“Pick me up! Pick me up!Youaren’t doing anything.”
Mr. Darcy stood and bent to follow the girl’s orders, as he after all wasnotdoing anything. However before he could Georgiana rushed from her seat where she had sat poking the congealed porridge and lifted Anne herself, carrying her away from Darcy. “Not now, Annie, UncleFitzdoes not wish to be bothered.” Georgiana opened the bag with Anne’s toys that she always had with her, and pulled out a big doll in a pink tulle dress. “Play with Charlotte.”
Anne pouted. “I want to be carried around the room. Around the room!”
“I’ll give you a cookie and…and we’ll make a new dress for Charlotte.”
“A silk dress?”
Georgiana nodded eagerly in agreement. “But do not try to play with Uncle Will today.”
The girl turned towards Darcy for confirmation of these orders. Darcy smiled at her and waved. Anne ran to the corner of the room and made Charlotte to march around and beat her wooden hands against the wall with tiny taps.
“Georgie.” Darcy spoke in a mild tone.
She glared at him.
Yes, his suspicion was confirmed. Georgiana was not merely displeased by the end of her engagement. She resented him for protecting her future well-being.
Darcy added, without changing his tone, “That was remarkably petty of you.”
Georgiana’s glare broke and she blushed embarrassedly, looking down and rubbing her fingers over the tablecloth.
“Anne should not be used to punish me.”
Georgiana stared at her fingers and the green and orange floral pattern of the tablecloth. Darcy maintained his stiff expression, waiting to see how she would respond. The silence sat pregnant upon the table. Darcy felt an unaccustomed nervousness. He did not know how to help Georgiana regain her happiness and accept that he had made the right decision for her.
She coughed out, without looking up, “I apologize. I should not have.”
He did not like to see Georgiana unhappy with him.
Darcy absently grabbed the half of a lemon tart which Anne had left untortured and stuffed the sugary concoction into his mouth. His mouth was dry, and the cloying flavor stuck as he chewed and chewed until he could swallow and force the bread and sugar like a rock into his stomach.
This wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“How?” Georgiana formed her hands into small fists; she sat upright like a marble column; she clenched her jaw so tight that it pulsated. “Howcould you do it?”
“Our father placed you under my protection. Even if it gives you transient pain, I must do as best I can to—”
“Notthat.” Georgiana’s lips twisted angrily, and she jabbed the air. “Elizabeth. How could you end matters with Elizabeth because she supported me?”
It lashed him again. She had thrown him away, like a bauble, like a ring tossed against the ground. Why did he long for her — she felt so little for him.
Like a flash he saw the look in her eyes as he proposed to her. The way she bent her lips forward to kiss him, and the simple enthusiasm his Lizzy had for everything in life.
“Oh.” Georgiana’s voice was soft and soothing. She stood and went round the table and placed her hand on his arm, and then her arms around him. Darcy at first was stiff. He comforted his sister, and he would not cry in front of her.
He couldn’t stop. He tried, but he couldn’t stop the images of their weeks together and her smiles and happiness and the pain of that achingwhy.
He hugged Georgiana back, hoping she would not see his tears as he did hold himself back from sobbing. She saw.
Anne stopped playing and came to them and realizing something was amiss with her adults, she wrapped her arms around their legs. “Is this because we are going back to Pemberley house, and leaving Aunt Lizzy and Aunt Jane and Bennet and everyone behind?”
“Yes, sweetling,” Both Georgiana and Darcy replied to Anne at the same time.
Darcy wiped his eyes and picked up Anne to sit on his lap. This time Georgiana did not stop him as he hugged her head against his chest, able to smell her hair, and the little girl hugged him back. He would hate it when Anne was too old to hold like this.
Georgiana sat close. “Fitzwilliam,” she asked softly, “what happened?”
