Page 41 of Why I Kissed You (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

“That is where the dowry going into trust applies, Aunt,” said Elizabeth.

“Remember that I said they could not even have the interest? Miss de Bourgh’s dowry is fifty thousand, and the interest at five percent is two and a half thousand.

My uncle calculated that leaving the interest untouched until the eldest son is of age will more than double the amount invested.

For all their parents must give up to pay for their mistakes, the children will not be made to suffer. ”

At that moment there was a knock at the door, and when Lady Disley bade the visitor enter, it opened to reveal Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner; the former held what looked to be several folded sheets of paper in his hand.

“First order of business,” said Mr. Bennet, looking to Lady Disley, “His Lordship requests your presence, my lady. It seems Miss de Bourgh, while at first reluctant to be confined, now refuses to leave her chamber. Mr. Darcy has requested she be removed from his house following the signing of the obligatory documents that Lizzy has no doubt informed you are being drawn up.”

Lady Disley smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Bennet. I will go and see to my niece.”

When she had gone, Mrs. Bennet asked her husband, “What have you there, Mr. Bennet?”

“I have here the marriage articles for our daughter Elizabeth,” he replied, then looked over to Jane.

“By the by, Jane dear, I believe congratulations are in order. While we awaited the arrival of the attorney, Mr. Bingley took me aside and formally asked for my blessing—which, of course, I have given him. ”

Mrs. Bennet screeched in delight and nearly knocked Elizabeth to the floor, in such a hurry was she to run over and embrace her daughter.

“My dear Jane, I knew you could not be so beautiful for nothing! I knew that if only you could meet Mr. Bingley again, you would secure him. You will not have as many fine things as our Lizzy, but you will do very, very well! Oh! You will be the mistress of Netherfield Park and Lizzy will be the mistress of Pemberley! How I cannot wait to tell Lady Lucas. You know, Lizzy, she was quite put out when she read your news in the paper on Saturday, but I just smiled and smiled, knowing how great and rich you will be!”

While her mother and sisters and the Gardiners gushed over Jane’s engagement, Mr. Bennet gestured to Elizbeth that he wished her to join him.

They went to the table where Miss Darcy had remained sitting, appearing not to know what to do with herself.

When Elizabeth and her father approached the table, she stood to leave them alone, but Mr. Bennet said,

“Dear child, you need not relocate on account of us.”

Miss Darcy colored. “I-I do not wish to intrude,” she said meekly.

Elizabeth smiled at her. “You shan’t be intruding, I am sure. You may even learn a little something about how marriage articles work.”

“Very well. If you are certain,” Miss Darcy said even as she sat down again.

Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet joined her in taking a seat, Elizabeth sitting in the middle to alleviate some of the younger girl’s nerves.

Her father opened up the sheets of paper he held and laid them on the table.

“Marriage contracts—for let’s face it, that is what the articles truly are—are generally designed to protect assets which one or both sides contribute to the union of man and woman.

They are also meant to detail what financial arrangements a gentleman intends to provide for his wife and future children in the event of his death.

Now, as we know, you unfortunately bring little to your marriage save for your wit, beauty, and other charms, but it seems Mr. Darcy desires no more than that from you, save a few heirs over the years. ”

“Papa!” cried Elizabeth softly.

Mr. Bennet chuckled. “That said,” he continued, “while you bring next to nothing, your Mr. Darcy brings a very great deal.”

He slid the papers over to her to read, and in seconds Elizabeth became wide-eyed with astonishment.

Darcy was first offering to provide means of furthering the education of her younger sisters—which he had already discussed with her—but what he’d failed to mention was his intention to provide them each with a small dowry if they did well at their studies!

Mr. Bennet tapped the paragraph she’d just read with his finger. “I think that last line geared more toward Kitty and Lydia curbing their wildness in order to earn the money he means to give them,” he muttered softly.

“Yes, Father,” Elizabeth murmured in reply, before turning her head to look at him. “I hope you are not offended.”

“Who have I to blame but myself if I am?” he replied as he lifted a shoulder.

“You and I both know my failings as a father, Lizzy. A part of me thinks it far too late to correct them, but… In any case, I am sure that your husband will suggest rules of conduct for your sisters that ought already to be in place, and if I am to obtain from another that which it was my place to provide, I know it will fall to me to make them abide them.”

