Page 80 of Twice Chosen

Kitty smiled and did.

Elizabeth said nothing.

That evening she found her father outside the library.

"Thank you."

He frowned. "For what?"

"Kitty."

Mr. Bennet looked away. "I am attempting not to be a complete failure before breakfast."

Elizabeth's eyes stung.

He noticed and immediately became alarmed. "Do not cry. Your mother cries enough for this family."

Elizabeth laughed.

Mr. Bennet smiled. "There. Much better."

It was not perfection.

It was him trying.

Elizabeth was learning that people deserved credit for difficult inches, not only completed journeys.

Darcy was learning the same lesson with Georgiana. She had good days and bad. Some mornings she laughed with Bingley over breakfast; some evenings a letter bearing an unfamiliar hand made her pale before she even opened it.

Once, after a dinner in Meryton, an officer mentioned Ramsgate casually as a fashionable resort. Georgiana went silent.

Darcy noticed.

He did not ask in front of everyone whether she was well.

Later, in the carriage, he said, "Would you like to talk?"

Georgiana stared out the window. "No."

The old Darcy might have insisted that silence would only increase distress.

This Darcy nodded. "All right."

Ten minutes later Georgiana said, "Thank you."

Darcy looked at her. "For what?"

"For letting no be no."

The words followed him for years.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lydia

Preventing Wickham did not solve Lydia.

Elizabeth knew that.