Imperative: Volume 1, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice (5 page)

Richard peered out from around the chair and grinned.  “I knew that the moment I poured this fine port, you would appear.”

“I am hardly a genie.”  He nodded when Richard offered a glass, and took a long sip before sinking down into another chair.  “I understand that you just arrived?”  He eyed the open horn of snuff on the table and pointedly replaced the cap.

“Yes, I was in Dover delivering messages.”  He snorted.  “I am a well-decorated express rider.  I just did not want to return to the barracks tonight, and frankly I am pleased that the family is in Matlock since, well visiting them is largely a trial.”

“You know that my home is yours, Richard.”  Darcy smiled a little.

“Thank you.”  Richard tilted his head.  “Out with it.”

Darcy took another long sip.  “Good or bad first?”

“Oh ho!  Does this involve my parents encouraging your marriage to my sister, or our aunt demanding your marriage to our cousin?”

“Neither for the moment.”  Darcy drained his glass and held it out to be refilled.

“Something is very wrong.”  Richard sat up and poured a little.  “You do not drink like this.  You should be at Netherfield with Bingley, keeping up appearances.  What brings you to London?”

Darcy sighed and rubbed his temple before taking a drink.  “I received a letter from Aunt Susan yesterday.  It is as we feared.”

Richard swore.  “The bastard!  I will kill him! I hoped she had escaped that fate.”  He saw Darcy’s pain and reined in his tone.  “Still no proof of their marriage has surfaced?”

“I would have told you.”  Darcy snapped and seeing his cousin’s brow rise, held up his hand, “Forgive me.  How many men did we send searching for her; and how many months did we wait for word, only to find her ourselves?  I fear that the men I have sent out to Scotland are on a fool’s errand.”

“If they visit every village on the border and find no trace of a wedding, I say bless the fools.”

“But . . . she is still ruined.”

“Nobody knows that except you and I, and your Darcy relatives, oh and Wickham, of course.”  Richard spat.  “Bastard!”

“I
cannot
believe they wed.  He would have been at my door demanding her dowry in a heartbeat.  Instead we find her in that . . . hovel.”   Darcy’s voice choked.  “My sister, reduced to wearing filthy rags and trying to cook for that vermin, while only feet from the dining table is the lice-infested bed where he . . .”  He gulped the rest of his wine and coughed.  “May he rot in hell!”

“There is surely a special place for the likes of him in the devil’s lair.”  Richard took a long draw on his glass and bared his teeth.  “I will be glad to send him there when we catch up with him.  He was fortunate not to be at home when we arrived.”   His snarl disappeared when he saw Darcy’s anguish.  “I also believe that he did not marry her, Darcy.  I believe that he took her somewhere, declared that they were in Gretna Green, and paid some sop to perform a sham wedding to make her willing.”

“But why?”  Darcy lifted his head from his hands.  “Why not marry her?  Why just abuse her?  She was convinced enough of his love to run away with him.  She thought so little of me to not ask for permission to marry. She would think nothing of reciting some vow to whatever blacksmith they stood before, and that bastard anvil priest would hardly care that she was giving her life to a scoundrel if he had his fat fee in hand!” 

Richard rubbed his jaw.  “I have a feeling that Wickham knew all along that he could not marry her, and that the ceremony was a deception.  There was some other purpose behind this.”

Darcy jumped to his feet and started pacing.  “I do not understand!  Revenge against me?  Yes, that I can see, but Wickham is all about money; and the squalor they were living in . . . he was clearly out of funds!  All he would need is to conjure some proof of a wedding and he would have thirty thousand pounds, not the ten he demanded in his letter offering her return in exchange.  Very well, I agree; something else is at work here.”

“Regardless, we are still left with the consequences.”  Richard said softly and brought a halt to Darcy’s movement.  “Will you take up your uncle’s suggestion?  Marry her to Samuel?”

“No, no, she may be ruined, but she is also still fifteen.  I left her at Pemberley clutching a rag doll.”  He ran his hand through his hair and stared out the window to the small garden.  “How could I leave her only days after bringing her home?  She must think I hate her.”

“What could you do for her?  She needed a woman, not you.  Your aunt will look after her.  You had to go to Netherfield.  Bingley might not have been upset with your delay, but you know that his sisters would not rest until they found out the reason.  Now we have no choice, we must take action.”

