“You know Lady…” He started and almost grinned when she let him get no further.
“If you please, William. It is Fanny or Mother Bennet, nought else. Sorry to interrupt you my dear boy, but when you start off talking to your mother-in-law like she is a cold fish I believe some reprimand is in order. Now, what were you saying?” the Countess challenged with impertinence he now recognised his beloved had inherited from her.
This time a glass slipped from a hand somewhere in the background when Darcy’s laugh filled the quiet conversations around them. Many pairs of eyes swivelled towards them, as Darcy focused solely on the woman he was guiding around the floor.
“I just wanted to say, Mother Bennet, that I cannot…” he let her hand go as she circled him, but his hand waited for hers the whole of the time until they came back together, “…think about the way I behaved before without abhorrence.”
“William, before you start self-flagellating again, there are two things I must say. Firstly, the way that I used to behavedeservedscorn. It was not who I was, but I allowed the worry about the future to take over and govern my behaviour…” she stopped when they went down the line until she was able to rest her hand in his again.
“Much like I let being sought for my wealth and position control mine,” Darcy interjected.
“Yes, but we both know better now do we not?” Lady Longbourn asked gently and he nodded his agreement, “Secondly, as our Lizzy says the past should be left in the past,” she smiled when he tried to hide his. “I know she says it better, but that is the essence and she is correct. Did she not tell me that you two had agreed to leave the past where it belongs?” He nodded ashamed he had slipped again. “Then I ask the same between us as well. In two days, you will be my son and I want no more self-recriminations from either of you. As long as you treat my girl with love and respect, we will not have an issue.”
Darcy heard the implied ‘if you do not’ in her tone. ‘My Elizabeth will always be happy, because it is right, not just because her mother would be a terrifying force to cross if anything untoward was done to their Lizzy.’
Bennet stood on the side with Gardiner watching his daughters with immense pride bursting forth from his chest. ‘In less than two days we will only have three girls at home. Who would have thought that I, who used to love my solitude to escape the cacophony in my house, would be lamenting the departure of my daughters? A father could not be prouder and all three have found very good men. Jane was happy before her marriage to Richard, but now she glows with contentment. It is a fact that Lizzy would need a special man who would not try to stifle her, but hold her as an equal partner. That is what she has in William, regardless of the inauspicious beginning.
‘Mary, my studious Mary. Who would ever have thought that the middle and forgotten child who used to spout Fordyce’s Sermons would turn into the self-assured, smart, playful, witty, and loving woman that is dancing with Bedford? In not too many hours she will be a Marchioness!
‘If I had not been so blind and had trusted Fanny from the beginning how much better…no. There is little point in such maudlin thoughts that will only make me missish. I cannot change the past, but I can and will make sure that there are no repetitions of the errors of my past today nor for all of the tomorrows that God has granted me until He calls me to heaven.’
Hugh Rhys-Davies, Mary’s Marquess, was just then dancing with his sister-in-law to be Jane. She had continued the sweet and inquisitive line of questioning until she was certain that no one was really paying attention to them except a select few. She always preferred to know Richard’s eyes were following her, as were those of all the extended family in glances to ensure they knew exactly where the women were and that all was well.
“You do know, Hugh, that if you ever hurt Mary it will bemethat seeks retribution, not Richard. I would not be as easy on you as my husband would.” She waited for his reaction to her not so subtle warning; her eyes locked on his.
Having fallen in love with his Mary who betrayed some of the depth of her emotions, Birchington had never been fooled by Jane’s serene countenance. He knew that there was a steely resolve under the mask that she allowed others to see, and that she was the peacemaker for a very good reason.
