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Darcy was jolted back to the present and realized that the Gardiners’ eldest son had joined him, although most of the lad’s attention was directed toward the tiny creature in his mother’s arms. Fitzwilliam smiled.

“Yes, a young sister is a great responsibility, but also a great joy. I was about your age when Miss Darcy was born—I still remember when my father put her in my arms and explained that it was my duty to look after her… that she would look to me all her life for protection.” He paused, thinking of the times he had failed to keep Georgiana safe.

Young Master Jonathan nodded thoughtfully, but then showed the supremely sensible nature that so amused his parents. “Yes, though I shan’t be able to watch her every minute—‘tis an impossible task. I’m glad that my parents have Nurse Susan to help.”

Their conversation was interrupted when Darcy noticed Elizabeth approaching with the Gardiners. Before he quite knew what was happening, Will’s arms were filled with a squirming, blanket-wrapped bundle.

The Gardiners and their niece all smiled to see the tall, serious gentleman automatically shift the baby so that her head was supported; his attention was entirely focused on the pair of blue eyes staring up at him curiously.

Mr. Gardiner cleared his throat. “Mr. Darcy, we were wondering if you and your wife would do us the honor of being our little Anne Elizabeth’s godparents?”

It was the first time that Fitzwilliam had heard the newborn’s name, and his eyes met those of Mrs. Gardiner, silently thanking her for the tribute to his own mother and cousin.

Elizabeth had come to stand at his elbow and he leaned toward her slightly as she re-tucked the blanket to cover the littlest Miss Gardiner’s tiny toes. They shared a smile.

“It would be our honor, sir.”

The Darcys did not stay much longer, for the baby began to fret and her parents were obviously exhausted. The ride back to Derwent House was quiet; after exchanging some comments on the babe’s happy demeanor and similarities to her parents, each retreated to their thoughts.

The next morning, Darcy awoke with a start in the dim dawn light. He was immediately aware that he was alone in the bed, a situation that had not occurred since his marriage.

Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth were both accustomed to waking early, but whereas Miss Elizabeth Bennet had often shared her bed with sisters or cousins and slept deeply, Darcy was unaccustomed to sharing his chamber (much less his bed) with anyone.

He slept lightly and woke at his wife’s slightest movement.

Added to this was a barely acknowledged fear that it was all just a dream…

that he might wake up and find himself alone again.

Peering around the room, Fitzwilliam quickly reassured himself that it was not the chamber near Georgiana’s apartment in which he had lived as a bachelor.

Initially he had worried, first that Elizabeth might not have the confidence to propose changes to the furnishings, and then that Mrs. Wilkins might be nettled when the new mistress suggested alterations to the house which the housekeeper had managed for some years.

He needn’t have worried; between Elizabeth’s amiability and his housekeeper’s joy at having such a pleasant young lady as mistress, they had formed an easy relationship.

Returning to the present, Darcy levered himself out of bed and pulled on a robe. After peeking into Elizabeth’s dressing room but finding it empty, he turned toward their private sitting room.

Elizabeth was curled up in a window seat, staring out into the grey early morning light. He guessed that she had been up for some time reading letters, for several pages were in her lap and others lay in a loose pile by her feet. Her melancholy attitude immediately worried him.

“Liz?” he asked softly and was reassured when she turned toward him and smiled.

In truth, she smiled every time that he used that particular nickname, for it was only in their most private, most intimate moments that he did not address her as “Elizabeth” or “Mrs. Darcy.”

“Will—are you awake already? I’d hoped you might get a bit more rest this morning.”

She held out her hand and he took the invitation to kiss it and settle by her feet. “I have slept enough. But what of you?”

Lizzy shrugged and looked at the pages in her lap. “Oh, I woke early and couldn’t settle again, so rather than tossing about and forcing you to share my wakefulness, I decided to finish reading my mail, as you see.”

She smiled but he could tell that her heart wasn’t completely in it. He squeezed her hand. “What is wrong, then?”

Elizabeth opened her mouth and then shut it without speaking, swallowing the denial on her tongue.

Sternly, she reminded herself that if she expected her new husband to treat her with honesty and respect, then she must do so in return.

She took a moment to compose her thoughts, appreciating once again how Fitzwilliam gave her the time to think before speaking and did not feel the need to fill every silence with meaningless chatter.

Finally she gestured toward several pages that she had shifted to the floor when he sat down. “Mama’s letter was… well, she began writing the day after Jane and Charles left Netherfield… and it is filled with her usual sort of advice and opinions…”

Darcy glanced down at the pages but tore his eyes away before he might read any of his new mother-in-law’s so-called wisdom.

Having dealt with the aftermath of some of Mrs. Bennet’s counsel to her unmarried daughters before their wedding day (and night), he truly did not wish to know what that lady might say after .

“She cares for you and your sisters a great deal.”

Elizabeth smiled a little at his diplomatic response. “Yes, she does, I suppose.” Her face fell as her mind returned to those thoughts that had brought on her gloom.

“What is it, love? Please tell me immediately or I shall begin to imagine something very dreadful.”

This made her giggle a little, as his tendency to conjure up the worst possible scenarios had become a running joke between them.

“Mama has received her invitation to the Matlock ball and is… well, you can imagine her reaction, I’m sure.

I’ve been sitting here thinking of all the ways she might embarrass us and plotting how I might arrange for her not to attend…

and then I feel horribly guilty, for why should she not be excited that an earl is hosting a grand ball in honor of her daughter’s marriage? ”

The couple was silent for a minute, each considering various aspects of Mrs. Bennet’s personality. Unable to resist the sight of Elizabeth’s toes peeping out from under her robe, Fitzwilliam drew her feet into his lap and began rubbing her arches with his thumbs.