Darcy looked to his cousin.  “Georgiana is still a child.  Perhaps Samuel is her only choice, but I will not, assuming she is free to do so, marry her off to him at fifteen.  He is only just come of age, he is in no position to take a wife, let alone one who needs such care.  Besides, he has yet to earn anything from his living.”

Richard snorted.  “That dowry will be plenty to start off their married life, and with his father one of the most prominent judges in England, do you really think that your newly minted solicitor cousin will have any trouble advancing?  He will be a barrister by this summer!”

“Uncle would make him earn his place, I am sure; he worked so hard to achieve his position.  I admire the success that he has enjoyed.”

“Yes, a second son achieving a very profitable position.”    Darcy smiled slightly at Richard who rolled his eyes.  The two cousins then simultaneously lifted their glasses and drained them.

“I wonder what Samuel’s opinion is in all of this; we have only heard your uncle’s voice.”  Reaching for the port, Richard refilled the glasses.  “What will we do?  There are no other handy relatives to take in the child.  We will have to find her a suitable husband or place her somewhere until the birth and send it away.  Surely you will not keep her at Pemberley.”

“It is her home.” 

“If she has the baby at Pemberley, then all of the world may as well know that she is ruined.  If the baby is born at your lodge in Scotland, a home might be found for it, and she could return.  Nobody would be the wiser.  She is just barely along?  So she would give birth . . .”

“In July.”  Darcy said dully.  “If it survives.”

“Let us pray for a miscarriage, then.  But we must prepare for the likelihood of its viability.”  He rubbed his jaw.  “July, you will be in Town for the Season, of course . . .”

“I will not abandon her at that hour!”  Darcy declared.  “I have done enough wrong by giving her to Mrs. Younge and Wickham!”

“Darcy, while I agree that they are vermin, you did not tell Georgiana to raise her skirt.”

He jumped up.  “How dare you say such things!” 

Richard remained seated and calm, and spoke sternly.  “I have a great deal more experience with the world than you, Cousin.  She was naive, I grant you, but she was not a child without education.  At the least she knew it was wrong to be alone with him, never mind whatever he did to elope with her.  And then from that point she believed herself to be married.”  Darcy sighed and nodded before resuming his seat.  “Very well, undoubtedly you have been thinking this over.  Have you a plan?”

“Your parents will not react well to this.  We might be able to hide her from the world for the length of the pregnancy, but not from family, they are already making noises about visiting for Christmas.”

“I know, I have heard them.  They just want to look at Pemberley, you know.  They have not forgiven you for not letting them guide you after Uncle George died, let alone not wanting to marry my sister. Five years later and I still hear the grumbling that you were too young to inherit.  They are still bitter that you turned to your Uncle Darcy.”

“He lives in the dower house, he grew up in Pemberley House.”  Darcy rubbed his temple again as the old battle resurrected itself in his mind.  “He had no daughter to marry off to me.”

“Ah.”  Richard smiled.  “He was a safe relative to approach for guidance.”  Darcy glanced at him and closed his eyes as he nodded.  “I do not anticipate with joy my parents’ reaction upon learning of Georgiana’s elopement, recovery, and pregnancy, nor their ignorance of when it all occurred.”

“They will claim that Georgiana failed because there is no mentoring influence at Pemberley.  That you and I are incapable of raising a young girl, and our judgement in hiring a companion was clouded by our instincts to have a conveniently attractive female in the house for our own pleasure.”

Richard’s brows rose. “Actually I never really thought of that, Mrs. Younge is quite attractive.” 

“I believe that your father bedded your governess for years.”  Darcy said quietly.

“Pardon?”

“Father told me.”  Darcy said simply.  “So it would be quite reasonable for Uncle to suspect me of the same, and of course for sharing with you.”

“Yes, he would think that.”  Richard sighed.  “So, they would demand that you marry Cathy to become a responsible gentleman, Georgiana likely saddled with an army of companions if Mother does not demand that she take her in hand herself . . . and the child?”

“God knows what would become of it.  I can see your mother ordering it sent to a foundling home within hours of birth.”

“Yes, so could I.  Aunt Catherine would undoubtedly have a similar reaction regarding Anne.”

“Undoubtedly.”  Darcy grimaced at the thought of marrying that cousin. “I will therefore delay announcing this news as long as possible, agreed?”

