The Bennets and Bingley walked a little distance towards the house leaving the courting couple with relative privacy to speak.
“May I have a token to hold close to my heart while we are separated?” Darcy requested quietly.
“There is nothing I have with me…” Elizabeth trailed off as she followed his eyes and noted he was looking at her hair. She knew some curls were protruding from the bonnet—a few always did.
“May I?” Darcy inquired. Elizabeth nodded shyly as her cheeks bloomed with a deep blush.
Darcy removed a penknife from his pocket and wound the end of one curl around his finger. In one deft move, he cut about two to three inches of her silky hair off. He opened the back of his fob watch cover and placed the precious curl within.
“And what am I to have to remember you?” Elizabeth asked daringly.
He removed a handkerchief from his pocket. In one corner was his embroidered initials. There was a large ‘D’ in the centre with an interlocking ‘F’ on one side and ‘A’ on the other.
Elizabeth softly caressed the letters. “The F and D are self-explanatory, but what is the A?”
“It is my middle name, for my paternal grandfather, Alexander,” Darcy revealed.
He looked at her intently and Elizabeth could see and feel the love in his look. “I will miss you, all of you,” she told him.
“It is the only time Lady Catherine will succeed in separating us, but the time will pass soon enough, and we will be in one another’s company before long. I will miss you tremendously, Elizabeth.”
“As I will you, William.”
Like he had when he requested the courtship on Oakham Mount, Darcy kissed the top of both of her hands and then turned them over. These gloves were a little longer than the ones Elizabeth had worn then so he pushed each one down some until her pulse area on each wrist was revealed.
A lingering kiss was gifted to each. Elizabeth felt like she was flying on the wings of doves. She did not want the moment to end, but just then her father cleared his throat.
“We must away, your mother pointed out the guests are already at the house,” Bennet reminded his daughter.
After each squeezed the other’s hand, they parted, most reluctantly. Darcy joined his family members in the carriage and Elizabeth joined her family. With a knock on the ceiling, the coach began to move as the two matched pairs strained against the traces at the coachman’s command.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Mary and William Bennet departed some two hours later in Bingley’s older carriager—still far better quality than the Bennets’ equipage.
Their plan was to reach Hunsford that afternoon so Mary could be shown her new home where they would spend their first night as man and wife. Fanny, assisted by Maddie Gardiner, had given Marythe talklast evening.
As soon as the conveyance was out of sight, the Bennets, with Bingley close to his fiancée as was his wont, returned to the celebration which continued unabated without the bridal couple.
With Charlotte’s wedding on the morrow, and then the planning for Jane’s in a mid-January ceremony, Elizabeth knew she would have activities to keep her mind occupied and distract her from missing William. As soon as his name popped into her head, her hand went to her reticule and the precious handkerchief contained within.
Elizabeth found rubbing his initials made her feel he was close to her. It struck her she was either in love with William already, or very close to that point.
She supposed it was lucky her sister and husband would be at Hunsford most of the time so there would not be too much confusion when one used the name William. Before she left, Mary had begged Elizabeth to come visit her in her new home in early March. She had not hesitated to accept Mary’s invitation.
Jane would be married by then. With Mary also away and with the two younger girls busy with their lessons, being able to spend time with Mary and seeing her home would be perfect—if she was not already married herself by then.
When she thought of the possibility of being married to William in the next few months, Elizabeth found it gave her an inordinate amount of pleasure. She had come to accept that in character and intelligence, she would never find another man who matched her as he did.
She could not help wondering if William was missing her as much as she was him.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Do you think my ordering my late mother to the dower house caused her death?” Anne asked guiltily.
“No more than my telling her I would never marry you did,” Darcy assured his cousin.
“William has the right of it,” Richard told his cousin. “Do you not remember what Mr. Jones told us?”
