by Don Miller
As he was saying that, there was a knock on the door. Shaking her head, wondering who this could be this time, she told the knocker to enter and to her complete surprise, it was Darcy. He stopped as soon as he saw Dr. Stewart. “Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to interrupt.”
“Balderdash,” said Dr. Stewart. “You are happy to interrupt, and I am exceedingly happy you did. I will leave, but do not forget what I told you to do, Lizzie.”
After he had gone out the door, Elizabeth said, “You are the second man with whom I have been alone this evening. I am certain my reputation is probably ruined forever.”
“Miss Elizabeth, Mrs. Reynolds tells me you have been with her often and have learned what it means to be mistress of Pemberley. Stewart told me that you took it upon yourself to learn to ride and you have ridden all over Pemberley. You even visited some of the tenants. Mr. Vanderoot told me you have been out discussing the landscape of Pemberley and were highly interested. Is all of this true?”
Elizabeth blushed. “Yes, it is. I help Papa manage the estate and am always interested in learning what others do to manage their estate and households. As for riding, I discovered I enjoyed it and have always loved to go to places where I can enjoy magnificent views, of which there are many around here.”
“Have you seen all you want to see and learned all you want to learn about Pemberley? Is that why you are leaving tonight? And why did you not want to see me? Am I that repugnant to you?”
She looked at him a while, wondering if she had the courage to tell him what she wanted to tell him. Finally, she made her decision and took a deep breath before saying, “You cannot be serious. You must know I have fallen in love with you, and I did not want you to think I was one of those mercenary women who pursued you everywhere. I had hoped that over time, you would be able to regain some of the feelings you had for me, and we could be the couple we were created to be.”
It was obviously not the answer he had expected, and he seemed dumbstruck. “You love me? How long have you known that?”
“Since I returned to Hertfordshire and found you had taken Kitty with you. I talked with Jane and my father, and I suddenly seemed to understand everything and to believe you and I were created to be together. My pride led me astray for a long time and I was miserable, but when I finally accepted what I believed, I found my peace. I do not know if you can ever love me again, but at least I have learned who I am and that if I cannot have you, I need have no one.”
“You do know you are not being fair, do you not? How can I resist a woman whom all my staff think is wonderful, whom my sister loves, and whom my surrogate father, Stewart, obviously believes I should marry. You have made it clear to all you would be a superior mistress and probably even charmed some of my tenants. Then you stand there, looking gorgeous, with your hair down, and your eyes sparkling, telling me you love me. Will you tell me how you expect me to resist you?”
She gave him one of her most beautiful smiles. “Sir, if you are foolish enough to come into the siren’s den, you must be prepared for her to exert whatever charms she has.”
Suddenly he stepped forward and gathered her in his arms, pulling her head against his chest and putting his face in her hair, breathing in the lavender scent on her he loved so much. “I am so sorry, Elizabeth. I was such an arrogant fool when I asked for your hand. I tried to convince myself you were not right for me, but if you think you have been miserable, you cannot imagine how miserable I have been. You are right. We were destined for each other, and the last few months have made that clear to me. I think I would have died had you left tomorrow without seeing me.”
She leaned back and looked him in the eyes. “May I assume you love me and would be willing to compromise us by kissing me?”
He smiled. “For the rest of our lives, Elizabeth.” And he lowered his head to kiss her. She stood on her tiptoes, put her arms around his neck, and instinctively deepened the kiss, even though she had never kissed a man before. After what seemed like hours, he drew away from her, dropped to his knees, and said, “Miss Elizabeth Anne Bennet, will you marry me, live with me the rest of our lives, and bear our children?”
She leaned down and kissed his head, with tears in her eyes. “I will and will thank God every day that we have found our way to each other. I do not know how I could have lived if you married another.”
He took a ring out of his pocket and placed it on her finger. “This was my grandmother’s ring. She gave it to me to give to the love of my life. There is a necklace that goes with it. As soon as anyone sees it who knows our family, they will know you are to be my wife. And I want to show it to everyone, whether they approve of you or not. I could not imagine life without you, once I met you.”
