Page 44 of Heiress of Longbourn (Pride and Prejudice Variations)

Dining Room

A Few Minutes Later

“This is delicious, Lydia,” Jane said, biting into a luscious muffin smeared with butter.

“Thank you,” Lydia replied as she busily poured tea for her husband, who was seated next to her

Elizabeth turned fond eyes on her youngest sister, who was dressed in a practical muslin gown, with a simple cap on her head. Lydia’s form was slightly thickened now, a sign of the new life within her, and her cheeks were pink with health, a far cry from the pale skin of only a few weeks previously.

The last six months had resulted in incredible changes in young Mrs. Wickham, and Elizabeth was proud that her sister had matured through her struggles. Those struggles were, of course, the result of Lydia’s own foolish behavior, but the girl seemed to have learned from them, and that was a most impressive.

“How is Mamma?” Lydia asked as she handed the cup to Alexander, who took it with a word of thanks.

“She is very well,” Jane remarked, choosing another muffin and buttering it lavishly. “She is hopeful that Mary and Mr. Standish will make a match of it and is already writing up menus for a wedding breakfast.”

“Do you like Mr. Standish?” Elizabeth inquired.

“Oh, very much,” Jane said, and Bingley continued, “He is a very clever young fellow and an excellent clergyman, and Mary seems to thoroughly enjoy their discussions.”

“Well, that ought to keep Mother busy while Fitzwilliam and I are slyly marrying here in Derbyshire,” Elizabeth said cheekily, and everyone around the table laughed.

***

Pemberley

The Next Day

Charles Bingley opened the door of his carriage and jumped onto the pavement in front of the grand facade of Pemberley.

“You can drive to the stables,” he told his coachman. “I will send a servant to fetch you when I am ready to leave.”

“Yes, sir,” the man said, and Bingley turned and ran lightly up the steps to the front door, which opened before he even had time to knock.

“Mr. Bingley,” the butler said, personally taking the visitor’s hat, gloves, and cane and handing them off to a hovering footman. “Mr. Darcy is in his study and asked that I take you to him as soon as you arrived.”

“Thank you,” Bingley said cheerfully and followed the man down two corridors to the study. The butler opened the door, announced his guest, waited until Bingley had stepped through, and retreated, pulling the door behind him as he went.

“Bingley!” Darcy exclaimed, rising from his seat and hurrying over to shake his friend’s hand. “It is wonderful to see you!”

“It is wonderful to see you too,” Bingley replied, squinting curiously at his host. He had never, in all the years he had known Fitzwilliam Darcy, seen such joy and satisfaction and peace on his friend’s countenance.

“Sit down, please,” Darcy said, gesturing toward two chairs pulled up by the fire. “Can I pour you some brandy?”

“Please,” Bingley replied, as he wandered over to lower himself onto the seat with its back to the door. He knew, from long experience, that Darcy preferred to sit so that he was facing doors for fear that some rapacious female might sneak into the room and try to compromise him.

That fear would end when Elizabeth Bennet became Mrs. Darcy. It was a delightful thought that Darcy would soon be free of such worries.

“Thank you,” he said as Darcy handed a glass of brandy over and lowered himself into his own chair.

“How was your trip, Bingley?”

“It was excellent, with dry roads and good weather.”

“Thank you for coming and bringing Mrs. Bingley with you. I know Elizabeth was a little disappointed that her father will not be giving her away, but if Mrs. Bingley were not here either, she would have been most unhappy.”

“You are welcome, but there was no doubt that we would come here, as Jane is extremely excited about being a part of her favorite sister’s wedding. Now, before we wander too far afield, are there any details which I need to know for the ceremony? If you are agreeable, I will be walking Elizabeth down the aisle.”

“Yes, and my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, will act as my best man,” Darcy said. “I have obtained the marriage license, Mr. Wickham is prepared to oversee the ceremony itself, and Mrs. Reynolds has eagerly made preparations for a modest wedding breakfast here at Pemberley. So all is in readiness.”

