The rest of the day passed in much the same manner: Darcy attempting to buy gifts for Elizabeth, and Lizzie expertly deflecting his generosity towards other recipients. It was an amusing chain, Darcy thought. He wanted to treatElizabeth,she wanted to treatGeorgiana,and Georgiana had always been just as generous. If she were here, she would want to buy gifts forthem.
As the sky started to grow dark, they decided to retire for the night. This time Lizzie did not wait in the carriage alone; Darcy handed her in and immediately followed, making sure that she was warmly wrapped up in a lap blanket despite the short trip. When he moved to sit opposite her, Lizzie laughed and caught his wrist to pull him beside her.
Looping her arm through his, she sighed contentedly and rested her head on his shoulder. Darcy absentmindedly stroked her hair back from her cheeks. It was tangled and frizzy from the windy day but felt soft against his fingers.
“I must thank you, madam, for your kindness towards my sister.”
“Mr. Darcy,” she interrupted sternly, “I do not require gratitude from you! You forget, sir, that she is my sister too. I love her dearly. To congratulate my kindness towards a member of my family, sir, is quite unnecessary.”
He smiled and kissed her temple. “Then I shall be silent. I would hate to inadvertently compliment you, Mrs. Darcy. Such abominable rudeness should not be tolerated by any woman, much less one I admire as much as you.”
Lizzie laughed and snuggled closer to her husband. “This is not at all what I expected. I have had a wonderful time.”
“You did not expect to enjoy yourself?”
“I expected… I am not sure! Poetry, I suppose, and soft words in sunlit gardens… perhaps I have read too many novels.”
“I was not sure if you would enjoy such things. You often look uncomfortable when I attempt to flatter or compliment you. I thought that you might prefer a day like today, with time to explore and discover beautiful things, rather than being compared to them in rhyming couplets.”
“Yes.” Elizabeth sounded dazed, “How well you know me.”
“Not as well as I would like.”
“You say that, yet I feel like I do not know you half so well. What do you like, Mr. Darcy?”
“Aside from you, angel?”
“Oh!” she cried, “You areimpossible!”
He smiled as the carriage started to slow. “You know me well enough to tease me.”
“That does not signify; I have always teased you.”
“I believe you are getting worse.” Darcy said drily. Elizabeth chuckled and he stroked her cheek tenderly, “I would not change you for the world, my dearest.”
Chapter 37
Darcy had been correct when he assumed that his wife had rarely danced with a stranger. Elizabeth was not completely without experience, but her rare forays into the unknown had been scarce enough that she still felt uneasy at the prospect of a strange ball. It was an excited unease, which made her tremble with anticipation, but it was one that unnerved her, nonetheless.
She remembered getting ready with Jane every time a stranger came through Meryton, giggling and making jokes to hide her trepidation. Jane was not as skilled at hiding her emotions and had to pinch her cheeks to scare the pale pallor away. Getting dressed was a sublime agony. They knew that the rest of their lives might depend on their choice of earrings, or the way that they walked into the assembly rooms. Wretched excitement! It was impossible to truly enjoy oneself under such circumstances.
Tonight, of course, was not thesame.It was an unfamiliar gathering, of course, but her partner was one whom she wasexceedinglyfamiliar with. Elizabeth had no need to worry about impressinghim!
But oh, how she wanted to!
Darcy had not seen this dress before, although he had paid a great deal for it. Elizabeth had wondered which gown Mrs.Reynolds had packed for her, since she herself had no say in the arrangements. When she saw the blue fabric, Elizabeth’s heart fluttered. It was perfect.
It was made of dark blue silk, with a fashionable silhouette from one of the fashion plates she had been shown. How dreary that made it sound! It had been almost austere before Elizabeth got to work. She requested some additional affectations which made the dressmaker whisper: “Are you sure?”. That was when she knew that she had chosen well.
At the time, Elizabeth was still aching. She had been torn away from her family, her home and the life that she knew, and tied to a man whom she barely knew. He was generous and offered her the clothes out of the goodness of his heart, but Elizabeth had hated the thought of being dressed like a doll. She saw Elizabeth Bennet disappearing forever under the expensive and fashionable mask of Mrs. Darcy. This dress was her way of rebelling - of making her own mark on something that belonged to his world. She did not care, Lizzie told herself, if Mr. Darcy disapproved.
Now, wearing the dress, Elizabeth was sure that hewouldapprove.
The colour of the dress was captivating. When she moved, the soft silken skirt flowed and shimmered around her like the ocean. The embroidery she had chosen was simple, with no structure to its loops and spirals. The seamstress had sewn it in silver and white thread. Against the blue-green waves, it looked like soft sea foam. It was a masterpiece of understatement, and Elizabeth loved it.
She suspected, however, that Darcy would not notice. He would doubtless prefer the low neckline which revealed the swell of her breasts. Lizzie considered this an unremarkable (ifembarrassing) requirement of the current fashions when she ordered the dress. She knew that Darcy would approve. She had not missed where his eyes liked to linger.
(His attentions did not embarrass her but rather came as a relief. Since Darcy was staring at her,then she had leave to stare back. There were several areas of her husband’s body which, Lizzie decided, required much scrutiny.)
