by Glenna Mason
“You see, Detective Hammond, Carl had an expensive car. He studied car designs carefully because he knew that driving the curvy canyon roads with his son, he needed a safe one. And it did prove a miraculous choice. The car plunged over a steep cliff, turning over more than once, and yet Carl was still alive in the driver's compartment when the car landed. The car took all the brunt of the fall. Oh, he was battered by air bags all around him. But he definitely survived the plunge. But no one reported him missing. He wasn't found for a week. He couldn't get out of the wreckage. The savior car turned into a death trap.
“Claire told us not to expect him in the office because he had gone on an unexpected business trip to San Francisco. His business calendar never surfaced to confirm or refute the claim, but in the office we never heard of such an agenda. It was highly unusual for Carl not to let one of us know, especially his secretary.
“Claire didn't report him missing for five days. It took two more to locate him.”
“Very interesting!”
“The police were suspicious,” Mr. Pierce said, obviously excited to say what he had been thinking for over ten years. “But all the evidence was circumstantial, and certainly not conclusive, even when added together.”
“I can see that, but in light of a second husband's mysterious death, I may need a statement from you.”
“I'd be happy to give you one. I've always believed Carl's death was foul play. I'd nominate Claire Evans as the foul player. I have no proof of any kind of course.”
“You have been most helpful!”
“And one other thing, Detective,” Mr. Pierce added, obviously loath to give up the expose', “Claire did not know with whom Carl had an appointment in San Francisco. The police never did find a confirmation of an appointment of any kind there. The San Francisco newspaper ran a front page story seeking the information, but nothing credible came of it—just a few kook calls.”
“Incredible!”
“I really believe that Carl was getting ready to divorce Claire and return to Ellen. He as much as told me so the week before he died.”
“Really?”
“He found out almost immediately that he had been duped, as Claire was not pregnant; she feigned a miscarriage, but Carl was very educated, even if gullible. I'd say after two years, he knew he'd made an egregious mistake. It was over, Detective. I knew it. And do you know what else?”
“No, sir,”
“Ellen never went out with another man until after Carl's death. She loved Carl, and he knew it. Ellen is a lovely lady, Detective Hammond.”
“Mr. Pierce, I am grateful. You have forwarded my investigation and suspicions immeasurably,” Elizabeth replied, quite sincerely. “Thank you for your candor.”
“I hope I have helped. Arrest her and put her in jail, if she is guilty.”
“Thank you, Mr. Pierce. My office will be in touch.”
Elizabeth slipped her notes into the Carstairs file. “Wow!”
Elizabeth realized that she did not need to hold Darcy up any longer with more calls. She had substantial evidence now. She could always call the son and the wife another time. “It sounds like even the police suspected Claire, but had no way to prove cold-blooded murder.”
Within a half hour Darcy's sedan was loaded to capacity. Elizabeth often took extra clothes, framed pictures, and special little treasures with her, when they drove to Lancaster. She wanted to build up a viable setting of home for herself there. Darcy did the same in reverse. They were close to being finished. Both residences were quickly becoming just like home to both lovers.
When Saturday morning dawned, the whole of Pemberley was alive with excitement. All the staff in the house and the barn were ecstatic that Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Richard were coming today.
As soon as the couples arrived at two, the guys donned jeans and riding boots and took their horses for a ride. The girls heard “Yee haw” and “Yaw hee,” as they settled contentedly in the parlor.
“Ladies, as I warned you, we are dressing for dinner tonight. You see I have this lovely lavender chiffon.”
“Yes, we know, Elizabeth, and you bought Fitzwilliam a silk tie and silk handkerchief to match it.”
“Well, yes, Louisa, but how did you know?”
“Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam told Gilbert and Gilbert told Richard and Gilbert and Richard told us,” Louisa answered.
“Yes, Lizzy, don't ever tell my brother anything that you do not want Louisa and me to know,” Georgiana added, with a wink.
They all burst into gales of laughter.
Just before Elizabeth and Darcy descended for dinner, he disappeared for a moment into the safe closet and exited again with his mother's jewelry box. He had refused to let Elizabeth take the box into her hand. He was having too much fun giving her the contents piece by piece.
