The journey south is approaching...
Chapter thirty seven: Pemberley preparations
Derbyshire, Pemberley. Friday the fourth September.
"You've seen? They were so happy to see that Jane was well and walking..."
Fitzwilliam kissed the top of her head and went on walking along the path rounding Pemberley lake.
"And she's quite a natural talent when it comes to make people relax and enjoy being together," said he while hugging his wife nearer to him.
"I always wondered why you didn't fall in love with her... She so much more beautiful than I am..."
He smiled at her candor.
"I was not searching dear and Charles' first words were enough to push me forever out of her orbit."
She walked around him to stand before him.
"What did he say, what did he say?"
"He whispered it, so I do believe he was not aware that I was listening. Perhaps I should let discretion prevail..."
She was immediately against him with her fists on his chests.
"I'll beat you if you don't speak..."
He grabbed her and made her squeak while turning her around as if they were waltzing.
"You won't be able to," said he while laughing.
"You won't be able to turn me like that for long," countered she while roaring with laughter.
"What would you bet?"
"A kiss if I win and nothing if I lose since we would only turn and turn and turn..."
He stopped immediately and paid his due.
"'My, there's an Angel waiting for me'..." whispered Fitzwilliam while holding himself and his wife together... "That's what he said when we entered and he was looking at her, there was no doubt for me..."
He snorted.
"And I was even happy since his choice left me with only the plain ones..."
He was immediately hit by her purse.
"So you confirm, you monster, you find me plain!"
"No longer, I swear!" said he while dodging and laughing. "Then, I was too far away to have seen your eyes... It's them who give you your unique beauty..."
That last remark got him a remiss from her beating.
"You're very lucky that your last remark had been confirmed dozens of times since then. I will accept that my eyes did play a role in my bewitching you."
"Then came your wit, your humor, your love for the country life..."
She raised an eyebrow at his last statement.
"My love for country life? You really find that important?"
"Indeed, Lizzie, more than important. I'm a man of the country. I love it to be outside riding and galloping. It was my nightmare to be forced to marry a woman who would only live for the season and balls and theater and parties. I love books and plays as every other man, but staying in London more than a month or two is for me a real torture. Seeing you walking outside and even running..."
"You saw me running?"
"I stalked you quite a few hours before finding the courage to come near you and court you..."
"What you call courting was nothing more than silently walking at my side..."
"I was at your side! Never before had I brought myself to walk side by side with another lady..."
She shook her head.
"How should I have known that you were giving me the highest of compliments, Fitzwilliam? I did not know you from before. For me you were the strangest man I ever met..."
"Only strange?"
"Weird?"
He made a face and his spine went straight up to the sky.
"And handsome..." said she quickly. He relaxed slightly but she knew him well enough to see that he was careful not to relax. "But I must say that these walks were the weirdest I ever did. You, silent and smiling, walking by my side and I absolutely unable to understand why, thinking me plain and uninteresting, you insisted to come with me..." She laughed. "I must have decided to shut down my brain to be so insensible..."
He laughed and put his arm around her waist.
"And I was certain that you basked in my presence. That not only you knew why I was at your side but that it explained your silence so overwhelmed were you to feel my interest..."
They laughed together.
"We were fools, my love... Imagine what a word of you could have brought out..."
Lizzie's eyes sparkled.
"I do imagine that we would have ended dealing blows in the woods... What a scandal it would have been..."
"I would never have hurt you... Not physically, I mean. For these other hurts I humbly ask for forgiveness."
"I did it the day you invited me and aunt and uncle Gardiner to be guests at Pemberley. That very day I knew that I would give everything to hear your proposal another time..." She took his hand and kissed it. "Not that I did not hurt you myself a few days later... I believe we were quits after my refusal... We were both hurt and bloodied."
She shook her head and looked at Pemberley.
"You know, now that I think of it and when I recall the few domestic rows I witnessed at home, I'm quite certain that we had this day in April our first domestic row. You already knew that you loved me and I would only discover it next day but in essence it was just that!"
She took his hands and began to turn around him, her eyes full and mischief and dancing lights.
"We are not very far away from a certain pond, dear... And last time I invited you to wade in it with me you refused... Would you dare to do it again?"
