I know, I'm late with the update for this week, that's why this chapter is extra long! :)
I hope you enjoy it and as always, let me know what you think, pls
"That means?" she asked, even more breathless than before
"You and your family will accompany me to Charlton Park, my mother is awaiting us, and your family is welcome to stay until our wedding." After saying that she gasped and looked absolutely petrified. That left me confused, why was she reacting like that?
"You are going to regret that…" she told me, with a sad sigh.
"What is making you sad?" I needed to know, how could she be sad in a moment like this? So I took hold of her face with both of my hands to make her look at me, as she was avoiding my gaze.
"Just everything… I mean you put up with so much misery just because of me and there is nothing I can give you to make it up to you."
How could she be this naïve? I was not getting anything back? I did get her, did I not? Wasn't that the best gift of all?
She obviously needed more time to realize her own worth, I was sure her mother hadn't been helping either by telling her all these horrible things. She was not plain, quite the opposite.
"Oh but my dear, you already do, just by being with me you give me more than you can imagine. I am willing to endure every misery there is when it results in you becoming my wife!"
I was relived to see her smile at my words.
"If you say so… then we should go back to my mother and my father." she said and I let go of her face.
"Now, that sounds like a good idea to me." I offered my arm to her and asked, with a big smile.
"Shall we Milady?" She returned my smile and took my arm. I enjoyed the closeness between us and could not wait for her father to write the letter to this horrible James Henceforth to make sure that he knew he had no chance to ever call Mary his wife.
I felt Mary stiffen next to me, once the house came into view. I knew she was worried about her mother's reaction, but I was too happy to care about that. Mrs. Bennet could do whatever she wanted; it would never make me think less of Mary.
"Better brace yourself." she told me once we reached the entrance door.
"Don't worry about me, I am tough." I told her with a shrug, which seemed to surprise her. I just needed her to know that I didn't care about her family or how embarrassing they were. I wanted her and not her family.
We stopped in the hallway and decided to go into the direction from where we heard excited voices. One unmistakably Mrs. Bennet's.
We entered the salon and she looked up at us. It seemed Mrs. Darcy had told her about my intentions because she looked blissfully happy.
Within seconds she ran towards her daughter and hugged her hard. Mary, who hadn't expected that, stumbled backwards. I quickly reacted and wrapped my arm around her middle to steady her. She sighed relieved and offered me a small smile over her mother's head who was by no sobbing on her shoulder.
"I told mother everything about your stay at Pemberley, you haven't told her." Mrs. Darcy explained the behavior of their mother. That made sense. Because she obviously expected me to propose to her.
Once she had calmed a little, she let go of Mary and turned towards me. It was quite a sight to be honest. Her eyes were red and puffy, her nose was running and her hair tousled. The problem was that she was still sobbing and so she stumbled slightly, while wiping her nose with the sleeve of her dress. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing. This sight was quite amusing, but I did my best to stay serious.
I could feel Mary's eyes on me and I knew that she was worried of my reaction, so I did the only thing I could do in this situation. Pretend nothing was wrong. I bowed and put on my most charming smile.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Bennet, please excuse my rudeness of not asking you first for your daughter's hand in marriage, I hope you can forgive me." Again, I fought the urge to laugh when not only Mrs. Bennet but also Mary stared at me with their mouths slightly hanging open.
Mrs. Bennet was the first to recover from the shock, she laughed nervously and answered:
"Oh my lord you have no reason to apologize you don't have to ask my husband or me, you can have Mary." I could have her? That choice of words was very unfavorable. I didn't mind, but I could understand that these words embarrassed Mary very much. So I shortly looked at her to offer her a smile that told her I wasn't taking her mother seriously.
Even though she was right, Mary was mine now.
"As you don't seem to have objections regarding the wedding I would like to invite your family to stay with my mother and I at Charlton Park until Mary and I are married." I said without hesitating once and as soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I had shocked Mrs. Bennet once more. Her facial expression made me smile because she seemed about the faint. With her mouth hanging open she stared at me and didn't move at all until with a screech she came back to life. Within seconds she was out of the salon, while we heard her screaming:
"Mr. Bennet, Kitty, hurry, pack your backs."
"I take that as I yes!" I chuckled and looked at Mary who seemed a little overwhelmed by the whole situation. Before I had the chance to say something, Mrs. Darcy hugged her sister and kissed both of her cheeks.
"See, I told you you could do better." she smiled at her, before turning towards me.
"I expect you to make her happy!" she ordered, which amused me even more. I liked honest people and that was the reason I respected her because she always spoke her mind no matter what others thought of it.
"You can Mrs. Darcy." I smiled, and then turned to Mary.
"I guess you should go and pack too!"
She nodded slowly, obviously not completely comprehending the situation. After a short moment, her mind caught up with what I had said and I could see an expression of pure bliss in her expressive eyes. She smiled at me, before hurrying from the salon and upstairs to her room, at least I assumed that.
Before I could leave, I needed to talk to her father first, make sure that he took care of Mr. Henceforth.
"If you excuse me Mrs. Darcy, there are some things I have to talk about with your father."