When he brought the jewel case into the bedroom, he hid it behind a pillow and wondered, “My darling, could you try on a couple of things just for size?”
Elizabeth, fascinated by the seemingly endless supply of beautiful jewelry and by the delightful drama and suspense of Darcy's gift of them to her, twirled in her chiffon. As usual Darcy was entranced by her enchanting beauty—she swirled again—grace and elegance and, yes, pizazz, all in one. “Lizzy is as much fun as she is beautiful,” Darcy decided.
“Salome after my head, I presume,” he bantered. Then he found what he was looking for, lifting out an exquisite oval amethyst pendant on a solid gold chain. He looped it around her neck, kissing her neck as he finished. “Fits fine,” Darcy kidded, when he dropped two amethyst earrings in her hand. She sashayed to the dresser mirror and affixed them to her ears.
“Oh, my God, Fitzwilliam. They are exquisite, truly exquisite.”
He reached for her right hand and, after brushing it with his lips, slid a large amethyst dinner ring on her fourth finger. It was a perfect fit again.
“I am truly overwhelmed,” Elizabeth said. “Thank you, my darling.”
“You are so welcome. It makes me so happy to give you pretty things, because you are so pretty inside and out.”
“I haven't put my lipstick on yet so you get a well-deserved kiss.” So saying, Elizabeth planted a really wet smooch on Darcy's open mouth.
“And now, Mrs. Bennet-Darcy, our guests await us,” Darcy said, extending his arm.
“Uh! oh!” Elizabeth said, rushing to the mirror to haphazardly dab on some lipstick, and then returning to rest her hand on his arm. She spread out her finger, catching the light in the ring and sending it outward. The amethyst twinkled in apparent delight.
Pulchritude was the order of the night, as the three ladies had chosen outfits, which enhanced their natural beauty. The curvaceous Louisa was stunning in a slinky black sheath, diamonds sparkling at her throat. Georgiana was vivacious in a dynamic emerald green silk crepe, very fashionable. “Straight from Paris or was it Rome?” she teased in her light, sweet way.
The couples gathered in the library for drinks and then proceeded to the dining room for a lovely dinner, served with style by Darcy's butler Harry and his wife Alice, nicknamed years ago by the three friends, as Jeeves and Cookie.
“Cookie,” so nicknamed because she was Darcy's cook, “outdid even herself this time, Jeeves,” Richard happily pronounced. Jeeves was Richard and Gilbert's nickname for Darcy's butler Harry. The moniker pleased Harry, “because it sounded right out of a British novel.”
Richard pushed back his chair and bowed to Cookie, when she brought in the dessert, followed by Harry with the coffee service. “Mrs. Jeeves, you are magnifique.”
“Oh, you do go on so, Mr. Richard, but thank you anyway,” Alice said with a pleased blush.
“Here! Here!” Gilbert said, also rising, “A toast to Mr. and Mrs. Jeeves, their spectacular dinner and their excellent service of it.”
Everyone rose, clicked glasses and toasted in unison “We'll drink to that!”
After another hour or so socializing in the library, the girls began to plead for a l
ittle relaxation upstairs with a good book. They all grabbed a favorite from Darcy's early editions and exited. “So the guys can play billiards or poker or whatever it is the guys do when we leave,” Louisa instructed with a wink as she took Tom Jones to bed with her. “I'll never finish this. It's a good thing that I have already read it before and also seen that delightful movie version.” She blew the other two a kiss and closed the bedroom door.
Elizabeth and Georgiana gave each other a big hug and headed for their respective bedrooms.
Elizabeth, while undressing, again admired her beautiful amethysts, then slipped on a pair of comfortable pajamas, removed her makeup and slid into the bed. Elizabeth opened the familiar Jane Eyre to a favorite chapter, but Jane and Mr. Rochester were soon forgotten, as Elizabeth fell fast asleep about the time Jane spooked Mr. Rochester's horse. Elizabeth had been sleepy quite often lately.
