Fitzwilliam sat up. “Do you think this is your fault? Darcy, Georgiana is a sweet girl, but her irremediable infamy is of her own making. She chose to exchange letters with a single man, she chose to elope with him, and she chose to marry him despite the towering pile of evidence against him. You even told her he has the pox and that he told Georgiana’s friend he would elope withher!”
“What is my fault is that I failed to protect her,” he breathed. “And I failed to persuade her to leave him.”
His cousin shook his head. “She is a misguided girl, and she was led astray, but nothing you did caused this. Trying to prevent your fifteen-year-old sister from embarrassing herself by acting above her age is not a bad thing.”
“But look at the consequences.”
“Do not discount her responsibility in where she now finds herself.”
“I do not,” he said honestly. “But we share the blame.”
“That is your wife talking. She must think it is your fault, but she is wrong.”
Fitzwilliam was always ready to defend him. “No, not at all. She lays it all on Wickham.”
His cousin’s shoulders settled back into their normal place. “Well, at least the new Mrs Darcy has some sense. I doubted she had any when you told me her scheme to recover Georgiana.”
Fitzwilliam was not inclined to like his new wife. Darcy would be sceptical too if the situations were reversed. “If her idea had worked, you would sing her praises and grant her any boon she asked for.”
Fitzwilliam shrugged, and that was as much of a concession as Darcy would get. “How do you find her? Tell me honestly.” Darcy drew in a breath, and his cousin held out a hand. “No, do not be civil. I know how you will act. You will keep your wife above reproach. But just this once tell me the truth, and then we can go on believing that you would have actually chosen this Elizabeth Bennet.”
“She is intelligent, kind, lively, handsome.”
“Is she?” Fitzwilliam crossed his arms over his chest.
“She is,” he insisted. “Truly, she is generous to her family and was a kind friend to Georgiana. She is witty and animated—you will like her. And, and she is pretty.”
“Beautiful?”
Darcy thought most men would say no. Elizabeth was not classically beautiful, but he would defy anyone to not agree that she was pretty. She had a pleasing figure, good features, striking dark eyes, and a mouth that always looked like it was on the verge of laughter.
As his thoughts drifted toward her lips, he realised Fitzwilliam was waiting for an answer. “She is the handsomest woman of my acquaintance.”
His cousin scoffed. “What a civil thing for a new husband to say. Honestly, Darcy, how are you calm about this? Even if she is sensible and pretty enough, you never chose her!”
“What am I going to do?” he asked, his patience snapping. “Chooseto be miserable over it? That would be like drinking poison and waiting forherto die.”
He could lament having a wife not of his own choosing, or he could cope with reality. He married a woman of no fortune or connexions and with an embarrassing family a week after he had met her. And he did wrestle with regret and guilt and disappointment. Certainly Elizabeth had the same feelings. But if he was sullen and angry, that would lead to him being resentful and unkind. She did not deserve that, and it was a sure way to deny them any chance at contentment.
It was pointless to yell at the wind; he had to adjust his sails.
He would take what comfort he could out of the calamity Georgiana’s elopement caused. He now had a partner he admired. She was confident, attractive, sparkling. As he learnt yesterday, she was willing to befriend him and be a partner. They were in accord about dealing with Wickham. There was no reason to assume it would be a terrible life because he had lost the power of choice.
“I suppose you must survive however you can,” Fitzwilliam said. “And if she is as sensible as you say, Mrs Darcy must have nothing to say against you. She captured a wealthy man, after all. Some people say you are handsome too, although I do not see it,” he added with a smiling attempt at levity.
“Oh, she has plenty to say against me. I am too proud, I have a selfish disdain of people outside my circle, and I can say nothing of her family’s behaviour considering what Georgiana did.”
Fitzwilliam stared in silence for far too long. Darcy then said, “This is when my unfaltering defender would exclaim how foolish that is, but she is right, is she not? Her reproofs are warranted.”
His cousin blew out a breath. “I underestimated the woman.”
“Because she got the measure of me?”
“No, because youwantto attend to her reproofs. For that alone, you must have some value for her. Or do you quarrel often and conceded just to have a moment of peace?”
Darcy smiled to himself. “She shares her opinion decidedly, and I could not say how much we will quarrel now that the taxing situation that led to our marriage has passed.” He thought about their disagreementsin Ramsgate. “I am too honest to the point of being unkind. She made me realise I truly am disdainful of other people.”
“I could have told you that,” Fitzwilliam quipped. “Guess I am not pretty enough to listen to. Do you like her?”
