After they conveyed profuse thanks and appreciation to Seaview’s servants, they gave each a very nice gratuity, then they started the four-day journey to Derbyshire. They planned to overnight at Snowhaven and to stop for a few hours at Pemberley before they arrived at Brookfield on the fourth day.
At about the same time that the newlyweds departed Seaview Cottage, Lizzy and Charlotte were being surrounded by a gaggle of girls welcoming them to Pemberley while the master of the estate waited his turn patiently.
“Can you believe that our Mary is to be a cousin to the Queen?” Lydia asked as she pulled one of Lizzy’s hands to garner her attention from the cacophony of voices.
“You will be related to the royals through Mary as well Lydia,” added Georgie playfully, “and you too Tiffany, as you are sister to the Bennets already.”
“It will be a tenuous connection at best,” Lizzy pointed out, “and I believe that we should take our lead from the Bedfords and not try and presume on the connection.” The girls, were all dressed in riding habits. Lily, under the tutelage of Pemberley’s stable master, had now graduated to riding a cob. The girls said their farewells and headed toward the stables.
“Welcome to Pemberley again, Elizabeth and Mrs Collins. It is my pleasure to have you here as guests for the next fortnight before we head toward Surrey.” The speech was meant for both, but he was looking directly at the lady that he loved who blushed prettily under his gaze.
Neither the housekeeper nor the butler missed the interplay between the two. ‘I am convinced that this is the next Mistress of Pemberley that I am looking at and the only young woman that I have met that is worthy of my Master William,’ Mrs Reynolds smiled at the thought. The housekeeper showed the ladies to the suite that they would share.
Both were surprised to learn that they were being hosted in the family wing between Miss Darcy’s chambers and the suite shared by Kitty and Tiffany. Her maid was already unpacking when Elizabeth entered her chambers. The maid who had been assigned to Charlotte at Dovedale, had accompanied her as they were already familiar with each other. Charlotte, by virtue of the fact that she was in mourning, did not have a fraction of the amount of clothing that Lizzy possessed so her maid completed her unpacking in minutes.
Once Elizabeth was ready, they exited to find that their tour guide was to be none other than the master of the estate himself, assisted by his eager and capable housekeeper. Now that she was in residence, Darcy did not think it too presumptuous to show her the rest of the house.
On the tour the approbation that Pemberley’s ever watchful housekeeper had for the woman she assumed would be the new mistress, grew even more. It was apparent that the young miss would not make changes just because she could, which too matched the intelligence provided by Darcy House’s housekeeper.
The group viewed the three upstairs floors, leaving the library for last. Since William knew that, like himself, Lizzy was a bibliophile, he was certain she would be looking around at all of the literary wonders that it beheld; he wanted to see her face when she first walked in. Lady Elizabeth did not know the manner in which Darcy had arranged to introduce her to his magnificent library.
The house was even bigger than Elizabeth had thought on her first brief tour. She was very much looking forward to becoming mistress of all that she surveyed. ‘I am sure that once we marry, I will get whatever support is needed to learn about the running of this home from William, Georgie, Mrs Reynolds, and the rest of the servants. Marrying William is no longer an if, but a when in my mind,’ she told herself. Soon, but not quickly enough, Darcy led his beloved and her friend to the double doors that led into the library.
“Do you trust me?” He asked Lizzy.
“Completely,” Lizzy agreed.
Darcy was very gratified with her answer. “Close your eyes and give me your hand,” He requested. As she placed her delicate hand in his much larger one, Elizabeth closed her eyes as she felt the shock that traversed her whole body when their ungloved hands touched. Only then did Darcy open the doors.
Even before she opened her eyes, she knew that she was to behold something exceptional as she heard Charlotte try to stifle a gasp of wonder.
“Open your eyes please Elizabeth,” Darcy murmured.
The lady was dumbfounded. Never in her wildest imagination had she envisioned such a place. The library went all the way up to the third floor with spiral staircases on either side that allowed access to the second and third floors. There were ladders on wheels on each level to access the upper shelves. There were books and items like a globe filling almost every space available. If she lived five lifetimes, she doubted that she would be able to read half of the tomes she could see, let alone all those she could not. In her head she could hear her father tease: ‘Put a bed in here when I visit you Lizzy, as wild horses will not remove me from this magnificent library.’