“Will any of your relatives be attending the wedding apart from Miss Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam?”

Darcy shook his head. “No, and frankly, I do not wish anyone else in the family to be here, as I have no desire to hear further argument about my choice of bride.”

“Further argument?” Bingley demanded, straightening his back and glowering. “What do you mean?”

Darcy grimaced. “My aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who has long believed that I ought to marry her daughter, arrived without warning about a week ago and proceeded to lambast me in a noisy and irritating manner. I sent her away the next day, and she sent an angry letter to the Earl of Matlock, my cousin Fitzwilliam’s father, who in turn sent Richard north to obtain information. My cousin, of course, finds Elizabeth enchanting and is delighted for me, but I wish for no other tiresome relations bothering me. All I want is to be married in peace, Bingley, to the lady I adore! The hours have seemed like days of late as I wait for the wedding ceremony.”

“You only have two days to go,” Bingley remarked.

Darcy cast his eyes heavenward and said, “Yes, and that still seems like a painfully long time.”

***

Lydia’s Bedchamber

Two days later

Morning

“You look absolutely beautiful, Elizabeth,” Lydia said solemnly.

Elizabeth, standing in front of the mirror in her sister’s room, could not disagree. Her hair had been artfully arranged by Jane’s private maid and was a charming mass of curls held up by pearl combs, a wedding present from her beloved. Her dress of sea green, with a gauze overdress, matched her coloring perfectly, and her new hat more accentuated her hair than covered it. Yes, she looked very well indeed, and she was pleased because she wished to be beautiful for the man she adored, the man who would soon be her husband.

She glanced at the clock on the mantle and jolted in alarm. “Look at the time! It must be time to go!”

“There is plenty of time,” Lydia said soothingly. “It takes but two minutes to walk to the church, and there are yet ten minutes until ten o’clock.”

She smiled gratefully, amused at the realization that she was currently the flighty, anxious woman and her youngest sister the sensible one. But then, she had never been married before, after all.

There was a tap at the door, and Jane Bingley appeared, herself dressed in a dark blue gown which matched her eyes, with a silver net shawl over her shoulders. “Are you ready to go, Lizzy?”

“I am,” Elizabeth said, squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath. “I am.”

***

The Church at Kympton

Ten O’clock

The organist began playing, and the doors at the back of the church opened to reveal Elizabeth on Bingley’s arm, with Mrs. Bingley walking behind the pair.

Darcy’s heart leaped at the appearance of his beloved fiancée who would, in a few short minutes, be his wife. She was an exquisite sight in her new gown and hat, but he knew that he would find her glorious even if she were dressed in sackcloth and ashes.

Bingley walked Elizabeth down the corridor, which separated the pews on both sides, and placed her hand on Darcy’s and then retreated to the front pew to sit next to Georgiana, who was in turn seated next to Mrs. Annesley, with Mrs. Wickham next in the row.

Behind them in the second row sat Darcy’s steward and some of the higher level Pemberley servants. It was a small wedding, but Darcy far preferred that to some extravagant affair.

“Dearly beloved,” Alexander began, and Darcy turned joyful eyes on the rector, who would, in a few minutes, be his brother by marriage. “We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony.”

Darcy, listening to the ancient words of the wedding ceremony, felt such joy in his heart that he thought he might explode. The lovely lady on his right, her hand tucked in his arm, would soon be his wife. They would live, and love, and share children, and…

“Into this holy unionElizabeth Bennet andFitzwilliam Darcy now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now; or else for ever hold your peace.”

“I have cause! I have cause!” a sudden feminine, familiar voice shrieked from behind them, and Darcy’s joy gave way to unmitigated horror.

He spun around to observe his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, striding down the aisle, her right hand shaking her cane in her outrage.

