Chapter 20
The two women were preparing to go for a walk in the garden, when the door opened and the housekeeper entered. “I’m sorry to bother you, Miss Charlotte. Mr. Darcy is here to see his wife.”
Charlotte and Elizabeth looked at each other in shock. Charlotte attempted to recover her senses quickly when Darcy pushed past the housekeeper and came toward them. Elizabeth blinked at Darcy as he approached, scanning his handsome features. He held out a bouquet of fresh flowers toward her and smiled brightly.
“I thought I would find you here. I’ve brought something for you to share with your friend.”
Elizabeth slowly took the flowers, gazing fondly at the bright, beautiful colors. “Thank you, Darcy,” she said breathlessly. She looked at Charlotte. “May I find a vase to put these in?”
“Why of course, Lizzie, get them in water as quickly as you can. You’ll find a few extra empty vases in the foyer closet.”
“I’ll be back directly.”
“Tell one of the maids to get a cup of water for you, as well. We don’t want them to dehydrate.”
“Thank you, Charlotte.”
Charlotte looked up at Darcy, admiring his handsome face. “Would you care to sit for tea, Mr. Darcy? We’ve just finished but the kettle is still hot and there’s a clean cup on the tray, as I was expecting another friend today who couldn’t come. There are some cookies left as well. We were about to take a walk in the garden.”
“I’ll take a cup of tea, thank you, Miss Charlotte. I don’t want to keep you from your walk, however.”
“You came to see Elizabeth. May I ask if you have news you wish to share with her?”
“I do not.”
“You came just to see her?”
Darcy’s eyebrows shot up. He sat on the couch the two women had just left. Charlotte sat in the chair opposite it on the other side of the table that held the tea cups and cookies. She poured his tea and held the cup out to him as he spoke. “Must I have a reason for seeking the attention of my wife?”
Charlotte felt slightly uncomfortable, as if she had brought up a subject she shouldn’t have been talking about with him. “Not at all. It’s just surprising, as I know you’re a busy man.”
Darcy nodded. “As fate would have it, I had a business meeting with someone in the area and decided to drop in when I saw my wife’s carriage in the front of your home.”
“That’s always a good sign that she’s visiting,” Charlotte smiled.
“I suppose you’ve done plenty of talking about me, have you not?”
Again, Charlotte felt uncomfortable, and blushed deeply. He nodded.
“I can see I’m right.”
“We’ve said nothing untoward, I promise.” Charlotte wanted to tell him that Elizabeth’s feelings for him had grown deep and that she was, in fact, practically in love with him at that point. But she knew it wasn’t her place to overstep her friend’s boundaries and say such a thing to her husband. It was her responsibility to let him know how she felt. Not Charlotte’s. “Your wife is quite content.”
“Is she?”
Charlotte gazed at him. “Why yes, she is.”
“She’s told you that?”
“She has,” Charlotte confirmed.
Darcy looked thoughtful and pulled in a deep breath. Charlotte scanned his face, thinking how very handsome he was. He had everything. Good looks, a hefty bank account, a gorgeous home, and a wife who was slowly falling deeply in love with him. She thought it was no wonder the man was so sure of himself. He had gotten away with saying nasty, ugly things about people in lower status than he simply because he knew he could. Now, after marrying someone in the “lower class,” he was changing, behaving in a way that showed more class and dignity.
“May I ask you something, Mr. Darcy?” Charlotte asked.
He turned his eyes to her, and she was struck by the beauty of his face.
“Surely,” he responded.
“What caused you to accept Mr. Bennet’s proposal? Why did you agree to marry Elizabeth?” Charlotte could barely believe she had been bold enough to ask the blunt questions. But her curiosity was strong and overrode her fear.
