“Well,” Elizabeth said, “that was quite a delightful way for you to turn my embarrassment into anticipation.”
“Believe me, Elizabeth, I am all anticipation these days.”
Elizabeth trembled, she felt so much emotion, but she breathed deeply, squared her shoulders, and thanked her intended for his honest answers.
“And you forgive me for meddling in your life for my own benefit?”
“Well, let us see, because of your meddling, some excellent women came to my community and taught my sisters, neighbours, and me some valuable skills…. Because of you, I finally learnt how to ride…. Because of you, my family enjoyed an excellent cook who was very kind to me…. Because of you, my uncle obtained an investor whose counsel he respected…. I suppose I forgive you for all of your officious interference.”
But she turned to him and whispered, “But did you have to do all of these things in secret?”
He gazed into her eyes, and she could see his care for her. He said, “I hoped to court you when you were the appropriate age. I hoped to win your approbation and your affection. But to do the things that, in my opinion, kept you safe and ensured that I would be able to tell you my feelings if you were courted by someone else…to do them openly would, I felt, make it so that you might feel you had to accept my suit. Surely, doing those things openly would have pressured you. I do not wish for your gratitude; I wish for your love. I prefer to be honest and open in my dealings, but in this case I felt it would utterly spoil the intent by pressuring you and ruining the chance for a happy, equal relationship.”
Sitting there in her family’s crowded parlour, with the proper number of inches between their bodies, with a better chance of using her sense than if she was in Fitzwilliam’s arms, Elizabeth considered his words. She decided that he was right in every particular.
She nodded to show her agreement, and then she asked—as she always did every fair day—if he cared to join her on a walk.
He did, of course, and Mary gladly went with them, and the couple managed to chat with Mary during half of the walk and then to have some private moments in the orchard to renew their commitment to one another.
On their way back into the house, Elizabeth took Fitzwilliam through the kitchens and introduced him to Mrs Nelson, also known as Cook. The older woman was clearly delighted but nervous, and Elizabeth took her hand, squeezed it fondly, and said, “I know that you were watching out for me, and I wish to thank you.”
Cook turned to Fitzwilliam with astonishment. “Are you the one?” she asked with absolutely no clarity.
Fitzwilliam said, “Yes, the man you report to reports to me. I am most grateful for the information about Miss Elizabeth’s illness all those years ago. I was able to send a brilliant physician to consult about her care. Thank you.”
Cook had sagged with relief. “Oh, thank the Lord,” she said. Elizabeth was puzzled until Cook turned to her and said, “I hope you know—I never—I did hear that you had a wealthy benefactor, but I never dreamt…and then I was supposed to say when you had a suitor, and I had my suspicions about…well,him, but I never said—it just did not seem right, after all—but then when you became engaged, I knew I properly ought to say, and so I did, but I did not wish to do anything to stand in the way between you and Mr Darcy, see? I was so upset—but it is all right, because he is the one!”
Elizabeth believed she now understood what was behind the motherly woman’s incoherence, and she gave Cook a hug and said, “He is the only one for me, I am convinced.”
Fitzwilliam said, “Mrs Nelson, I thank you again. I know it was a matter of some delicacy, and still, looking back at everything that was arranged and the results, it is not easy to be clear if my efforts were fully moral or quite selfish. However,since both Elizabeth and I are ecstatic with those results, and her family will be in a more comfortable position going forward, I do think that everyone would thank you rather than criticise you.”
Cook gave him a curtsey. “You are most welcome, sir,” she said, and she turned back to Elizabeth and said, “I so enjoyed getting to know you, Miss Elizabeth. You were worthy of Mr Darcy’s efforts when you were fifteen, and you are even more worthy now.”
“Well, I am certainly glad that you came to Longbourn, Mrs Nelson.”
The days slippedby with wedding preparations and visits. Elizabeth had the occasional fitting for her wedding gown, a special night chemise and wrapper, and a new travel dress and cloak. Her sisters and she polished all the silver and dusted every room, because their mother did not feel that the Hills and Sarah would perform quite up to the level of perfection she required. Mr Hill was working with footmen from Netherfield to transport chairs to Longbourn, and Mrs Hill and Sarah helped with the food preparation.
Mr Bingley and Fitzwilliam continued to visit daily, and because two of those days were rainy, and they could not walk, they walked twice as long as usual when the third day proved dry.
On that long walk, Fitzwilliam had talked about his friends from Cambridge and the family members she would soon meet and those she would likely not meet for a long time. In the last category, notably, was his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She was so insistent that he was engaged to her daughter Anne—and that two great estates would thus be joined, establishing the family as even more wealthy and powerful than ever—that everyone in the family had given up repeating to her that he wasnotengaged to Anne, had never been and never would be. The entire family, including Anne, advised Fitzwilliam to marry his own choice and then present Lady Catherine with the incontrovertible fact that her fondest hope would never occur.
“So you have a relation who will hate me before she even meets me.”
“I imagine that I do. My apologies.”
“Well, I should hope that you would apologise, Fitzwilliam! I certainly have no aunts who are insistent that I marry another, and I think very poorly of your decision to have such a relation!”
He could only wryly chuckle at her teasing scold.
In return, Elizabeth shared her deeper feelings about her parents, her siblings, and her aunt and uncle Philips. “Also,” she said, “I have seen little of my friend Charlotte since you re-entered my life, but she had been a lifeline to me when my mother was being especially difficult or Lydia and Kitty had switched from teasing arguments to pulling-hair arguments. I have felt a bit angry at myself for neglecting her this past month, and I said so when she visited one morning, but she assured me that she understood.”
Fitzwilliam nodded and said, “I only know her from a very few conversations, including that one dance at the assembly, and from what others have said about her, but she strikes me as a very sensible person with quite a positive view of life.”
“But, Fitzwilliam, that is the thing: when she said that she understood, she had her calm smile, and her hands were folded so nicely on her lap—but her eyes showed such sadness.”
“I would have guessed that she is a lady rarely given to melancholy.”
“I have never seen her looking so down, before, but she is seven and twenty, and everyone expects her to be a spinster for life, and I am convinced that she, too, wishes for a home of her own and children and….”