“I would sooner die than ever knowingly hurt Mary,” he vowed quietly, his eyes never wavering from hers. “Until I met her, I did not think I would ever find the kind of love that we have between each other. My heart resides in her so I can promise that I will do anything which will enhance her happiness all the days of my life. Though you must know that Mary will only be happy when she is bargaining and winning her way with me so that she may reward me with whatever she thinks I have earned. I suspect we will argue more than all of you combined, but it will be in heated debates not for any other reason than to help me practice my points for the House of Lords. Then she will, of course, point out which are weak and make them stronger for me, for which I, of course, will reward her…” He stopped when Jane’s airy tinkle floated melodiously around him and she nodded.
“So long as there is no harm, do argue with her. Her only opportunity was Lydia and she too often ceded for peace not always preferred,” Jane added. “But if I even suspect she is unhappy there is no place you could run to where I could not find you,” she reminded him.
“I know, Lady Jane, and I promise to give Mary the chance to be the extraordinary woman she is,” Birchington promised.
Jane was well satisfied that both of her younger sisters were making love matches to men who deserved them, possibly the only men who were their true matches. It seemed that all three of the older Bennet sisters had found their soulmates. She sent one of her beatific smiles to her husband as he passed her partnering his sister, Marie.
“Then I give you leave to marry my sister. Now to warn my other brother that if he lets my Lizzy slip into a shadow of compliance and quietness, I will be very severe on him and haunt him day and night, as would the rest of the family! However, I do not believe that will happen. He loves her far too much and worked too long and hard to earn her love.” She nodded once at him and Hugh’s laugh erupted just as the orchestra finished playing a note. He executed a perfectly respectful complete bow before Jane then led her over to Darcy with only a pat on his back of support, ignoring the quizzical look he received, before he slipped away to steal a moment with his Mary in the brief pauses between the sets.
Jane had admonished Darcy in a similar way when she danced with him. He took her warning with good humour and understood the genesis of the pat of support that he had received from Lord Birchington.
Just before the set was complete Lady Jane Fitzwilliam was ruminating about how she was looking forward to returning to Brookfield. By the time her sisters completed their wedding trips, she would be well and truly comfortable in her role as mistress of that estate.
The Fitzwilliams had one more wedding to attend for Charlotte and Elliot. Luckily Lizzy and Mary would be back from their wedding trips before their friend resigned the name that she despised to become Mrs Patrick Elliot. Jane was looking forward to the visit to the new Longbourn and seeing all of her family again when they visited the area to witness the ceremony being solemnised.
The final set was called not long before five o’clock in the morning. It was a waltz, now widely accepted among theTon. The last to allow the dance were the patronesses of Almack’s, though Lady Jersey had tried to get her fellow patronesses to countenance the dance long before they had. Once the royals started to include the dance routinely, the resistance of the other patronesses finally crumbled.
The final set was enjoyed, especially by the couples who were to marry in just over four and twenty hours. Not being the first time that Darcy and his beloved Lizzy had danced the waltz, they already moved as one with hardly any light visible between them. ‘How I love this woman!’ Darcy told himself as he bowed and she returned a curtsy at the end of the dance.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The night before the wedding the Rhys-Davies hosted a dinner for all of the family and those that would be family on the morrow. Darcy’s cousin, the Archbishop who would be officiating at Westminster Abbey, was present with his wife and three children. His daughter Mary Faith and Lily Gardiner spent the dinner in each other’s company. The Phillips were included. Their other Meryton friends did not feel slighted to be excluded, as they understood that the invitees were all family or soon to be family. There were many toasts to the couples willingly walking into the parson’s mousetrap the next morning.
Before dinner, the Archbishop met with the couples together and then each separately to go over the order of service that he would use when he officiated their marriage ceremony.
During the separation of the sexes, he sought out his cousin Darcy. After he seated himself with his glass of port in hand, he turned to his cousin. “I hope you know that you will be marrying a rare gem on the morrow,” he stated to his cousin.
“Believe me Cousin, I am well aware of the rarity of the woman that I have been able to win, after our beginning…” he cut himself off with respect to his mother-in-law’s request. “God certainly moves in mysterious ways.”
“William, what are you talking about?” Pressed the Archbishop, his curiosity aroused.