Darcy looked at her with yet another thoughtful look, and she could tell he was admiring that she had the tenacity to ask such a personal thing. He blinked several times and looked away from her, casting his gaze toward the window nearby. “To be quite honest with you, Charlotte, I’m not certain why I accepted the proposal. I hadn’t thought of Elizabeth in that way before. Though I knew Bingley and Lady Jane wouldn’t last, she, the eldest and most beautiful daughter, was taken. Or so her father thought. Therefore, I was offered Elizabeth, who is just as beautiful and smart.”
“But you’re the one who is wealthy. I doubt you got a dowry for Elizabeth and, if so, it couldn’t have been substantial. Please don’t give me details, as I ask for none from you. But I do wonder what could have made you decide to court and marry a woman who didn’t have the financial status you did. You don’t seem the type, I must say.”
“And I never would have expected to hear these questions from a lady such as yourself, Miss Charlotte. You also don’t seem the type.”
“I don’t mean to pry. I only ask these questions because I’m such dear friends with Elizabeth and I wouldn’t want to see her hurt in any way.”
Darcy nodded. “I understand what you’re saying, Miss. Truly I do. I don’t want to hurt Elizabeth. I did feel she was beneath me at the time. Perhaps I only married her on a whim.”
Charlotte’s face fell. “On a whim? That’s not a good thing, Mr. Darcy. My dear friend’s emotions shouldn’t be played with that way. Her feelings are growing for you. I do hope you don’t intend to hurt her.”
“I have no intention of hurting her. My feelings for her aren’t your business, but I will tell you that we’ve grown close since our marriage. There’s much I know about her that I didn’t know before. It’s changed my view of many things, not just class and status in society.”
“Oh?” Charlotte felt relief mixed with shock that he was being so open with her. He was watching the door for Elizabeth to return. “That’s good to hear, Mr. Darcy.”
“I plan to take good care of Elizabeth. She’s my wife. I don’t want her to be unhappy.”
“You’ve done well in marrying her, Mr. Darcy. Even if she doesn’t come from a wealthy family.”
“Her family has played a role in changing my opinion of those in a lower class than myself. They haven’t asked for a great deal of help and I’ve found myself offering assistance when they haven’t asked for it.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Charlotte was impressed. She wondered whether he had truly had a hand in making Bingley leave Jane behind. If he had, it would have been because he was different from the way he was now. She wondered how he felt about that situation, but didn’t dare ask. It wasn’t her business to ask. She felt she had already overstepped her bounds. Darcy was an older man, and deserved more respect from her. She felt compelled to ask how he felt about Elizabeth because she was such a good friend. But to pry into something that was clearly none of her business wouldn’t have reflected well on her.
“I do what I can. I feel I wasn’t in a good place when I first went to Netherfield. Perhaps I did and said a few things that were uncouth and unnecessary. It’s a shame.”
“I believe you’ve made up for any wrongdoings. You cannot be judged by your past mistakes. There’s no way to take them back or do things differently. I’m sure many of us wish we hadn’t said or done things we have.”
“Yes, I believe that’s a part of life,” Darcy nodded. She was looking up at him when Elizabeth came back in the room, and felt relief flood through her when the look on his face reflected his attraction and affection for his wife. He smiled and took a few steps toward Elizabeth, who was holding up a blue marble vase with the flowers he had given her rising from the top.
“Look, I found one that looks to be the same color as these blue fl
owers in the bouquet. Oh, this is quite beautiful, Darcy, thank you!”
“I wanted to surprise you with something nice,” Darcy said. “I’m glad I succeeded.”
“I’m very surprised,” Elizabeth cried with a smile. “Yes, very surprised. Thank you again.”
Chapter 21
Instead of going for a walk with Charlotte, Elizabeth was encouraged by her friend to go for a walk with her husband. Upon entering the room, Elizabeth was surprised to see the two of them talking. The smile on Charlotte’s face when she came back in with the flowers surprised her. As it ended up, Darcy asked to go on the walk with them and Charlotte said she would let them have some alone time.
Elizabeth wondered what was going on but agreed to the idea. As they walked through Charlotte’s garden around her house, she listened to Darcy talking about the various flowers, trees, and shrubs as if he had once been a landscaper or lawn-keeper.
