Indeed, they had barely stepped down from the carriage when Georgiana ran to them and embraced Elizabeth with all the warmth and joy of a perfect welcome. Anne followed more shyly but just as delightedly.
“I should like to speak to Miss Darcy and Miss de Bourgh for a moment,” Elizabeth said, and Darcy turned to the Gardiners, ready to accompany them while the young ladies disappeared into the house.
In the entrance hall, Elizabeth stopped, spellbound, forgetting for a few seconds why she had asked to speak to the girls alone.
“How beautiful,” she whispered, and Georgiana blushed with pleasure at Elizabeth’s emotion. She had longed for this intelligent, sensitive, and beautiful woman to become her brother’s wife and restore the spirit of joy and gentleness to Pemberley that she had only heard about—her mother had died when she was just a child, taking with her a significant part of the elation that was, in her time, Pemberley’s emblem.
“I wish to speak to you both,” Elizabeth said, “and then you must show me the house—all of it.”
But Georgiana shook her head gently, smiling.
“That will be Fitzwilliam’s pleasure. He must be the one to show you the house.”
Surprised and grateful, Elizabeth caressed her arm, for truly it was he who should show her the house, and his sister accepted that fact with a light heart and a radiant smile—a sign that she welcomed the great change soon to come to the Darcy family.
“I asked you here…” Elizabeth began as they entered the drawing-room. Still, again, she paused to take in the beauty of the room, feeling that, if she closed her eyes, she could always see herself here—surrounded by what would become her family, in days, in months, in years…
“You asked us…?” Georgiana prompted.
Elizabeth gave a slight nod, drawing herself back to the moment.
“I asked you,” she said to Georgiana, “because I wish to tell you that I shall be Mr Darcy’s wifeandyour faithful sister—and you will see, my sisters will be just as pleased as I am that there will be six of us now, not five.”
Georgiana embraced her without a word. For some time, she had been haunted by a terrible dream—Lady Olivia arriving as the mistress of Pemberley—but that was only a dream. The reality was this woman—this lady—whom she already loved and who would bring happiness to them all.
“There is one more thing…” Elizabeth said and hesitated, looking towards Anne, who blushed deeply, afraid that Miss Elizabeth might hold her mother’s schemes against her.
“I wish to know whether Miss de Bourgh—”
“Anne,” whispered the young woman, still flushed.
“Anne,” Elizabeth continued, “ever believed Mr Darcy was promised to her—”
“No!” cried Anne with sudden conviction, her cheeks still red but her voice sure. “No, that was entirely my mother’s plan. Fitzwilliam is my cousin, and I have never seen him in any other light. On the contrary, I was always terrified that she might succeed—and I might one day wake up betrothed to him.”
Only then did Elizabeth breathe freely. Not long after, with Darcy at her side, she opened every door in the house, eager to see it all—every room, every hall, the library, the ballroom, the music room, the family apartments. All the rooms surrenderedto her fervent desire to feel at home in the heart and in the house of the man next to her.
∞∞∞
Lady Catherine descended to meet them in the drawing-room only shortly before dinner. She entered with the majesty of a queen. Yet, the sight of Elizabeth and her family clearly displeased her, for she seated herself in an armchair without making the slightest effort to be introduced to those she did not know.
Darcy, however, was not to be intimidated. He calmly named his guests—Mr and Mrs Gardiner—and gestured for them to sit, for no one, save a monarch, had the right to receive bows and curtsies while seated.
“We shall leave tomorrow,” she declared to her daughter as though they were alone. But to everyone’s astonishment, the usually timid Miss Anne de Bourgh rose and spoke clearly, saying she had no intention of departing, for Fitzwilliam had invited her to spend the summer with them at Pemberley.
“Wewillleave!” Lady Catherine cried, beside herself. “This is not a place where I shall permit you to stay!”
Just when all believed Anne had surrendered to her mother’s command, she spoke again—and this time, her voice was entirely different: calm, steady, more resolute than anyone had ever heard it.
“Mother, I am twenty-six years old. I do not need your permission to live my life as I wish.”
Lady Catherine stood, furiously angry, and swept from the room. Darcy gave the butler quiet instructions to have her dinner sent to her chambers, making it clear that they did not want her to participate in the meal even if she changed her mind.Then he turned back to those he already considered his family and invited them to dinner with a smile.
Chapter 45
Elizabeth still awoke each morning with a sense of wonder in the bed of the charming apartment she occupied in the guest wing. It usually took her several minutes to take in the sunlight gleaming through the wide-open windows that looked out upon the woods, to admire the room whose elegance still left her delightfully astonished, and to grow accustomed to the idea that this was her home—or so she hoped, for Darcy had not yet asked her, plainly and without doubt, to be his wife.
Darcy’s first concern was to invite the entire family to Pemberley. Together with Elizabeth and Georgiana, he composed letters to Longbourn and London, filled with joy but accompanied by a firm command that all should climb into their carriages without delay and come at once to celebrate with them.
