Page 24

CHAPTER 24

Confessions

D arcy knocked at the study door and entered at the sound of “Come.”

“Bennet,” he said without preamble, his voice low and taut, “We need to speak.”

Bennet rose from his chair, blinking at the gravity in Darcy’s tone.

“My aunt said something yesterday,” Darcy went on, already pacing.

“She claimed the earl received funds from her father—to maintain Matlock House.” He paused, frowning.

“At the time, I dismissed it. But now…” His voice trailed off as he turned sharply on his heel.

“Have you heard from Gardiner? Has he discovered anything?”

He drew a hand through his hair, obviously distracted.

“I was too preoccupied yesterday to give her words proper consideration, but now I’m wondering what she meant—what that might mean? Why would the earl need funds from his father-in-law?”

Darcy fell silent again, his steps marking slow, restless lines across the rug .

Bennet remained still, watching him with a thoughtful, unreadable expression, and said nothing.

“I wish to tell Elizabeth about the difficulties with the earl—especially as they concern Georgiana,” Darcy said at last. “She may see something we have overlooked. She is insightful and may be able to approach the matter in a way that neither of us have considered.”

He paused, exhaling slowly before continuing.

“There is something else,” he said quietly.

“I believe the time has come to tell her about the marriage contract. As I have said before, I would never hold her to it—not if she were unwilling. But the truth is…” His voice softened.

“I am nearly certain that, given the choice, I would choose her. The fact that my father approved the match gives weight to my own desire to have her as my wife. Judging from our conversation just now, I feel that, perhaps, Elizabeth would choose the same, but I can no longer withhold this information from her.”

“Do you still wish to be the one to speak to her about the contract?” Bennet asked.

Darcy nodded, not speaking for a moment as he considered the idea.

“I do,” he finally said.

Nodding, Bennet stood and sent a maid to request that both Elizabeth and the colonel join them in his study.

Darcy looked up at him in surprise.

“As much as my wife has changed in recent years, if she believed I were calling Elizabeth to speak with you privately, she would immediately assume a marriage was imminent,” Bennet said drily.

“By requesting her presence along with your cousin’s, it will appear to be about estate business. She disapproves of Elizabeth’s involvement in such matters, but in this case, it provides convenient cover for what you actually wish to discuss.”

He glanced towards the adjacent wall.

“There is a small sitting room through that door. Colonel Fitzwilliam and I can speak here, and you may speak with Elizabeth in the other room. It offers some measure of privacy—enough for what is necessary.”

He paused, fixing Darcy with a glare.

“I am placing a great deal of trust in you by allowing this. Keep it brief—and join us as soon as you are able.”

Darcy nodded his agreement and opened the door Bennet indicated and entered the small room, pacing as he waited.

A few moments later, Elizabeth entered the small sitting room and closed the door softly behind her, not quite latching it, but enough to give them privacy.

Darcy was pacing near the hearth, his hands clasped behind his back, his expression taut with thought.

At the sound of the door, he turned quickly.

“Miss Elizabeth,” he said, then stopped.

“Elizabeth.”

She raised a brow slightly at the correction, but said nothing, waiting.

“I—thank you for coming.” He took a step towards her, then stopped again.

“There is…something I need to speak to you about. Something I wish we had both known about earlier, but until recently, I was unaware of it myself.”

Elizabeth’s posture stiffened slightly.

“Go on.”

Darcy drew a breath.

“It concerns an agreement made between our fathers—yours and mine. Shortly before my father’s death, they signed a marriage contract…an arrangement between our families. I became fully aware of it only recently, after arriving in Hertfordshire. Your father was the one who told me about it.”

Elizabeth stared at him, frowning.

“A marriage contract? And Papa has known about it all these years?”

“Yes,” he said, stumbling a little over the word.

“It seems our fathers agreed that—we should marry with the understanding that it must be something we both want. ”

There was a silence.

Elizabeth’s expression was unreadable.

“I want you to know,” he added quickly, “that I would never enforce it. I have no intention of compelling you, nor would I expect you to accept such an arrangement without full freedom of choice.”