"Of course. I need to return to Fitzwilliam anyway. I am sure he is worried about us." She smiled placing a hand on her growing belly.
"I am certain he is. Have a safe journey."
"You as well. And I am waiting for an invitation for your wedding."
"Knowing my mother. You will receive it within the week." I told her which made her smile, before saying her final goodbyes.
I, myself turned around and walked back into the hallway wondering where I would find Mr. Bennet. I didn't need long to find him. The door to his study was open and I could see him sitting in his chair looking out of the window.
"Mr. Bennet?" I asked walking into the room.
"You must be the Earl then." he said, sounding not too thrilled, quite the opposite to his wife.
"Yes Sir. I just wanted to ask you to write a letter to this Mr. Henceforth about the marriage."
A short smile appeared on his lips of which I was not sure what it meant.
"I already did that." he said and leaned back in his chair.
"Thank you." I told him, not sure what else to say.
"I heard you invited us to your home." he finally broke the silence and I nodded.
"That is right."
"That is very generous of you. Are you sure you can… handle my family for the upcoming weeks?" I saw the spark in his eyes and smiled at his words, he obviously spoke about his wife and the younger daughter.
"I don't think that will be a problem." I answered honestly.
"Very well, then we should leave as soon as possible. Why don't you go and ask Mary if she has finished packing? Her room is the last one on the right on the second floor." I was surprised by this offer, he allowed me to be alone with his daughter? But I would definitely not ask twice. So I nodded and quickly left the study before he changed his mind. I climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway to the last door on the right.
In front of it I stopped shortly, before knocking and entering.
"Are you finished yet?" I asked watching her putting things into a chest to her feet.
"Almost, I am sorry. I will hurry." she told me and grabbed a few books to put them into the chest. I sat down on her bed and crossed my arms in front of my chest. I chuckled to myself before saying:
"Don't apologize, take all the time you need, I won't leave without you!" I watched her blush and stuff more books into her chest. I should have expected that, knowing how much she loved books.
"You know, Charlton Park has its own library. You don't need to take your own with you!" I teased her and she looked a little flustered at that.
"Those books are very dear to me. They were my life; I cannot just leave them behind." She explained and that hurt me. That her life had been so uneventful that she had felt the need to hide in books. I would make sure that it changed from now on.
"Well, you won't need to hide in books anymore! I promise you that your new life will be worth living and casting the books aside. At least most of the time." She smiled happily at my words and nodded.
"Very well, I think that's all!" She said when she closed the chest, which was rather difficult because of all the books inside. I got up from her bed and walked over to where she was kneeling in front of the chest.
"Good, I am sure your family is ready too. Let's go then." I offered her my hand to help her back to her feet. She accepted it.
Once she stood, I realized my mistake. Because she was standing very close to me. Only a few inches separated our bodies and I almost lost the fight with my self-control because of the closeness and her intoxicating smell of flowers and something I couldn't place.
She obviously felt the same because I could see it in her eyes. I saw the Goosebumps on her arms and smiled to myself, satisfied by the effect I had on her.
I really wanted to touch her and without thinking about it further, I raised my hand and let my fingers roam over the soft skin of her cheek. She blushed dark crimson because of the touch and that made me want to kiss her, yet again.
I leaned closer to her, so that I could feel her sweet breath on my face and the only reason I didn't kiss her on the lips was that she deserved better. She was special and she deserved all my patience. Even though it wasn't all that much.
So instead of kissing her lips, I placed a kiss upon her forehead and sighed deeply:
"I cannot wait for you to be my wife, then I don't have to think about what is appropriate and what is not!" She turned an even darker shade of red after hearing my words, which made me laugh silently.
"Since when do you care what is appropriate?" she asked and I smirked, she knew me too well. Usually I didn't care. All of our meetings had been inappropriate, but I hadn't cared and neither had she.
I laughed about her words and kissed her cheek tenderly. This was once more a reason why I wanted her as my wife, because she made me laugh.
"Since I am engaged." I replied smiling.
The shrill voice of her mother ended our tender moment and prompted me to take a step back.
"We should go." Mary nodded and I took the chest from the ground. It was heavier than I had expected.
"You only packed books?" I asked, with a groan because of the weight of the chest.
"Almost." she admitted sheepishly. I shook my head amused about it. Without many problems I left the room and walked down the steps where Mrs. Bennet almost fainted
watching me carry the chest. Two maids took it from me and I walked outside, where Arion was waiting next to a small carriage. Mary was right next to me and after a short moment she asked:
"How long do we need to reach Charlton Park?"
"Considering the carriage and its pace. I think about five days." I watched her face go blank for a moment and I wondered what that was about.
"Are you feeling unwell?" I asked worried, but she just shook her head and answered:
"Don't worry." I decided to leave it at that for the moment and helped her into the carriage before I returned to Arion and mounted him.
When I took hold of the reins one of the servants handed to me I could feel her eyes on me and turned to look at her. I offered her a short smile and then I mentioned for our small group to start moving.
That's it for now, see you all next weekend, more or less ;)