Elizabeth stroked his cheek. “You poor, stupid man. Before you met me, you thought you needed to be someone else to enjoy your life? That will never do – we are going to have an incandescently joyful life together, whatever your name, though it is a pity I shall not have the pleasure of calling you Darcy.”
“I could never be content as William Worthing, unless you are Mrs. Worthing,” he said, turning his face to kiss her wrist.
“Elizabeth Worthing, how droll that sounds!”
“Then perhaps I shall call you Lizzy, as you permit everyone else to do, and you may call me William.”
“William, I think we shall be happier than we have any right to be – we shall make our own memories at Wildewood, and banish all the painful ones.”
He encircled his arms around her and drew her into a tender embrace. “You have already made me the happiest of men.”
“You have done the same for me, more than I can say. The pair of us will – oh! The three of us, I should say, with dear Kitty here….”
“If sodding Bingley does not carry her off,” William grumbled.
Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, dear. She will be very cross with me for forging you so swiftly! But I hope she will allow Mr. Bingley to make amends for his share in this mischief. But why did he do it?”
“To vex me, probably. He overheard me telling you where Wildewood is, and decided to sabotage my carriage while I was staying with him at his sister’s house. He got here two days before me and began wooing my ward, because none of the ladies in London fancied him.”
“How very like him! But it is just the sort of thing to inspire my sister’s fancy! I think them very well suited.”
“I think them both mad! Though, I am pleased that you like my ward – I knew you would, but I had not imagined you would grow quite so intimate so quickly.”
“You are prodigiously ill-informed, William. You really do not know?”
He tensed. “What is it, Lizzy?”
She gave a hum of contentment at the gentle way he spoke her name. “When I call Kitty my sister, I am speaking literally.She is my half-sister. Oh, tell me you did not know, and withhold the truth.”
“What? Why would I have? It must only have been inducement for you to… but how?”
Elizabeth told William more of her own tragic history than she had ever done before, explaining the death of her mother just a year after marrying the late Mr. Cardew, and how his fractious parting with Lady Catherine had ever been a barrier to any knowledge of her half-sister.
“But that is astonishing, he cried. “I never knew anything of Kitty’s mother; I am sorry to say it, but I do not even remember her name. His wife, my late guardian’s widow, did not like her new husband to mention her predecessor. And you never spoke of having another sister, when we were in London.”
“It is not the sort of thing one blurts out. Besides, I think sometimes it comforts Lady Catherine to speak of Jane and I as if we are quite her own. She has a great love for my mother’s memory, but since she lost her own daughter, she has kept us rather closer.”
“What a sensational twist of fate – perhaps if my name could not be some token of destiny between us, this marvelous coincidence must be proof enough that we were fated to meet, to love one another.”
“I believe it is, and I might selfishly wish to keep Kitty here with us always, but can you not approve of her love of Mr. Bingley, if it endures his trickery? You might be brothers.”
“Well, I have always wished for a brother.”
“And you shall have another in Richard – it really is quite perfect. Then again, I can think of one other thing that would make this eveningquiteperfect.”
“And what is that?”
“Dancing,” Elizabeth declared. “Your recreation of Vauxhall would not be complete without it.”
***
As Elizabeth and Mr. Worthing wandered off together, Miss Annesley smiled brightly at the vicar. “Surely, Mr. Chasuble, you need not retire as early as your traveling cousins. Will you stay and play cards with us?”
“Why yes, I should like to, if we may also take some tea.”
“Kitty, you will accompany us, my dear. You may also join us, I suppose, Mr. Bingley.”
Kitty sniffed with indifference and followed her governess to the parlor without looking to see if Mr. Bingley would join them, though she heard his footsteps behind her. When they reached the parlor, he suggested they have some wine instead of tea, and Kitty steeled herself for the coming assault of apology.
