by APRIL FLOYD
“He is a sensible man, Lizzy. I believe if his interest was to take the boy, he would have done so when he found out about him at Christmas time. It is my understanding, for we have spent many hours in the library together this summer, that he and Lady Matlock are not of the same mind. Perhaps they shall never be. He blames himself for allowing her to drive the colonel away. I do not think he wants her to raise young Richard for fear she might one day do the same with him.”
Elizabeth had not thought of the earl in such a manner. He seemed to ignore Lady Matlock until she pushed him too far. Theirs was a complicated marriage. She did not wish to interfere in it, but she would have to appeal to the earl once Richard was safe at home.
“I will beg him if I must, offer him whatever he might wish to keep Richard with me. I could not bear to lose him. The colonel would never have wanted his mother to raise his only son.”
“Let us find the boy first and deal with the Matlocks later. If it comes to it, you and I and Richard shall escape in the dead of night to Scotland or some such place. I cannot bear to lose him, either. He is my grandson too.”
Chapter 17
Darkness fell quickly and Richard was tied again after being allowed outside since there was no chamberpot in the cottage.
Miss Davies and Major Wickham disappeared into another room and Richard wondered if they would leave him in the chair for the night. His hands hurt and he grew afraid as not even so much as a candle had been lit.
To keep himself from becoming too scared, he thought of the stories Mr. Darcy had read to him. He wished he had a sword like the pirates in his favorite book. Even a knife like Mr. Harley had shown him would cut the cloth that held him to the chair.
If Miss Davies let him go outside again, he would run. He missed Rose and baby Sophia. He was worried about Mr. Harley.
The major had shot his friend, but Richard thought Mr. Harley could not be hurt. He was too strong and tall and brave for that.
Even though he was scared and alone, Richard eventually fell asleep. He cried out at some point later in the night and Miss Davies came to him. She woke him and loosed his hands and feet. When he meant to speak, she covered his mouth and shook her head.
She led him carefully from the cottage and shook like a leaf in the wind even though it was warm outside.
Miss Davies knelt beside him. Her voice was a ghost of a whisper but Richard listened hard to her words. “I was willing to go with him to be married, but I am not willing to be part of a kidnapping. We must hurry. If he catches me, I fear what he may do.”
She took Richard’s hand and the pair ran into the night and far from the cottage.
Elizabeth was in the parlor pacing before the windows speaking of where they must look next when the dogs and lanterns were gathered for another search.
She was startled when someone began banging on the front door of Netherfield Park. Mr. Darcy left her side swiftly and was the first to reach the door.
He flung it open and looked about. Young Richard appeared at the foot of the stone steps and a figure in the shadows took off down the gravel drive.
Elizabeth rushed out and pulled her son into her arms, hugging him so tight the boy gasped and could not speak.
Mr. Darcy chased the figure down and brought her back to the house. Once in the parlor with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Bennet, the young lady poured out her heart. The story of Wickham and his plans to marry her did not surprise Darcy in the least.
“It is a pattern of his, to take a young lady and woo her away from her family and a decent proposal and wedding. You are not the first he has deceived but I aim to make you the last.”
Elizabeth entered the parlor with Richard and questioned Miss Davies. “You are a cousin of Netherfield’s nanny, are you not?”
“Yes, Mrs. Fitzwilliam, I am. I did not know the major meant to take the boy. I never thought he was so terrible. I brought your son back because I could not be a part of taking a child from its mother. Especially as you are most kind. The major promised to marry me at Gretna Green. He said he loved me and only me, but I would not marry a man who would do such a thing.”
Elizabeth hugged the young lady and assured her of her safety at Netherfield. “You have brought my son home and for that you have my eternal gratitude.”
She took Richard and quit the parlor, leaving her father, brother, and Mr. Darcy to do what they would to Wickham.
Lady Matlock and the earl met her on the stairs. The sight of their grandson returned safely to his home was shocking indeed.
“What has happened Elizabeth? Who found our dear boy?” The earl asked as he stared at Richard.
“Everyone is in the parlor speaking with the young lady who brought him home. Let me see him safely to the nursery and we will speak of it later.” Elizabeth took her son’s hand and led him quickly up the stairs.
Lady Matlock called after her but Elizabeth would not turn back. She and Richard had been through enough for the day. If his grandmother wished to argue, she would have to chase them to the nursery or wait in the parlor.
Rose and Sophia were asleep when Elizabeth tucked Richard into his bed. “Mother, may I come to you if I have a bad dream tonight?”
