Longbourn to London (23 page)

On a sideboard was a display of fruit, also from Pemberley. Elizabeth stopped to sneak a late season strawberry, and then another. She turned to see if he was watching—
Of course he is watching me; he sees every little thing I do!
—and sent him a guilty smile. He smiled enough to deepen his dimples and send her pulse racing.

Darcy’s look turned to a smoulder, and across the room, a slightly tipsy Mrs. Phillips nudged the arm of a friend, remarking on his countenance and pitying Elizabeth the trials of the coming evening. She did not remark upon, or even appear to notice, the sly look Elizabeth returned to Darcy.

With the most anticipated event of the day still many hours hence, Elizabeth was able to summon ample confidence to flirt with her bridegroom from across the crowded room. Whether she could maintain such command over herself in six or eight hours was quite another proposition.

How easy she is in company. Everyone seems to love her. As I do. Well, perhaps not
quite
as I do...
Darcy glanced over at Jane, who sat in state in an armchair with Bingley standing at her side. They looked golden together with their honey-coloured hair. Jane’s serenity greeted everyone who approached with the same smile and blush, and one might surmise Jane could still not believe such happiness was to be hers. However, she seemed a little nervous, and Darcy could guess why. Bingley fussed over her, touching her shoulder to draw her attention to someone or something, refilling her cup, taking her hand and releasing it again.
Poor Charles…he thinks he is steadying her, but I fancy she would like nothing more than to step outside and take a deep breath.
Somehow, his Elizabeth met the gathering with assurance, and any nerves she might feel about him or the coming night were well hidden.

As he returned his gaze to his bride, he felt someone take his arm. It was Georgiana.

“You have captured the prettiest and most charming Bennet sister, Brother! Look how lovely her hair is. How I envy her confidence. She has such gracious manners.” Georgiana smiled mischievously and leaned in to nudge her brother’s guarded composure with her shoulder. “The pearls are from you?”

Darcy did not take his eyes from Elizabeth as he smiled and nodded. “She will do us proud, Georgie.”

The two siblings stood in admiration of the new addition to their small family. “How interesting it is, Fitzwilliam, that the two eldest Bennets have chosen men with the same colouring as themselves, or did you two men concoct the scheme between you? Jane and Charles so fair, you and Elizabeth so dark; you could be bookends. What lovely nieces and nephews I shall have.”

Darcy was surprised he had never made such an observation himself. With a self-satisfied half smile, he whispered to Georgiana, “Indeed you will.”

“How shall we manage the giving of my gifts for Jane and Elizabeth?”

“There is a small sitting room down the hall from the rear door of the dining room. I shall bring the brides there in five minutes.”

Georgiana had ordered special presents for Elizabeth and Jane, but she could not abide the idea of making a show of presenting them. Darcy caught Elizabeth’s eyes and silently beckoned her towards her sister. They met near Jane and Bingley, and he murmured, “Georgiana has gifts for you and Jane. If we can ease ourselves into the small parlour, she will meet us.”

Elizabeth leaned to whisper in Jane’s ear, and she immediately stood. Sensing a conspiracy, Mrs. Bennet approached. “Mr. Darcy? Lizzy? Are you leaving so soon?”

“Indeed no, Mama,” responded Elizabeth. “Mr. Darcy’s sister has gifts that she wishes us to open in the sitting room.”

“What nonsense! Have her bring them here so everyone can see.”

Mr. Darcy stepped forward and fixed his new mother-in-law with an unyielding gaze. “Indeed she will not. But you may join us, Mrs. Bennet.”

“It is quite rude to leave one’s guests so, Mr. Darcy.”

“It is equally rude to make a shy guest more uncomfortable by making a spectacle of the simple giving of gifts,” Darcy responded and caught Bingley’s eye. Each man took his new wife’s arm and exited the dining room, with a clucking Mrs. Bennet following. No one noticed Mr. Bennet steal away in the curricle waiting for him.