“Oh, the smell of the leather and the number of books. William, you told me your library was large, that was an understatement! This is beyond my imagination.” Lizzy looked at him with all the wonder of the gift she was being offered.
“This collection is the work of many generations, starting with Pierre D’Arcy in the time of William the Conqueror. He was gifted the land that Pemberley stands on, and soon after our name was changed to Darcy. He brought a large collection of tomes with him from France, then started collecting books in England as soon as he had the original house built. Even then, his library was the largest room in his house. Every subsequent master of Pemberley, including myself, have added to the collection. You see the results surrounding us in this room.” Darcy smiled as he could not have hoped for a better reaction.
“I will never want to leave Pemberley!” As she said it, she realised what she was really saying. Darcy stood watching her as if time had been suspended. Mrs Reynolds touched Charlotte on her shoulder, snapping her out of her stupor as she could not believe what her friend had just said. The two women left the library door halfway open as they went to wait down the hall.
‘Did I just say that?’ Lizzy swallowed dryly. ‘Yes. By his expression, I did. Perhaps my subconscious stopped dragging my feet for me. Yes, I want to marry this man and spend the rest of my days at his side.’
When she did not retract her words, Darcy dropped to his knee in front of her and took her hands. “Lady Elizabeth Bennet, Elizabeth, if your feelings are what they were this past April at Hunsford, tell me so at once and I will be silent on this subject forever. You are too intelligent to have not noted that my marked attention toward yourself did not wane after that horrendous proposal I made then. My feelings and love have only grown. I know that you are too good to trifle with me.” He held his breath and Lizzy nodded once, acknowledging the truth of his statement.
“When I proposed at Hunsford I was a man that was lost, and had forgotten the principles my parents had instilled in me, though I was, apparently, the only one who did not realise it.”
Lizzy smiled sadly for him.
Darcy continued, “That all changed when you delivered the well-deserved setdown for the ages and forced me to open my eyes and see the man I had become.” She blushed from her hairline to the top of her gown. Elizabeth’s reaction telling him she was certainly no longer unaffected by or indifferent to him as a man.
“From the moment I noticed you, I do not mean at the assembly, but from the first moment I truly saw you. It was not until I was caught in your eyes full of challenge and amusement as you sat in the drawing room at Lucas Lodge, it was then I first called them fine. Since then, they have only become more beautiful each time that I get to look into them.
“From that moment on I could feel myself falling in love with you. I tried to fight my attraction and inclination for you, but it was a losing battle. My head was rapidly being defeated by my heart. I believed that it was an unequal match in fortune and connections. The irony is, I was correct, just in the opposite direction that in my arrogance I assumed at the time. I escaped Hertfordshire in the hope that without your presence near me, I would forget about the only woman I had ever wanted, who I assumed was the only one I could not have.” He nodded as he spoke the truth. “I find new things to love about you every day, and I know that my life was and will continue to be empty and incomplete without you in it.
“You have made me want to change and be a better man than I was, and you make me want to be a better man than I am today. I took your reproofs to heart and for the rest of my days will continue to do everything that is within my power to be the man that deserves you. A man that you can be proud of and who is worthy of your love. I was never looking for someone to defer to me, and you have demonstrated time and time again in our lively debates that your very sharp mind can often outthink my very methodical one. I do not want a mindless trophy wife clinging to my arm. What I want, no, what Ineedlike I need the very air I breathe, is you. My life before you took a wrong turn, my life without you would be meaningless and empty.
“With your intellect and vivacious wit, you will challenge me when needed, you will hopefully continue to debate me even if sometimes you take opinions not your own,” he said with a big smile, “and I know that you will be as happy with a good book or beating me at chess in front of a fire as with society in Town. With you my life will always be full and interesting. You complete me Elizabeth. Now that I have found you, I could never be a whole person without you. You are my soul mate. What I desire is for you to be a partner in every sense of the word. Lady Elizabeth Bennet, I love you most ardently.”
