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Darcy would have been glad to know that the lady of his heart was of a similar disposition.

Upon entering her room, Lizzy leaned back against the door and closed her eyes, breathing deeply and trying to regain some shred of her normal composure.

She feared that if she did not, she might fling open the windows and call out ‘He loves me!’ to anyone in shouting distance.

“Miss? Should you like a quick bath before you dress?”

Elizabeth blinked open her eyes to see the maid who had been assigned to her. “Yes, thank you, Hannah.”

In short order, Miss Bennet was bathed, dressed, and her hair arranged in a becoming style. This was primarily due to the efficiency of the maid; the young lady kept drifting off into a dreamy trance and had to be recalled to the present on several occasions.

When Elizabeth descended the stairs, she was greeted by the happy sight of both Darcys happily talking to a familiar figure.

“Colonel Fitzwilliam! It is good to see you, sir!”

With a happy smile, the Earl’s younger son stepped forward and, bowing with a flourish, kissed her hand before grinning at her with a twinkle in his eye. “Miss Bennet, I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you here at Pemberley.”

“Have you only just arrived?”

A mischievous glint sparked in the gentleman’s face and he glanced towards his cousin. “Actually, we arrived nearly two hours ago but no one was certain where to find Darcy…”

Moving quickly before his cousin began to tease in earnest, Will directed Elizabeth’s attention to an older gentlewoman who was standing just beyond.

“But I am here now and there is no reason for us to be standing here in the hall. Miss Bennet, please allow me to introduce you to my sister’s companion, Mrs. Annesley.

She has just returned to us after several weeks in Staffordshire, visiting her niece and their new son. ”

Lizzy stepped forward to greet the woman who had done so much for Miss Darcy over the last year.

The small party obliged their host by moving into the drawing room, although the Colonel’s amused look told Fitzwilliam that he had only delayed the inevitable teasing.

While the ladies laughed over Mrs. Annesley’s description of the father’s euphoria upon being presented with his first child, Darcy spoke quietly with a footman who had appeared at the door.

Several minutes later, Elizabeth paused in the conversation and turned slightly to her left, somehow sensing that Will had moved to stand beside her. She raised her eyebrows inquiringly at his serious look.

“The Gardiners send their apologies but will not be joining us this evening; your aunt had a difficult afternoon and Mr. Gardiner feels it better that she retire early.”

While the Colonel inquired as to the source of Mrs. Gardiner’s troubles and Georgiana launched into an eager explanation of her new acquaintances’ connection to Lambton, Elizabeth was flooded with guilt. Since meeting Mr. Darcy by the lake, she had not given a single thought to her relatives.

Reading her expression, Fitzwilliam touched her elbow in comfort and spoke quietly; “There was a second message to you from your aunt, saying that your uncle is being overprotective and you should enjoy your meal.”

Elizabeth pondered for a moment but soon most of the worry cleared from her eyes. “My aunt is frank enough that she would call for me if she had need of my company. I shall talk to her tomorrow morning but for now I’m sure that my uncle knows what is best.”

Will nodded and then, after pausing, caught her eye and inquired softly, “Should we delay our announcement? I am perfectly willing…”

Elizabeth gave him an affectionate look. “No, Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam are your closest family (and soon to be mine); if we do not tell them now, I’m sure they would guess it by the end of the evening.”

Her fiancé flashed her a brilliant smile and then turned to nod at the footman standing by the door.

The servant stepped out and then a moment later the butler himself entered with a tray and proceeded to pour out champagne in the most delicate crystal goblets that Lizzy had ever seen.

His activity quickly caught the attention of the other three occupants of the room and the Colonel shot an inquiring look toward his cousin.

Darcy merely smiled and waited until everyone had a glass and was looking at him expectantly.

“Sister, cousin, friends,” he nodded to each in turn.

“I hope you will all join me in a toast.” He paused, his throat tight with emotion but one look at Elizabeth’s shining eyes steadied him enough to continue.

“Today, Elizabeth has done me the very great honor of accepting my hand in marriage.”

Will suddenly found himself juggling two full flutes of champagne, having barely caught up Elizabeth’s from her hand as Georgiana leapt across the room and threw her arms around the other lady with a shriek, “We shall be sisters! Oh Elizabeth—I am so happy!”

He caught sight of Mrs. Annesley, also with two glasses, smiling broadly just before his cousin slapped him on the back. “Well done, Darce! Congratulations—I will most certainly drink to that!” And with that, the Colonel tipped back his flute and drank his wine down in a single gulp.

Darcy managed to take a sip of his own as Mrs. Annesley congratulated him more sedately. He then found a safe place to set both glasses just as Georgiana broke from Elizabeth and moved to hug her brother. “Oh Wills, I am so very happy for you,” she whispered.

Richard turned to congratulate Miss Bennet in a slightly more reserved manner, allowing Will to hold his sister tightly for a moment.

