Page 108 of Twice Chosen

"Accepted him."

Lady Catherine's face changed color.

Elizabeth almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"He cannot--"

"He has."

"I shall speak to him."

"You may."

Lady Catherine stared. "You are remarkably calm."

Elizabeth smiled. "I have had practice."

Danger.

Lady Catherine narrowed her eyes, but anger carried her past curiosity.

She departed for London the next morning.

Darcy received her fury with greater patience than before. He did not reject his aunt. He simply refused her claim to decide his life.

Months later Lady Catherine attended their first Christmas dinner at Pemberley.

She criticized the soup.

Elizabeth considered this reconciliation.

Lady Catherine's fury was followed by an unexpected letter from Anne de Bourgh. The letter was brief and written in a careful hand.

I hope you will be happy. I am relieved Fitzwilliam has chosen for himself. Perhaps now Mama will allow me to do the same.

Elizabeth read it twice.

Darcy stood at the window of the Gardiners' drawing room. "Anne wrote to you?"

Elizabeth handed him the page.

His expression changed as he read.

"We forgot her," Elizabeth said quietly.

Darcy looked up. "No."

"In the first life, we thought of her mostly as someone Lady Catherine meant you to marry."

Darcy sat beside her. "She was ill much of the time."

"And still a person."

He nodded.

They answered together. Not with advice. Not with a plan. Merely warmth.