When the couples entered the sitting room, they found Mrs. Gardiner already at hand. Georgiana handed a large box to Elizabeth, and another to Jane. “Mrs. Gardiner—whom I may now call Aunt?” Georgiana asked and Mrs. Gardiner nodded. “Aunt Gardiner helped me select and order these. We used her modiste since that lady has made gowns for Elizabeth and Jane before.”

Elizabeth opened her box and lifted from its depths the most luxurious pelisse she had ever seen. It was a heavy matte satin in deep royal blue, padded with several layers of wool for warmth, and lined in a lighter-weight white satin. However, the spectacular feature of the garment was the high collar and front placket trimmed in ermine, as were the cuffs of the long sleeves.

Elizabeth was on the point of saying it was too grand to accept when, taking it from her, Darcy whispered in her ear, “For
my
Queen Elizabeth.”

She turned her head sharply and met his shining eyes as he eased the garment onto her shoulders. “My father has been telling tales again.” She smiled up at him. “Which of her many admiring courtiers would you have been?”

“Courtier? Ha! No, madam, I would have been her consort had I lived in her time.”

“So she would not have been a virgin queen?” Elizabeth whispered.

“I should say not. Decidedly not…” Darcy breathed into her ear. He longed to molest the three curls reposing where he had flipped them free of the pelisse’s collar, but stopped himself.
My self-control is ebbing. We should make our escape as soon as may be.

“Georgiana, thank you,” Elizabeth said in a louder voice, blushing. “It is beautiful. You are too kind.”

Elizabeth’s newest sister came forward and took her hand earnestly. “Oh, Lizzy,” she began, using the family epithet impulsively, “do you really like it? I could not imagine your riding to London in your wedding costume during such cold weather. And you can wear this to the opera during your honeymoon.”

Darcy hid a smirk. He had no intention of stepping outside Darcy House for the next week, and perhaps not even straying more than three steps from their suite of rooms. He would proudly escort his new wife to the opera when
next
they went to London.

Jane’s gasp turned everyone’s attention to her and the lifting of her gift from its box. Jane preferred a cape to a pelisse for outerwear, and her gift was a pale, dove grey taffeta cloak with a pink watermark sheen, its hood lined with misty grey mink. It was clearly the equal of Lizzy’s in price, and complimented Jane’s complexion. “Oh, Georgiana! I have never beheld anything so fine! How can I thank you?”

With uncharacteristic silence, Mrs. Bennet turned and left the room. No one noticed. She did not know what annoyed her more, that all the people she wanted most to impress had not seen the unveiling of such magnificent gifts, or that it was all arranged without her knowledge. To her credit, she did appreciate that Georgiana had not presented Elizabeth with a gift grander than Jane’s. Mrs. Bennet entered the dining room in high dudgeon nevertheless, and hissed her disapprobation in Mrs. Phillips’s ear. By all of those present who were close enough to overhear, she was roundly, if silently, censured as crass and ungrateful to the last.

***

“Elizabeth, perhaps we should take this opportunity to make our escape. We shall make a brief pause at Longbourn first, as your father has a parting gift for us. I promised we would stop.”

Before he could be harnessed, Bingley stepped into the hall and announced Mr. and Mrs. Darcy were leaving, unleashing a tumult of scraping chairs and the calling for this or that person to look sharp or they would miss the departure.

Just as Elizabeth and Darcy reached their carriage, the shrill voice of Mrs. Bennet could be heard. “Lizzy! Your bonnet! Here! She must have her bonnet.” Elizabeth’s heart sank as the crowd parted to allow the advance of her mother, waving the bonnet over her head.

Darcy ripped it from her hand and tossed it without ceremony into the waiting barouche. Some of the guests who witnessed the exasperated roll of his eyes were laughing. He bowed curtly to his mother-in-law, and handed Elizabeth into the coach. Darcy accepted a hearty slap on the back from Bingley, and a kiss on the cheek from Jane. “See you at Christmas!” “Write often, Lizzy!” “Thank you for everything, Charles!” “Thank your sisters, Charles!”

Georgiana worked her way forward. “Good bye, Sister! Good bye, Brother!”

Darcy hugged her quickly. “You will join us in three weeks? At Pemberley?”

