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Her sister’s expression was pained. “I believe you know most of it, do you not? Papa invented a story. Mama was annoyed with you for leaving so abruptly when she had a list of purchases for you to make in town. Lydia was angry that she was being blamed for your bonnet, but perhaps it was a good lesson for her. Her reputation for honesty has not been a good one, and she is seeing the consequences. Kitty and Mary believed Papa and are carrying on as always.”
“And Mr. Bingley?” Elizabeth asked quietly. “I am so very sorry, Jane. I did not know what he was, or I would never have encouraged you.”
Jane blinked. “Mr. Bingley?” She shook her head and took Elizabeth’s hand. “While we were waiting for our carriage at end of the ball, he said things about you I did not like. And after what Papa told me . . . Well, I have not thought about Mr. Bingley since. Oh Lizzy,” she said with a sigh. “No. All my thoughts were for you.”
Elizabeth squeezed her sister’s hand and released it. “Had you truly been in love with him, you would have desired his presence to aid you through such a trial. You would have missed him.” She did not know how she would have survived had Jane been the one who vanished.
Jane tipped her head to one side. “You must be correct.”
Elizabeth lifted her nose in the air. “I very often am, you know.”
“Is this truly what you wish to discuss on the day of your wedding?” Jane gave Elizabeth a mischievous look.
“No,” Elizabeth agreed. “So long as you are uninjured, let us speak of other things.”
“Such as the way your betrothed smiles at you?” Jane’s own smile was radiant. “I was so frightened for you, Lizzy, when all along you have been falling in love.”
“Well,” Elizabeth replied, “it did not happen precisely like that. First I . . .”
“Threw his own dish at him. Yes, I know,” Jane teased.
“He told you that?” Elizabeth was surprised, but Jane nodded. “I was so confused. I woke up in a dark room, and he was there. I did not think, I just . . . reacted. But he was so kind about it, Jane. It quite unarmed me.”
“And then you fell in love,” Jane added, almost singing the words.
Elizabeth glanced away and nodded. “And then I fell in love.” She twirled before the glass, taking pleasure in the way the skirt and lace moved together. “Did the colonel tell you how I held them off with a fork?”
Jane burst into an astonished laugh. “No, he neglected to relay that part of the story.”
“Well,” Elizabeth conceded, “It did not hold Colonel Fitzwilliam off for long.”
“He is a colonel, Lizzy,” Jane admonished her gaily.
Elizabeth sighed. “I do not know what to expect from him. He has been very distant. Until Mr. Darcy asked me to marry him, that is. He is amiable enough now.”
“He was quite the gentleman when we met him at Lucas Lodge,” Jane said. “Perhaps the problem was you.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, Jane, how I have missed you!”
Jane threw her arms around Elizabeth. “I have missed you, too, Lizzy.” She stepped back and smoothed her hands along Elizabeth’s skirt, and frowned. “Oh dear. I have wrinkled you.”
“I do not care,” Elizabeth proclaimed, just as her Aunt Gardiner entered the room.
“I shall see you downstairs,” Jane whispered in her ear as she hurried away.
“Aunt?” Elizabeth asked, surprised at Jane’s sudden exit. “Is something amiss?”
“Not at all, my dear,” Aunt Gardiner replied. “I simply thought you might wish to discuss what happens after the wedding.”
Elizabeth blushed, but teased her aunt anyway. “We gather for a meal in an earl’s grand home?”
“Elizabeth,” her aunt said. Her exasperation was good-natured, but it was exasperation. She reached out to touch Elizabeth’s dress. “I knew this would be perfect on you.” She motioned to two chairs set near the fire. “Shall we sit?”
When they were settled, Aunt Gardiner began. “What do you know about marital relations, Lizzy?”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth before admitting, “Only what I have read in the books Papa did not want me to see.”
Her aunt rolled her eyes and sighed. “Elizabeth Bennet.”
