Chapter 8 – Consequence
Will led Lizzy and Kit into the big house to start their tour. Only to come face to face with Maddy Gardiner.
"Lizzy!" Maddy greeted her.
"Hey Maddy, you remember Will Darcy from Netherfield?" Lizzy asked.
"Oh I saw you in passing Will, it's nice to finally meet you. Lucy talks about you a lot."
"It's nice to meet you too, Are you staying here for long?" he asked.
"We have a week and a half left, we are staying at the Inn in Lambton."Maddy replied. Suddenly a door opened and Ed and Lucy came into the room."
"Will!" Lucy said in surprise. Will and Lucy embraced. "I didn't know you were coming home today."
"I came a day early, Georgiana, will be here tomorrow." he said.
"Oh good, I can't wait to see Georgia. I do miss you two when you go away."
"I miss you too. I just miss your cooking more." Will deadpanned. Lucy laughed.
"Come on and meet my god daughter and her husband." The old lady pushed Will towards them.
"Nice to meet you Mr. And Mrs Gardener." Will smiled and shook their hands.
"Well, Will" Ed smiled. "Nice as it was to meet you, we really need to be getting back."
"Of course" Will said. "Let me see you out."
Darcy walked Lizzy and the Gardiners to the car and Kit trailed along behind chatting with Lucy. As Lizzy got into the car Darcy gave the hand which he still held in his own a gentle squeeze.
"I'm glad you're here." He told her.
"Me too" Lizzy answered.
Lizzy watched Will and Lucy out of the window until they were out of sight.
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The next day Lizzy was having breakfast on the lawn with the Gardeners and Kit. They were sitting at a cafe in Lambton (actually the cafe in Lambton) and eating croissants and hot chocolate.
"Hello again" Lizzy jumped at the deep voice behind her.
"Darcy!" Lizzy twisted in her seat to look up at him.
"I hope I'm not interrupting?" he asked with a smile.
"Of course not, why don't you join us?" Maddy invited him.
Will sat down beside Lizzy and smiled around at everyone. Why is he smiling so much now? Lizzy wondered, He never did that before. It is a good thing though.
"I was hoping to see you here." Will told them. "My sister will be arriving today and she really wants to meet you. I was wondering if you would all like to come and have lunch with the three of us?" he asked.
"That would be lovely." Maddy beamed. After Will had issued his invitation he stayed to talk for a while. But all too soon, he had to go back to Pemberly as his sister would be arriving.
"He is a good guy." Ed murmured as Will walked away.
"What makes you say that?" Lizzy asked with interest. Ed chuckled.
"I spoke to some of the staff at Pemberly yesterday. They didn't have a bad word to say against him. They all think he is the best boss ever." He said.
"Oh" Lizzy remembered her grandmother telling her once that you can judge a person by how their servants feel about them. Well if her grandmother was right, then Will Darcy was a seriously good guy. And Ed's instincts were never wrong anyway.
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At half past eleven the Gardiners, Lizzy and Kit all arrived at Pemberly for lunch. The door was open before they had even stopped the car and Will was practically skipping down the steps two at a time. Seeing his sister must make him happy. Lizzy thought as she saw his good mood. For a moment she wished she could have been the one to put a smile on his face. No Lizzy, you mucked that up and he probably thinks you are some kind of ice hearted snob. You shouldn't have lost your temper. All this could have been yours.
As they were climbing out of the car a tall girl with dark brown hair and grey eyes came out of the front door. She was pretty and very slim with big scared eyes. She looked nervous, Lizzy realised.
"Georgiana." Will called out to the girl. She reached him quickly and he put his arm around her.
"This is my sister Georgiana Darcy. Georgia, this is Maddy and Ed Gardiner, Maddy is Mrs Reynolds god daughter. And this is Elizabeth Bennet, and her body guard Kit." He introduced them all. The shy girl looked uncertainly around. Her eyes landed first on Lizzy and then flicked to Kit. Lizzy noticed a light blush when Georgiana looked at Kit and was even more pleased to see that Kit had gone a little pink in the cheeks as well. Lizzy smiled, it was time to draw Georgiana out of her shell, for Kit's sake of course.
"Hi Georgiana." Lizzy began cheerfully. "I have heard so much about you, is it true you play the piano amazingly well?" Lizzy asked taking a small step forward. The younger girl blushed.