She nodded, smiling. “This Christmas will be the best ever, I just know it!”

Darcy entered the coach, and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy left Netherfield. The last they heard from the waving throng was Mrs. Bennet crying, “Mr. Bennet? Oh, where is Mr. Bennet?”

Elizabeth and Darcy laughed.

Although Elizabeth sat on the ladies’ side and Darcy sat opposite, he leaned forward and reached for her hands. They rode knee-to-knee, hands joined, and chuckled over their observations of the various wedding guests. Elizabeth commented that she thought the Pemberley strawberries would make a fine jam. They were soon at Longbourn.

Mr. Bennet was on the porch to meet them. When they disembarked and joined him, he said, “Now I do feel quite spoilt to have the newlyweds all to myself. Lizzy, look at your glorious coat! Does not your wife look like royalty, Mr. Darcy?” He caught Darcy’s eye merrily. “Lizzy did not leave this house with that!”

“No, indeed, Papa! It is a gift from Georgiana. Is it not splendid? I think it much too grand for me, but Mr. Darcy says not!”

“I am afraid my gift is not so grand. You see the footmen loading a hamper of food into the storage box of the carriage?”

They turned to watch. “You have not eaten, the pair of you, have you? You must, so there is a picnic for you to enjoy on the road. It may be the only time you feel like eating today. I know you would not willingly starve my daughter, Mr. Darcy, but she might accidentally starve herself. I fear her mind is occupied with other things, which might render her less than her usual eupeptic self.” This was the only reference he had ever made in her hearing to the coming wedding night and her concerns. Indirect though the remark was, she still blushed.

“Come inside. Do you need to freshen yourself, Lizzy, before you depart?” Mr. Bennet waved his hand airily towards the downstairs washroom as if Elizabeth were a new guest.

“I do, Father, but I shall step upstairs.”

Darcy and Mr. Bennet looked at each other for an explanation that neither could supply. They did not notice the white lace bonnet she held away from their eyes.

The men entered the library. “Darcy, I apologise for my wife’s behaviour. She has never been as fond of Lizzy as a mother ought to be, but I cannot account for the misery she made today.”

“Every wedding has its stories, so I am told. Do not worry yourself, sir.”

“Your equanimity will stand you in good stead in this family.”

“Did I hear a rumour, Mr. Bennet? Is Mrs. Wickham with child?”

“Yes, her mother has so informed me and begins to make plans to travel northward when the time comes.”

“If you do not wish to join her, you, and Mary or Catherine, or all of you, will be most welcome at Pemberley, or in town, if we are there for some part of the season.”

Mr. Bennet was delighted. “That is one invitation I
shall
accept. Thank you, Darcy, thank you! Write to me. I do not promise a prompt response, but I shall read what you write with great interest when it involves either my Lizzy or any new books arriving in the Pemberley library.”

“Very good, sir! I shall.”

They heard Elizabeth’s light step descending the stairs.

“Have my two dearest men been entertaining each other?”

“I have just invited your father to join us, wherever we are, when your mother travels north for Lydia’s confinement.”

Elizabeth looked shocked, first at her father and then at her husband. “This is indeed news, though I cannot think why I am surprised.”

Darcy sputtered, “I only learnt it through overhearing at the breakfast, Elizabeth. Clearly, you were not told?”

Elizabeth raised a sardonic eyebrow. “It is a wonder my mother did not further demean this day by announcing it and ordering us to drink to the happy news.” All three sighed.

“Let us not think of that couple. It will be nothing to me, for I am invited to visit my favourite daughter for the duration of the madness. Well, well, Lizzy, I am sure you and Mr. Darcy are anxious to be off. And I? I must return to Netherfield to observe Jane’s nerves and Mr. Bingley’s aggravation of them.”

Once outside, Elizabeth stood looking at the carriage with the Darcy crest on its doors. She turned to her father with unsettled emotions and hoped she would not cry. Her two previous carriage rides with Darcy had been of short duration, but now they would be alone for hours on end.
What will we say to each other for so long?