Page 23 of Friendship and Forgiveness (Mr. Underwood’s Elizabeth & Darcy Stories #7)

After they agreed to marry each other, Darcy and Elizabeth spent another hour in close and happy conversation as they continued to tramp around nature, over multiple anthills, and under numerous singing songbirds.

The conversation which followed was, however, too frequently peppered with kisses to be of any great substance. But when Darcy regretfully walked Elizabeth back to the parsonage, so that there would still be enough time for them to both dress for the dinner at Rosings, the delightedly happy couple determined that the next morning Darcy would ride to Longbourn with a note from Elizabeth to ask for Mr. Bennet’s consent.

There was a happy glow in Elizabeth’s heart.

Before the carriage sent over to take them to Rosings arrived, Elizabeth told Charlotte about her engagement. She was delighted, pleased, and overjoyed at her friend's good fortune, but they both agreed that for the present it would be best to hide the information from Mr. Collins. From the warmth with which Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam greeted Elizabeth upon her arrival at Rosings, she supposed they too had been supplied with particular information.

This did not long remain a supposition. “Darcy said,'' Colonel Fitzwilliam told Elizabeth when they stood together on the side of the room, watching Lady Catherine hold court in the center, “that he wasn’t going to inform the old bat until your old father had been told—”

“You’ve met Papa.” Elizabeth laughed. “I’d not call him old at all!”

“Older than me. Any man more than three years my senior is old. Any man less than three years my junior is one of those useless loutish youthful things England produces in these dark decaying days — I don’t blame Darcy for the delay in telling Lady Catherine. Were I to disappoint Auntie Cathy’s hopes in such a way, I’d send the news by post from Spain, and she could brave Napoleon’s troops if she wanted to reproach me in person.” He thoughtfully rubbed at his chin. “Might scare them out of the peninsula — I’ll talk with the general next time I see him about whether we can make use of irate old women as a tool of war.”

Elizabeth laughed, but she then looked over at Lady Catherine’s small daughter sitting quietly beside the fire. The last rays of the setting sun fell on Miss de Bourgh — soon to be her cousin by marriage. “I truly hope that Miss de Bourgh will not nurse… have any deeply disappointed hopes.”

“Her?” Colonel Fitzwilliam shrugged. “I’ve spoken with her more than once upon her determination never to marry. Childbirth frightens her. It ought to with her weak constitution. And she has no particular liking for men, and no particular need for marriage. She always hoped that Darcy would not disabuse Lady Catherine of her hopes before it was necessary so that she might avoid being importuned about a different match.”

“Oh! I am glad to hear that.”

“Anne’s an odd one. A sweet mouse. Nothing bad in her heart. A bit pompous maybe.”

“And you.” Elizabeth grinned at Colonel Fitzwilliam, recalling some of what Darcy said. “Are you still pining for me? Darcy informed me that you held an absolute desperate tendre for me. Terribly in love. Over the winter, and you wasted away in the hope of a single smile from my alabaster face, longed for a single sound of my slippered foot, etcetera, etcetera.”

“He did not.”

Elizabeth laughed.

“I confess,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said flamboyantly, “You have conquered me wholly. Once you have married another, I shall not be able to live, except through good food, fine company, and a reasonable, but not at all excessive amount of drink.” Colonel Fitzwilliam clapped his hands together softly. “Zeus, but Darcy is the luckiest fellow in the world. To have such success despite his incapacity to understand women, society, or even his own mind.”

“Now, now.” Elizabeth warningly waved her finger. “Be kind to him. I like him very much. His flaws are endearing.”

He laughed. “Deuced lucky man.”

Darcy joined them.

Even though he was not the sort of man in whom happiness showed itself as ebullience, she could detect in his every look and gaze at her that sort of complete satisfaction and inner glow that she shared with him.

Lord! But she wanted to kiss him again, and in front of everyone.

To kiss was a delightful sensation.