“I demand that you halt this wedding at once!” Lady Catherine shouted, as she halted a few feet from Darcy and Elizabeth. “My nephew cannot marry this woman, because he is already engaged to another!”

Darcy stared at his aunt in utter, horrified astonishment. How could Lady Catherine still be here in Derbyshire? More importantly, what was he going to do?

“Did you hear me?” Lady Catherine snapped, glowering dangerously at Alexander Wickham. “You must stop this ceremony immediately! This is an illegal marriage!”

Darcy turned an alarmed look on Elizabeth, whose brown eyes were wide with distress, and opened his mouth, only to close it as Alexander said, from his position at the pulpit, “Do not be completely ridiculous, Lady Catherine.”

The lady glared with enraged eyes at the rector and took another step closer to the couple. “Ridiculous? How dare you? Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I know entirely who you are,” Alexander said coolly. “You are Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Hunsford and also an interfering, irritating busybody.”

This provoked a screech of outrage from Lady Catherine, whose cheeks were now bright red with fury.

“I will have you removed from your pulpit!” she finally sputtered. “You have no authority to…”

“I have every authority!” Alexander declared, descending the two stairs to the nave and stalking dangerously toward the interloper. “You have entered this church during a wedding ceremony, which is entirely honorable, both legally and morally. Now either leave this sanctuary immediately, or I will have you removed!”

“I will not!” Lady Catherine shrieked. “Darcy is to marry my daughter, Anne, and…”

“Bingley,” Richard Fitzwilliam interrupted, striding over to grasp his aunt ungently by one arm. “Would you kindly assist me in removing Lady Catherine from this building?”

“With pleasure,” Bingley replied, his usually genial countenance transformed into a fearsome scowl. He rose to his feet and walked over to Lady Catherine’s side and grabbed her other arm, and the two men dragged the noblewoman, now howling and protesting, down the aisle and through the door at the back of the sanctuary. Darcy watched in something of a daze. Even with his knowledge of his aunt’s determination to rule the lives of all those around her, this seemed beyond belief.

“Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth,” Alexander said, and the couple turned to see that he had once again ascended to his position at the pulpit, “shall we continue?”

“Yes!” Elizabeth said, which provoked a giggle from Lydia, and Alexander said, “I require and charge you both, here in the presence of God, that if either of you know any reason why you may not be united in marriage lawfully, and in accordance with God's Word, you do now confess it…”

The rest of the ceremony was completed without interruption, and Elizabeth and Darcy signed the wedding registry. Elizabeth’s sisters kissed her joyfully, and Alexander opened the side door of the sanctuary to reveal the carriage waiting for the newlyweds. Darcy handed Elizabeth in and then followed her and sat down at her side as the vehicle jolted into motion.

He was entirely befuddled, caught between his joy at finally gaining Elizabeth for his wife and his embarrassment at his aunt’s decision to interrupt the most sacred ceremony of his life, of Elizabeth’s life.

He felt shaking from his left, and he turned with some concern to observe his darling bride attempting to hold in a laugh and failing. He stared at her briefly, and then he found himself laughing with her, even as the anxiety in his heart and mind eased.

“My dear Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth finally gasped. “I do beg you not to concern yourself over Lady Catherine’s unexpected appearance. It made what was already a very special day, even more remarkable.”

Darcy chuckled and said, “It was all of that. I wonder where she has been all this time. I thought she had returned to Kent!”

“I suspect she has been staying at Greenon with the Ladsons,” Elizabeth said cheerfully. “Lady Ladson said that she was a friend of your aunt’s, and you told me that it was the Ladsons who sent word of our engagement.”

Darcy huffed and said, “You are right, of course. Well, I will not have it. The Ladsons will soon find…”

He was interrupted by a short kiss from his new wife, which was followed by a longer kiss, and resentment ebbed away in favor of glorious, ecstatic, joyful, grateful satisfaction.

For better or worse, until death parted them, he and Elizabeth were now one in the eyes of God and man.

Praise the Lord.