“A license?” She gasped as the meaning struck her. “Amarriagelicense?” Mr. Darcy had not said a thing aboutwhenthey would marry. She had guessed he would leave it to her. Buthad he inquired, she would have wished to marry as soon as possible.
And now they could.
“The issue, as Mr. Darcy has explained to me, is the license itself. It is only valid for three months, you see,” Papa told her, a little glint of mischief shining from his eyes. “And that means you must be married on or before the twenty-fourth of December.”
Elizabeth’s mouth hung open for a moment. “But that is less than a week away.”
“It is indeed.”
“I will be married by Thursday?”
Her father smiled. “It could not be timed better, in my view, for the Christmas feast your mother already has planned can double as your marriage celebration. Waiting two and half months for your sister’s wedding is not something I feel prepared to repeat just yet, not if I can avoid it.” The smile faltered when she did not reply. He hesitated for a moment before he moved to the chair across from Elizabeth, where he took her hand and asked, earnestly, “Would marrying Mr. Darcy next week make you happy, my dear? For truly, that is all that matters.”
“Papa,” Elizabeth said, very seriously, “You know how important Mr. Darcy is, and I am afraid a simple country wedding will not suffice. I would rather wait. Six months should be enough.”
Her father’s face paled considerably, but to his credit, he did not protest. “Very well, my Lizzy. You shall have everything you wish for.”
She smiled brightly. “You absolutely deserved that, you know.”
He blinked. “What?”
“I shall marry Fitzwilliam Darcy as soon as may be. I feel as though I cannot wait even the entire week.”
Her father laughed uncertainly, placing a hand over his heart. “Good Lord, Elizabeth Bennet. You frightened me.”
“Papa,” she said, clasping her hands together and resting them upon her lap, “now I must be serious.”
He waited for her to continue.
“You did not listen to me about Lydia.”
She could see him stiffen.
“I do not mean to chastise you, Papa. I only wish you to listen to me now. Please, make a concerted effort to know Mary and Kitty better.”
He gazed at her steadily, and she took it as permission to continue.
“Mary tries too hard to be accomplished because she does not like being compared to her sisters and found lacking. You could give her books to read and discuss the notion of charity with her so that her opinions and judgments are softened. Kitty’s French is improving, and she has a fondness for poetry. She is a lovely girl but has been left too often without guidance beyond that of Lydia.”
Papa’s guilty expression hastened her conclusion.
“They are neither of them loud or unseemly, Papa, and they would blossom under your care. Will you promise me to provide it?”
He nodded, then leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “I shall. I give you my word.”
Elizabeth took his hands. “Thank you.”
“Now,” he said, a bit of humour making its way back into his voice, “what say you to inviting Miss Bingley to your wedding? It seems only right, as she missed her brother’s nuptials, that she should attend yours. You are, after all, her sister, and she will wish to fulfil her duty to you, will she not?”
“Papa,” Elizabeth scolded him laughingly.
Chapter Fourteen
Mamma was thrown into a whirlwind of nerves and bliss. She accepted Papa’s suggestion of allowing Christmas dinner to double as a wedding celebration and spent many blissful hours adding courses she was sure a man of Mr. Darcy’s status would expect.
Mr. Darcy had advocated for marrying the very day after he had received Papa’s permission, but Papa had insisted that they spend the week remaining on the license talking to one another about their marriage rather than the wedding. “It will last longer,” he had commented wryly.
Therefore, on each of the five remaining days before their wedding, Mr. Darcy came to Longbourn to share in their breakfast and remain until after dinner. Papa had given orders that they could walk out alone so long as they remained within sight of the house, and that they could sit alone in the back parlour with the door open.