“Very well, I can bear the screaming if you will offer me bed and board when I am summarily disinherited.”  Richard smirked.

“I pray it does not come to that.”  He sighed and looked at the liquid swirling in his glass.  “This child is my blood, even if it shares Wickham’s as its father, it is still a Darcy.  If the pregnancy goes to term; if Georgiana survives . . .” Darcy’s voice died away, and he saw Richard’s question.  “She is so young, Mother lost six children, and she died with Georgiana.  It is not an unreasonable supposition that something may not go well.”

Richard closed his eyes and acknowledged the truth that this would be a very dangerous experience for Georgiana.  “What have you decided to do?”

“I have decided to take a spectacular step, one that will infuriate our relatives, and hopefully distract them from Georgiana for a time.”  He paused and dove in to the news.   “I am engaged to be married.  My wife and I will raise the child as our own; we will behave as if my wife gave birth to it.”  Darcy looked up to see the astonishment in Richard’s face. 

“
When
did this happen?  Have you been courting anyone?  I have heard nothing of it.”

“No.”  He sighed and looked down.  “She is a lovely, intelligent, and kind young woman.  I like her.”  He laughed without mirth.  “She is quite tolerable.”

“Who is she?”

“Her name is Elizabeth Bennet.  I . . . I compromised her this morning and proposed.”

“Good Lord.”  Richard stared.   “May I ask how your compromising this girl is any different from Wickham’s actions towards Georgiana?”

Darcy flushed.  “I kissed her and proposed before Bingley and his sisters!”

“You and Wickham both had the goal of marrying in mind!”   Richard pointed out.

“She has nothing, Richard.  A horrible family, save one sister, no heir to the estate, connections to trade, a practically non-existent dowry . . . I am not Wickham.  I came to London to prepare a generous settlement for her and purchase a special license.”

“And you only
like
her?”  Richard stared.

“I . . .”

“Do not try to tell me that your goals were noble and therefore excusable.”  He saw Darcy’s head hang.  “If Georgiana’s child is male and you carry through with this ill-formed charade, it would be your heir!  You have not thought this through!”

“It would have Darcy blood . . .”

“NOT YOURS!”

“Darcy blood would be in Pemberley.  If I died without a child, Georgiana’s son would be the heir anyway.  Father and I rewrote the conditions of the entailment when I came of age.”  He looked up to see Richard’s astonishment.  “Father felt that Georgiana’s sex should not stop her from inheriting, I admired his forward thinking and supported it absolutely.”

“But you are marrying this lowly gentlewoman, she
is
a gentlewoman, at least?”  Seeing his nod he drove on relentlessly.  “And one day when your first son is born, he would be denied his rights.  I am a second son, Darcy.  Granted, being the second son of an Earl is no hardship, but it is not being Viscount either.  You have effectively disinherited your own flesh and blood before he is conceived!  And speaking of conception, you will have to remain celibate for . . . what, nine months or more?  Until your false child is christened and your virgin wife is churched!”

“I understand the requirements and I pray for a girl.”  Darcy stared at his hands, feeling his heart break for his nonexistent son.  “I cannot abandon blood; I cannot refuse my father’s grandchild a home.”

Richard shook his head at his cousin’s obstinacy.  “This girl, this person you dug up to marry.  Why?  Why not at least someone from our circle?”

“What woman do you know who would agree to marry nearly instantly and with the knowledge that she must put on a sham pregnancy and not see her own child as the possible heir?”  Darcy looked up at him.  “I want a woman with compassion, who would be Georgiana’s friend.  Elizabeth Bennet has displayed her loyalty and care for family admirably.”

“A companion could do for that.  This is your entire life; your choice of wife is an incredibly important decision.  You, Pemberley, needs her dowry.  You need a woman of quality at your side to survive the scandal that will ensue if this becomes public knowledge.  Damn it, Darcy, this is the mother of your heir!  Georgiana will not remain with you forever, and you will be left to raise her child.  This is foolishness, idiocy!  I cannot allow you to do this!”

“It is done, Richard.  Her father has agreed.”

“Of course he has agreed!  End this now, you should not have to pay for Georgiana’s mistakes.  Marry her off to your cousin; send her away to give birth, anything but this, Darcy.  You cannot protect Georgiana from her mistakes.”