Mr Darcy My Saviour

Last Time: What on earth had he done?

Chapter 22

The two weeks that they had spent in Italy, so far, had been an eye-opening experience for Elizabeth. Darcy and she spent an awfully long time getting to know Darcy's new-found relatives. She had fallen in love with all the sights that surrounded them and learnt quite a bit of Italy's history. Elizabeth felt as though she had found a second home. Not only in Italy, but in Darcy as well. He had apologised for what he had done by buying her flowers and treating her to a day of splendour. He wrote special letters to her and made her fall in love with him all over again. One such letter had made the tears flow from her eyes. They had both been on a river boat when he had given her the letter. She had read the letter and listened to Darcy as he murmured the words into her ear. Her insides turned to jelly. How she loved this man.

My beloved wife, Elizabeth,

I have been a fortunate man in life. More so than most. I have never wanted for anything; being a gentleman certainly helped me. But not in all matters. Certainly not those of the heart.

Life has been fraught because of so many misgivings and losses that I had started to believe that I would never be happy. Then I met you. During my thoughts, I found myself watching the stars. I was reminiscing our time together; as short as it has been and I realised something quite remarkable. Which is that my heart had never known love until it beheld you. I spent the evening wondering if we would ever overcome the obstacles that life has thrown our way. But then morning came, and I saw your angelic face and I knew I would never need anything as much as I need you and that we would make it through anything.

As I write this letter I remember a saying my father used to say to me. Though the leaves often fall from the great oak trees, the oaks never have time to miss them because the leaves become the food that feeds them and they survive yet another winter. The leaf gives the tree something to live for and helps the tree to reach its aspirations. I never knew what he meant but now I do. What I mean by this is that you are my leaf and I am yours. I need you to survive. You give me a reason to keep fighting. You are the gift that keeps on giving and I strive to be yours. You helped me realise what my ambitions were and I have slowly started to achieve them. My life would be utterly worthless without you. You have touched my life in the most amazing way.

I could probably live without you, just like the tree, but I honestly do not want to. You are a secure part of my life that I could not bear to lose.

There is a small amount in my life that I can boast about. But one thing I know is that I love you the most. No person alive will ever love you as I love you. As I watch the stars tonight, I can honestly say that you were right. Because you will be there always. For you are my strength and my courage; which is hidden so far in my fragile, damaged heart. The result of which is because of the pain others inflict; but I will manage with you by my side. You are my brightest star and I know I will follow you anywhere.

Your eternal lover and servant,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

Tears had cascaded down her cheeks as she was gently rocked by the gondola. She never knew he could be so romantic and had never known he was such a descriptive writer. It made her feel loved. They had made up then and enjoyed the morning ride on one of Italy's many rivers.

There was a tranquillity that settled over the married couple which lasted for almost a week. The tranquillity was broken, however, when on the fifth day, after an afternoon of shopping and meeting with Darcy's uncles, Darcy disappeared all evening. He had promised to spend the evening with her as they had not really had the chance throughout the day.

They had just settled down to dinner when one of the servants came in and gave a letter to Darcy. Darcy read the note, looked at something that had fallen out in his palm, and quickly tucked it away in his dinner jacket. He nodded at the servant and sent him away. Elizabeth looked at her husband expectantly and saw that he was incredibly on edge. Darcy raised an eyebrow at his wife and then shook his head. They finished dinner in silence. Elizabeth wondered what was said in the note but did not press for an answer. She felt anxiety, anger and suspicion start to take flame in her gut. She knew the simplest thing could set her off and she was worried. By the time they were making their way to the sitting room, Elizabeth felt ready to explode. Darcy pulled his wife to a stop and kissed her lips. Elizabeth leant into the kiss, despite her mood, and was saddened when it suddenly came to an end.

"I am afraid I have to cut our evening short, my love." Darcy murmured.

"But you promised me," Elizabeth uttered. Darcy watched his wife with a frown.

"I know I did and I promise to make it up to you but I must go." Darcy urged.

"What is so important that you would willingly neglect your wife?" Elizabeth's face darkened considerably. She saw Darcy's jaw clench and she glared at him. He had no reason to be annoyed.

"I am not willingly neglecting my wife. I have urgent business to attend to and it cannot wait." Darcy hissed at her. This just fuelled Elizabeth's anger.

"Is it her you are going to see?" Elizabeth asked in an emotionless voice.

Darcy looked at his wife incredulously, "her?"

"Yes her." Elizabeth shouted. "Your mistress, 'Madam Brochette'."

"I have no mistress," Darcy spat.

"That is not what it looked like at your Uncle's party. You should be more careful if you do not want gossip to spread." Elizabeth's words cut like a knife. Darcy's eyes flared.

"We will speak about this when I return. Try and have a good night." Darcy said politely and stormed out of their temporary home.

Elizabeth was fuming. She stormed up into her room and slammed the door. She contemplated locking it but knew that she wanted Darcy to come to her when he returned. Anger pulsed in her veins. She lashed out. The first thing to fly was a small urn that stood on a small pedestal by the wall. Next was everything on her dresser. By the time her anger subsided, the whole room was in turmoil. Elizabeth felt a stinging sensation on her arm and looked down. A long, deep gash ran down her arm. Where on earth had she gotten that? She wondered to herself. When she looked down she saw there was a letter opener laying on the ground covered in a red substance. Her blood she assumed. The letter opener had been discarded earlier that morning and she must have forgotten to replace the safety sheath. Elizabeth sighed and sat on her bed. She looked at the ground and went into a deep trance like state.