“I think we should go downstairs now. I suspect everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what has transpired. Do you think they will know?”
“They may not know, but everyone from my sister to the lowest footman hopes you are to be our mistress. Mrs. Reynolds talked some sense into me. I might not have come up if it were not for her.”
They left the room and went down the hall, with her arm through his. Parker, the butler, saw them when they came into the hall and immediately went into the family sitting room, where the others were gathered. “Excuse me, everyone, but I believe you are about to receive news which will make you most happy. Please excuse me, as I rush off to find Mrs. Reynolds.”
Shortly after he left, Darcy escorted Elizabeth into the room and to everyone there, it was obvious they were glowing with happiness. Without them saying anything, Kitty and Georgiana both jumped up and ran over to them. Kitty threw her arms around Elizabeth and Georgiana threw her arms around Darcy. “We knew it had to be, Will. There is no one else like Lizzie.”
“No, there is not, Georgie. I have always known that. It just took time for us to understand we were meant be together.”
“I am so happy, Lizzie,” said Kitty. “I so wanted Will and Georgie to be my brother and sister.”
The girls then switched who they were hugging and expressed their pleasure again. Meanwhile, Dr. Stewart arose and came over to congratulate them. Elizabeth let go of Georgiana, and threw her arms around him. “I know this is probably not proper, Stewart, but thank you for encouraging me. I did exactly what you suggested, and it was the correct thing to do. I believe this would have happened anyway, but I think my taking your advice hastened it.”
Dr. Stewart smiled at her and said, “I will have to congratulate you more often. This is a very pleasant reward. I suspected when he walked in the room that this might happen. And I look forward to delivering your first child.”
Elizabeth, thinking of all that implied, blushed and said, “I look forward to that event also, Stewart.”
While all the congratulations were being given, Parker reentered the room with Mrs. Reynolds. When Elizabeth saw Mrs. Reynolds, she extracted herself from Dr. Stewart, went to Mrs. Reynolds, and took her hands. “Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds, for whatever you said to him. I believe you and Stewart gave us the push we needed to realize our dreams.”
“It was so obvious to all of us that you and Mr. Darcy were meant to be a couple. I believe it was inevitable that it happen, but I am glad we might have helped hasten the process. The staff and I look forward to you being our mistress. We could not have imagine a better one.”
“And may I second that opinion, Miss Elizabeth,” said Parker. “We have been hoping for years that Mr. Darcy would find a woman he considered acceptable. I believe his wait has been rewarded admirably.”
“Thank you both for your good wishes. I am certainly looking forward to being a part of this wonderful household.”
“Have you decided when and where you will be married, Will,” asked Georgiana after they were all seated.
He looked at Elizabeth and shrugged. “We have not had time yet to discuss it, however, I hope it will be soon.”
“I had assumed we would marry in Meryton, but will the guest list have many peers
?”
“Yes, I am afraid it should. From my family, there would be a Marquess and Marchioness: the Marquess of Willingham and his wife. They are my next door neighbor and he is my uncle. My closest aunt and uncle are the Earl and Duchess of Matlock and their son and his wife are the Viscount and Viscountess Gladney. Our neighbors and close friends are the Baron and Baroness Monttard, and one of my closest friends is the Earl of Weatherstone.”
“Then I believe we should hold the wedding here or in London. Meryton does not have accommodations to suit such important personages.”
“I hoped you might be willing to hold it here. I would like our staff and tenants and the local gentry to be able to attend. We could be married in the ballroom and then have a wedding ball there in the evening. All of the guests from London and Meryton could probably be accommodated here.”
“Then here it shall be. We can start having the banns read this Sunday, can we not?”
“We can, but I can also obtain a special license from my uncle’s cousin, who is a bishop in the church.”