He answered by pulling her in just the right direction.
"You were right, this pond's temperature is just perfect. Not too hot and fresh enough to give you the weirdest thoughts..."
They were lying, arm in arm, in the pond that, probably only for them, had managed to create a little sandy beach where they could cuddle in each other's arms.
"Weird as in loving weird?" asked she.
"Weird as in passionate weird" answered he.
"Strange that, I do believe these senses of 'weird' have ultimately the same meaning."
He kissed her on the top of the nose.
"You sure?"
"Only one way to know. First we do passionate weird and immediately after we do loving weird... And then we compare..."
"And after that we do passionately loving weird..." whispered he while beginning passionate weird.
She giggled and turned around to give him better accesses.
"We'll see what you'll be able to..."
"That and more," breathed he in her ears. "You'll see..."
He was true to his promise.
Later as they were walking home Lizzie was touched by a late regret.
"Perhaps we shouldn't have done it..."
Fitzwilliam frowned in his 'what are you talking of' way.
"Which one do you mean? Passionate, Loving, Passionate loving or..."
"All of them," whispered she. "That pond saved my sister's life and we just jump into it to make love... We should perhaps have shown more respect."
He nodded but regretted nothing.
"We were not the first if I remember well. And they did it before she was healed. So there is one certain thing: doing it in the pond doesn't reduce the pond to a simple water reserve..."
He stopped, put his arm around her waist and made her turn with him.
They were looking at what, from where they were looked as a simple part of the forest enclosed in the Pemberley Estate.
"You know, I looked up the family chronicles and I was very surprised to find an allusion to 'The Grove' in the very first of our family books. It's written in Latin and the first English Darcy, at this time probably still a d'Arcy I suppose, described why he chose to settle here near the Peaks... He came because he fell in love with a local Lady he encountered at a pond circled by very old oak trees... He was injured and probably dying when he stumbled over her... Next thing he remembered was being alive and healing under her loving care..."
He smiled at his wife.
"From what he says about her she must have looked very much like Jane..."
He made a face, half smile, half perplexity...
"Strange, isn't it..."
"That he fell in love with Jane? Not in the least..."
He pulled her against him and kissed her.
"Don't play dumb, dear! Strange that that pond had played a role in my family's being here..."
Elizabeth shook her head.
"Not strange at all, dear. Had I found a pond who could cure fatal injuries I would have done everything in my power to stay near it... Wouldn't you?"
Fitzwilliam nodded while hugging his wife.
"He did everything," said Fitzwilliam. "He married her and since she was no member of any aristocracy he angered his friend William who happened to have just the perfect wife in mind for him. And so it was written that the Darcy dukedom was wasted in the arms of a common lass."
She hugged him and their eyes met.
"Not wasted at all," said she. "What came out of that union is worth much more than a Dukedom." Her smile grew.
"A Kingdom perhaps?"
"I have not yet accepted..."
She nodded and entangled herself out of his arms.
"The key word is 'yet', dear..." she said just before looking at the bright September sun. "Let's go home everybody will be waiting... We were gone for quite a long time. Lunch is probably ready..."
"Indeed," said he. "And I don't regret a second of the time I spend with you..."
"Neither does I, dear, neither does I..."
Jane was dreaming of her d'Arcy...
While waiting on the Master and Mistress' return from their walk she had chosen a comfortable armchair in the library and soon had dozed off.
And immediately he has been with her.
She smiled at him while he hovered over her.
And then the time passed in a wink. He there, looking at her. She dreaming of him. There was no word exchanged but they knew each other's presence and it was enough.
"Jane," said a voice. "They are coming... Finally!"
She opened her eyes and saw Kitty standing over her.
She smiled at her sister.
"I warned you, remember? When Fitzwilliam and Lizzie go for a walk in the general direction of the forest there is a real risk for that walk to be delayed..."
"Indeed you said it, but it's long past lunch time! They could have thought of us!"
"They could but it was not very likely. There are circumstances when time takes its own turn with people..."
Kitty made a face.
"And in the forest it's even more liable to be the case, isn't it?"
Jane nodded.
"It is, dear, it is..." She hold her hand out to her little sister. "Help me up, please, I'm rather stiff. We wouldn't want to delay the meal even more, would we?"
