“And Mamma,” Darcy said solemnly.
“And the first Earl of Matlock,” Richard cried. They each tapped their glasses on the billiard table before taking a drink, and Georgiana hastily mimicked them before wincing at the brandy.
“And now you may proceed, Phillip.” Rebecca tied the improvised blindfold around her eldest brother’s eyes and led him to the table, and Richard handed him the billiard cue. As Phillip lined up his shot, swaying a little with intoxication, Bingley held a finger to his lips and silently moved toward the table, switching the six objects to different pockets.
Phillip took his shot and Rebecca clapped her hands as her brother removed his blindfold. “The handkerchief and the ring – heartbreak and then marriage!”
Bingley went next, managing the same shot as Phillip, and the two exchanged a roguish look. “The ladies of London had better beware,” Richard drawled.
Richard took his turn next, and received their teasing congratulations for getting the ring and the coin, the finest combination. Rebecca was arguably the drunkest amongst them, and she grumbled when her shot went afoul, earning her only one of the talismans, the horse that signified travel.
Georgiana did not sink either of the red balls, and she yawned as she declared she was content enough, for only travel held any allure for her. She thanked them for including her and passed the billiard cue to Darcy, then tied the sash around his eyes before retreating to the sofa; he could hear scuffling as his companions again rearranged the talismans.
Darcy leaned over and began to line up his shot. Every year, he tried to think not of the geometry necessary to make his shot, but the omen that he desired. It was a silly superstition, but he was enough in his cups to find a little beauty in the notion. He began to think of the coin, as he ever did, but for some reasonthe image of the ring appeared in his mind, followed by the recollection of a pair of fine eyes. He let out a shaky breath and took his shot.
His companions all gasped as he removed his blindfold and gazed over the table. Rebecca grinned. “The first ball sunk into the pocket with the ring directly! The other looked as if it were headed for the handkerchief, but it bounced into the crow, instead.”
“But the ring is a good thing,” Georgiana said, yawning again.
“You must wish your brother to take a wife, for your own sake,” Rebecca said to her, giving Darcy a wicked look. “Perhaps I will find him one on my travels.”
Darcy bristled at her, but before he could make any retort, Georgiana gave a sleepy nod of her head. “Someone like you, Rebecca, but perhaps a little less evil.”
“So, definitely not Caroline,” Rebecca drawled, refilling her own glass as well as Bingley’s. She winked at her brother by marriage. Richard picked up the crow, examined it, and waggled his brows at Darcy.
Phillip began returning the talismans to whence they had come. “If our superstition is to be trusted, it seems we shall be attending our fair share of weddings this year.”
“The table was right about both of us,” she reminded him.
Phillip had wed when he was still a parson; he had three daughters, though his late wife Violet had died giving birth to the youngest. Darcy frowned, recalling that Phillip had gotten the black band four years past, and again the previous year, just weeks before Peter’s accident. He shuddered, staring at the ring until Phillip put it back on his hand.
Lady Rebecca shambled across the room and sank into a chair by the fire, still examining the toy horse in her hands. “As it happens, I am of a mind to travel in the very near future.”
Since marrying Bingley’s dying brother, Rebecca had attained the independence she had prized over the prospect of becoming a wife and mother. The earl had tied the knots tight in the marriage contract; part of her fortune purchased a house in Mayfair where she resided still, and the rest had been left to her when Henry succumbed to consumption a fortnight after their union. What had been his then passed to his brother Charles Bingley and their sisters.
Rebecca always did as she pleased, and Darcy could sense that she was intent on a bit of mischief as she tossed the horse at Richard, who staggered a little as he moved to catch it. “Where to, Becky? I hear Timbuktu is lovely at this time of year.”
“Ha ha,” she deadpanned. “As it happens, I am of a mind to travel with you when you go into Hertfordshire. It seems you shall need a feminine ally, if you are to find a bride.”
Richard threw his head back and guffawed, then refilled his brandy. “All of us men got the ring! Why not plague Darcy or Phillip with your assistance?”
“Because I intend to plague you and Bingley instead. Is the regiment you are to lead not very near that little estate Bingley let last year?”
“Netherfield? There is a regiment in Meryton,” Bingley said with excitement as he went to sit beside her.
“Yes, Meryton. It sounds very quaint, but I am sure I can turn the little village upside down. What if Richard were to take a shine to the lovely Miss Bennet, whom you have lately abandoned?”
“Pistols at dawn,” Bingley cried. “But he would never – we have not the same taste in women.”
“You both like every pretty lady that smiles at you, and I fear Phillip is growing to be quite the same. But you have told me all about her, Charles, and it seems to me she would suit Richard splendidly. You say you must think prudently, Richard, but you always have the Scottish pile.”
“If I took a bride to that drafty old wreck, she would refuse to consummate the union!”
Darcy grimaced at Richard’s vulgarity, but when he glanced at his sister, she had once again begun to doze. He smiled at her, a little sorry that what Georgiana needed most was not on the billiard table. She wanted confidence, friends her own age, and to see the good in the world again after her disillusionment at Ramsgate.
“I have thought of going back for Jane,” Bingley sighed. “Caroline believes it is a mesalliance, that Jane never returned my affection, but I am not proud of my hasty departure. And I liked Netherfield.”
Rebecca grinned widely. “Then let me keep house for you – send Caroline to the Hursts, or to Scarborough, or to the very devil. She will only muck it up for you – youdidget the handkerchief before the ring.”