But it was more than pleasure to kiss him. It was… a man who she loved and who loved her. Kissing him, being near him, being entwined together, arms around arms, lips on lips, it was as though that was in some important way a central part of the entire purpose of life.

Was there not a passage in the Holy Book that proclaimed God is love ?

Elizabeth now understood that, and that it was true — love was not simply a carnal connection, but a spiritual one.

As the three of them spoke together, there was a commotion, and after a barely heard argument in the hall, the door to the drawing room was hurled open.

Elizabeth’s mouth fell open.

Charlie entered, pushing his way past Lady Catherine’s stiff butler. His hair was disordered, his riding boots were muddy, and he’d clearly not washed off at all after arriving.

Jane . What had happened to Jane?

“Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam,” he said, barely even looking at her, “I need your help. I know you despise us, but I do not know anyone else who can aid me.”

Lady Catherine sputtered as she looked at this interloper.

Darcy hurried over, followed by Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Bingley, what is the matter?”

Everyone gathered close around to hear him speak.

“Mr. Wickham kidnapped my sister.”

“Mr. Wickham?” Darcy blinked at that information. “Whatever was his reason? Who? Do you mean Mrs. Hurst or her ?”

“Caroline.”

Elizabeth gasped. “No — but what. How, why?”

“Uh, that is.” Charlie flushed. “I can explain. We think. So you see Lydia came back late this afternoon. On Caroline’s horse. Good god, I can hardly believe this has happened.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam pushed a large glass of brandy into Bingley’s hand. “Drink it all up. Now man.”

“But—”

“Drink it.” This was the commanding voice of a confident military officer. A man accustomed to being obeyed.

Charlie drank back the whole without further question.

“Now first: Who is Lydia?” Colonel Fitzwilliam said in a firm interrogator’s tone.

“My youngest sister,” Elizabeth said quietly instead of Charlie. “She left her school and has returned to Longbourn recently.”

“What precisely did Miss Lydia say about Mr. Wickham and Miss Bingley?”

“It was all a complicated mess. Hard to understand at first. That is Lydia was blubbering, and well—”

“The key points, Mr. Wickham. When did Miss Lydia see Mr. Wickham?”

“She had gone to meet him by prior plan. He had convinced her to elope with him, but—”

“She wouldn’t have!” Elizabeth gasped.

Except, Elizabeth knew that she would .

Mr. Darcy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him. Georgiana stared at Charlie with a pale face. Elizabeth felt a sick sensation.

“Precisely when did Miss Lydia see Miss Bingley?” Colonel Fitzwilliam asked.

“Ah, well. So Lydia had decided that she was not going to go off with Mr. Wickham, and he then made a great fuss about it, and well, they set off, and—”

“And your sister interfered with Mr. Wickham’s attempt to kidnap Miss Lydia. Is that the core of it? — but how did she end up kidnapped herself? Did he threaten them with a weapon?”

“Yes. Lydia said there was a revolver.”

“And why did Mr. Wickham go off with Miss Bingley rather than Miss Lydia?”

“Lydia said that Caroline convinced him that she would be a better choice to marry, since she had control of her own fortune, and did not need to go to Gretna Green. She had been chasing them with her horse, but Wickham threatened her so she could not continue chasing them and announce everything to the next town.”

“I understand. Did Lydia know about what their intended destination was?”

“We have assumed it would be London. But how can they be found? There is not a moment—”

“So you came to Darcy and I,” Colonel Fitzwilliam interrupted. “An excellent choice, and oneI hope Mr. Wickham failed to anticipate due to the rupture in our relations. Darcy, shall you come to London with us?”

“Yes. I will.” Darcy was looking at Charlie with an expression that Elizabeth thought indicated regret. “Bingley, I apologize for treating you so harshly.”

As he said that Colonel Fitzwilliam walked over to speak to the butler, punctuating every word with sharp gestures.

With a blush and a shaken head, Charlie replied to Darcy with a half laugh. “Nothing about it. Was quite a shocking situation — don’t blame you at all. Never did. But we must help my sister — even if you hate her, she doesn’t deserve to be forced into marriage with that useless fellow at gunpoint.”