How had he ever thought that connecting himself with the Bennets might harm Georgiana?

Her transparent joy at the prospect of having Elizabeth as a sister was all that he might have hoped for.

They were a merry party at dinner that night and dallied at the table longer than usual, though few would have been able to recall the menu. It was only Georgiana’s determination to quiz her future sister that finally prompted a brief separation of the sexes.

If Miss Darcy was stunned to hear that the happy couple had discussed Pemberley’s plumbing during their stroll prior to her brother’s proposal, she was soon reassured by Miss Bennet.

With a fond look toward her future sister-in-law, Lizzy patted the girl’s arm; “It may sound strange to you, my dear, but to me, it was reassuring.”

Georgiana couldn’t hide her disbelief. “Reassuring? Surely my brother could have thought of something… anything would have been a more romantic topic!”

Seeing that the girl was genuinely distressed, Elizabeth took her hand and leaned back in the sofa on which they sat, staring into space as she tried to summarize what was in her heart.

“I know very well how much your brother loves me; it is in his eyes, his voice, his every look and touch. I do not need him to read me poetry or shower me with trinkets. His willingness to discuss estate business… to share his most intimate worries and concerns… to include me in his planning and decision making… that means more to me than any sonnets or jewels. It tells me that he wishes for a partner in life.” She smiled impishly at the younger woman who was listening intently.

“For I would be no fit wife for a man who desired only a lady to ornament his arm at the theatre and play hostess to Society.”

Georgiana giggled but still looked thoughtful when the gentlemen rejoined the ladies in the music room. Lizzy immediately noticed that Darcy was blushing and looked mildly vexed with his cousin; the Colonel trailed him with a glass of brandy, still laughing at some joke of his own.

“Mr. Darcy, you are just in time. Will you turn the pages as I play? And then perhaps the Colonel will do the same favor for Georgiana if she would agree to entertain us with a song?”

As she rose and moved to the pianoforte, the Colonel muttered something that the ladies could not hear but caused his cousin to blush even redder. Rolling his eyes, Darcy moved to Elizabeth’s side with alacrity.

While she sorted through the music and chose a piece, he leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Thank you.”

She smirked and moved to seat herself and adjust the bench. “You appeared to need rescuing.”

He leaned down to straighten the pages before her. “As a younger brother himself but my elder, Richard seems to believe it his cousinly duty to step in as the big brother I lack.”

Lizzy chuckled and played a few scales softly to limber her fingers. “Well, as both younger and older sibling myself, I can quite understand his determination!”

Darcy looked at her fondly and, though she began to believe that she might happily spend the evening doing nothing but staring into his eyes, Elizabeth remembered that they were in company and turned her attention to the music.

Will would have been at a loss to remember what compositions were played that evening.

However, he would always remember feeling as if they were enveloped by a warm glow of happiness

Though he might have wished for more, Darcy had to content himself with a warm look and a kiss on Elizabeth’s hand when the ladies retired for the night. The loving smile that she gifted him in return made him even more reluctant to join his cousin in the billiards room.

Luckily for Darcy, Richard was sufficiently tired from his hard ride from Newcastle via Staffordshire that he was satisfied with a single game and some relatively gentle ribbing over his younger cousin’s certain felicity in marriage.

That night, Will had a dream that began like one he had had since childhood.

Mr. George Darcy and his son drove through Lambton toward Pemberley in silence, looking out at the normally vibrant village, now subdued.

The cottages and shops were all hung with bits of black crêpe; the cemetery was spotted with new plots and another funeral was underway even now.

Mr. Darcy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clenching his jaw as they passed and staring straight ahead with a stony, haunted expression.

Ten year old Fitzwilliam consciously attempted to imitate his father, which was difficult as his toes could not yet reach the floor of the carriage.

He held his hands together so that they wouldn’t tremble while he stared out of the window at the place which had always been his home but appeared to have changed so much in the last month.

Sunken in his own misery, Will’s father did not notice.

Normally, Will’s dream extended to their arrival at a darkened, silent Pemberley House, draped in black, devoid of people, and smelling of death.

(In his younger days, his nightmare had included his Aunt Catherine swooping after him like some evil black vulture, trying to grab up him and his baby sister and drag them away from their home).

This night, however, his dream shifted and the carriage pulled up just as Pemberley House and the lake before it lit up, glowing in the morning sun as if dark storm clouds had just parted. His father had turned to him and said gently, “You must get out here, son.”

Fitzwilliam Darcy, the grown man, stepped from the carriage and was met with the heartwarming sight of Elizabeth standing on the steps with hands outstretched in welcome.

Without a backward glance, Will ran forward, catching her up in his arms and holding her tightly, surrounded with the warm certainty that all would be well; Pemberley would finally be filled with life and happiness and family again.

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Continued in Book 2

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