“Darcy, are you feeling well?” she finally asked, keeping her voice light.
“Of course, why do you ask?”
“You’re not being yourself today.”
Darcy shook his head. “Your friend, Miss Charlotte, said the same thing. But I’m in a good mood and I wanted to share it with my wife.”
“What has caused this good mood? Anything I should know about or be aware of?”
Darcy was quiet for a moment. “No, nothing in particular. I’ve been feeling good and I attribute much of that to your positive character and bright personality.”
Elizabeth was covered in chills. She was proud of herself and proud that her husband recognized that she was good for him.
“Thank you, Darcy. You’ve made my day so much better with your words.”
“It’s one of the reasons I don’t wish for you to mourn for your sisters and their relationships. Yours is going well and that’s what you should concentrate on. It makes you a happier person when you don’t take on the burdens of others.”
Elizabeth’s mood soured immediately and she looked up at him, her grip on his arm tightening somewhat. “What do you mean?”
“I speak of the fact that your sisters don’t have established relationships yet.”
“You do know that Lydia has been speaking with Mr. Wickham as of late, don’t you?”
“I do know about that,” Darcy replied. “And I do hope that its destruction doesn’t cause Lydia the type of pain that Jane feels since Bingley left her.”
“What makes you think it won’t work out?”
Darcy sighed. “I don’t wish for this subject to sour our afternoon, my dear.”
“I wish to talk about it,” Elizabeth insisted. “Why do you think it won’t work out with Lydia and Wickham?”
Darcy shrugged. “As I’ve said before Wickham is a seeker of wealth, something your family doesn’t have. I’ll give them nothing to give to him, and I believe he knows that. He’s a scoundrel and always will be. God forbid your sister doesn’t see that in time.”
“You did the same thing about Jane, didn’t you?” Elizabeth asked. “When you were with the Bingleys at Netherfield, you had a hand in breaking up my sister and Mr. Bingley, didn’t you?”
Darcy looked down at her. Both could feel the mounting tension as it took over their initial good spirits. “You forget that I was with you before the two of them broke it off. I had already left Netherfield and brought you to Pemberley by that time.”
“But it was only shortly afterward that Bingley left Netherfield and Jane behind. I know you didn’t encourage their relationship. If anything, you must have done all you could to destroy it.”
“I didn’t have to do one or the other,” Darcy said. “His love life isn’t my business.”
“I’m sure the two of you spoke about it. You must have. He confided in you, didn’t he?”
“He did on several occasions,” Darcy admitted. “But whatever I told him, it had no bearing on what he ultimately did.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I was telling him long before he ended the relationship that he should do just that. And he never did. He continued to woo your sister and make it seem as though he was going to spend his life with her as her husband. Perhaps he had the idea it would somehow work and, despite the warnings he received from everyone around him, wanted to do his own thing. It was his decision to court her, not ours. It was his decision to leave her, not ours.”
“You didn’t encourage him to stay with her.”
Darcy snorted, a sound that told Elizabeth he was no longer in the happy mood he had been in. She felt sad, but also a bit irritated because of the subject matter. “I had no reason to encourage him to stay with her. She was below his status. Do you realize how miserable she would have been to have Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley as sisters-in-law? They were patronizing and boorish. They were insulting without being obvious about it. Jane’s a sweet girl who couldn’t see the bad in those girls. I merely told him what I was thinking. He didn’t take anything I said to heart, and if he did he didn’t show it.”
“You still insulted my family.”
“I insulted your family because I knew nothing about them. I know you and them much better now. Things would be different. And yet I still believe that, had I been encouraging, Bingley would have made up his own mind in the end. He wouldn’t have taken my word as council whether I encouraged or discouraged. He’s a man with a mind and will of his own. You should also know this by now. He’s not a stupid man.”
Elizabeth frowned. “He would have been a stupid man if he’d married my sister?”
