I Met Mr Darcy Via Luton

by Fredrica Edward

  After a short but passionate smooch, Darcy drew back, his eyes rather unfocused. "I'd better go," he said reluctantly.

  She nodded, not able to find her tongue.

  Darcy slid sideways to the edge of the bed, knowing Elizabeth's eyes were still fixed on him. Suppressing a grin, he tugged his sheet out from under the blanket, and with only a token effort to preserve his modesty and her maidenly sensibilities, wrapped it round himself like a toga.

  Elizabeth was treated with a brief glimpse of his butt.

  Pulling the remaining covers into a bundle over one shoulder, Darcy gave her an air kiss and disappeared into the wardrobe.

  Chapter 63: Christmas

  When Darcy arrived at his bedchamber, Finn was already knocking around in his dressing room. His valet didn't lift an eyebrow when Darcy stepped out of his wardrobe wearing half his bedcovers.

  "Could you help me make this bed look like it's been slept in, Finn?" asked Darcy.

  "I'll attend to it while you use the commode, sir," replied Finn. "I've laid your breeches and small clothes out as usual.

  By the time Darcy returned, bare-chested, Finn had made the bed and thrown the covers back. "I think it would be best if you lay in it, sir, while I prepare your shaving water. It will look more convincing."

  "Finn, you are a life-saver."

  When Darcy arrived downstairs, he found Elizabeth at breakfast with his cousin.

  "So, Miss Elizabeth," said the colonel, "you had no idea you were walking a hellhound!"

  "Indeed, not," replied Elizabeth, "I thought Argos was rather a sweet dog with a few bad habits which included chasing rabbits."

  "Good morning," said Darcy, walking into the morning room with the devil in question in trail. "I take it you are relating the unfortunate incident of Miss Bingley's hat."

  "I'm terribly sorry," replied Elizabeth. "I should not laugh, but I do not think I've seen anything so funny since my father's goat destroyed a kapok mattress which Hill had laid over the fence to air."

  "Ah! Well, given Argos and your father's goat have only had a chance at a short turn-up, we clearly need to get them together for a sparring match," said the colonel. "The entertainment possibilities are endless."

  "I dread to think of the outcome," replied Darcy, remembering with a shudder the way Argos had sent feathers flying yesterday.

  "Nonsense," said the colonel. "A goat that destroys pianos and mattresses is the stuff of legends. What, by the way, Miss Elizabeth, is the goat's name?"

  "Why, Billy, of course," replied Elizabeth. "Does anybody bother to name a goat?"

  "Of course!" said the colonel. "In Derbyshire all well-loved goats have names."

  "Such as?"

  "Now you have caught me telling lies," he admitted. "I don't think we even have a goat."

  "I suggest it should be called Capricious," said Darcy as a plate of ham and eggs was placed in front of him.

  Elizabeth and Richard exchanged a glance and groaned.

  Too soon the trunks were being loaded onto the coach, and after a heartfelt goodbye to Jane and her brother-in-law, Elizabeth followed Mary and Georgiana into the carriage. The Darcys had opted to accompany the Bennets as far as St Albans, the usual place the sisters transferred to the Bennet carriage after visiting the Gardiners. Darcy mounted his horse as escort.

  Upon reaching the posting inn, they found the Bennet carriage waiting. The ostler quickly set about harnessing the team, ready for them to depart. As the horses were brought out from the stable, Georgiana and Mary watched the preparations from the coffee room whence the landlord had ushered them to try his wife's scones. Darcy had motioned for Elizabeth to stay in the carriage before climbing in, closing the doors and blinds.

  "Elizabeth, I will count the days until we are together again. Please relieve my suffering, and name the day you will be mine."

  "Fitzwilliam, I, too, am eager to be with you, but I must also honour my commitment to the hospital. As soon as Dr Gregory's new partner is up to scratch, my conscience will be satisfied."

  "I pray, then, that he is a quick learner," said Darcy, sighing.

  He drew Elizabeth into his embrace, intending to be quite chaste; but his fiancée's proximity proved too much for him when his lips found hers. She returned his affection eagerly and things were getting a little heated when there was a knock on the carriage door.