Kitty helped her and they both hurried to the dining room.
"What are you doing?"
Jane looked up from the books she was trying to decipher. She looked at the door to be sure that it was closed.
"I'm looking for information about the grove, Lizzie. I'm sure that there must be legends about it. It's impossible that nothing never slipped out..."
"How's your Latin," asked Lizzie.
"Rusty but probably still able to get me through Caesar or Tacitus..." answered Jane.
"Then I have perhaps something that's going to interest you. Wait a moment... It's not stored here but in the Master's Library."
"You should ask Fitzwilliam then," called Jane after her.
"No need, I already asked..."
Five minutes later she was back carrying a volume in folio size...
She put it on the piece of furniture that had been designed to hold books of that size.
She opened it at a page marked by a red ribbon.
"Here, look at this and enjoy."
Jane stood up and crossed the room to be at her sister's side.
"Why enjoy?"
Elizabeth smiled and beckoned her to go on.
"You like love stories, don't you? Then you should be quite satisfied..."
A few minutes later she looked up.
"Did you know that the first English d'Arcy was named Gottfried?"
Elizabeth shook her head.
"You know my Latin, dear. If I were to read this book without your help, it would take me years..."
Jane Looked up and seemed surprised.
"Sorry I didn't fathom that you hadn't already read it. If you wish I'll translate..."
Elizabeth smiled and nodded.
"Indeed, I do wish, if you're accordant that is..."
Jane agreed and went back to her deciphering.
"I'm Gottfried d'Arcy, second son of Wilhem late Count of Arques and brother to Gautier, Viscount d'Arcy and Knight of Sankt Albinus. I'm the first Norman possessor of the Estate of Painperley and last heir to Arques who went to my cousin. I have decided to write down the story of my family from the beginning of our installation in present country. I came ashore with my cousin Wilhem, Duke of Normandy on..."
"...But for her I would be dead. She's an Angel come to Earth and her hair is..."
She stopped and read it only for herself!
As if gold and sun rays had married to beget them.
"Her hair?" asked Lizzie.
"Sorry," said Jane. "It's just that this Gottfried used almost the same terms while speaking of her hair than Geoffrey when speaking of mine... It's weird..."
"As in passionately weird?" asked Lizzie with a big smile.
"Sorry?" said Jane looking up. "I'm not sure I understood your question."
Elizabeth shook her head and looked contrite.
"I'm sorry, dear. It's a joke you couldn't understand since it's a word play between Fitzwilliam and me. We spoke of weird things this morning..."
"You mean you did weird things, didn't you?"
"It's not for me to answer such indiscreet questions, sister dear. But if you want to see Fitzwilliam blush bright red just speak of 'passionate weird' in front of him. You'll be surprised!"
"Of course I won't ever do such a thing now that I know it would bother him!" said Jane. "You shouldn't risk putting him in such awkward situation. What if I had done just what you invited me to do?"
"What of?" teased Lizzie. "First: I know that you're a loving and compassionate creature who would never take the risk to embarrass anybody. Second: I'm quite sure that it would do my husband a lot of good to be, from time to time, teased by somebody else but me. He's way too stiff!"
Jane couldn't help but smile at her sister's antics.
"Be careful, he's a very kind man, you should be careful not to anger him..."
"Are you careful with your own d'Arcy?"
"Of course I am! He's a very del..." she stopped and blushed.
Lizzie raised her eyebrows playfully.
"Were you going to call Geoffrey d'Arcy delicate?"
"Deliberate," said Jane blushing even more as she usually did when trying to lie. "I was going to say that he is a very deliberate man! That's what I was going to say..."
"Indeed," teased Lizzie. "And is there a reason to cut deliberate after the first syllable while blushing madly? I don't see any! But it does rhyme with delicate, doesn't it?"
"It does but then a lot of words rhyme with deliberate! I don't see why you..."
"Let's go back to Gottfried and the way he describes your hair... Sorry her hair..."
"Stop teasing Lizzie or I'll quit just here..."
"I already said that I'm sorry, dear... I just couldn't resist. Imagine someone calling Geof..."
"Lizzie!"
"Oh, sorry, I am all ears!"