“I see,” she said slowly, her tone cool.

“So, you would offer marriage not because you wish to, but because our fathers arranged it, and you feel duty-bound to honour our father’s wishes. Did you pay attention to me for the same reason? To ease the way?”

Darcy’s brow creased.

“No—well, not only because of that. I mean—it was unexpected, certainly, but the arrangement aligns with what I…” He trailed off, clearly flustered.

Elizabeth’s voice turned sharp.

“With what you what, Mr. Darcy? With what you find convenient? Honourable?”

“No! That is not—” He stepped forward.

“That is not what I intended.”

“Then what did you intend?” she demanded, her voice rising.

“From where I stand, it sounds very much like you are offering me a proposal out of obligation. Out of loyalty to your father, not out of regard for me.”

His mouth opened, but no words came in the face of her anger.

While he had known she would not accept him for mercenary reasons, he had thought she had liked him, at least a little.

She stared at him, furious and wounded, then turned on her heel.

“Excuse me,” she said, flinging open the door behind her.

Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam looked up as Elizabeth stormed into the room, her cheeks flushed.

“Papa,” she said sharply, “is it true? Did you and Mr. Darcy’s father arrange a marriage between us without ever speaking to me about the matter? Was I ever to know of it, or was I supposed to enter the church one day and simply accept someone whom I did not know at all? Was it merely chance that brought Mr. Bingley to Hertfordshire and Mr. Darcy with him, or was this merely some scheme of yours?”

Bennet blinked at her sudden entrance, but he only nodded calmly.

“Yes, Mr. Darcy’s father suggested the marriage contract, in large part to protect his son from those of his family who would attempt to force or cajole him into a marriage he did not want. You were only fifteen at the time.”

Elizabeth gave a disbelieving laugh.

“I was practically running this estate for you then before you decided to take an interest in it. In all the time we have spent together speaking of estate business, you might have mentioned it! You certainly ought to have done so once Mr. Darcy visited.”

“I might have,” he agreed.

“But I did not—because it was never meant to be a command, only a possibility. There is an addendum that allows us to nullify it should you have wished to marry another. Again, Lizzy, it was mostly done in an effort to protect Mr. Darcy from relatives who had ill intentions towards him.”

“I do not understand. You make it sound like some sort of transaction,” she said bitterly, “while he makes it sound like…like a duty.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam rose from his chair.

“Miss Elizabeth,” he said gently, “I feel quite certain Darcy did not mean it as it sounded.” He glanced towards the door, where his cousin had just entered behind her—looking flustered, pale, and not a little stunned by the vehemence of her response.

“If he has made a muddle of it,” the colonel continued, “I suspect it is not because he does not care for you—but because he cares rather more than he knows how to say.”

Bennet gave his daughter a pointed look.

“Shortly after Mr. Darcy arrived in Hertfordshire, I informed him of the contract—due to some circumstances he shared with me. At the time, he asked me not to speak of it to you. ”

Elizabeth opened her mouth, but Bennet raised a hand to forestall her.

“He wanted to tell you himself, once the two of you had come to know each other better. If the two of you did not suit, there was no reason to burden you with it at all. But he came to me again today, asking if he might explain—not only the existence of the contract, but the reason I told him about it in the first place. He wanted you to be the one to decide.”

Bennet arched his brow.

“I rather think you did not give him the chance. Likely, you got your back up the moment he said the word ‘contract.’”

Elizabeth flushed but said nothing.

“Now,” he said, not unkindly, “do not punish the man for speaking clumsily when you would not allow him the time to speak fully.”

Elizabeth stood frozen for a moment, her heart thudding.

She looked towards the sitting room door, and saw Darcy standing there, looking at her in confusion.

“I see,” she said finally, her voice softer now.

“Elizabeth—please, may we finish our conversation?” Darcy asked, his voice low but firm, offering her his hand.

Elizabeth nodded and accepted his hand, allowing him to lead her back into the small sitting room.

Once inside, he guided her to a settee and gently helped her sit before taking the seat opposite her.

Almost at once, Darcy rose again, restless.

He crossed the room, paused, then turned and came to stand before her.