“Of course I shall go with you,” Darcy said. “We’ll immediately set out. If we ride all night, we can be in London long before the sun rises tomorrow morning, and—”

“No chance of that, stingy old fellow.” Colonel Fitzwilliam popped back. “I want to be as fresh and dewy faced as a lady before her first ball. Want to nap in the carriage. Not so young anymore.” He laughed. “Gave the orders to have it hitched while you two babbled about forgiveness, friendship, and all. We’ll hire the best horses at each stop, and run them hard. We’ll make better time this way than on horseback. I’m just glad it isn’t my purse that will suffer the consequences.”

Charlie said to Darcy, “I’ll of course pay any—”

“Oh nonsense.”

Charlie smiled at the way Darcy dismissively replied to that offer. Darcy turned to Elizabeth. He fixed his serious dark eyes on her face. “It appears that we part now, a little earlier—”

“If you are by carriage, I’m going as well,” Elizabeth interrupted him.

“But what about—”

“No one is going anywhere!” Lady Catherine exclaimed. She pounded her cane on the rug several times, making a dull thud. “What are you all speaking of! Preposterous. Pre-posterous! You want my nephew to leave so suddenly, and for such a reason! I shall not have it. I shall not stand it.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam poured himself a glass of brandy and took a generous swallow. “We have precise information about where that scoundrel might be. Of course we must go, and time is of the essence. Miss Elizabeth, it will be for the best if you come. Miss Bingley will prefer a friendly female face when she is found.”

“Then you two may go,” Lady Catherine said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “And best of luck upon it. But Darcy stays.”

Elizabeth almost giggled at the way that Lady Catherine believed that she could successfully order Darcy about like a somewhat disobedient dog.

Darcy was too occupied giving orders to the butler upon how his clothes were to be sent after him to pay any attention to his aunt. So she stalked over to him and started shouting at Darcy more directly.

The sound of the carriage being brought around and clattering on the cobblestones could be faintly heard despite the size of the building muffling the sound. Colonel Fitzwilliam drank back the rest of his brandy in a single swallow. “Time’s up, let’s go.”

“But, cousin, you can’t go!” Mr. Collins tried to stop her as Elizabeth quickly embraced Charlotte in parting. “It would be wholly inappropriate for you to travel in a carriage with three men!”

“I’m her brother by law,” Charlie exclaimed, “Wholly proper.”

And Darcy is my fiancé , Elizabeth thought to herself with a smile. He wouldn’t possibly do anything… improper to her.

“You must allow me to have a deeper understanding of propriety than your honored self,” Mr. Collins said to Charlie. “And I am in the position of in loco parentis whilst Cousin Elizabeth stays with me, and—”

“I’ll go too!” Georgiana exclaimed. “Then it’ll be wholly proper. She’ll be going on my invitation.”

“But—” both Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine exclaimed at the same time.

“Decided then!” Colonel Fitzwilliam rushed them all through the door, past their sputtering relations, and out into the carriage. Bright yellow lamps hung from each corner, and the driver was bundled up against the night that still became chilly in April. “Eh, a long night trip, sirs?”

Elizabeth thought the tone of voice had an edge of reproach in it.

“Straight to London, John,” Darcy called out. “Fast as you can make it, and a guinea for each of you all if we get there before the morning light!”

“Oh! Aha. Well then, sirs, in the carriage!” the coachman replied with a clearly pleased expression. “In quick so we can set off.”

Darcy handed up both Elizabeth and then Georgiana, and then he followed along with Charlie and Colonel Fitzwilliam.

Immediately upon Colonel Fitzwilliam lighting in the seat, before he’d even settled himself and closed the door, with a shout, the coachman clucked the horses into motion.

Apparently the promise of a guinea was more than ample to overcome any dislike in the driver’s mind for night journeys and the loss of sleep.