“I think I can wait the three weeks necessary to have the banns read. But do we not need to hurry to Hertfordshire and London to inform my parents and your family?”
“Yes, I suppose we do. I am not looking forward to a trip back having just come from there, but I suppose we should tell everyone as soon as possible. We can have the banns posted and read this Sunday and then leave for London and Hertfordshire.”
Chapter 11: Surprises in Hertfordshire
When the Darcy carriage pulled into the drive at Hertfordshire, the family was eating lunch and so Darcy and Elizabeth let themselves in the house. When they walked into the dining room, Mr. Bennet was the first to see them. “Look who is home, looking very pleased with herself and escorted by a young man we all know well. Welcome to Longbourn, Mr. Darcy. I rather expected we might see more of you. Are Kitty and Miss Darcy not with you?”
“No, Papa, they are not. We are making a quick trip to inform family and close friends of our engagement and to invite them to our wedding.”
“Engagement! Your wedding!” exclaimed Mrs. Bennet. “You are engaged to be married?”
“That is rather implied, Mrs. Bennet, if they are to have a wedding,” said Mr. Bennet. “Was it difficult to convince him you should be a couple, Lizzie?”
“It took almost five minutes, once I finally saw her,” quipped Darcy with a smile. “After all those months of waiting for her to recognize we were meant for each other, I was not going to give her a chance to change her mind.”
Jane and Mary both jumped up and hurried to Elizabeth to give her a hug. Much to their surprise, Darcy required they hug him also. Mrs. Bennet was also quick to embrace them, but Lydia seemed to do it almost reluctantly. Finally Mr. Bennet approached them and hugged Elizabeth. “It seems, Lizzie, that all your worries were not necessary. I cannot imagine that once Darcy admitted he loved you, he could forget that love.”
“You are absolutely correct about that, Mr. Bennet. I tried to deny it, but found it was not possible.”
“You have loved Lizzie for a long time?” asked an astounded Mary.
“Yes, Miss Mary, starting a week or two after I first met her. It just took her some months to discover she loved me.”
As he finished saying that, Mr. Bennet took Darcy’s hand and shook it. “Mr. Darcy, I can honestly say there a few men in England I think are worthy of Lizzie, but I believe you are one of them. I know you do not need my blessing, but you certainly have it. Of course, I am sure Lizzie has told you I gave her my blessing when she went to visit Kitty.”
“She neglected to tell me until today, as we were approaching Meryton, and I was happy to hear it. I know many around here think poorly of me.”
“I believe that error has been rectified. The falseness of Mr. Wickham’s story is now generally known and they are all impressed with what you are doing for Kitty. Also, it was discovered Mr. Wickham did incur some debts he could not pay immediately, and the Colonel has promised the merchants his pay will be docked until his debts are paid.”
“Did he try to take advantage of any young ladies?”
“Not that we know about, but I imagine most families would try to keep it quiet if he had.”
“Enough about that horrible Mr. Wickham. When do you want to be married, Lizzie,” asked Mrs. Bennet. “We need to reserve the church and begin with wedding planning.”
“I am sorry, Mama, but the wedding will be at Pemberley. There will be many peers of the realm at the wedding and Meryton just does not have the accommodations to suit them. You will, of course, all be invited to Pemberley and will stay in the mansion with us. It has 35 guest rooms, so there is plenty of room for our guests. We hope to be married within a month.”
“Oh, dear. I so wanted to have the wedding here and be able to host a wedding breakfast. Are you sure you could not have it here?”
“Yes, Mama, we are sure. We have a large ballroom at Pemberley, many very fine guest rooms, a huge formal dining room, and other amenities which the upper class expects. I am sure you will greatly enjoy your visit to Pemberley. However, at this minute, we would appreciate some lunch. We have not eaten since early this morning. Do you have enough to accommodate us, or should we go into Meryton.”
“Do not be silly, Lizzie. I am surprised you would ask. We always have more than enough. Please sit and we will see you are given place settings.”