  "Brother! The Bennet carriage is ready to depart!"

  They broke apart hastily.

  Quickly checking her bonnet, Elizabeth found it askew. After straightening her hat and tucking a few curls that had escaped behind her ear; she glanced around to discover with some alarm that her lace tucker was lying on the seat. Upon replacing it, she looked up to find her betrothed staring at her leg, and following his line of sight, saw her dress was rucked up over her knee.

  "I'm sorry," said Darcy, "I think I…"

  Elizabeth saw the ribbon of her left garter was untied and realised his hand must have snagged it on his way up her leg. She retied it quickly and pulled her skirts down. Fortunately Georgiana hadn't yet opened the door. Hoping she looked respectable, Elizabeth moved to get up.

  "Wait!" said Darcy. He quickly adjusted her bonnet and retied the ribbon to disguise the damage to her coiffure.

  Touching her fingers to his lips, she silently thanked him before opening the door. Georgiana was standing well back from it, smiling sweetly at her. What a gem of a sister!

  After Elizabeth descended from the Darcy coach; Darcy jumped down after her to help her into the waiting carriage.

  The Darcys watched the Bennets depart for Longbourn before climbing back into their coach, whereupon a groom mounted Darcy's horse.

  Georgiana held her brother's hand on the way back to Mayfair while he looked rather disconsolately out the window, remembering how he had held her hand thus all the way back from Ramsgate after the Wickham affair.

  Arriving back at Longbourn, Mrs Bennet, Kitty and Lydia greeted the carriage enthusiastically and could hardly wait to see the purchases the travellers had made. Mr Bennet was glad to see his daughters, taking the trouble of coming out to the vestibule when he heard the racket; but after briefly greeting them, he retreated to his library, being supremely disinterested in shopping. Once the trunks were brought in, the booty was displayed to the satisfaction of all concerned. Mrs Bennet called for tea, insisting on descriptions of all the finery that had been ordered.

  After dinner, Mr Bennet cadged a game of chess from a slightly weary Elizabeth, which, to his great satisfaction, he won. During the game, Lizzy related the tale of Miss Bingley's hat and proffered Mr Darcy's suggested moniker for the goat. Mr Bennet laughed and began to think that his future son-in-law might not be such a bad chap after all. Who would have thunk Mr Darcy had a sense of humour? Trust his Lizzy to bring it out!

  On Sunday, Mrs Bennet and her four unmarried daughters went to the Sunday service as usual while Mr Bennet drank port in his library. Thus did serene normality return to Longbourn.

  On Monday, it was back to work at Netherfield. Lizzy discussed every aspect of management of the hospital with Dr Gregory in an attempt to prepare him for her departure. She documented the projects that were still in train–the most complicated of which was the hydropathy pool. They had decided that enclosing the porte-cochère was the most sensible option, and a letter was drafted seeking Darcy's permission for the alteration.

  At afternoon tea, Elizabeth succeeded in making Dr Gregory blush when she suggested buying sheaths for the dispensary. He had turned a bright shade of scarlet, which outdid his very red hair. After regaining his composure, he quietly replied that he thought it was a good idea while carefully concentrating on stirring his tea.

  On Tuesday, when Lizzy had driven to the fever hospital in Meryton to deal with a problem with the plumbing, Lieutenant Entwistle collapsed after having a bath. Responding to the caterwauling of the village women, Lydia had raced in quite heedlessly to attend him. She had panicked momentarily when she found him
sprawled naked on the bathroom floor, thinking he might be dead.

  Once she had found the lieutenant's pulse, Lydia grew calmer and sat down next to him on the floor to wait for help. It had been several minutes before one of the village women had the presence of mind to throw a towel over him to protect his modesty. Lydia could not help notice his body, which despite its mauled state was still handsome. Besides a troublesome wound in his thigh, there were numerous other scars and the stump of his missing arm, which had been removed below the elbow. This was usually hidden by the sleeve of his jacket. Without really understanding why, she felt tears pooling in her eyes and blinked them back. Then, overcome with emotion, she burst out laughing. It had occurred to her that the lieutenant probably couldn't have cared less that he was naked in front of a bunch of women. The towel assuaged their modesty, not his. Heavens, where were the footmen?