Mr. Bennet cleared his throat. “Read on, Lizzy.”

Elizabeth looked back to the papers before her.

She discovered that Pemberley was to be her home for the rest of her life regardless of whether she gave him an heir or not, unless she desired another home.

His estate would cover her expenses wherever she chose to live, and her pin money—a full two thousand pounds a year!

—would always be hers in addition to having her expenses paid.

Darcy also intended to set up an interest-bearing trust to begin building respectable dowries for their daughters, which would be hers on the event of his death if she gave him only sons.

And when came the day that Mr. Bennet passed and his wife and any unmarried daughters were made to remove from Longbourn, he intended to purchase a home for them. It might not be a full-sized estate, but it would be large enough for their comfort.

Tears of profound relief filled Elizabeth’s eyes. Her family would be all right—both the one she had now, and the one she would have in the future. They would always have shelter and protection.

“I suspect, Lizzy,” said Mr. Bennet in the same low voice of before, “that now Mr. Darcy is to have a fine, nearly-as-rich brother in Mr. Bingley, he may put the finding of a home for your mother to him.”

Elizabeth laughed and dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief he then held out to her. After murmuring a soft “Thank you,” she sniffled, read over the marriage articles again, then picked up the two sheets and folded them together again.

“I’m supposed to ask,” said her father, “if there is any provision in those papers which does not meet with your approval. Mr. Darcy said to tell you if that be the case, he is willing to make any amendments you deem necessary.”

“What a foolish man,” she replied. “He knows perfectly well that there is nothing in here I could wish different. Darcy has done very well by me, Papa, and my sisters.”

“That he has, Lizzy,” said Mr. Bennet. “We were both of us wrong about him. Mr. Darcy is a capital fellow indeed.”

On hearing these words, Miss Darcy beamed a small smile.

“I am so very pleased that you like him,” she said in a voice almost too low to be heard.

When she noted both Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet looking at her, she blushed furiously and looked down at her hands, then a moment later lifted her chin and met Elizabeth’s gaze.

“My brother is a good man,” said she. “I am certain I would say so even were he not my brother. He does so much for other people that he often neglects himself. I have for some time hoped that he might meet someone who could inspire him to look after himself more, to be more cheerful… Someone who might be a sister to me, as I have wished I had a sister all my life.”

Elizabeth smiled and held out her hand, and after only a moment’s hesitation, Miss Darcy took it. “Very soon, you shall at last have a sister for the rest of your life. I can only hope that you will like the sister you get!”

“Oh, but I like you already, Miss Elizabeth!” cried Miss Darcy.

“You have been so very kind to me, so welcoming… And you make Fitzwilliam happy! I have seen him smile more in the last four days than I can remember seeing him smile in the last four months prior—and did not my cousin Theodore say only the other day that we could both of us benefit from your liveliness?”

Elizabeth laughed lightly, gave her soon-to-be sister’s hand a squeeze, then released it as she said, “Well then, I am very happy to have been of service, and will continue to do my duty as often as I am able.”

Miss Darcy smiled, then they all looked toward the door as a light knock sounded seconds before Mr. Bingley stuck his head around it. Mrs. Bennet cried out as he stepped inside the room and ran over to him, grabbing his head to kiss both his cheeks before he could even draw breath to speak.

“You beautiful, beautiful boy!” she cried. “I knew it—I knew you loved my Jane! Oh, thank you sir! Thank you for loving one of my dearest girls! ”

Bingley looked to Jane and smiled, though his cheeks remained flushed with color as he quipped, “You didn’t greet Darcy so enthusiastically—am I to be your favorite son, Mrs. Bennet?”

A look of absolute horror came over Miss Darcy’s features even as Elizabeth burst out laughing. “Oh… oh, good heavens, Mr. Bingley…” she said some moments later, when she managed to contain her amusement. “Can you…”

She giggled again and clapped a hand to her lips. After taking a moment to steady herself again, she said, “Can you just imagine my mother greeting Darcy as she has just done you?”

Bingley’s eyes grew huge as it dawned on him just what he had suggested, and then he, too, burst into laughter. Elizabeth joined him, as did Jane, and eventually all the rest.