AUTHOR'S NOTE: Not everyone will like this chapter.
Darcy's presence did seem to help bring Richard out of his depression, at least to some degree. They went to find the baby, who was being held by Lady Grace. "Aunt, another baby for you to cuddle! This one has to be special for you as it is your first grandchild." Darcy looked at the baby. "Richard, what a fine-looking son you have. Look at all that dark hair; it is just like yours. I hope that he does not end up with your ugly face! May I hold him?" Lady Grace passed him to Darcy, who held him awkwardly. "Look at his dark hair! He could pass as my son. We have to be careful not to mix up our babies. If we do, I will never give him back to you."
The others were laughing at this. Lady Grace said, "When is Elizabeth coming? I want to see how baby Anne is doing."
Elizabeth and Georgiana will come in just another couple of days. They wanted to get settled in a bit more before they came here. Traveling with a baby is not easy, as I am sure you know."
"As soon as they get here, we will return to town. I know that Hugh needs to get back. Will you be here for long?"
"We have not decided, but I am willing to stay for some weeks as long as Richard can stand to have us."
The ladies arrived in another couple of days as they had planned. Richard greeted them and gave Georgiana a big hug, and then he greeted Elizabeth and impulsively gave her a hug as well. When Darcy saw that, the germ of an idea that was in the back of his mind seemed to grow.
The ladies immediately wanted to see the new baby, so they went in, with Elizabeth passing Anne to Lady Grace, as soon as they had greeted her and the Earl. She knew that her aunt loved little babies, even if they were not her own grandchildren.
They all stayed together at Rosings for three days, then the Earl could not put off returning to town. The Countess said, "Darcy, as Georgiana will be coming out next year, I want to begin to take her to a few small gatherings to meet people. I would like to take her back to town with us. She will be good company for Amanda.
"Georgiana, would you like to come back with us? Elizabeth, could you spare her?"
"Aunt, that is a good idea. I will be busy with the babies here, so it would be better for her to go with you. Richard, I assume that you do not mind if I make sure that Edward's nurses are doing a good job with him?"
"Not at all. It will make me feel better as you know what should be done. I have no idea about babies." ('Except to make them!' Darcy thought.)
After the Fitzwilliams and Georgiana left, Richard, Darcy, and Elizabeth quickly settled into a routine. Elizabeth spent a lot of time with the babies and with Charlotte, with whom she gladly reconnected. One evening, after Elizabeth had settled the two babies in the nursery, she went up, leaving Darcy and Richard drinking brandies.
They each had several glasses, and Richard noticed that Darcy seemed to encourage them both to drink more than usual. They were both beginning to feel the effects of the brandy. "Richard, I have been thinking. I have a big favour to ask of you that I hope you will help me with."
"Of course, I will help you if I can. You only need to ask and I will do whatever you want." He was not sure what 'big favour' Darcy was wanting.
"You know that I had mumps last year. I assume that you know what mumps can do when adult men catch it? It can result in a loss of the ability to father children. It can also mean the loss of the ability even to try. My case seems to have resulted in the worst possible outcome. When Elizabeth was increasing, we desperately wanted it to be a boy, but we were disappointed. Not only do I need a son and heir, we both wanted to have a large family. That dream seems to be gone now. You cannot imagine how disappointed I am."
Richard thought that he might have an idea what he was going to ask. He could not believe that Darcy could even think this as he himself could never even consider it. However, when he remembered how cold Darcy was with Elizabeth when they first married, he realized that he might still not think much of her. In his mind, Darcy could not possibly consider this if he loved her. "Surely there is something you can do? What about adopting, or passing Pemberley on to your daughter or one of Georgiana's sons?"
"An adopted son cannot inherit without a lot of potential legal problems that I would not want to risk. Besides, you never know what an adopted child might turn out to be like. I cannot count on Georgiana having an extra son for me; her oldest son would automatically inherit his father's estate.. If I pass the estate on to my daughter, who knows what her husband would do to it? He would not know it or love it as much as I do. I do not want to have Pemberley passing to a more distant heir; I want to be able to train my son how to manage the estate and to teach him to love it as much as I do. That is what my father did for me, and I know exactly how I will do the same for my son. I do not want to risk the estate passing to anyone other than my own son. The very thought of this bothers me more than you can imagine.
"While I would much prefer to have children that result from both me and my wife, I know that any more children by her will not come from my loins. When I saw your son and how he could pass for mine, I had an idea."
Richard was now sure that he understood what Darcy was about to suggest. "Darcy! I do not believe what you are going to ask of me. I could not do it! I respect Elizabeth too much. Please do not ask me to do that. She is your wife!"
"Richard, I cannot think of any other way to have a son that is ours, at least in legal terms. I beg you to do this for me. You are perfect for this: you get along well with her; she likes and trusts you; and I trust you. I would much prefer that the children have our family's traits. It has to be you. If they look like your son, they will look close enough to me so that no one would ever suspect. Any child that she has will legally be mine and no one will ever be able to dispute that."
