Her smile slipped at his harshness, and her lips formed themselves into a severe line. “She is good. But now there is another person living in the house, and your sister needs more medicines. It is wasteful and time-consuming to be always going to the apothecary for what ought to be done more at home. Besides, a cook, a maid, and a man are not enough servants without the lady of the house taking on more.”
“I suspect your mother brought you up differently than that.” A daughter of the principal landowner of a village with a few thousand a year would never expect to help with the cooking.
“My helping in the kitchen is not the first time I have flown in the face of family expectations. I knew that I would accept some poverty in marrying you.” Darcy could not help rolling his eyes, and when he looked back at his wife, he saw she thought she had offended him. “I only mean that I was aware that in return for what comforts I gave up I gain something greater: a sense of purpose.”
“There is a kind of nobility in your working in the kitchen?”
“In loving and caring for your sister, there is.”
“How can you be friend and nurse to Georgiana if you are making pies and puddings, and not well by the look of it?”
Her expression darkened. “Regardless of the true nature of our relationship, I must manage your household and do so on a limited income. If that means I have to make curtains, aid in the laundry, or help in the kitchen?—”
“Stop, please stop. Hire another maid to do scouring and sweeping and simple kitchen work, and that will free our maid to tend to the rest of the house and Cook to make whatever Georgiana needs.” No woman named Mrs Darcy would toil in the kitchen, even if she was not so obviously terrible at it. “That should make your presence in the kitchen unnecessary.”
“I am not averse to household employment! And I fail to see how we can afford?—”
“You may hire a footman as well.”
“A footman?Here?”
“I might have had more servants before, but Georgiana’s condition...” He need not finish that thought. “Your uncle and brothers saw fit to give you fifty pounds a year on your marriage. I can well afford a footman and a maid.”
“Two more servants are inappropriate to our income and station in this neighbourhood!” Something in his likely black expression must have caused her to reconsider. “A kitchen maid then, and a boy to ease the load of the man and do errands. We need not pay for a footman when a boy would serve the purpose just as well. He would cost little more than his room and board, and he will learn enough here to make a promising footman in another household when he is older.”
Even in this moment she thought of the security of some orphaned parish boy. How could this woman be so selfless and generous? He was ashamed anew of the wickedness that his own heart had once been capable of regarding his unborn nephew.
“So long as it keeps you out of the kitchen, I am satisfied,” he managed to say. Whatever she had attempted to cook ought not to be spoken of and certainly never eaten. “How could you have been content to do work you have never before done?”
“I was supposed to give the greatest care to my morals and accomplishments as a single dependent woman. It left me empty andhelpless, and I find caring for home and Georgiana satisfying. It is a change for me, but useful work is well-suited to my inclinations.”
“I will not have you strain your heart.”
Her eyes widened in affront. “I think I need not warn you against raking up the condition of my?—”
“Kneading dough and standing in a hot kitchen for hours cannot be good for you. You could not even dance for an hour without falling ill.”
“You made me promise to ask you no questions. I ought to have exacted a similar promise from you to never speak of my impending death.”
Darcy noticed her folded arms and pursed lips with a sigh. “I do not wish to argue, but more than that, I do not wish to see Mrs Darcy helping in the kitchen or hanging up laundry. We married for convenience and for Georgiana’s sake, but any man still wants to bring his wife to a better home than the one he took her from.”
Her angry glower relaxed, and she lowered her arms. “I did not come first to be your wife, but to be friend to your sister, to be free from Longbourn. However, I cannot have you pass another day without knowing... Mr Darcy, this homeisbetter.”
Was it what she said, or her bright eyes, or the unaffected warmth in her voice that made his heart pound? He looked at her, hair streaked with flour, and saw that she did believe that this life, in this house, in this family was better. She was happier in a home with a sick girl who had born a natural child, and with the brother who had not been able to save either of them, than she had been at Longbourn.
She held his gaze, and he felt a smile of his own returning hers; but then she blushed, cleared her throat, and said something about needing to check on Georgiana.
CHAPTER TWELVE
June 1, Gracechurch Street
My dearest Lizzy,
I have had a stomach complaint and weakness for a fortnight, which made writing neither pleasant nor profitable. Your news gave me great pleasure, and I congratulate you and wish you happiness with Mr Darcy. I admit its expediency surprised me, but you would not resolve on anything so serious as marriage without giving it all due consideration. You would never enter into a marriage if your heart revolted, so you must be much in love with Mr Darcy, and he with you.
I know it is impertinent to suggest to a bride that anything in her new home might be lacking, but this coffee mill I send to you will be wanted every day, as you said that Mr Darcy always drinks coffee for breakfast. Aside from that, you told me shockingly little about him. Promise me that when Miss Darcy’s health improves you will all come to town and stay with us. I have decided that we will spend a week in Meryton before going to South End with Lydia in September. Robert is cross because it is farther out of the way, but I insisted that the boys see their grandmamma, and I wish to meet your husband and see your happiness for myself.
Pray give my compliments to my brother Darcy and new sister. Robertdesires his love to you, and the boys wish to be particularly remembered to Aunt Lizzy.
