“There is much to say, and perhaps not all of it is easy to comprehend,” Elizabeth began. “I want to help him, but it is a decision not devoid of some selfishness. After all, from the very beginning, Mr Darcy offered me…a kind of position in his household which, in our case, could never be that of housekeeper…but wife.”
“It is an unusual situation…unprecedented—”
“Unique,” Elizabeth acknowledged. “Which is why it is so difficult to judge from the outside.”
“No one is judging you, my dear. I am merely concerned that you may enter into…a circumstance that could end unpleasantly for you.”
“This circumstance, as you call it, may leave my heart drowning in pain,” Elizabeth said, “but I have accepted that, so I might help him achieve what he intends to do.”
“And what does Mr Darcy intend to do?”
“To secure a future for Miss Darcy…and for me,” she admitted, tears spilling down her face.
“I require more details,” said Mrs Gardiner in a tone that betrayed her deep concern.
“I refused him because I did not love him, but now it is not a matter of love—it is about helping him.”
“There are simpler ways to assist him than becoming his wife,” said Mrs Gardiner in the same measured tone.
“Yes, there are. I could be his housekeeper. But he has proposed that I become his wife and care for Miss Darcy and his estate until the young lady comes of age. And in return, I shall be granted privileges that are nearly inconceivable. That is what he desires for me. And I…I have always longed for independence, most of all to be able to help my own family—now and when…my father is no longer here. With what Mr Darcy offers, everything becomes possible. But of course, you know me better thananyone. I wish to marry him…so that he may leave in peace.” And her voice broke with sorrow.
Yet she quickly shook off her sadness, drying her tears before requesting the butler to summon Miss Darcy. The young lady appeared immediately, and though Mrs Gardiner and Jane’s concern had not abated while Elizabeth spoke, their faces softened within moments of the young girl’s arrival. The simplicity and warmth of her demeanour dispelled their unease.
Both Mrs Gardiner and Jane offered their assistance without hesitation. By the end of their visit, Jane told Miss Darcy that far from gaining merely a sister-in-law, she would soon have an entire family to love her. A faint, more peaceful smile finally graced Georgiana’s troubled face.
Afterwards, Georgiana hurried to Darcy’s room to recount all that had transpired in the library and, above all, to speak of how wonderful Miss Bennet was. She left without noticing the glance Elizabeth exchanged with Darcy, whose guilty smile revealed more than he intended while she, forgetting he was ill and on his death bed, grinned.
∞∞∞
“Do not leave,” he said, noticing that Elizabeth had remained standing.
“I am not leaving. I merely wish to choose a gown for tomorrow.”
“From my mother’s dresses?” he asked, still sceptical of this shift but utterly delighted. He had always imagined her dazzling London society not only through her sharp wit but also with her flawless figure draped in an elegant gown.
“Only if I do not decide I prefer one with a mud-stained hem,” she replied softly, looking at him.
“You guess correctly that it is my favourite, but I believe my mother would be glad to see you in one of her dresses tomorrow,” he said.
“Shall we choose one together?” she asked, and he nodded wordlessly. He wished not only to select the gown and see her wear it but also to undress her with tender gestures on their wedding night—a night that would never come.
Seeing his distress, Elizabeth resolved to weigh each word she spoke and every action she took for as long as they were together to avoid moments when sorrow might overwhelm him.
“Wait, do not leave,” he said, still carrying a shadow of regret. “My mother adored gardening. My father would joke that, were she ever to lose her fortune, she could disguise herself as a man and find work as a gardener to the king.”
“Oh!” Elizabeth exclaimed in astonishment. “I have never planted anything in my life—”
She fell silent, reflecting on this admission, when she heard him say, “A penny for your thoughts.”
In truth, Elizabeth was thinking of her mother, and she suddenly decided that, in this room, there should be no secrets.
“I was thinking of my mother,” she said without meeting his gaze. “You were not right to judge or condemn her.”
“I am no longer the same, and not merely because of the bullet in my chest. Your words, the determination with which you defended your family, the beauty of your soul, which could not have emerged from the family I once imagined yours to be. I was still angry and frustrated by your refusal the morning I wrote to you. But when I returned to London, to the house where I had been so happy with my family, I made up my mind to come to Hertfordshire to court you properly and to win your regard as I should have done…including your family in my courtship.”
“We are not perfect,” said Elizabeth. “My mother can be annoying and a gossip. Her missteps while visiting Netherfieldwhen Jane was ill still make me blush. Perhaps she lacks the proper tone or the right words, but she lives in constant fear that we might one day be forced to depend on the charity of my uncle Gardiner or aunt Phillips.”
“That will never happen, my dearest. You will find a way to ease her fears, replacing them with the assurance that you will protect them.”