Elizabeth was not sure when Darcy came to bed, but when she awoke at seven, he was comfortably beside her, snoring lightly. Feeling a little touch of upset stomach again this morning, she quietly eased out of bed, threw on a robe and wandered downstairs to fix herself some tea.
By eight, Georgiana and Louisa, whose husbands were reportedly also snoring happily away, joined her.
“I think that in early October, you will all join Richard and me in Danville,” Georgiana invited. “I like these slumber parties. Louisa, maybe we can drop the kids off on the unsuspecting grands again.”
“Yes, and then October 31st is a Friday and so let's all meet, kids and all, at my house in Lexington for Halloween. My neighborhood is chocked full of kids. We'll all go trick or treating with our four year olds. Our boys wouldn't be caught dead with mom and dad on Halloween. They can join their friends from school and the neighborhood. I think six is old enough, don’t you, Georgiana?”
“If there is a big crowd.”
“Then we can come back and answer the door to little witches and goblins during cocktail hour. By nine it'll be all over; we can dine late.”
“It sounds like loads of fun. We never get much Halloween activity on the farm. Well, none actually.”
“Oh, Gilbert told us how that is. Darcy always came in and spent the night with Gilbert, and the two went out with their town classmates.”
“Richard too, if he could get a trip to America for Halloween.”
“Oh, did he – often, that is?”
“Well, not too often. Richard was in boarding school of course.”
“Did they let you go, Georgiana?”
“Heck, no! I had to go out with mom and dad.”
“Oh, and, Lizzy, just so you know everything about our shenanigans,” Louisa said, totally changing the subject, “through the last few years, all four of us, even Georgiana, tried to fix Fitzwilliam up with the opposite sex. Oh, so many times—all kinds: pretty, smart, horsey—I mean, horsewomen, riders that is.
“He was always the perfect gentleman,” Louisa continued. “Fitzwilliam always asked the ladies out again. For someone like Fitzwilliam, it just isn't done to be introduced to a lady and not ask her out one more time. The rules of his game.”
“I personally thought it just got their hopes up, but what do I know?” Georgiana replied. “I’ve only had one beau in my whole life.”
“Once was usually it too,” Louisa continued, ignoring Georgiana.
“I believe he took that carrot topped one out three or four times—what was her name? Sally, I think. She was a feisty one. Fitzwilliam liked that!”
“That was a max,” Louisa said, completing the picture.
Elizabeth was fascinated by this new information on her husband.
“Back to our schedule,” Georgiana requested. “In December let's all go somewhere special as a treat. We'll see if anything is going on in Louisville or Cincy.”
“January through March is hard. Fitz is gone almost every week-end. We could meet you all in New York or Toronto, but they’re both so I cold in the winter,” Louisa said with a shiver. “I guess I could stand it, if Gilbert would buy me a faux fur.”
“Hey, I like that. They’re so beautiful these days,” Elizabeth said. “Georgiana, maybe you and I could arrange for one too.”
“Why don't we?”
“Why don't we what, Georgiana?” Louisa asked.
“Meet for a winter holiday. Three couples—maybe a ski resort—give snow a chance.”
“What a spectacular idea,” Elizabeth and Louisa agreed.
By ten, when the guys loitered down to the kitchen, the girls had the next twelve months planned. And Elizabeth was solidly one of the gang.
After a good, hearty breakfast of ham, bacon, eggs, toast and juices and coffee, with all pitching in to cook and clean up, the gang of six dressed in riding apparel and aimed for the stables.
“I didn't know Louisa and Georgiana were such superb riders,” Elizabeth confided to Darcy, while they slow walked the horses back from an invigorating two hours of trotting, galloping and cantering.
“My dear, they have been riding here for years on a regular basis,” Darcy said. “Georgiana and Louisa seldom ride elsewhere, but they are accomplished riders. In the summer when their brood is out of school, Louisa and Georgiana often meet here and take their kids out for riding lessons.”
“Oh.”
“In fact Louisa and Gilbert are looking for a pony for their four year old daughter, Olivia Jeanne. I call her Angel. When they find the one they want, it will become our newest resident,” Darcy said.
