd like to, but he is such a stickler for decorum.”

  Her mind racing, she queried herself, “Are you crazy? He hasn't even tried to kiss you yet, you wanton woman.”

  At eleven, Elizabeth made her decision. They had drunk a lot. The road to Lancaster was windy and treacherous in the dark. She would ask him to spend the night in the guest room. “I have so little experience with men. I want him to stay, but I do not want to frighten him off.”

  “Fitzwilliam, it is too late for you to drive home. We have been drinking for hours. Please do me the honor of staying the night.” Darcy gasped, so she added quickly, “In my guest room.”

  “You have your riding clothes. You can ride out with me tomorrow and go home when I go to class.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Bright and early Saturday Elizabeth and Darcy personally saddled up Gypsy and a large gray jumper nicknamed Cam for Cameo's Lucky Boy. The clouds presaged rain and so the two tied slickers behind their saddles.

  The stables were alive with activity as always—the mares and their foals, in various stages of growth, getting the first class attention they deserved and needed.

  The Bennets knew all their workers on a personal level. Doc Thomas and Jane treated their medical concerns for free. The Bennets appreciated their stable hands' hard work and loyalty and rewarded it accordingly with excellent pay, benefits and bonuses. In return the Bennet Farms Ltd. received the ultimate in satisfaction from its employees.

  “A new little 'un come last night, Miss Elizabeth,” reported Jake. “Doc Bingley says he is a sweet little thing.”

  “A boy then?”

  “Yes, ma'am. All boy too! Kickin' up his heels already!”

  *****

  The next two hours passed quickly with companionable riding, ending with a walk through the barn lot where Elizabeth and Darcy treated several mares, colts and fillies to a peppermint or two. Elizabeth and Darcy shared jokes and brushes, as they washed down Gypsy and Cam, curried their horses and brushed them to a nice sheen.

  Elizabeth accepted that she was becoming way too invested in Fitzwilliam Darcy, but she refused to put any mental brakes on herself. “Let fate take its course,” she decided. “I'll enjoy what I can while I can for once.”

  By ten, Elizabeth, showered and dressed, left for class. Darcy soon after drove home to Lancaster and his daily duties of practicing harness racing, doing business for the farm and his foundation.

  The plan was for Elizabeth to join him for a moonlight ride, since she could not skip another evening ride out at home. Then they would have a nice dinner.

  “Cook will be there tonight. Bring clothes; this time we will shower,” he invited with a grin. There were no plans for later, although Elizabeth figured she would probably end up staying over in the beautiful sapphire blue bedroom. A moonlight ride and a dinner after meant a late night.

  After class Elizabeth went home and checked carefully around the barns and pastures, especially the foals and their moms. She told the lads that she would most likely not be there for Sunday morning, so to call one of the docs in an emergency, as well as her cell. The foals were all born now, safely running, even sprinting, about the fields near the barn. Elizabeth felt comfortable missing tomorrow morning's rounds. “Who knows? I may be here,” she discussed with herself.

  At the house, Elizabeth rambled into the study only to be greeted by a guilty conscience, when she noticed Claire's two chapters staring up at her. She closed the desk top. “You'll have to wait until Sunday now,” Elizabeth instructed them, knowing that it might actually be much longer. Claire's chapters were not a priority with her.

  That unpleasantness shut away, Elizabeth practically floated up the staircase and into her room, where she literally flounced into her bedroom closet to see the possibilities. She selected her sexiest dress, a black sheath with a slit up the left side to mid-thigh. She was going to wear very little under it—just in case. She threw some black leather sandals in her valise as well as a lovely diamond and pearl pin, pearl earrings, a diamond bracelet and two pearl bracelets, a pretty night gown, and a change for riding tomorrow. She was ready.

  She started singing the song “Tomorrow” from Annie, but in the shower she switched to “Tonight” from West Side Story. “To heck with tomorrow; tonight is where it's at,” Elizabeth said.

  She dressed in riding breeches and a bright blue blouse. “I want blue eyes for the moonlight ride.” After struggling into her knee high English riding boots, she headed down the stairs for her date.

  On the way down Pope Road, on a whim, Elizabeth suddenly swung into Tish's driveway. She wanted to review plans for Sunday and to catch her newest confidant up on her budding romance.

  “Oh, Tish,” Elizabeth said, “I'm afraid I am just like a silly school girl again. As you know, he is so handsome, and he is just the right age and interested in the same things I am—well, horses and first editions at least. We haven
't gotten past those two yet.”

  Elizabeth heard Renee Fleming in the background singing an aria from Madame Butterfly.

  “Fine, my dear, it is past time for a beauty like you to fall in love, and so why not the gorgeous Fitzwilliam Darcy? Except for the minor glitch of his stealing Sir William's horses and then blackmailing him for their return, we know no real harm in him.”

  “Oh, I know! What shall I do?”

  “Really, Elizabeth, by all means fall in love. He is truly a modern day Robin Hood, the kind legends are written about. Sir William has no hard feelings, so why should you waste a chance at happiness? That—the wasting the chance at happiness—is what I'd veto.”

  “I was ostensibly planning to discover the safe. It is why I told myself I was going, but was it really? Being honest with myself and you, I doubt it. You had described him in such terms of magnificence; I just had to see for myself. And, Tish, you did not exaggerate. I just did not want to miss out.”

  “Nor should you,” Tish said. “Elizabeth, Sir William is calling Darcy today to invite him to dinner with the two of us on Monday night. Whatever you do, we will make him an offer on Monday night. Forget the safe. Do not jeopardize your romance!”

  Elizabeth nodded her head in the affirmative.

  “My advice to you, Elizabeth, is to forget the investigation. Fall in love. I know how much it adds to life. Do not miss out, Elizabeth.”

  “Your advice is so welcome, Tish.”

  “Now scoot out of here and have a wonderful evening.”

  *****

  The moonlight ride was very romantic. The rains, threatening all day, held off and some stars even managed to peek through the cloud cover. A half-moon emerged half way through the ride.

  “A moonlight ride with a moon,” Darcy observed contentedly.

  At several gates the two just stopped and lingered, talking in the moonlight. Twice Darcy reached across Elizabeth purposely to unlatch the gate, so he could brush her lips with a light kiss. As the ride progressed, they dismounted at a gate or two, walking their horses through and embracing, holding each other tight, and kissing fervently. There was no racing tonight, since there was not enough light, just a sense of togetherness and the developing of a romance.