  When it transpired that the footmen were off on other errands, Lydia and one of the village women managed to help the Lieutenant to his bed once he regained consciousness. After one of the footmen finally returned, a message was sent to Dr Gregory, who was still at the infirmary.

  Taking one look at the lieutenant once he arrived, Dr Gregory immediately decided to bleed him from the thigh near the side of a deep wound from which a musket ball had been extracted. The wound had closed over, but refused to properly heal. The doctor looked grave when he finally retreated from the lieutenant's bed, pulling the curtains closed behind him. He instructed Lydia to make sure the lieutenant did not get up: his leg needed to be rested. She should give him more laudanum to settle him should he become restless.

  Towards the evening of that day, the lieutenant became delirious, urging his horse on and yelling battle cries. He tried to rise from his bed and had to be held down by Lydia and Lieutenant Harboard. Eventually he subsided, and they were able to get more laudanum done his throat.

  Lydia had never seen a man so afflicted. When Elizabeth had come to take her home, Lydia had refused to leave Lieutenant Entwistle's side while he was in such a state, begging Elizabeth to stay with her at Netherfield for propriety's sake. Dr Gregory was fetched and consulted. When the ladies expressed their wish to stay to nurse the patient, suggesting they take turns in sitting by the lieutenant's bedside, Dr Gregory offered them the use of the master's chambers and had a cot set up in the library for himself. He wanted to be nearby if there was a crisis. A note was sent to Longbourn, and the ladies stayed overnight, subsequently continuing to nurse Lieutenant Entwistle between their other duties.

  Over the next few days, as the lieutenant lay in bed, slipping in and out of consciousness. Captain Kirkby took to sitting with him when the Bennet sisters could not. The two soldiers did not know each other well, having only been passing acquaintances in the Peninsula, but when the lieutenant was lucid, they exchanged reminiscences of each battle–where they had been and what they had seen. Lieutenant Harboard visited several times a day but did not stay for long. It pained him to see his vivacious friend laid low.

  Despite their attentions, Lieutenant Entwistle died two days before Christmas. After attending a very hasty funeral on the morning of Christmas Eve, Lydia spent the rest of the day crying in her room.

  The Gardiners had decided to spend Christmas in London. Bingley and Jane had been invited to Gracechurch Street for Christmas dinner, and the invitation was extended to their hosts at Darcy house, Darcy and Georgiana. The colonel had long since disappeared on some military errand.

  Bingley's visit to Caroline had resulted in her promising to respond to his letters, but his relationship with his sisters remained strained, and he did not visit Hurst's townhouse on Christmas or Boxing Day.

  Christmas at Longbourn was a subdued affair. The absence of Jane and the Gardiners, as well as Lieutenant Entwistle's death, cast a pall over the celebrations. Lizzy wished they had fetched a tree, a tradition that Mrs Gardiner had started, but which had not been pursued in her absence. Instead, Kitty's decorations had been arrayed along the mantelpiece.

  When they opened their presents, Mary handed Elizabeth a box with a note tucked in the wrapping. Lizzy realised as soon as she saw the seal that it was from Darcy. It was a beautiful journal bound in red kid. Retreating to her room before lunch, Lizzy placed it on her desk and walked round it three times just to admire it. After thinking long and hard about how to do it justice, she carefully wrote her name in it, leaving a space at the end, so she could add 'Darcy' once she was wed.

  On Boxing Day, Dr Gregory arrived at Longbourn with his new junior partner, Dr Howie, in tow.

  It only took two days at the hospital with Dr Howie for Elizabeth to realize that he was the perfect foil for Dr Gregory. Dr Howie was careful and meticulous. He assimilated what she had achieved so far quickly and then brought to bear the training he had received in Glasgow after graduating from Edinburgh. He marvelled at her inventive solutions, particularly the plans for the construction of the hydropathy pool. The likely cost of this might have daunted him from even contemplating such a project, but he saw it could be brought to fruition for a very reasonable price, thanks to the clever use of the existing structure. While Dr Gregory continued to dream his dreams, and scheme to make these dreams a reality, Dr Howie proceeded to take care of all the details.

