“Good day, Mr Bennet. I trust you are in good health?”
Fitzwilliam moved on to address the rest of her family while the Gardiner children cried out to him and pulled at his coat, asking whether they might join him on his trip to London. Elizabeth watched him be engaging and courteous with everyone. She would not have believed him capable of it months ago. Fitzwilliam invited the Gardiners to visit with Georgiana at Pemberley while they were in the area, then he placated Mrs Bennet as she fretted over the fate of her youngest daughter, and then he quietly tolerated Lydia’s desire that, should he find Wickham, he tell him how much she would like to travel to Bath. Elizabeth felt that his social graces had become more genuine in recent weeks.
Elizabeth stood apart from the others to watch the Gardiners’ carriage depart and was disappointed that she was not joining them. She understood the necessity of Lydia’s immediate removal from the neighbourhood, and Elizabeth wanted to stay to be of comfort to Jane. Nothing could move forward with Fitzwilliam until he found Wickham, and until he returned, she would not even have the pleasure of a northern tour to distract her.
Fitzwilliam came up behind her. “I might have married you yesterday, Elizabeth,” he remarked quietly so as not to be overheard. Jane was trying to calm her mother’s loud complaints, and her father was farther removed from them. “The banns have been read three times, and your father has signed the wedding articles, but it honestly did not occur to me until this moment. I was entirely focused on Lydia and the task at hand.”
“Why does that matter?”
He sighed and shifted his feet. “I presume you are not wilfully misunderstanding me, so I must speak bluntly. Have you not considered that you and Lydia could be in the same situation?”
Elizabeth stared at him in confusion, and, upon finally realising what he meant, was surprised. “I am not.”
“You are certain?” he asked quietly, his eyes rising above her head toward where her family waved after the Gardiners’ carriage.
Elizabeth did not feel comfortable discussing this in full view of her assembled family. “No, but Lydia is showing signs while I am not.” She did not raise her voice above a whisper.
“How are you certain as to what those signs are?”
“Charlotte,” she whispered. “She suspected her condition. She did not wish to worry Mr Collins any earlier than necessary, although I think she feared Lady Catherine’s advice more than anything else. She was eager to speak of it to someone who would keep her confidence and respond with an even temper. Besides, one cannot be entirely sure until the baby quickens.”
“Then you might be,” he murmured.
“Wickham spent the entire month of June seducing Lydia. You and I…”
“If a child comes two months early, they might believe that I married a poor woman only because she carried my child. Or worse, it could be suggested the child is not even mine. There will be those who find it hard to believe that I married without consideration to connexion or fortune, and given Lydia’s fall, they may presume the worst.”
“It is also possible that I am not with child. You will find Wickham, work upon him to marry Lydia, and return to marry me and all of this will soon be behind us.” She gave him a smile, attempting to ease his mind. “There will be rumours regardless of when we marry. We cannot escape the censure that Lydia’s child and Jane’s abandonment will bring. We already resolved to be the happiest couple in the world, so this cannot affect us.”
Elizabeth could see that his mind was spinning with all the possibilities of what could go amiss. She wanted to enfold him tightly in her arms and bury her face in his neck, but could hardly do such a thing in full sight of her parents. She took his hand in hers instead.
“All will be well.” Her throat caught, and she was no longer certain who required the convincing. She was wonderfully aware of some powerful and tangible bond between them. Eventually, she felt some of the tension leave his body, and he exhaled heavily. He softly brushed his fingers against her cheek.
“Remember what I told you this morning.” She saw his expression was one of pure control, and she recognised his struggle to keep his emotions in check. All that he had said and promised did not make the pain of his leaving any easier to tolerate.
She looked toward her family and saw that her father, mother, and Jane still remained. “I find that I am suffering some momentary apprehensions of our happiness being impossible to last.”
“You are not made for melancholy. Do not allow this to dispirit you. Our potential happiness does not end with my departure.”
She saw something in his features she had not seen before. He was not as invulnerable as he appeared. She attempted to speak lightly. “Then I must endeavour to accept my good fortune and learn to brook being happier than I deserve.”
This made him smile. “Write to me often? I anticipate few other pleasures in the weeks ahead.”
They both wished to say more, but all the important words and deeds had been said and done hours before. Now there was only the necessity of bowing to polite convention under the eyes of her family. Fitzwilliam promised Mrs Bennet to do all he could for Lydia and avowed that he would, of course, return to marry Elizabeth. He then took Jane’s hand, looking as if he wished he had more to say to comfort her. He inclined his head toward her father, who gruffly thanked Fitzwilliam for his efforts.
In the turn of a moment, Fitzwilliam was gone, and Elizabeth was left outside with Jane.
“Lizzy, do not be so downhearted.” Jane stood on her toes to rest her chin on Elizabeth’s shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her. “He will return in a matter of weeks, and you will be mistress of Pemberley before the end of the summer.”
“Oh, Jane.” Elizabeth laughed. “This will not do! I am here to be of comfort to you. Do not waste your breath trying to gladden me.”
It spoke volumes of Jane’s state of mind that she could not deny that she needed comforting. Elizabeth reproached herself for her temporary sadness when faced with Jane’s more enduring heartache.
“Shall we go for a walk? I can divulge the many reasons why I dislike Caroline Bingley. It is good she is not to be your sister, for now, I might speak plainly.”
“That is uncharitable of you.” Jane gave a restrained laugh. “Mr Bingley was simply too afraid of a choice that would be disagreeable and inconvenient to the principal part of his family and give bad connexions to those who have not been used to them.”
Elizabeth thought her sister was too generous, but kept her silence. Other than Colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgiana, her betrothed’s family found his choice of a wife to be disagreeable and inconvenient, but that had not prevented Fitzwilliam from making her an offer. They walked for a while before she remembered Lydia’s parting words to Jane and asked, if it would not violate a confidence, what she had said.