With an appreciative smile, Lizzy tossed aside the letter she had been reading before he came. “Nothing from my father—I suppose I shouldn’t have expected him to write… and then this letter from Charlotte.”

Seeing her eyes drop, Will guessed that this last meant rather more than her dismissive tone suggested.

“What does Mrs. Collins have to say? I hope that Lady Catherine isn’t making her life too difficult.

” Since their altercation in the summer, Darcy had ceased to refer to his mother’s sister as ‘aunt’ and stubbornly insisted that he would continue to ignore her until she apologized to Elizabeth and welcomed his wife into the family with some modicum of civility.

“No, or rather, not much more than usual.” Elizabeth paused before continuing, “Charlotte has had her baby.

‘Tis a boy, and both seem to be well. She sounds very content—Lady Lucas stayed at Hunsford for the last month, but Charlotte seems to have had an easy lying-in and is already seeing to the household and her poultry again. It appears that their greatest problem is deciding on a name for the child; Charlotte would like to call him William for her father and husband, but Mr. Collins is trying to discover some masculine form of Catherine .”

Darcy snorted. “Surely you jest…”

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “I assure you, I do not. For now, everyone is simply referring to him as ‘Baby Collins.’”

They both chuckled, but Fitzwilliam also noted that some melancholy had returned to her eyes. “What is wrong, love? You are worried about the ball, and believe me I understand, as I myself have a number of relations whose behavior I do not trust… but I have a feeling that there is more.”

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders but after a minute of silence, she admitted, “This note from Charlotte… I’m happy to see her so well…

but her letter also reminds me how much our relationship has changed.

” She looked up at her husband, suddenly realizing how important it was that he understood.

“She’s still my childhood friend, but there’s a distance between us that was not there before…

the result of changes in our situations.

I’m married to a close relation of her husband’s patroness, and Charlotte has just given birth to the next heir of Longbourn. ”

That caught Darcy’s attention and he looked at his wife more carefully.

In truth, he hadn’t considered the broader implications of the new babe’s gender to the Bennet family.

“It’s a hard thing to see land that has been in one’s family for so many generations go to another, but Mr. Collins or his son shall have to take the Bennet name as his own before either may inherit, so in a way, it will stay within your family.

” Observing the startled look that flashed across her face, Fitzwilliam knew that he had not yet guessed the cause of her blue mood.

However, before he could say anything further, she curled up against him and spoke, “When I was younger, I wished quite fervently that I had been born a boy… in hindsight I suppose it was prompted in no small part by my mother’s lamentations over the entail.

” She grinned up at him. “When I was about six, just after Lydia was born, I went to my father with quite an elaborate scheme for how we would pretend that I was a boy.”

Lizzy burst into giggles. “Oh, I haven’t thought of that in a very long time—how Papa kept a straight face I shall never know!

When he inquired as to how we would explain that I had been presented to the neighborhood as a little girl for so many years, I told him quite seriously that, as Mama had no experience with boy children, it would be easily understood that she had made a mistake upon my birth. ”

Picturing a young Elizabeth presenting such a plan to her Mr. Bennet, Darcy chuckled even as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her into his lap. “Well I, for one, am exceedingly glad that you were not born a boy.”

Rather than the laughter that he expected, he caught only a tight smile before she rested her cheek against his chest again. Squeezing her to him, he kissed her hair and said softly, “You are not happy, love. Please, tell me what is wrong.”

Elizabeth tensed slightly before turning her head so that her voice was muffled in his robe. “I’m not with child—my courses came this morning.”

“Oh,” said Will, rather dumbly. “ Oooohhhh ,” he thought, abruptly reminded that having a wife was quite a different enterprise from any other friend or companion that his previous life had admitted. “I… errr… um…”

“My elocution tutor would be so proud ,” he thought to himself sarcastically. “ Pull yourself together, man!” Finally, he managed to mumble, “But… but we have been married for less than a month, Elizabeth… surely you didn’t expect… I hadn’t even considered…”

Somehow, his inarticulate ramblings were just what Elizabeth needed to hear.

She sat upright so that she might look him in the face and the flustered expression she observed there lightened her mood even further.

“It never even occurred to you, did it?” She cocked her head to the side in a manner that would have relieved him, had he not already been so exceedingly discombobulated.

“I… errr…” Darcy took a deep breath and forced himself to settle. Tentatively meeting her eye, he admitted, “I am very new to being a husband, as we both know… I look forward to having a child… children, God willing… but for now, I am very happy just to have you .”

Almost to herself, Elizabeth murmured, “and that is just what I would have thought you would say if I was being sensible… I know not why I let myself get into such a dither.” Suddenly she threw up her hands in exasperation at the solemn mood and dramatically fell back against his chest. She touched his cheek and smiled when he kissed her palm.

“You are a unique man, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Most gentlemen of your station would be fixated on having an heir born as soon as possible.”

Will soothed them both by running his fingers through her hair. “Most men of my station are not as desperately in love with their wives as I am.”

Elizabeth blushed prettily and looked up at him with the sort of absolute affection that he had so long despaired of winning from this sparkling creature.

“My dearest, loveliest, Elizabeth… if and when we are blessed with children, I shall be overjoyed… you know that I will. But I am selfish enou gh to wish to have you to myself for a bit longer.”

Chucking his chin with her finger, she smiled up at him. “How did you know just the right thing to say?”

“Having lived through the effects of saying all the wrong things, I shall only reply that I try very hard.”