It was all quite enough to make a woman cry.
Darcy flinched slightly at her voice, while General Fitzwilliam phlegmatically raised an eyebrow.
“I am not a child in your care, who depends upon you for everything.Icanprotect myself.”
“I know, Elizabeth.”
“You donot.I can defend my own honor.I can entertain my own self.I can plan my own decisions.”
“I know, I know—”
“I don’t need you!”
Darcy swallowed and looked hurt.
“Oh,” Elizabeth reached her hand out shakingly, “I do not mean to yell — that is not what I meant to say, I… what I meant is that I am sure I could find a position for some employment in France if I needed to.Maybe risk being a governess again, to some sympathetic French widow who wishes her children to speak English particularly well.”
“Perhaps…” Darcy swallowed, and his eyes looked suddenly hollow.“Elizabeth… perhaps, even if you do not need me, perhaps I need you.I… I have never been to Paris.Never been to France at all.I… I would wish you to stay with me until we have… have seen the country.I do desperately want to see Paris… you and me.And then if you yet wish to find employment as a governess… afterwards.I shall understand… and I—”
“Oh, you sweet, wonderful, silly, dear man.I… I do not mean I want to become a governess, either.I don’t.”General Fitzwilliam was grinning widely at her, and his amusement was distracting, and they were surrounded by the crowd of evening guests who had made appearance at the cafe for an evening bite and coffee and wine now that the work day was done, but she had to say now what she desperately wanted to say for Darcy’s sake.“What I mean is that…”
Elizabeth swallowed.
She felt a terrible hesitation in her gut — a fear of what his reaction would be.Best to know now.Best now.“What I meant to say… what I really meant is that, I… I want to marry you.Mr.Darcy, you are dear to me… and my opinion of you has changed so completely since that day I mistakenly refused you.”
He blinked at her in confusion.
“That’s all I meant.That I want to marry you.”She swallowed and waited for Darcy to proclaim her fate.
“Oh.”And his brilliant, heart stopping smile came out, like a sunbeam through the clouds.“Oh, that’swhat you meant by ‘I do not need you.’I apologize for the difficulty I had interpreting your words,” Darcy was grinning so widely that he had to pause, “but now that you have explained, the meaning is perfectly clear.”
General Fitzwilliam snorted.“Was clear enough tomefrom the start.”
Elizabeth glared at him; this wasnotthe time for his humor.
“Elizabeth, my dear, darling Elizabeth.”Now everything was gone for Elizabeth except Darcy’s beautiful sparkling eyes, and his flashing happy grin.“It seems like I have been a fool once more, I shall often depend upon you to tell me when I am behaving as a fool.Can I depend upon you to tell me?”
“You can always depend upon me.”Elizabeth’s heart stuttered, as though it both wished to race fast and stop in contemplation of Darcy’s handsome visage.“You can depend upon me for anything.”
Darcy glanced for an instant at his cousin and the other patrons of the cafe.His smiling expression seemed to say,I had not expected to do this in such company.
With his color high and a serious voice he said, “Elizabeth Bennet, you donotrequire my help.That is true.You can survive and you can choose for yourself.That is who you are, a woman worthy of being admired.But I desperately want to help you, whenever you can use help.I desperately wish to live with you, during every trial and tribulation of our lives.However since you do not need my money, since you shall find way to survive without my aid, I have only one thing I can offer to induce you to stay close by my side — for I do need you by my side — my heart.Elizabeth Bennet, you have my heart.I beg you not to crush it, for I do ardently admire and love you.I have missed you every day since we parted last, and now that I have seen you again… Elizabeth, perhaps I might survive without you, but I do not wish to.I ask you to make me the happiest of men, and accept my hand, my heart, and my soul.Please be the companion of my life.I beg you, tell me that I have your heart and then I shall be — and this is no poetic exaggeration — the happiest of men.”
“Oh, oh, oh!Of course I will.Of course you do.My heart is yours.”
Darcy stood to his feet and pulled Elizabeth to hers and then he kissed her solidly on the lips, in front of everyone, and then he lifted her in his arms and swung her round three times, laughing with happiness.
There was a mixture of laughter and cheers from the French cafe goers at this behavior from the English gentleman and his lady in their midst, and in his happiness Darcy promptly paid for dinner and champagne for everyone in the cafe.
Chapter Thirteen
Darcy was deliriously happy two days later when he married Elizabeth.
There was an Anglican chaplain in the city.According to this chaplain, as they were not in England they did not need to have the banns sounded, or gain a license from a bishop, if they married in a French civil ceremony first.
To be married by French law Darcy and Elizabeth needed to swear before a notary as to their family circumstances, the location of their births, and their names.And most specifically they were required to swear that there were no barriers to the performance of a marriage between them under the laws of France.
Both Darcy and Elizabeth were aware of none under the laws ofEngland, and so Darcy hoped very much that French laws were not so different they perjured themselves when they made that oath.The notary assured them that there was nothing strange, and that the French laws on this matter were in general more liberal than those of the United Kingdom, or at least he thought they were.