For a moment, he seemed to struggle with the tumult of his thoughts.

Then, realizing how he towered over her, he dropped to one knee in front of her—not in dramatic supplication, but as though drawn down by the urgency of his own heart.

His breath was uneven.

His voice, when he spoke, was low and even .

“I spoke poorly before,” he said.

“I know I did. But you must understand—my request was never about duty. Nothing in our acquaintance has ever been. The contract…it means little to me, except as proof that my father once hoped for a match between us, which I already knew from his words to me when we visited Longbourn all those years ago. I told you about it, not to justify anything, but because I wanted to be honest with you and allow you to choose. You deserve nothing less. I never intended it to shape your answer—or compel your regard. Perhaps I was too honest, but I did not want you to misunderstand my intentions.”

Her eyes flashed.

“Then why mention it at all, if not to give weight to your proposal?”

“Because I would not have you think—” He faltered.

“I would not have you believe my affection was insincere, or that I approached you under false pretenses.”

Elizabeth replied, her voice far quieter than it had been in the study.

“And what are your feelings, Mr. Darcy? I confess, they have become rather difficult to interpret.”

Darcy straightened from where he knelt in front of her, sitting beside her and taking her hand in his.

“I care for you, Elizabeth. Deeply. Not because our fathers wished it, not because you are clever or accomplished—though you are—but because you are wholly yourself. I admire your mind, your wit, your courage. I should have said so clearly from the start.”

Elizabeth regarded him for a long moment.

“Tell me, sir,” she said at last, “what are your wishes in this matter? As you have explained it, neither of us is bound unless we choose to be. So why raise the subject now?”

Darcy hesitated, struck silent by the directness of her question.

She watched him closely as he stood and paced as he attempted to search for the right words .

At last, he spoke—quietly, but with growing resolve.

“Perhaps it is too soon to speak of affections,” he began.

“And yet, I find my desire to be in your presence deepens each time we meet. I cannot yet name what I feel—not fully—but I believe I felt the first stirrings of it when we first met that day in the fields, and it has only grown since.”

He paused, closed his eyes briefly, steadying himself before continuing.

“My purpose in telling you of the contract was not to bind you to it, but to gauge whether you might…be amenable to such a match, should your feelings ever incline that way. There are things you do not yet know—matters I must still explain—but before I burdened you with them, I needed to be honest about what compelled me to speak at all.”

His voice softened as he drew nearer.

“My uncle would have me make a match elsewhere—a match I cannot accept. But you…” He met her eyes, and something vulnerable flickered there.

“You are not a duty, Elizabeth. You are—if I may say it—a lifeline. A hope. A treasure I did not expect to find when I joined my friend to visit his estate. I knew of you, of course, but even then, I did not expect to find a…a partner.”

He returned to the seat beside her.

“It was not my intention to propose—not yet—but I could no longer keep the existence of the marriage contract from you. Not while my feelings for you continue to grow each day.”

He paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing.

“I wished to speak openly about the matters that trouble me, to show you that part of myself, so that you might make an informed decision about whether a life with me is something you want. As I told your father, I am certain of my choice—but I would not ask for your regard without first offering you the truth in full.”

Elizabeth nodded slowly, absorbing all he had said.

“Then please, Mr. Darcy,” she said gently, though her voice remained even, “tell me what you believe I should know, so I can understand everything clearly and make a thoughtful decision about what lies ahead.”

“Let us rejoin your father and my cousin, and I will explain all,” Darcy said.

“They are both aware of the details and I believe they can fill in any parts of the story that I miss.”

She lingered for a moment, her eyes searching his.

“Thank you for trusting me with this—and for letting me stand beside you. I hope it will always be so.”

For a moment, Darcy could do nothing but stare at her.

“You are decided, then?”

A slow smile curved her lips as she rose to her feet.

“I, too, know what I wish,” she said.

“But I will hear you out and allow you the advantage of your sex—which is to ask.” She tilted her head, eyes bright with mischief.

“And then I shall claim the privilege of mine, which is to answer.”

Turning, she moved back towards the study, with Darcy slowly following behind her.