"I do play the piano, but not really well. My brother says that you play beautifully." Lizzy shook her head.
"I'm warning you now, your brother was exaggerating." She smiled.
"Oh no!" Georgiana cried. "Will never exaggerates, he always tells the truth." Lizzy was taken aback by the love and loyalty Georgiana had shown for her brother. It was like she was treating him like a parent. He is her guardian. Lizzy supposed,I guess being so much older he is like a father to her.
The small party made their way to the kitchen where there was a beautiful lunch laid out with sandwiches and biscuits and cake of every kind. They sat around the table with Mrs. Reynolds and Lizzy made sure that Georgiana sat next to Kit. The conversation over lunch was light and friendly and when they were finished they went to sit in the music room which had a beautiful piano and some guitars on the walls.
Lizzy persuaded Georgiana to play the piano and Kit went to stand with her. The Gardiners talked to Mrs. Reynolds so that just left Lizzy and Will.
"How are you?" Darcy asked as a conversation starter.
"I'm ok," Lizzy replied. "I like your sister, she is a sweetie. I think she and Jane would get along." Will smiled.
"I hoped the two of you would like each other."
"I don't see how anyone could not like her. She doesn't seem to have an unkind bone in her body." Darcy smiled.
"You should see her when she's just woken up in the morning. She is like a grumpy kitten."
"I can imagine." Lizzy laughed. "Look Will I don't want to ruin this but I just wanted to say. About what happened at Rosings."
"Lizzy..." Will interrupted shaking his head.
"No Will I need to say this." Lizzy assured him. Will kept quiet.
"I know some of the things you said were wrong. But I understand why you did what you did with Charlie. You were protecting your friend and I get that. I also still believe that a lot of the assumptions you made were unfair. But I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. I should have kept calm and argued my points instead of just attacking you with random untrue accusations." Lizzy paused. "I am sorry for that Will." Will smiled a little.
"I'm glad you read my letter and believed what I said about Wickham" He said momentarily forgetting his sister sitting so close. Georgiana's fingers slipped on the keyboard alerting Lizzy to the fact she had heard Wickham being mentioned. Will froze his face the picture of panic. Lizzy got up to stand by Georgiana.
"I'm sorry Georgiana I was getting distracted. You were playing beautifully. You put me to shame." Lizzy smiled. Georgiana relaxed and smiled.
"I am sure you must be much better than me. You are just being modest." Lizzy laughed.
"I guess you will never know." Georgiana looked appalled.
"Oh no Elizabeth, you must play for us while you are here." Lizzy frowned.
"First of all you should call me Lizzy. And secondly I don't play in public. I have only played for an audience once and that was for your incredibly scary aunt. I am sorry if that offends you but your aunt terrifies me." Georgiana laughed.
"Me too, and no I am not offended Lizzy, but please play for us. I would love to hear the music which enchanted my brother so much." Lizzy laughed.
"I will think about it, but no promises ok?"
"Ok" Lizzy went to take back her seat next to Will who was looking at her in wonder.
"Thank you." He said as she sat down again.
"I told you, I like your sister."
"Lizzy, I just wanted to say sorry. I really did act like a dick. I'm sorry for saying those things, they were wrong and you were right. I was acting like an arrogant, proud arse. When I was young I was given good principles but left to follow them in pride and conceit. I am sorry for what I said; I took a good hard look at myself. And really I was so wrong. I don't believe half of what I said that night. Even in the letter I didn't apologise for the insulting things I said. I will never forget the way you told me: I have never accused you of having no real feelings. Not to your face anyway" Darcy said doing a silly impression of her voice. Lizzy laughed and shook her head.
"Did I really say that?" Lizzy asked in embarrassment.
"You said: I have known since I met you that your pride, arrogance and obvious distain for the feelings of others made you the last man on earth that I could ever love. You don't know how much those words have haunted me. They really made me think though.
"Don't repeat what I said back then. I am truly sorry." They smiled at each other.
"Ok Lizzy, it is your turn to play the piano now." Georgia called from the corner. "And I won't take no for an answer." She said determinedly.
"Kitten my arse." Lizzy muttered darkly as she made her way towards a triumphant Georgia. Darcy snorted and hid his laughing in a loud coughing fit.