Darcy sighed. “You’ve taken my words out of context, my dear. I didn’t come here to argue with you. I merely wanted to see my wife, bring her some flowers, and have a chat. I didn’t think you would insist on talking about this particular subject. I did what I needed to do because of my own opinion, and at the behest of the Bingley sisters.”
“They prompted you to discourage him?”
Darcy looked at her like she had lost her mind. “Don’t you believe that could be possible? Of course, they didn’t want Charles to marry Jane. They wanted a woman with title and with a hefty dowry.”
“How would it affect them?”
“They would have more fun with a woman who’s as shallow as they are, thinking only of money when they should be thinking about how they ‘re portrayed in society. Everyone knows they’re deceitful and manipulative. You can’t blame me for their behavior.”
“I don’t blame you for them,” Elizabeth shook her head, calming herself as best she could. “I blame them for it. I always thought there was something off about them, even when they were caring for Jane while she was at Netherfield. I would have taken an oath that Bingley seemed in love with her. He often stood up for her, and said good things about her when his sisters were less than charitable.”
“I could see that when we were all together,” Darcy mentioned quietly.
“What do you mean? What did you see?”
He looked down at her. “I’ve been watching you for some time, my dear. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to marry you. I don’t know if others could tell, but your suspicions of the Bingley sisters was quite obvious to me. I would never have mentioned it ,but you often gave them scornful looks when their backs were turned. Your contempt for them was obvious to me. You were as kind to them as you could be, and you showed them respect to their faces. But your disdain was plain when they were mentioned off-hand or when they left the room. You needn’t have said a word. I could tell.”
“You were observing me closely before you made your decision, weren’t you?”
“I was.”
“How long before I became aware of the arrangement did you know about it?”
“Only a few weeks, but it was long enough for me to observe you and get to know what you were like without asking you questions.”
“How could you be sure your assessment of me was correct?”
“I asked your father.”
Elizabeth looked up at
him in surprise. “You talked to my father about me?”
“Yes, of course I did. We had to discuss the arrangement, and he wanted to know if it would be a fit for you. He came to understand me after a short time, and we’ve had many good discussions since then. He knows much more about you than you realize, and he cares a great deal for you.”
“I know my father loves me.”
“He does.”
When their eyes met, Elizabeth felt as though he was on the verge of saying he loved her, too. She wanted to say the words. She wanted to get them out of her mouth. But she wasn’t able to. They were stuck on her tongue.
He didn’t say he loved her. She didn’t say she loved him.
But the look that passed between them told her it wouldn’t be long before she heard those words she longed for.
Chapter 22
Elizabeth and Darcy returned home and parted ways as soon as they walked in the door. Elizabeth went to her bedroom, and changed from her visiting clothes into a light dress that was more comfortable for around the house. She went from there to the library, and chose a book to read until dinnertime. Only the maid came in once to dust. Upon seeing Elizabeth, she curtsied and exited the room without performing the duty. Elizabeth was grateful. Stirring up the dust would have made her go into a sneezing fit. She detested when that happened.
She read several chapters of the book she had chosen before hearing a knock at the door. She looked up.
“Come in,” she said loudly.
The door pushed open and Darcy’s face filled the open space. He entered the room and closed the door behind him.
Elizabeth lowered her book. She was seated on a settee with both legs up beside her. She was leaning on the arm, holding her place in the book with her other hand. She stared at him curiously. He stood for a moment, standing to the side, looking down at the floor. She frowned in confusion.
“What is it, Darcy?”
“I’ve been thinking.” She watched as her husband turned and walked slowly to the chair opposite her. She continued to gaze at him. He finally pulled in a deep breath and looked up at her. “I may have overstepped my bounds with your family. I never expected my life to play out the way it has, and I’m… I’m just getting used to it the way it is. I… didn’t expect to get married. Frankly, I thought I would be a bachelor forever. I never expected any woman to live up to my expectations.”
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