“She, she… I cannot understand.Why?” Darcy felt too sad to be righteously angry, and he knew that insulting Elizabeth to his sister would not win her to his cause. “She ended our engagement. She chose it — I would not have. Never.”
His sister placed her hand on his arm, and Darcy’s eyes clouded over with tears again.
“I did not deserve it. I did not. She encouraged you in your infatuation — but I would not have thrown our love away for that. She threw mine away the first time I did not follow her demands.”
“Fitzwilliam…”
“She took my ring from her finger and threw it to the ground so that it bounced and bounced.”
Georgiana’s eyes widened and she gasped.
“Ha! You are surprised your friend treated me in such a brutal fashion.”
His sister clapped her hand over her mouth. “What did you say to her to place her in such a rage?”
“You accuse me?”
Georgiana mutely shook her head, with her hand still over her mouth.
Darcy slumped into the chair, still holding Anne against him.
“But she… not normally, Lizzy would not have done that.”
“Aunt Lizzy!” Anne clapped and squirmed so she could sit up in Darcy’s lap. “When will Aunt Lizzy visit us in Pemberley? She told me she was coming with us.”
“Never.”
Anne stared into his eyes with her big wet blue eyes.
He kissed her on the forehead.
“When Lizzy come?” Anne repeated the question.
Darcy kissed her on the forehead again. She quieted down but squirmed out of Darcy’s arms and went to play with her doll again.
“Georgie, I apologize.” Darcy smiled with a skull’s grimace. “I am overwrought, and I should not speak insultingly of your friend — you can only sympathize with me to a limit, she grew enraged in pursuit ofyourcause.”
Georgiana covered her eyes with her fingers. “I had no idea — none. Oh, if I had known my hopes would destroy you and Lizzy, I…” Georgiana halted a frown over her face.
“Blame not yourself. Her affection for me was not great, not if it could be changed by… No means could have been drivenmefrom her, except, alas, her orders.Theydrove me away, for Iama gentleman. I will not force myself upon a woman when my presence is unwished. I will not pushmylongings upon a girl who spurns my name. I will not pine for her. I am complete in myself as a Darcy, an island standing high above the sea, alone amongst the crashing surf while the seabirds whirl in circles and caw lonely cries above, with only you, my sister, and your daughter, growing as sweet trees upon my windswept shore. So it has been, and so it will always be. Forshethrew my ring on the ground.”
“Oh, Fitzwilliam. I…I grieve for you. As much as for myself.”
Darcy had a duty. Georgiana’s words reminded him of it. “How…what do you feel — Mr. Peake. I again exposed you to an unsuitable attachment. I am glad that the damage has been less this time, but…”
“I love him — it is different. Not like when — not like Mr. Wickham. Not at all.”
Darcy opened his mouth to argue, but he knew that would not work. Georgiana needed to believe he listened to her, or else she would never be able to accept the rightness of his choice. Not if she was doubting. He pulled his chair closer to her and softly asked, “How is this different?”
“Oh! In every way. Mr. Peake never attempted to seduce me. He is my friend, like Jane and Bingley or you and Lizzy… Oh! Lord, I… Fitzwilliam, I am so sorry.”
Darcy nodded.
“My friend. I can talk to him about anything, and he speaks to me about the matters that are deepest to him, his work, and his life in London, and his family back home, in Derbyshire. His hopes for the future. And he is so sweet about everything.”
Darcy smiled a little. “I thought he talked to you about bills of exchange, and when to buy and sell government stock. That sort of nonsense.”
“Oh, yes!” Georgiana enthusiastically exclaimed. “I adore it. He speaks to me like no one else does, treating me as interested in his business, and worthy of hearing about it. He always did.”