Elizabeth pushed aside the curls from his forehead and kissed the spot she had kissed since the day he was born. She was surprised there was not a mark or indentation there to bear witness to her particular attention.
“Yes, my dearest boy. But you will not have them because you are home. Never again will you be gone from me.”
She sat with him for a time until he fell asleep. Closing her eyes, she thanked God for his safe return and for Miss Davies. Elizabeth stood and made her way to the parlor dreading the things the Matlocks would surely say now that Richard was home.
Lady Matlock’s voice met her in the hallway outside the parlor and Elizabeth steeled herself. Mr. Darcy would stand by her, and Mr. Bingley, and certainly her father.
Only an hour after young Richard’s return to Netherfield, Mr. Darcy rode with his friend Bingley and Mr. Bennet to the abandoned cottage.
The moon was high but not a bit of light shone in the cottage. When they circled behind the small building, they found a horse hobbled. Major Wickham was surely inside.
Mr. Darcy sent Mr. Bennet to rouse the magistrate and posted Mr. Bingley at the cottage door. He slipped inside and left the door open. He almost wanted Wickham to try and run. Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire put his hand on the pistol he had got from Mr. Bingley’s collection.
After the attack on Mr. Harley in the woods, he was cautious of the major. The man who would shoot a servant and take a child would do almost anything when cornered. He had seen the desperation of the man in Ramsgate when found with Georgiana when she was but fifteen.
Mr. Darcy’s jaw clenched as he thought of all the suffering the major had brought to his family. Tonight he would be certain the man never got another chance to harm them.
He went slowly about the cottage searching each room for the reprobate. When he came to the last room, he kicked open the door and shouted to wake the dead.
“Wickham! Stand up man and take your punishment!”
Major Wickham flung his arms out and came awake at once. Miss Davies was gone and he cursed as he leapt from the pallet on the floor.
Wickham feigned innocence, it was a tactic Mr. Darcy was well acquainted with from the loathsome Lothario. “I told you when last we met in London your life would not be spared if you hurt my family again.”
The major held up his hands as Darcy lifted the pistol and leveled it at him. “You cannot be serious! It is a crime to kill an unarmed man. Do you think Elizabeth could love a criminal?”
Mr. Darcy moved the pistol a hair’s breadth and fired. Major Wickham jumped and cursed, his voice now shaky and unsure. “Look, the boy is obviously home safe. Turn me over to the magistrate and be done with it. I never meant to harm him, only to force money from you or the Fitzwilliams.”
Mr. Bingley
had rushed to the room at the sound of the gunshot and he stood between Mr. Darcy and the major. “Give me the gun Darcy, he is not worth spending your life in prison. You must think of Elizabeth and Richard. The Matlocks will surely take him from her.”
Mr. Darcy hesitated for a moment but handed the gun to his friend. “Leave us Bingley, for if I may not kill him I aim to make him wish he were dead.”
Mr. Bingley strode from the room without another word and shut the door. He would stand guard until the magistrate came. The sounds of a thorough thrashing could not be muffled by the door and Bingley knew it was his friend getting the best of Major Wickham.
Chapter 18
When dawn broke over Longbourn, Major George Wickham was marched out of the cottage, bruised and bloodied from his fight with Mr. Darcy.
The major had awakened to a pistol in his face and an old foe eager to exact vengeance. By the time the magistrate arrived with Mr. Bennet, a full confession was made.
The major would be taken to his regiment in London with all charges laid against him by Mr. Darcy and the Earl of Matlock recorded by the magistrate.
Mr. Bennet had gone home to his bed shortly after all was settled. Now, as the major was hauled off in a wagon, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy mounted their horses and turned toward Netherfield.
“Thank heaven for Miss Davies. I cannot bear to think of Richard with that Wickham for another moment. Poor Harley, too. If the major had been a decent shot we would have had a dead man on our hands.”
“And a young child forever scarred from having witnessed such thing. I cannot imagine what he thought of Mr. Harley’s condition after Wickham ran off with him. Richard is a special lad, strong and kind. I’ll see to it that he suffers no permanent harm.”
Mr. Bingley wondered at his friend’s oath where Richard was concerned. It seemed Mr. Darcy meant to be more to the boy than a mere cousin.
When they had given their horses to the stable boy, the men entered Netherfield and met with another type of altercation. Lady Matlock’s voice echoed from the parlor.
“We might have at least been allowed to sit for breakfast first,” Bingley said and patted Darcy on the back.
“We shall in but a moment, Bingley. I will not tolerate her anger today of all days. We have much to be thankful for and I will not have Elizabeth nor Richard torn apart again.”