For the first few minutes there was a jovial feeling in the carriage, as they all smiled around, as though they’d achieved some impressive feat in escaping Lady Catherine. But then Elizabeth recalled the cause of their quick travel.

Her dearest friend was in real danger tonight, wholly under the control of Mr. Wickham, and he had threatened both her and Lydia with a gun.

“How could Lydia have been so stupid!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “And now the whole world will know through Lady Catherine and her servants of her stupid, inexcusable behavior.”

Bingley shrugged. “She’s young. High spirits and all. Devastated that the officers will leave in a few weeks. My sister behaved worse. And Lydia thought the better of it in the end.”

“You’ll not convince me to be in friendly countenance with Lydia for a month.”

“No, no,” Bingley said. “Don’t be in that way — poor girl has received the shock of her life. No need to punish her further.”

“I don’t mean to—” Oh God . She pressed her hand against her mouth.

A sudden horrifying thought crossed Elizabeth’s mind. “Such a scandal! Everyone really shall know — when an heiress with twenty thousand pounds behaves in such a way, it will be the gossip for the whole of society for a month.”

Darcy placed a supporting hand on her knee. “Elizabeth, do not worry so.”

“Lord! And you’ll be involved in this too. Mr. Darcy, if you do not wish to be connected with me after such disgraceful behavior on the part of my family, I—”

“No.” He smiled at her. “Nothing could scare me away from you.”

“You have not thought about this — it is not merely the scandal. My sister has acted in a manner that can rightly be despised… you cannot wish to be connected so directly to a woman who behaved in such a way.”

An odd expression crossed Darcy’s face. “Ah, well…”

“Ah! Miss Elizabeth, you surely can’t think that Darcy would be so weak livered!” Colonel Fitzwilliam ejaculated.

“Darcy,” Elizabeth gripped his hand. “I beg you not to make any choice you would regret, and—”

“I love you, Elizabeth.” His voice was a throaty whisper that sent a shiver of desire down her spine despite the presence of his sister and Charlie.

She smiled tearily back at him.

“You two! Marrying! Congratulations!” Charlie exclaimed. “Never thought that would come off. We are to be brothers! Despite how Caroline made a mess of everything — I still can barely forgive her. Even though I worry terribly for her.”

“Everyone loves their sister,” Darcy said. “Even when they behave abominably.”

“Ah, true.” Charlie nodded his head. He grinned widely. “Lizzy, you and Darcy! Congratulations. I’ll need to tell you all the stories of how he behaved in university. You’ll not believe the things he got up to.”

“I suspect I will.”

“I mostly studied my Latin and Greek, and argued.”

“What about that time with the goat and the dean?”

Darcy stared at Charlie; Charlie grinned back. Darcy suddenly giggled in a manner that she could not have imagined hearing from him before. “Your fault! That one was your fault!”

“Now, I must hear the—” Colonel Fitzwilliam began to speak.

Georgiana interrupted them with a half desperate shout. “I nearly eloped with Mr. Wickham! Please don’t end matters with Fitzwilliam, even if you cannot love me as a sister anymore.”

Elizabeth studied the somewhat panicked looking face of the girl sitting next to her.

Oh.

A great deal suddenly made sense about how Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam had treated Mr. Wickham when he came to Meryton.

Elizabeth embraced Georgiana. “Of course I can still love you — I do like you more the more I know you. And you are a sweet creature — I do not blame you at all for being fooled by such a man. And he is very handsome.”

“But what you said about your own sister… you are so angry at her.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Am I being inconsistent? Shocking. But I suppose, for your sake, I’ll forgive Lydia more quickly than would by my wont otherwise. But no matter what, she would remain my sister.”

Charlie exclaimed, “He imposed upon you too! There is not a worse scoundrel in England than that man! A hardened reprobate. I never say such things, but I hope someone gives him proper horsewhipping!”

Darcy nodded and said something in agreement.

However when Elizabeth’s eyes landed on Colonel Fitzwilliam, there was something cold in his eyes that gave her a chill in her stomach.

And she thought about Caroline, and her fear for her.