A/N – I do not own obviously.
I knew from the minute I saw her. When she first looked at me with those beautiful, determined eyes I felt my heart swell with an overwhelming love for her. In that instant I could see that she was different, that she would affect me like no other.
And now, as she stands on my arm she looks more radiant than I have ever seen her. She is almost bouncing, impatient to say her wedding vows. I can sense her nerves and it is all that I can do not to enfold her in my arms and never let go.
She looks up at me and smiles the secret smile reserved only for me, a gift I have come to cherish more than anything else. Some might suggest that a man is not supposed to admit to these feelings but not I. For at this moment I would cry out to every person in this church, "This is my Lizzy, she is the key to my heart and I will love her 'til the end of days."
A foolish tear courses its way down my cheek and I hastily wipe it away, I do not want her to see, I do not want her to doubt my happiness. For of course I am happy, how could I not be? But this is also a day that I have feared for a long time now, this is the day where everything changes and the life I have known will cease to exist and in a few moments the Lizzy Bennett I love so dearly will cease to exist also. Instead she will be Mrs Elizabeth Darcy. I whisper her new name to myself and as I say it I am filled with pride. I sneak a glance at her beautiful face and I can see in her eyes that she knows. She knows she is about to be married to a man who would give her the world, who would lay down his life for her, who would do anything in his power to ensure she is content.
It is that and that alone that will get me through today.
She coughs gently, rousing me from my reflections. "Shall we?" She asks, barely containing her joy. I smile back at her and plant a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"You look absolutely beautiful." I tell her "I love you, my Lizzie."
This time I cannot hide the tears and she laughs softly as she lifts her hand to wipe them, not caring that all eyes are on us.
"I love you too." As she says these words, I know that ours is a love that can never die, we have a bond that can never be broken, no matter what life may throw at us, no matter the distance between us, no matter that her heart is now his. For the love between a father and his favourite daughter is sacred and though she may pledge her heart to another man, she will always be my little girl, my Lizzie.