“Mama is gullible,” Lizzie said, slow hope rising in her chest, “It will be what she wants to hear, but if Jane makes that promise, she must abide by it.”
“Why? If your mother can break her word, then so can Jane.”
Darcy smiled vengefully at that thought, but the anger in his words had finally broken free. His voice was a snarl. He expected Elizabeth to flinch away, as she always did when he lost his temper. Instead, she threw her arms around his back and hugged him so tightly that her slender arms trembled.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and rained kisses on his cheek. “Thank you, thank you! I shall write to Jane at once.”
“And I to Bingley.” Darcy promised. Her affection had made a strange melancholy feeling pool in his stomach. He kissed her cheek gently in reply, then eased her back. “Elizabeth, will you smile at me again? I have missed it. I have missedyou.”
She let out a shaky laugh, wiped her eyes, and nodded. “And I missed you. I would like to be friends again, sir.”
“When your sister is safe, my angel, we can be whatever you like.” he promised, and then kissed her properly, drawing her so close that he could feel her heart racing.
When he let her go, Elizabeth was smiling. It was everything Darcy had wished for.
“Now go,” he said, “We have work to do.”
Chapter 33
After several awful, tense days, a letter arrived from Meryton. Elizabeth cried out and snatched it from the plate at once, tearing it open before the surprised footman even had chance to walk away. Darcy watched the blood drain from her face as she read, and then she let out a great sigh of relief and laughed.
Darcy kissed her cheek when he took the letter from her hand.
Bingley sent news that Jane had been liberated from Longbourn. He was painfully vague on the details, which made Darcy uneasy. He knew that his honest friend would only obscure the truth if it was sure to cause pain. Still, he did not express his pessimism to Elizabeth. Once more, news from home had made her burst into tears, but this time they were those of joy. She gave directions to the servants to prepare rooms at once.
A second letter followed the following day, however, that delayed her arrangements.
Mr. Bingley explained that the party would not be coming to Pemberley for a few weeks. Since the pretence was that Caroline Bingley was treating Jane to one last holiday, it would raise Mrs. Bennet’s suspicions for them to go straight to her unfilial daughter in Pemberley. Nobody wanted to give the woman any cause to demand her daughter’s return. Accordingly, theBingleys had decided to stay in London for a time with Bingley’s other sister, Mrs. Hurst.
Bingley carefully added that Caroline had suggested the detour even before the issue crossed his mind. It was a convenient diversion for his sister, he pointed out, as she had many social engagements she refused to miss.
“At least Jane is safe.” Elizabeth said, breathing out for what felt like the first time in years. “Miss Bingley can do what she wants, with my blessing. As long as Jane is away from Longbourn, she can do no wrong.”
“You have not met Miss Bingley, I see.” Darcy replied drily, “Nonetheless, I agree.”
Thus reassured, if impatient, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy turned their attention back to one another. Elizabeth almost felt guilty, for she was pleased to have an extra month alone with her husband. Even after spending so long in the same house with him, they barely knew each other. It was time to change that.
They had already returned to spending the mornings together. There was no decanter to guard anymore, but they found other excuses to meet. Darcy discussed Georgiana, smiling at the tiny signs of progress she made each day. Elizabeth discussed Jane and thought seriously about ways to help her. Mostly, though, they sat in their old comfortable silence. Lizzie brought her tea, Darcy drank his coffee, and they sat beside the fire. Of course, Lizzie would never dream of accidentally arriving in her nightclothes, and neither of them ventured the thought of taking a single item of clothingoff.
Elizabeth had felt adrift at Pemberley before. The house had always run perfectly without her. Whenever she tried to ask about a routine or a detail, the servants shrugged and carriedon with their tasks. Now, they wanted to please her. They actively sought her out to offer information and ideas and deliberately changed some of the house’s long-standing rules to accommodate the new mistress’s preferences.
The gardeners, for example, traditionally disappeared to other tasks when one of the ladies walked into their part of the garden. Their betters were there to look at the flowers, not to see pruning and weeding carried out by sweaty servants. The gardeners were explicitly told to beinvisible.
“What nonsense!” Elizabeth protested when one of the gardeners politely explained it to her. “Did those women think that weeds disappeared by magic? No, you must do your work and not mind me.”
Elizabeth decided to move into Lady Anne’s room the day after she and Darcy were reconciled. Every morning, her careful walk from her room to Darcy’s seemed longer and longer. Slipping through an adjoining door was easier - and far more appropriate for the mistress of Pemberley than creeping through the halls. Certainly, her husband had no objection, and told her that the only reason he had not given her Lady Anne’s room from the outset was to give her some privacy.
“That may be so, and I thank you,” Elizabeth said cautiously, “But it affected how the servants treated me. Perhaps it may be better for us to make such decisions together, from now on.”
“Of course.” he replied at once, then smiled crookedly, “When you first met me, my thoughts were often clouded. Every day, Elizabeth, a little more clarity returns to my mind. I shall admit that sometimes my judgements are still unsound.”
“I am just as fallible, sir! Perhaps we can prevent each other from making mistakes.”
He kissed her hand, meeting her eyes, and said, “That is my hope too, madam.”
Elizabeth felt a little guilty for wanting to make changes to Lady Anne’s room. It was lovely the way that it was, and held much of the departed lady’s personality within it. However, she had grown fond of some of the items in her old room: a washstand that looked a lot less fragile than Lady Anne’s filigree confection, for example. There was also a dark green blanket, crocheted in an elaborate pineapple stitch, which Lizzie liked to cuddle up in when she read a book. It looked rather out of place against the delicate pastel room. Mrs. Reynolds ordered matching linen at once and asked if her mistress wanted to replace the curtains to something more suited.
“More green, you mean? Darcy dislikes the colour.”