“Wonderful.”
“I'm her godfather. She is the prettiest little girl. I love her so much.”
“You're a godfather. I never knew.”
“Elizabeth, remember, though we've been in love the whole time, and it seems like I have loved you all my life, we've actually only known each other six months.”
“Yes, it seems I've always loved you too. I guess I have secretly in my heart. And, my dear, I eagerly await a lifetime of finding out new surprises about you,” Elizabeth said.
With that, they rode up and joined the others.
Back at the house, the six showered and dressed comfortably in Bermuda shorts, then reconvened in the kitchen, where Elizabeth had set out a smoked turkey breast, a large slab of Swiss cheese with French bread, crackers and all the condiments, plus a basket of green apples she had brought for the occasion from Longbourn. Everyone made his or her own sandwich; they comfortably lounged around the kitchen table, communicating with words, smiles and body language.
By late afternoon the three couples waved goodbye to the strains of Beethoven sonatas, pouring from the music room through open windows. The Fitzwilliams and the Hursts were off to spend the Sunday evening of the Labor Day week-end visiting with Gilbert’s parents in Lancaster, where they would then pick up their children and head home to Danville and Lexington respectively, to spend the Monday of Labor Day at their own homes, relaxing before going back to work.
Elizabeth and Darcy stood on the front porch, holding each other's inside hand and waving enthusiastically with the outside one, as their visitors drove away down the driveway. Then they collapsed with exhaustion and joy onto the porch chairs.
“They are all wonderful,” Elizabeth declared simply.
“After my parents died—until you—except for Georgiana, they were my only family. Richard and Gilbert are like brothers to me. Well, I guess Richard is my brother now. He always felt like it anyway. And I love Louisa like a sister, because she married my best friend.”
“I am glad you had each other through the years. You have a large family now, and I have new best friends. We are blessed.”
“Let's make love,” Darcy whispered.
Tossing her head, Elizabeth said. “You have many fine rooms in this grand house. Which room shall we initiate today? Let's see how many times we can get through them all in our lifetime together.”
“I pick the music room,” he said, taking her hand in his. “A little Chopin polonaise should set the right tempo.”
Elizabeth and Darcy returned to Claysmount early on Monday. They had decided to relieve Charlie and the stable lads so the latter could all spend Labor Day with their families. Elizabeth and Darcy would do the afternoon round up, all the feeding and watering themselves, forgoing the ride out for one evening.
The pair arrived at Longbourn by eleven and headed straight for the barn to break the good news to their crew. Cheers abounded, loud and boisterous. Within mere minutes the barn was emptied of all human animals.
“Well, that was easy,” Darcy observed with a smile. “We now know exactly what to do if we ever want your barn to ourselves. Hmmm!”
Elizabeth, excited at the sheer marvel of being alone here with Darcy in a barn usually teeming with activity, said, “Fitzwilliam, let's just go up into the loft for the fun of it—like a couple of kids—and, well, roll around together in the hay—I don't mean—well, you know what I mean—let's just smooch and cuddle like a pair of illicit teens on Lover's Lane.”
Enchanted as always by her pixie personality, which envisioned never ending ways to take life by storm, Darcy agreed, “You vixen, let's.”
So for the next half hour, the couple, having fashioned a bed of hay, lolled in the hay, chewing on straws, holding hands and relaxing in sweet romantic repose. When they had finally had their fill of sticky straw, they sat up and laughed uproariously at the picture they made. They looked like two straw men. Straw was sticking out of their hair and ears and was clinging to all parts of their attire. The two spent the next ten minutes in a frivolous, disorderly attempt to de-straw themselves. The interlude was so abandoned and hilarious that they ended up falling back laughing into the bed of hay and straw.
“We've got to strip,” Darcy decided. So off came the boots, which had to be turned upside down and emptied, and the shirts and pants, which were subsequently slapped against the walls. Finally the attire was presentable enough to at least go into the mud room. Elizabeth and Darcy set off for the house, hand in hand, swinging their arms and singing at the top of their lungs the title song from Oklahoma.