  The two doctors decided to divide responsibility for the existing patients by choosing a primary and secondary carer for each, so that long-term decisions were not in dispute, but a relief carer was always available should a spot decision have to be made in an emergency. Two weeks into the new year, knowing the management of the hospital was in good hands, Elizabeth wrote to her fiancée, suggesting their nuptials take place a month hence.

  Madame Bouchet sent down her top assistant from London for the final fitting of the wedding dress and half-a-dozen of the other gowns. The rest would be fitted in London at Elizabeth's convenience.

  Chapter 64: The wedding

  Early in February, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, second daughter of the Squire of Longbourn, wed Fitzwilliam Darcy in the village church.

  As Lizzy walked down the aisle on her father's arm, she was conscious of the immense number of people in the church. Not only did the entire village seem to be present, she recognised some tradesmen from Meryton. Sir William Lucas was on the bride's side, smiling beatifically at some exceedingly well-dressed persons on the groom's side, whom she had never laid eyes on before.

  "That lady," whispered her father as they continued down the aisle, "with the hat to rival your mother's, is Lady Louisa Stuart. She is the sister of the Earl of Bute."

  Elizabeth was rather astonished that the pink of the Ton in the vicinity of Hertfordshire had deigned to attend her wedding, before remembering that Darcy had mentioned that Lady Fitzwilliam and her party was staying at Luton Hoo.

  She nodded absently to her father, her attention focused on her betrothed, who looked impossibly tall and handsome standing at the altar. Beside him was his cousin, resplendent in his best set of regimentals and wearing a dress sword. She supposed it might come in handy if the villagers rioted… or Lady Catherine objected… But no, Elizabeth saw with relief that she, at least, was not present on the groom's side…

  As she approached Darcy, Elizabeth was able to discern the slightly bemused expression on his face that made him look somewhat like he'd just been knocked on the head. She supposed he was nervous too and gave him a sweet smile. His eyes refocused as he swallowed, and his dimples appeared in reply. He really looked impossibly handsome when he smiled. She would have to encourage him to do so more often.

  Arriving at the altar in high flutter, Elizabeth handed her bouquet to Lydia, while Georgiana and Kitty helped arrange her skirts as she knelt at the prayer rail beside her betrothed. She thought having more than one bridesmaid ridiculous, but neither Kitty nor Lydia would yield, and when she had suggested that she would have Jane as a maid of honour instead, there were howls of protest. Elizabeth had caved when Georgiana had added her pleas to those of her sisters. The three o
f them were dressed in white gowns with yellow ribbons at their waists to match the daisies on Elizabeth's gown.

  It was just as well Elizabeth had relented–poor Jane had not been able to make it. Lizzy had received a missive from her sister yesterday saying that Charles had been caught up at the foundry with some problem.

  When Mr Delaney stepped forward, Mary brought the music to an end. The parson nodded to Georgiana, reminding her that he wanted Elizabeth's face uncovered as she said her vows. Georgie stooped to grasp the daisies at the edge of the veil and carefully lifted the front over Elizabeth's head so that it hung from the peineta down her back.

  Raising his hands, the parson intoned, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony…"

  Beside Elizabeth, Darcy shifted nervously on his knees, conscious of all the eyes on his back. He could hear his heart beating in his ears by the time the rector arrived at:

  "Fitzwilliam George Lowell Darcy, wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?"

  Darcy looked earnestly at Elizabeth and responded, "I will."

  "Elizabeth Frances Bennet…," Mr Delaney continued.

  But she was lost in Darcy's dark brown eyes, and that was all Elizabeth heard until the parson stopped and looked at her expectantly, and she said, "I will."

  They both managed to repeat their vows flawlessly.

  When Colonel Fitzwilliam passed the ring, Darcy took Elizabeth's delicate hand, encapsulating it within his long elegant fingers, saying as he slid the ring onto her finger, "With this ring, I thee wed, with my body, I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods, I thee endow: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."