He had never seen her before, but she was the most affectionate woman he had ever known.Darcy rolled his eyes at himself and scoffed.He was a grown man and a Darcy.This was no time for silly imaginings.He had a sister to take care of.
Chapter 2
A Great Assembly
September1811
Hertfordshire
It was happening more frequently now.She was dreaming nearly every night.Dreams of children, dreams of a large sandstone house by a small lake, dreams of a grey speckled mare she had begrudgingly learned to ride, and the voice of a man calling out encouragements as she rode along.“You’re doing beautifully, Elizabeth,” or “I knew you would be wonderful.”She knew the voice belonged to her husband, but his face remained elusive.She felt held in his arms, her face pressed to his chest.She woke beside him at night, the dark obscuring his features.She heard his voice in the distance, always kind, always strong.She saw the set of his shoulders and the stride of his walk.She teased him.She knew he liked it and that she thought him in dire need of it.He was more real than he had ever been, yet she had no idea who he was.
She sighed and walked into breakfast.There was nothing she could do about it now.She had only turned twenty last week.There was time to meet him.She was not a spinster yet.
“I heard he is bringing nine ladies and seven gentlemen.”
“I heard it was twelve ladies!”
“What are they talking of?”Elizabeth asked Jane.
“Mr.Bingley, the man who has taken Netherfield Park.”
“Ah.”Inexplicably, Elizabeth felt a shiver run down her arm.She knew that name.She could not remember where she had heard it before, but somehow, she knew it.
“Are you well, Lizzy?”asked Jane quietly.
“Yes, only…”
“Did you have another dream?”
“Nearly every night now,” answered Elizabeth.
When the dreams first began four years ago, Jane had been the first person Elizabeth told.Her sister had been kind and sympathetic, and as the dreams began to foretell more about their lives, Jane had enjoyed listening as if it were a fairy tale.Jane did not truly think anything would come of it, but she found it amusing.
Though there was one thing Elizabeth had not told her sister.In the dreams where she had seen Jane and her husband, Jane had assumed the man in the dreams was like Elizabeth’s husband: visible from a distance or with a turned back and always with an unclear face.But Elizabeth had kept a secret from her sister—she knew exactly what Jane’s husband looked like.
The day of the Meryton Assembly, Longbourn was in an uproar.Lydia ran from room to room, stealing the ribbons and shoe roses that she wanted from her sisters, and Kitty ran from one room to another, looking for that which had been taken from her.
“Who agreed Lydia was old enough to go to assemblies?”asked Elizabeth tiredly.
Jane smiled and tucked a braid into place on her sister’s coiffure.“It is only a local assembly, not a London ballroom.”
“Yes, but now she will embarrass us in front of people we know and not a room full of strangers.”
Jane tried to hold in her laughter while Elizabeth grinned slyly in the mirror.She had a feeling about tonight.She could not say what it was exactly, but her entire body was humming in anticipation.
“There.All done.”Elizabeth checked her reflection.She was in decent looks this evening even though she had not been sleeping as well as she ought.The lack of rest showed in her complexion.
“You look lovely.Do not judge yourself harshly,” said Jane in the firm but gentle tone Elizabeth knew she would use with her children one day.
“You know me too well, sister.Do not worry, I was not being harsh.Merely thinking that my lack of sleep has made my complexion a bit dull.But you have worked wonders with my hair—I’m certain no one will notice anything else about me.”
Jane laughed.“Come along.We do not wish to be late.”
The assembly hall looked the same as it always did, but Elizabeth could not help looking around, wondering what was different.She could not quell the nervous feeling in her stomach or the excitement that ran through her veins.Something was going to happen tonight.
After she greeted her friends and the dancing had begun, the watched-for Netherfield party finally arrived.Many of the townspeople had given up and decided they were not coming, but there they stood, a party of five striding through the door as if they owned all of Hertfordshire.
“Who is who, Charlotte?”asked Elizabeth.She could only see a rather rotund man and a woman with pale red hair beside him.The others were hidden amongst the crowd.
