Page 159 of Mr. Darcy’s Diamonds

“If you choose, I could sell your twelve thousand and invest it for you, but⁠—”

“Darcy! It is too much. I had hoped for a few token gems as spoils or a reminder of our adventure.”

“Hmm. You must learn to brook disappointment. If you had not given me the benefit of the doubt when I had little to go on, we never would have uncovered the truth…about Mrs. Jeune, the diamonds, Lord and Lady Rowe, or Elizabeth.”

His cousin waved off his words.

“It is no small thing to me, Richard. You helped me face my fears about love, supported me on what everyone thought a fool’s quest for someone beneath me, helped me protect Elizabeth when she was in danger.” Darcy looked at the man he had always admired. “Do not think of this as a reward for services rendered, however. You are the closest thing I could ever have to a brother, and you should share in my father’s bounty.”

Richard beamed, then reached out to clasp Darcy’s hand. “Very well. I accept. And I thank you.”

Darcy grinned. “I assume you would prefer the red silk?”

“Of course, I would. You never appreciated it as you should have.”

Both men were still laughing as they emerged from their sanctuary, and the colonel helped Darcy make peace with the teasing he encountered from his friends. He may never tell them he had fallen in love with a girl they could not respect, but he would never regret most of the journey he had taken with Elizabeth over the years.

The celebration for Elizabeth’s twentieth birthday was the largest they had yet held at Gracechurch Street. In addition to the Gardiners and her grandfather, Jane and Charles had come, as had Georgiana, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Lord Blakely. Lord and Lady Matlock were unavailable but sent their best wishes.

They laughed over dinner, and it warmed Elizabeth’s heart to see her young cousins so comfortable with her grandfather. Fitzwilliam’s cousins slowly opened up to their charm, as well, and she thought again of Blakely’s request for her to find him a wife. Perhaps now both brothers would be seeking to start families of their own. She and Fitzwilliam could remain in London for a while, so she could meet suitable ladies for them. When she looked at her husband, however, all thoughts of matchmaking departed. She had greater claims on her time at present.

That morning, while they were still in their bed, Fitzwilliam had placed her charm bracelet on her wrist. She cried to see it glimmered with a real diamond. It would now always remind her of some of the people who mattered most: her Uncle Bennet, her parents, and Fitzwilliam.

Following dinner and after music and conversation, Elizabeth announced she had a surprise for her grandfather.

She and Fitzwilliam stood to go to her uncle’s study, where they had stowed the painting she had been working on almost since meeting the duke.

“Mr. Gardiner, will you join us?”

Elizabeth assumed her husband wished for her uncle’s help with the large canvas. Once they were in his room, however, Fitzwilliam began a different topic.

“I apologize for pulling you away from the party. I have been meaning to ask you…Can you tell me how to contact Mr. Green?”

“Mr. Green? My old employer?”

Darcy nodded.

“I am afraid he took his whole family to Canada about…oh, six years ago, and we lost touch.”

“I see.” Fitzwilliam was pensive.

“What is it?” she asked.

“The diamonds. Mr. Gardiner, do you not think Mr. Green had a right to some payment, given that he had a role in brokering a successful business transaction between Lord Rowe and the three gentlemen?”

“Oh, well. I had not considered. Surely it cannot matter now. I do not even know what arrangements were in place. For all we know, his part was to sell any diamonds purchased in excess of those the three gentlemen paid for. I found no contract. Nothing legal binds you to give him any of your diamonds, even if he could be located.”

“Then you should take some of my share.”

“What? Why? I see no cause for that, Darcy.”

“Take only a few diamonds. One for your wife and one for each of your children?”

“What of another suggestion?” Uncle Gardiner grinned. “What say you to purchasing a low phaeton, with a nice little pair of ponies? That would be the very thing. My wife would like above all else to go round the whole park at Pemberley when you welcome guests in a year or two.”

Elizabeth laughed, and Darcy acquiesced to her uncle’s plan and released him to rejoin the others. She and her husband turned to the painting they had come to retrieve.

“Do you think my grandfather will like it, or will it be too difficult for him?”