“Do not speak of me so, sir!” she exclaimed, gazing at him. She wished to perch on the arm of his chair and embrace him, but she did not dare.
“You should go downstairs to the meal—”
“Do not be absurd. I am not going anywhere. Georgiana is there, and, after all, they are our family.”
She saidourwith hesitation, wondering how his family would behave towards hers. That tiny flicker of fear did not escape him, for he had been attuned to every nuance of Elizabeth’s demeanour since their marriage. He longed for her not to regret their union, to find in the life that awaited her a reward for the strange interval during which she had been his wife but not truly his.
“Your family is wonderful, indeed, just as you told me,” he replied to her unspoken fear, and she looked at him with disbelief.
“The half-hour I spent with your father was a revelation,” he continued with near fervour, so sincere was his admiration. He had liked Mr Bennet since meeting him in London and, try as he might, could not recall him from Hertfordshire. Mr Bennet, in turn, felt reassured, for every word Darcy uttered had been a declaration of love for Elizabeth.
“I asked him not to leave,” Darcy said, and Elizabeth’s face filled with astonishment.
“You asked my father not to leave?”
“Yes, so we might see him again—”
“Wait. Something is not right,” Elizabeth cried, startling him, though she quickly calmed him again. “It is not about my father…it is about how absurd it is for you to be here alone while we are all downstairs eating. We should have arranged the meal here in this room…or—”
“Or?” he asked, amused yet curious, stroking his beard with his right hand. It had become a habit since it had grown and since he knew other movements might harm him.
“Or we should move your bedroom downstairs. All the important rooms are there—the dining-room, the library, the greenhouse, the music room, even the drawing-room…and youare up here.” As he prepared to respond, she stopped him. “Do not say no before you hear everything.”
“I have no intention of saying no, either before or after.”
“That is what we shall do,” Elizabeth declared, her entire body, not just her face, reflecting her resolve. She rose to her feet and paced quickly across the room.
Then, to his surprise, she darted out and returned moments later with the wheeled horse from the nursery.
“Are we playing now?” he asked, beginning to laugh, though he ought not to, for Elizabeth, dressed in her elegant gown with a few orchids still adorning her hair, had seated herself on the toy horse and was moving it around the room. She examined its wheels with great focus.
“Elizabeth, what is happening?” he asked, increasingly bewildered. “Do you mean to put me on the horse?”
“Do we have someone who repairs carriages?” she asked, and all he heard at first was thatwe, which told him she was already his wife, this was her home, and he was her family.
“We do!” he replied, still laughing.
“Someone skilled, dependable?”
Darcy stopped laughing, his expression turning serious as he watched her intently study the wheels of the toy, which she had turned upside down, resting its head and mane on the carpet. “Tell me what you need, and I shall tell you how to achieve it.”
“I need someone who can craft real wheels, like those for a carriage, but smaller—for your armchair.”
“So I can move,” he said, a wave of exhilaration rushing through him. He placed his hand over the spot where the bullet lay, and she grew alarmed.
“I am being foolish,” she said suddenly, worry clouding her face. “The physician told us not to agitate you.”
“Forget the physician. Agitate me with your brilliant ideas.”
“But how shall we move you downstairs?” she asked, recovering from her concern, her thoughts racing as she imagined everything happening at once.
“Sit down. You are making me dizzy,” he said, taking her hand. She smiled, for it was precisely what her father used to say when, amid a heated conversation, she would rise and begin pacing the room.
“Elizabeth,” he said, stroking her hand without looking at her. “I have obeyed everything the physician asked until now because I wanted us to get through today. You are my wife, my love—you know that, do you not?” Only then did he lift his gaze to meet hers.
Elizabeth nodded, for she could not bring herself to speak. She knew it, but unexpectedly, she felt truly his wife, as though she had been preparing for this moment for a long time, not just a few days. He saw her answer in her eyes and whispered, “God, how happy I am.”
Then, clasping her hand firmly again, he continued, “I have managed to get into this chair, and I feel almost my usual self after so many days lying in bed. I want to move downstairs, and our men will find a way to take me down without shaking me up too much,” he joked. “Stop fidgeting, my love. Listen to me, as I shall not tell you this twice. I shall begin to live because I yearn to have an almost ordinary life, while still taking much care. But if something happens during these…manipulations, I want you to know it is the way I prefer to go instead of living longer.”