Once all were seated, Jane said, “There is another source of big news, for which I believe we may thank Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley has reopened Netherfield Park and has begun calling on me again.”
“Jane, that is wonderful. Will told me he had spoken to Mr. Bingley and we wondered what he would do. May I assume you accepted his excuses and were pleased to see him return?”
“I am pleased because he recognized he did wrong and wished to change the perception we had developed of him. It is still to be determined whether anything will come of it, but I was impressed that he was willing to commit to another year’s lease just to try to win my favor. I am sure he will want you to stay with him, Mr. Darcy, if you are staying the night. We certainly had no inkling you would become engaged and be here. We thought Lizzie was supposed to be gone before you returned to Pemberley.”
“I thought that also, Miss Bennet, but Kitty and Georgiana had other ideas. They decided Elizabeth and I should be married, so they arranged it so she was still there when I returned. I suppose we should have been upset at them for their deception, but in the end, we could do nothing but kiss and thank them. As for staying the night, we intend to continue to London after lunch. As Elizabeth said, it is a quick trip. We well stop by for lunch again in a few days on our way to Pemberley.”
“Are you worried about being mistress of an estate like Pemberley, Lizzie,” asked Jane.
Darcy chuckled and replied, “As a matter of fact, the entire staff at Pemberley wanted me to propose to Elizabeth. In just eleven short days, she completely won them over, particularly the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, who has been as a mother to us since my mother died, and Dr. Stewart, our friend and staff physician, who has been as a surrogate father since my father died. They believe she will be a wonderful mistress and essentially told me I was crazy if I did not ask her to marry me.”
Mr. Bennet chuckled, “That sounds like my Lizzie.”
“But back to you, Jane. Is Caroline acting as mistress of Netherfield again?” asked Elizabeth.
“No, his Aunt Ada, whose home is in Bath, is the mistress, at least until the end of the year. He seems to have matured and taken charge of his family. He has arranged for Caroline to receive her dowry and told her she must find her own way in the world. He will no longer allow her to live with him or give her an allowance from his resources. He is also being much more active in the management of his mills, which his uncles and cousins run on a day by day basis. He intends to spend time learning to be an estate manager and actually managing Netherfield for much of the year, but will spend
a few months each year in Scarborough overseeing the mills. He does not intend to buy a London townhouse, nor does he expect to be active in the ton.”
“That sounds promising. What would you think of spending time in Scarborough a few months out of the year?”
“I know little of Scarborough, so I have no opinion of how I would like it. I cannot imagine it is any worse than London, but who knows. It does have the advantage of having some of his family there, who he assures me are, for the most part, quite pleasant.”
They spoke more during lunch about the upcoming nuptials and Bingley’s courting of Jane. Shortly after lunch, they were once again on their way to London.
Chapter 12: Relatives and Friends
The Darcy carriage pulled into the drive at Willingham Mansion just before 6:30 and Lady Penelope, Lord Willingham’s 20 year old daughter, came out the door to greet them as they exited the carriage. “Father told us you were coming, William, and said you would have a lady with you whom we needed to put up for a few days.”
“Yes, Penny, may I introduce Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth, this is Lady Penelope Sutherland. She is the eldest daughter of my uncle, Lord Sutherland, the Marquess of Willingham.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Miss Elizabeth. You are not what I was expecting, but now that I have seen you, I believe I know what you are to William and why you are to stay with us.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Lady Penelope. I am looking forward to staying with you. Will has told me much about you.”
“Ah, Will is it. Then I am sure I know what you are. William, I did not believe you were ever going to marry. I can see you waited for the most beautiful woman you could find. And congratulations, Miss Elizabeth. You have caught a wonderful prize.”
“I know that, Lady Penelope, but please, could you call me Lizzie.”
“I would be happy to do that, and you must call me Penny. Now let us go in and surprise the rest of the family, except father, of course, whom I am sure you told why Lizzie had to stay here.”