It must have been nearing two hours later when Elizabeth was brought back to the present by her door slowly opening. Darcy entered the room and stopped abruptly at the sight before him. His wife sat on her bed clutching her arm in the middle of what appeared to be a disaster area. He looked around the room with a frown. Elizabeth kept her gaze on the floor and felt her husband approach.

"What happened?" He asked as he sat down heavily on the bed.

"I was angry," was the only explanation Elizabeth felt he needed. Darcy stared at his wife and saw pain etched across her features. He had hurt her. Anger spread through his chest. Not anger at her but at himself. He wished he could explain to her what he was doing but he just wouldn't. She had no reason to know. Not yet, anyway.

Darcy took Elizabeth's hand and noticed the gash on her arm. Panic surged through his chest as he imagined her taking a knife to her delicate skin. "You are hurt." Darcy stated.

"Congratulations on your observation. You must be so proud." Elizabeth's sarcasm grated at Darcy's nerves.

"Did you do this to yourself?" Darcy asked.

Elizabeth turned a dirty look his way, "No I did not."

"How did you do it then?" Darcy inquired.

"I caught it when I wrecked the room." Elizabeth muttered and turned her eyes back to the floor.

He stood up and left the room. He returned moments later clutching small swab of cotton, alcohol, some bandages and a needle and thread. "What do you think you are doing with those?" Elizabeth asked as she backed away slowly.

"I am going to clean and dress your wound, Elizabeth." Darcy warned and sat next to her on the bed, once again. "I figured you would not want to see a doctor." Elizabeth felt her heart melt a little when he said this. He remembered her dislike of doctors.

"Thank you, Darcy." She murmured, gratefully and sat still. She gave Darcy her arm and watched him as he worked. She was hypnotised by his steady rhythm. "How do you know how to care for wounds?" She asked in a small voice.

"I had a doctor teach me after your… accident. I saw how much you hated the doctor touching you so I figured if I could limit the use of a doctor when you were hurt then you would feel better." Darcy explained as he kept his gaze on the wound he was patching up. He felt the ache in his chest as he cleaned and sew the skin. He felt so guilty. If he had not argued with her then she would not have hurt herself. She would not have felt he was neglecting her for someone else. He really messed up, yet again.

"I am sorry Elizabeth. I should have told you what I was doing. I should not have fought with you. Can you forgive me?" Darcy asked as he finished bandaging her wrist.

"There is nothing to forgive my love." Elizabeth touched her hand to his stubbled cheek and smiled as he raised his eyes to hers. "Can you forgive me, my love?" Darcy shook his head and delicately lifted her injured wrist to his lips and kissed it.

"I also have nothing to forgive." Darcy leant forward and pressed his lips upon her soft ones and felt the shock shoot through him. How he wished he could be with her in every way. But he had a special plan for that and he was just going to have to wait until the plan was set up.

Slowly pulling away, Darcy smiled at his wife's blissful face. With one lingering kiss, he stood to leave. "Where are you going?" Elizabeth asked, alarm filling her voice.

"I was going to retire to my room." Darcy stated with a frown.

Elizabeth smiled mischievously, "You still need to make up for leaving me without an explanation. You better get comfy in here, my love. For I am not going to sleep alone. Not tonight." Elizabeth smiled, and rose to undress. Her outer dress was easy enough but then she reached her corset. "I may need some help my love." Elizabeth teased. Darcy walked towards his wife as if in a trance and turned her round so that her back faced him. He started to undo her bindings. The more skin that was revealed, the more Darcy found it difficult to breathe. He slowly moved his face forward and placed tender kisses to the skin as it revealed itself to his wandering eyes.

Elizabeth felt like she was on fire. His lips left a tingling trail all over her back and caused her breathing to accelerate. Once her stays were undone she turned to face her husband in only her shift. She smiled impishly at him and raised her hands to help him divest himself of his jacket and evening wear. As she went, she placed lingering kisses on his skin as he did for her. A shiver passed through him and as she rose he captured her lips in a searing kiss.

"We better get to bed, my love, before things go too far." Elizabeth said with regret as her husband kissed her neck causing butterflies to fly in her stomach and ignited a fire in her groin.

Darcy groaned and attempted to pull himself away from her. However, he found he could not. He pressed himself into her body. She felt his desire against her shift and ground her hips into his, eliciting a moan from them both. She kissed him again and then pulled away. "I am willing to wait if you are. If not, you can have me now and we can move on." Elizabeth offered him.

He sighed. How he wanted to give in. His body craved it like it craved air. He needed her body but he knew now was not the right time. He knew when would be the right time but this was not it. "How I would love nothing else than to take you right here, right now. But now is not the time. However, I promise the time is soon."

"Then we will wait and the time will be all the sweeter because of it." Elizabeth smiled and pulled her husband to bed. They settled down in each other's arms and closed their eyes. Darcy turned his face into Elizabeth's hair and she turned into his neck. Each of them inhaling the other's scent.

"I love you," Elizabeth murmured.

"I love you too, my angel." Darcy cooed. "Always."

Then just like that, they fell into a deep, dreamless, slumber.