Page 33 of A Maid of No Consequence (Pride and Prejudice Variation)
ENGAGED TO MR DARCY
A week after their engagement, Darcy and Elizabeth were still discovering places within and outside of Pemberley to show each other affection.
Even though they were chaste and discreet, theirs still felt like stolen kisses, especially since there were so many servants and tenants about.
Elizabeth could not deny that she felt her happiest in Darcy’s arms, and he stole as many kisses as she would allow.
Even the simple delight of walking with him hand in hand, whether along Pemberley’s paths or in its rooms, gave her a feeling of belonging and devotion that felt precious to her.
She had found love and restoration, two things she had needed for so long.
Hoping to share her happiness with her sisters, she had written to all of them, hoping that Jane would soon return from Scotland, so she could have all of them present on her wedding day.
“Did I not say that you and Mr Darcy were beautiful together?” Sarah’s words rang in her head this morning.
She had been beside herself with excitement for Elizabeth the moment she heard of their engagement, and had confessed to her that she had been standing very near the front door of the cottage and overheard a bit of Mr Darcy’s proposal.
“I am not proud of myself for listening to your private conversation, Eliza. But I almost let out a yell when you said yes!” Her companion, her maid of all work, her friend, was thrilled for her, and spoke of wedding plans in her cheerful and romantic way.
Her youthful excitement was infectious, and Elizabeth was glad of Sarah’s continued presence in her life.
On this sunny afternoon, she and Darcy walked hand in hand, each loath to let the other go, but needing to attend to their respective duties to the estate.
As they neared the lane to the cottage, she said, “I cannot name a date just yet. Will you be patient enough for all my sisters to come to Pemberley for the wedding? We have not been all together since?—”
When her voice cracked, he pulled her closer to him. “We will wait as long as it takes, Elizabeth. You will all be together, I promise. I shall move heaven and earth to get them here for you if I must.”
She kissed him, and as seemed to happen more and more with each passing day, the kisses quickly grew ardent; soon she was held tightly in his arms, never wanting him to let her go. Suddenly a familiar voice broke through the haze. Elizabeth leapt back, beset by confusion and excitement at once.
“Lizzy? What is happening? Mr Darcy! Why are you kissing my sister?”
Jane had just alighted from a carriage, and stood looking shocked—as well as shockingly pregnant, next to her husband .
“Jane! Oh Jane!” Elizabeth ran towards her dear sister. “Oh, how I have missed you!”
It took more than a few moments to settle into the idea that her sister was indeed here, in the flesh, as it had been five long years without her.
So much had happened, and there was too much to be said and thought and felt in the happy reunion.
The sentences came fast and furious between the two sisters.
Elizabeth was breathless and thrilled, wanting to kiss Jane’s cheek and discuss every detail of how life had changed for them both since their last missives.
In the midst of it all, she chanced a look over at Darcy.
He had moved to greet Jane’s husband, after which they had both gone silent.
It struck her, quite suddenly, the great gulf that had opened between her and her sister’s family.
She is a cobbler’s wife and I shall be mistress of a grand estate.
Elizabeth resolved to remain hopeful that there would be a way for them to be a close family in spite of it.
After a brief and somewhat awkward conversation between the four of them, it was decided that Elizabeth would bring Jane back with her to the cottage, while her husband returned to Lambton with vague intimations of business to be dealt with.
Darcy returned to Pemberley, giving the Bennet sisters ample time to catch up on months of news.
They spoke for hours in Elizabeth’s small parlour, sipping tea, and revelling in the joy of being together again.
“I wish I could have spoken to you, even if only by letter, of everything that has happened in just the last two months! I have worried for you, Jane. I have not heard from you for months, but then again, so much has happened, I hardly knew if you would even be able to find me.”
Jane’s face grew red. “In the haste to ready three children for our long journey to Scotland, I had forgotten to post the most recent letter I wrote to you. It lay on my desk all this time we were gone. I spent the time wondering why you did not write to me, particularly as I had taken such care to give you our direction in Scotland!”
They broke out in laughter, and it felt very reminiscent of their time in their rooms at Longbourn, sharing secrets and ridiculousness.
Once the laughter subsided, Elizabeth continued, “Well, all is forgiven, as I cannot hold your forgetfulness to blame for long. And I have you here with me now, never to let you go!”
“I still cannot believe that you will marry Mr Darcy! You did not like him at all when we were together in Netherfield.”
Elizabeth could not help but laugh. “This is true! And yet, you will not believe this, but Darcy says he fell in love with me when I walked from Longbourn to be with you. My devotion and care for you overcame my impertinence, apparently.”
“My goodness! He was always so solemn, I had no idea.”
Elizabeth could easily remember what her betrothed looked like six years ago, but she saw him only as the benevolent and kind-hearted man he was now.
“I believe Darcy has become more comfortable showing ease and friendliness. He has been such a support to me these past weeks, Jane, and I have realised only recently that it is because he sincerely cares for me that he has done all of this. He has been a true friend, which has made me love him all the more.”
“I see it in your face, I saw the way you look at him. I saw the way you kissed him.” Jane gave her sister a mockingly scolding look. “I am happy for you, I truly am!”
Elizabeth hugged her sister for perhaps the twentieth time since her arrival earlier that day .
“It begs belief, truly it does, after all we have been through these last years.” She paused a moment and reached over to hold her sister’s hand. “You are happy too?”
Jane was quiet for a long moment, and Elizabeth worried what she might reveal.
“When I agreed to marry Robert, I really did not know him. It was a difficult first year. I was still in mourning, and in a new village, with everyone a stranger to me. I was a new mother to Robert’s children, with my own sisters very far away.
It was a lonely time. But I soon learnt what an exemplary man he is, and from that grew love.
I am blessed to have married him, and now I am bringing new life into this world. There is so much to be grateful for.”
Elizabeth could rejoice in her sister’s happiness, and yet something plagued her. In a soft voice, she asked, “Do you know who Mr Darcy’s sister married?”
“I do,” Jane said. “I am reconciled to it, for Mr Bingley and I would not have suited one another, eventually.”
“No?”
“I was infatuated with him, perhaps in love with the idea of love. But with Robert, there is deep mutual affection. I believe—no, I know with certainty—I have the husband who best suits me, and the life I am meant to live. Although,” she said, a note of wonder in her voice, “the place I am meant to be might surprise you.”
“What do you mean?”
“As you know, Robert and I journeyed to Scotland, where he found himself to be heir to the McHenry estate and title. My dear husband is now to be Laird Lindean.”
Elizabeth gasped. “And you shall be Lady Lindean! Can you imagine, two sisters from Longbourn, with little to recommend them, and now you are a lady, and I am to be the Mistress of Pemberley! Jane, this is extraordinary!”
Her sister smiled but Elizabeth could see a hesitation in her countenance. “Where is the estate?” she enquired.
Jane frowned. “Nearly two hundred miles from here, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth felt a small sinking feeling. Just as she and Jane had been brought together, so too would they be torn apart.
Nevertheless, she put on a cheerful face.
“What is two hundred miles of good road? As Mr Darcy once told me, fifty miles is easy; two hundred may be less so but not impossible by any account. I have never been to Scotland, and anticipate visiting my noble sister and her family with eagerness.”