“As a widow, you may do as you please,” Elizabeth said. “Perhaps your year of mourning shall be a blessing, for you will not simply be some gentleman’s wife.”
Mrs. Rushworth nodded thoughtfully. “I quarreled with Mr. Crawford this afternoon.”
“I have just heard Sir Edward saying that Cathy is still young yet, and he will not permit her to take the first agreeable man she meets. She will spend a great deal of time in London, at first with her family, and then she will broaden her social circle. She will meet many new people, perhaps some more agreeable than the first few friends she has made.”
“Sound advice,” Mrs. Rushworth agreed. She seemed to understand Elizabeth’s analogy and gave her a placid smile. “Thank you, Miss Bennet.”
Elizabeth briefly pressed Mrs. Rushworth’s hand in her own, content that they should be friends. She had liked many a stupider person. She looked around and saw Mr. Darcy and his cousin approaching, and Mrs. Rushworth began to think of her appearance.
The tumblers had finished their performance and Princess Elizabeth called for dancing. Musicians took their places and began to warm up, while the lively guests all sought out their desired partners. Mr. Darcy began to extend his hand to Elizabeth, but Colonel Fitzwilliam blocked him and made a sweeping bow. “Miss Bennet, I am so delighted to make your radiant acquaintance; you must do me the honor of a dance.”
“You said you would not flirt with her,” Mr. Darcy grumbled.
“If you think dancing is flirting, it is no wonder you have little experience with either,” the colonel quipped.
“I am afraid I do not wish to abandon my friend Mrs. Rushworth,” Elizabeth said with a look of mischief for the colonel.
“The bereaved but beautiful Mrs. Rushworth,” the colonel said smoothly. “I am sure the princess would not blame you for dancing, Madam, for she knows me to be determined to have my own way. But first, there is something of mine that must be returned.”
Mrs. Rushworth appeared confused for but a moment and then recalled the handkerchief he had given her that morning; she retrieved it from her pocket and offered it back to him. The colonel looked pointedly at his cousin, then winked at Elizabeth before returning his gaze to Mrs. Rushworth. He raised the handkerchief to his lips before tucking it into his coat.
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy exchanged a look of high humor as the colonel praised and cajoled Mrs. Rushworth into dancing with him. They followed the other couple to join the set, and all their friends soon followed suit.
She was scarcely aware of anybody but Mr. Darcy in their dance together, for all she could think of was their interlude in the billiard room. She remembered his promise, that they should never be parted, even for a day, and she knew not how many days of such delights she could endure before becoming his wife.
“We ought to marry soon,” she told him when they broke for refreshments. “I do not want too much fanfare.”
He drew her close enough to whisper in her ear. “I do not know how I shall bear the delay, either, Elizabeth.”
“It would feel so strange to go back to ordinary life at Longbourn.”
Mr. Darcy smiled warmly at her. “Oh, yes, who needs that, when there isa world of possibilities?We might obtain a special license in London.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Shall we always remain in such perfect accord, do you think?”
“I know it,” he replied, taking her by the hand to rejoin the dance. “Our lives are full of wondrous possibilities, but we shall always remain one another’s greatest certainty.”
Chapter Eighteen
By Christmas, the events at Clwyd Castle were little more than a distant memory, though an impactful one. Elizabeth was now Lady Darcy, for the princess had carried her point, and gifted the newlyweds with an earldom. Lord Darcy was assiduously teased by his cousin, until the princess, after an evening of too much wine at Darcy house, made good on a threat to promote the colonel to a general.
Despite her marriage and sudden elevation, Elizabeth felt strangely untouched by the changes in her life. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were relieved that the secret was known at last, though it was bittersweet that the truth had come out only as she was preparing to leave Longbourn forever. Fortunately, Mrs. Bennet was so elated at Elizabeth’s engagement that she agreed to wait a while longer before telling her younger daughters of Elizabeth’s true parentage – until they could be trusted with the discretion required for such knowledge.
Jane was downcast for only a few days before Elizabeth and Mr. Bingley cheered her back to her usual serenity. Elizabeth promised Jane that they were still sisters in her heart, and always would be, and Mr. Bingley loudly and often proclaimed what fine luck it was that he and his dearest friendhad the good sense to fall in love with the loveliest and most loving sisters in the kingdom.
Naturally, Miss Bingley’s reaction to what was made public was more gratifying than any of them could have imagined. She arrived unannounced at Netherfield, having read of the engagement in the papers, and though she did her worst, it perturbed nobody at all, for they had lately survived the wrath of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
The dowager invoked every manner of threat and castigation, which might have been diverting enough to satisfy Elizabeth, even without the fortuitously timed arrival of the princess. To see her mother deliver Lady Catherine such a royal set down was a sight that would carry Elizabeth through the new year in high spirits indeed.
The Collinses braved her ladyship’s displeasure by attending the Darcy wedding, and the juxtaposition of Mr. Collins’s obsequious pomposity and Mrs. Collins’s steady practicality amused the princess to no end. Having just come from her meeting with the Parker brothers of Sanditon, Princess Elizabeth recommended Mr. Collins to a valuable living in the coastal town, and advised him, with dubious success, on how to behave with greater dignity in his new role. She was certain he would be a credit to the place, which she told her daughter was a haven for every sort of absurdity.
Elizabeth was content in the knowledge that the Bennets and Bingleys would miss her just the right amount as she took her leave of Hertfordshire; her mother and sisters would write often, and her father perhaps less so, though his lackadaisical correspondence would ever prove to be the most amusing. They would all threaten to visit more often than they were actually able to, and yet when the families were finally all together at Christmas, it felt as if no time had passed at all.
Lord and Lady Darcy hosted the Bingleys, saving them the inconvenience of receiving the Hursts and Miss Bingley in Belgrave Square. Instead, Mr. Bingley opened his house for the Bennets, for it was very near to the new house Sir Edward Gardiner and his bride purchased.
The new Gardiner residence was twice the size of his house in Cheapside; to his four younger children, it was practically a palace. To Elizabeth’s delight, the billiard room was elegantly appointed. It was stately on the exterior, and pure, blissful chaos within. Cathy, Harriet, and Emma all came to stay for the holiday season and took charge of ensuring that everyone in their circle felt fully immersed in the joys of Christmastime.
They doted on the younger Gardiner children, whom Elizabeth also made every effort to cherish. They organized shopping trips – or as Sir Edward described it, they executed tactical raids of his warehouses, an indulgence he was all too happy to grant them. They decorated the Gardiner and Darcy homes with holly and fir boughs, and if they got a little carried away with their generous placement of mistletoe, nobody objected. They planned dinners and organized games, many of their own invention, and they made it their mission to enjoy every day together to the fullest.