"Darcy! How can you ask this of me?"
"Richard, I have decided that this is the only way. If you will not do it, I will have to ask a stranger. Would you want that? Could you live with yourself knowing that a stranger was with her when it could have been you? I am not asking for much, just five minutes of your time at night."
"No! No! How could you even think of asking me to do that with her?" Richard was horrified to think that Darcy viewed the act of making love of necessitating only five minutes. Five minutes! Did he really have no idea how to make love properly? Is this how he was with Elizabeth when he was still able to be with her? Did he truly not realize how wonderful the act of love could be or how it could stir up deep emotions for both the man and the woman when it was done properly? He worried that this appeared to be the case. Poor Elizabeth!
"There is no other way. You have to do this for me. Either you or a stranger."
"Do you know what you are asking? You know that just one joining will not guarantee results. Usually it takes many attempts." Darcy could see that Richard's refusals were weakening, especially after he threatened to find a stranger to do this for him.
"I know that. We will have to work out how to be together at one of our homes. I will ask you for several conditions. First of all, treat her well; be gentle with her as I do not want you to hurt her. She is a good woman and I have learned to appreciate her. Never tell anyone; I do not want any hint of the validity of my heir and his inheritance. Be discreet so no one suspects what actually happened."
"Have you spoken to her about this? How do you know she will agree? I cannot believe that she will agree to do this."
"Not yet. I hope that she will understand and agree, which I fully expect her to do. I will talk to her. As soon as she accepts my request, I will either have her come to you or I will even bring her to you if she is reluctant. I hope we can start this right away."
They spoke a bit more about this, with Richard finally agreeing. They then parted to go to their own beds, now neither very steady on his feet. Richard was beginning to think about this in quite a favourable manner. He had always admired Elizabeth and hated the way that Darcy had treated her when they first married. He liked her right from the first time that he met her. He suspected that Darcy was still not treating her as she deserved; she was a remarkable lady. He had to admit to himself that he had always been attracted to her and had wanted her even though he knew that to covet someone else's wife was a sin; she was beautiful! In any case, it had been months since he had been with Anne as she had not been well enough to accept his attention as her pregnancy progressed. Just thinking about her in his bed made him excited. He began to look forward to being with her, very much so. He hoped that she would agree.
He went to sleep with a smile on his face, dreaming of what he would do to her. He wanted to show her just how a marvelous wife should be treated. He was confident that he could make her happy, if only for a few hours every night, as none of his lovers had ever complained about not being satisfied. Five minutes! He thought that five hours would be better. The more he thought about what Darcy was asking him to do, the better the liked the idea. Imagine! To be asked to make love to a woman he had long desired but knew he could never have. It was obvious that Darcy had no idea what the consequences of their being together could be. He wondered if their marriage would survive this; he hoped so as he would not want to be the cause of such a serious event. What a scandal that would be for his family! He did not realize that he did not think of his own wife, who died so recently, while he was thinking of Darcy's.
The next day, Darcy found a chance to talk to Elizabeth alone. He repeated the same arguments that he had used with Richard. She was just as horrified at what he was asking of her as Richard had been; probably even more so. He managed to overcome her objections with his threats: "Would you rather have me find a stranger to come to you if you will not accept Richard? How about one of the staff members such as the footman Daniel who follows you around like a puppy? Did you not promise to honour and obey me? I do not think that I am asking very much; just five minutes of your time at night. If it makes you feel better, why not pretend that it is me with you? You can just close your eyes and you will not even notice who it is."
Elizabeth was not sure that this last argument had even the slightest possibility; somehow, deep within her, she knew that making love with Richard would have no similarity to how her husband had been when he was with her. Surely Richard would stir up deeper feelings within her; those that the romantic novels wrote about. With her husband, she had not felt the slightest stirrings of pleasure, much less the incredible passion that the books described.
The main reasons that she eventually agreed to obey him were that she also wanted to have a large family and she did not want to anger her husband if she absolutely refused to do this. She had found out how badly he could treat her when he was displeased. If she refused Richard, she worried that he would carry out his threat to bring a stranger to her. In the back of her mind, she was curious to know what having physical relations with Richard would be like. She had always believed that there should be more to the act than what she had experienced with her husband. From her reading of novels and what Jane had hinted at, this should be pleasurable and not just something to be tolerated. When her husband had been with her, she had felt only soreness; never any pleasure.
She had liked Richard ever since they had first met. She thought that she should feel guilty when the thought of being with him began to be more tempting to her. The more she thought about this, the more she began to look forward to being with him, if only to find out what love-making could be like. When she thought of Darcy's threat to bring a stranger to her if she refused Richard, she was horrified. She would much rather be with Richard than anyone else. At least she knew him and knew that he could be trusted. The more she thought about it, the more she was beginning to look forward to it. However, she would never admit this to her husband or to anyone else.