Lizzy sat down at the piano. She knew exactly what to play.
The piano was Lizzy's way to take out her emotions and help her think straight. So it came as no surprise to her when she felt the need to write a piece of music for the infuriating man sitting across the room from her.
Lizzy played with all the feeling and pent up emotion of the last few weeks. And it was beautiful. The whole room was mesmerised.
When Lizzy was finished the whole room was quiet. Georgia broke the silence.
"Wow Lizzy what was that?" she asked in awe. Lizzy shrugged.
"Just something I wrote recently." She said nonchalantly.
"You wrote that?" she asked. Lizzy nodded.
"What was that called Lizzy?" Darcy asked the one question she was hoping to avoid. Lizzy winced.
"Um... The Veranda incident." She answered quietly. Darcy grinned. Lizzy was so relieved that he wasn't angry that she let out a short high pitched giggle. The shocked faces of the room set her and Will off into a full blown laughing fit.
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The next week Lizzy and the Gardiner's spent most of their days at Pemberly. Kit and Georgia seemed to be getting along well, and Will and Lizzy talked and laughed at every chance they got. And when they weren't together they texted and called constantly. Lizzy was surprisingly happy about it.
One day as the group sat together in the sitting room, Lizzy felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. It was Jane.
"Do you mind if I take this?" she asked Will quietly.
"Not at all, come with me, you can take the call in my office. That should give you some privacy." Will offered.
"Thanks" Lizzy smiled and followed him out of the room.
"When they got to his office Lizzy realised she had five missed calls.I must have been more distracted than I realised. She thought. She called Jane and waited for her to pick up. Darcy motioned that he would leave the room and Lizzy nodded. Jane picked up on the second ring.
"Lizzy what happened? I have been calling for half an hour."
"Sorry Jane I was distracted" she said guiltily. "What's the matter?"
"Oh Lizzy..." Jane began sobbing down the phone.
"Jane what's the matter? What happened?" Lizzy asked frantically. Darcy stopped in mid stride when he heard Lizzy's panicked voiced and turned to face her.
"What is it?" he mouthed. Lizzy shrugged worriedly.
"Jane you're scaring me, what is it?" Lizzy asked frantically.
"Oh Lizzy, this is all my fault. He thought she was me."
"What are you talking about Jane? Spit it out before I have a panic attack here."
"Lydia... Ran away... thought it was me... friends with you... trying to get to Darcy... ransom too much... George Wickham." Was all Lizzy heard, but she knew all too well what must have happened.
"What are they doing to recover her Jane?" she asked quickly.
"My father has gone to London and we have hired a private investigator. What can we do Lizzy? I don't want to ask you to do this but can you ask Ed to help. He has connections doesn't he? Please Lizzy she is my baby sister."
"Don't worry Jane if there is anything I can do to help you, I will do it. We will be with you as soon as we can, don't worry I am coming."
"Thanks Lizzy" Jane sniffled. Lizzy hung up the phone and suddenly noticed the salty tears running down her face.
"What's the matter?" Will asked softly taking both her hands.
"Wickham" she said simply. Will's grip on her hands tightened.
"What did he do?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"I don't know how he figured it out but he knew we were friends. He probably saw us on the veranda and got the wrong idea. He kidnapped Jane's sister Lydia, she is a crazy girl but she doesn't deserve this. They can't afford the random. I think he really wanted to get at you. Jane thinks he meant to take her instead, as she is my best friend. I have to go to her." Lizzy was shaking and Darcy pulled her into a brief but warm hug before releasing her.
"I have to go, get back to your friend, don't worry it will all be alright. I have work to do, you should leave now." He said seriously.
"Can you make some excuse to your sister? I don't doubt she will find out soon, but I don't want to ruin her day." Lizzy said with a wry smile. Will nodded.
Lizzy and the Gardiners left and as they pulled away Lizzy looked back at Pemberly for the last time. She knew that Will didn't want anything to do with Wickham, or her now that she was so involved. Not that Lizzy could blame him. And although she was crying for Jane and Lydia, she let a few selfish tears fall for herself too, and for the man she lost. Is it possible to fall in love in just one week? Lizzy wondered. She wasn't even sure if this was love. She just knew her heart was breaking.
