“My sisters have come,” he said as they walked in the little wilderness.
“So, I have been told.” Jane smiled in commiseration.
“Darcy told his wife, no doubt.” He shrugged. “We met whilst riding today.”
“Yes, and in turn, Lizzy told me. What are you to do?” Jane eyed him speculatively. Would he cast his family out or welcome them?
“I told Caroline and Louisa upon their arrival that they are welcome as long as they respect me as master of my house. Aunt Mildred is my hostess, and I have already chastised Caroline once for attempting to usurp her.”
“Have you told them you have been calling at Longbourn?” she asked tentatively. The Bingley sisters had opposed their brother’s courtship once. Surely that had not changed.
“I did when I departed. Caroline attempted to accompany me when she learned that Miss Darcy was here.” He pitched his voice higher, mimicking his sister. ‘Oh, Charles, how devious of you to court Miss Darcy away from town! I never thought you were so clever!’”
Jane laughed. “That was a passable imitation!” she cried. “What did you say?”
Mr. Bingley grew serious, and he gazed deeply into Jane’s eyes. “I told her I was not courting Miss Darcy, reminding Caroline that the young lady was not even out, and said that I went to Longbourn to see Mrs. Collins. And when she flew into a tirade, the footmen hauled her to her chambers. I have rescinded her welcome. She and the Hursts will be leaving tomorrow.”
Jane stared at him in awe. It was the middle of the winter, and travel would be slow. Mr. Bingley’s insistence on his sisters’ good behavior and their inability to comply meant they would be forced to move on despite it all. Though Jane felt sorry that they must be subjected to hours in a cold carriage, she felt only pride. Her Mr. Bingley had, indeed, come into his own. He no longer relied wholly on others.
“You sent them away… for me?” she whispered.
“I would do anything for you. My previous actions separated us these many months. Had I but exerted myself, we could have been married for almost a year now. Henry might have been my son and not Mr. Collins’s. Dearest Jane, I love you most ardently. I have been an unmitigated fool. These last weeks in your company have only compounded my affections. I know that you are still in mourning, and we need not publicly announce anything. But I must ask: please, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Jane sobbed and threw her arms around him. “Yes,” she cried, not even attempting to quiet her tears. “I love you, Mr. Bingley—Charles.”
He let out a happy shout and swung her around in a circle. “My dearest Jane,” he said when they stood still again. He leaned closer and kissed her gently.
Never before had Jane felt the intensity that his kiss elicited. Fire shot through her, and she returned it enthusiastically. It felt very different from what she had experienced with Mr. Collins. Her husband’s kisses were sloppy and awkward. This very different sensation reawakened something inside her, and she grasped onto the feeling, swearing in her thoughts never to let it go again. She felt alive as she never had before.
Wrapping her arms around him and leaning into his chest, she breathed deeply, luxuriating in the bliss that consumed her. “I shall enter half mourning in a matter of weeks,” she said quietly. “Let us marry then.”
He stiffened and pulled away, searching her face. “In truth?” he asked.
She smiled and nodded. “In truth.”
“We can purchase a license!” he cried excitedly.
“That seems appropriate,” Jane reasoned. “I shall be acting scandalously as it is, marrying before my mourning has finished. Best keep the ceremony to only family.”
They returned to the house, and Jane requested that her son be brought down. As she introduced Mr. Bingley to the child, she referred to him as ‘Papa,’ her heart bursting at the thought of the man she loved raising her first-born son.
“Do you resent me for waiting to have you meet him?” she asked, watching Mr. Bingley bounce Henry on his knee.
“Not at all. I confess, I felt great envy knowing that Darcy had held the babe, and I had never even seen him, but the wait was well worth it. I knew thatyouneeded to be ready first.”
“And now I am.” She rested a hand on his arm.
They sat on the settee together, heads bent close as they admired the child in Bingley’s arm.Our son,Jane thought to herself.
Elizabeth and Darcy found them in that repose, and the former’s lips split into a wide grin upon observing their happy countenances.
“I take it that you have news to share.” Darcy raised his eyebrows at Bingley, waggling them in a manner Jane had never seen before. Highly amused, she burst into giggles, leaning her head against Charles’s shoulders.
“Jane has agreed to be my wife,” he said proudly. “Henry shall be my son, and we will live happily ever after.”
“It is very like a fairy-tale, is it not?” Elizabeth asked, looping her arm through Darcy’s.
“It is.” Jane agreed wholeheartedly. “Charles will purchase a license. We shall marry quietly at the end of the month.”