Mr. Darcy ran a hand down his face and straightened his cravat before making his way to the parlor. Mr. Bingley followed to offer whatever support might be needed. Judging by the angry voices in his parlor, that could be quite a lot.
Elizabeth was standing behind the piano forte, her hands flat upon the instrument’s surface. “You cannot mean to take him from me. It is not right. Richard would never have wanted you to do such a thing. Can you not see that? I am his mother, you are not!”
Lady Matlock circled around the piano forte but the earl caught her before she could advance on Elizabeth. “Margaret, stop this instant or I shall have us in our carriage and on the road back to London within the hour. Now is not the time. The boy has been through such a fright.”
Mr. Darcy went to Elizabeth’s side. “Not now nor ever shall you take the boy Aunt Margaret.”
He turned to Elizabeth and took hold of her hands. They were cold and they shook so that he thought she might have caught a cold. “I told you once in Hyde Park how ardently I admired you, Elizabeth Fitzwilliam. Now you must know how ardently I love you. My affections and wishes are unchanged. Would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
Lady Matlock screeched her anger and vowed to have her grandson. “This will solve nothing Darcy! He is the heir, you cannot change it.”
Darcy turned to his aunt, still holding Elizabeth’s hands. He pulled her into the shelter of his arms. “I do not wish to change a thing about Richard Thomas Bennet Fitzwilliam other than to provide him a home and a father. Those he deserves most assuredly. To Mrs. Fitzwilliam,” he paused and looked at his Elizabeth, “I offer my undying love and the protection of Pemberley.”
Elizabeth could not speak for the day had brought so much anguish, shock, and now astonishment. Lady Matlock had begun to threaten her again but she kept her eyes on Mr. Darcy.
She did love him! When it had begun, she did not know but certainly she did. Laying her head against his chest, she whispered her hopes for their future. “William, do not marry me to offer protection. Marry me because you cannot think of a life without me.”
Mr. Darcy released her hands and lifted her chin so that she might see him declare the truth. “I cannot live a life without you and that boy. I never should have left Netherfield after the party at Lucas Lodge. My heart was yours even then.”
Elizabeth fought the tears that gathered at this admission. She would not change a thing about her life, for if she did there would be no memories of the colonel and no child born from their union. That time in her life had been precious. Richard was her first love and Mr. Darcy would be her last.
Young Richard was sitting with Mr. Harley on the terrace that overlooked the gardens of Netherfield when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy found him. He jumped up from the seat beside his friend and ran to Mr. Darcy.
“Look, cousin, Mr. Harley is well. Major Highwayman was a terrible shot.”
Elizabeth and Mr. Harley laughed but Mr. Darcy remained serious. “We are so pleased Mr. Harley is well. He must come to Pemberley with us if he will. I think he would be most lonesome without you.”
Mr. Harley slapped his leg and laughed again. “Does this mean Mrs. Fitzwilliam is to become Mrs. Darcy? I knew it all the time! I cannot imagine Lady Matlock is pleased. But I bet the colonel is, bless his soul.”
Mr. Darcy smiled as the heavy weight of grief over the death of his cousin changed to a warmth that filled his being. Richard would approve of his love for Elizabeth. He would have wanted Darcy to love and protect his little family if the chance were taken from him as it had been in war.
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The End
Book Three in this series will release mid October 2108. In it, we’ll see Darcy and Elizabeth as they marry and Lady Matlock as she schemes to see exactly what goes on inside Pemberley with her grandson. Georgiana and her viscount will move towards setting a wedding date as well.
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Thank you for reading this series and the wonderful feedback you’ve provided!
About the Author
April Floyd is a wanderer of the world and lover of great stories who now resides in the Last Frontier with her husband and youngest child. Days are spent doing the mom thing, managing the house, and not missing the working world although sticking people with needles can be such fun.
www.authoraprilfloyd.com
[email protected]
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Join her reader group with Elizabeth Ann West at The Janeside on Facebook!
Also by April Floyd
Austen Inspired
The Parson of Pemberley
No Promise of the Kind
Mr. Darcy’s Brides
Spells Spoken Lightly
Darcy & Lizzy
Mr. Darcy’s Good Opinion
Mr. Darcy’s Debt
Properly Humbled
Clever Compromises
Miss Bennet and the Beast
A Match Made in Mayfair
The Lost Heir Series:
Mrs. Fitzwilliam
The Colonel’s Son
Mr. Darcy’s Retreat (Coming in October 2018)
Christian Fiction/Romance
Cassidy Jane
Courting Cassidy Jane
Wedding Cassidy Jane
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