“Oh I know, I know, I know I must be punished. However you choose to do so, it will be less than I deserve.”
Darcy flushed at that reply. He rubbed at the back of his neck and looked aside. “No, uh. That is we shall speak about that later, but, ah…”
“What your brother wishes to ask, but is too lily-livered to say directly, is whether there is any possibility that you are with child,” Colonel Fitzwilliam asked calmly.
“What?” Georgiana’s eyes popped wide, her hands froze, and a deep red flush crept across cheeks. Even her ears turned red.
Darcy’s face also felt very warm.
“Well, Georgie — must I describe what behaviors might lead to a child, so that you can answer?”
“No! No!” Her toes curled up and she cringed, looking away. “No, I do not believe so.”
“You do notbelieveso?” Richard asked with the sort of tone that a hunting dog might use with a fox it was tearing apart. “Whatpreciselydid you do with Wickham, in matters of physical intimacies, that is, I’ve not the slightest desire to hear about any conversation or touristings, or the like.”
“Nothing, we just kissed briefly, only once. That cannot lead to a child?”
Darcy stared at her, rather more embarrassed than when the conversation had started. Colonel Fitzwilliam though kept his cannon ball expression fixed.
She looked between them and went pale. “I thought that can’t lead to children! I was sure, I believed it required the removal of clothes. That was what all the girls at school thought at least. Can it?”
Darcy took her hand and pulled her closer to him on the sofa again to hug his sister once more. “No,” he said, sighing with relief. “That cannot cause children.”
He then flushed again, thinking of how much he had kissed Elizabeth.
Richard said with a contemplative expression, rubbing at his cheek with his thumb. “Doesn’t actually require the removal of any clothes though.”
“What?” Georgiana squeaked. “What does it involve?”
Now it was Colonel Fitzwilliam’s turn to sputter. “Uh, well, that is… you know.”
“No,” Georgiana replied wide eyed, “I do not.”
“I thought all the girls at those fancy seminaries talked this over with each other,” Richard replied. He coughed embarrassedly. “At least more than one woman told me that was where she learned about, ah… so you do not know.”
Darcy glared at his cousin.
“I did not have any particular friends at the school.” Georgiana flushed and looked at her hands. “That was why I wished to leave it.”
“She needs to know.” Colonel Fitzwilliam said, “Maybe my mother can tell her — you’ll be the one to ask. Or this new wife of yours when you actually marry her.”
“Oh.” Georgiana looked at him. “Did you marry before you set off? Oh, I’ve ruined everything for you.”
“Hardly,” Darcy shook his head. “But no.”
“But…” She frowned. “The wedding was supposed to be yesterday.”
“This way,” Darcy replied, “it shall be better, as you will be there.”
“I wanted to go. I thought you were somehow disappointed in me… thought I would be an embarrassment or something… why didn’t you ask me to come from Ramsgate? I expected that request.”
“I had believed you were enjoying yourself,” Darcy replied wryly. He really had been a fool.
“I was, but I want to meet your Elizabeth.”
“As soon as we return south.” He hoped very much that matters with Elizabeth were not entirely beyond repair. He would throw himself at her feet if that was what was necessary. Darcy stretched his arms and twisted his torso back and forth. “At least we will be travelling in the carriage.”
While he wished to leave as quickly as possible to return to Elizabeth, the next morning Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam went to the cell where Wickham had been fixed by the local JP. He’d been stuck in an actual dungeon in an old borderer castle that had been used to resist Scottish raids before the Tudors.
