First of all a BIG THANK YOU 🙏 to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter you have no idea how you made my day! I am very new to this and it is all quite scary to share personal things online so having people liking it, is just a massive bonus (any trolls or people who wants to spread their hatred here please go away and you'll be deleted anyway!)
I will now try to respond to a few questions you have asked (sorry if I can't do all of them I don't want to spoil you!) :
MSPimprenelle : I know I did some research but as I wasn't sure I sticked with what I know and It also make it more official for our couple!
Macnicholls : our dear Lizzie has a long way to go and maybe (maybe!) a little bump here and there :) forgiveness is not easy so let see how she deals with it!
Collen S : That could have been a good story! I am not sure Mr Collins would be that clever to turn the bennet into zombies but it definitively sounds like a fun story! the Bennet zombies against the Darcy's!
Deanna27 : is Mr Collins so predictable? :)
Lauramari : I know who is the character they want her to marry but I can't spoil you can I?
mariatheresa: The things is in that time (if I am not wrong) when no one was at the house they would close it with only maybe the housekeepers left. So if they were to move there, they would not have much, probably not even clothes or maid. being in Scotland they would have need to make the fires and well let say the heating was not what it is now might take a few days to get the house ready. So they stayed at the farm for practicality but also there intention was always to go to pemberley or longbourn as soon as possible so it would have been too much energy for a few days.
Pixiel : So much I cannot say...
one guest suggest that Darcy wears a kilt, Thanks for the idea I haven't thought of that but I have now included it to the next chapter (I know that not this one!)
and I do not forget liysyl, everyones mom, MST, eelarahs, lorita Hubbard, jcqaz, trudence, jenten1585 (I do love too when jane is not nice!), KSS, DizzyLizzy.60, AlwaysBeAUnicorn7 and all the guests thanks for read and making me rightfully question my story!
And now to the story! I hope you like it :)
The parson was a nice man;
He had difficulty understanding the report they told him, but found it even more difficult to allow the rushed marriage. He was someone who liked to do his work correctly. After a word alone with Sam, the parson finally agreed to the proposal. Sam sounded delighted when he arrived back to the group; only the parson did not. Sam stated on the way home.
"He owes me one, so it is time for the payback!"
Elizabeth thanked him and added that now they were in debt to him.
"Ney, ma lady! Dircy's clan and himself saved us from loosin' everythin'! He is an excellent master; we like him but don't go aroun' sayin' it! It is not good tae sympathise with the Inglish aroun' here! But I can't loathe the fellow just because he is Inglish, as long as he is right with ous we are gud! And it's not his fault if he were born in the wreng country."
They both laughed at his jest.
On their progress home, they met the chief who proposed that some fellows should attempt to find the cottage where Miss Bennet and Mr Darcy had been held. The Colonel volunteered straight away, and Mr Darcy and Sam offered to accompany them to help them locate the house.
Mr Darcy cursed himself for not dealing with it earlier, but the chief excused him.
"Den't be too harsh on yerself sir, no one prepared ye on what tae do after a kidnappin'. I'd say, Mr Darcy, that when ye go through such a thing, ye den't wish to run back tae it, do ye?"
"That is correct, sir."
"As the men were supposed dead when ye fled the place, I am sure they are in the same place. There is no rush."
They made plans for that afternoon's search, and the group continued to the house for their lunch break.
The afternoon lingered for the ladies who stayed at the farm. But they welcomed this time to learn about each other.
Elizabeth's retelling of the events with more details, horrified Mrs Gardiner and Miss Darcy. They praised Elizabeth's courage during this time, to which she replied with a blush and a reaffirmation that without Mr Darcy with her she would not have been so brave.
"But please aunt, I spoke for too long, it is your turn, inform me anew what you witnessed while in the house?" pleaded Elizabeth.
"Do you require me to leave?" suggested Georgiana.
"Oh no, unless you prefer to; we are to be family on the morrow. From my experience that my family can be a little overbearing or inappropriate sometimes, I must add; I sense that matters will not end after we wed, and it is best if you learn and understand what is happening. One without intelligence is the one who makes mistakes."
"If you prefer me to remain, then I stay, Elizabeth! I already feel like we are family and if anything happens to any of us, it is best if we recognise what is the matter, to avoid worrying or behaving falsely. Perhaps it is something we should talk about with my brother. He has never been a sharer in the past. I am not blaming him, I would not hope for a better brother than him. But I dare say if I were aware of his particular knowledge, I would have responded differently, but I suppose he preferred to protect me as he consistently does." She sounded sad, but Elizabeth put a hand on hers and smiled fondly at Georgiana, who shyly returned it.
"I will make certain that I debate this with him." She promised, then turned to her aunt. "Please, my aunt, tell me what transpired and forget nothing."
"Well, my dear, all I mentioned before was most of what I witnessed… The only information I should include was the peculiar reactions of Jane and your father. One evening as we were all dining, your father was praising Jane and made clear to all the girls they were to copy Jane's behaviour if they wished to find a suitable husband just like she did with Mr Bingley. He did not suggest it out loud, but in his warning, we noted that he was criticising you. Jane had the sort of attitude that she looked proud of and frequently emphasised your father's speeches. I was in utter shock, our dear Jane, with such pride and at the expense of her favourite sister. What did they suggest to her, so she turned her back on you?"
"I must say. I have a tough time to make sense of it. Did you consider any persuasions?" Asked a perplexed Elizabeth.
"I do not know! I reflected on it; I supposed they had made some persuasions on Jane; she was never one to be strong under pressure. So it is conceivable that someone had pressured her or scared her, and therefore she was reacting like this. Like I said earlier, I saw Miss Bingley only twice and Jane definitely acted just like her. But you said that Mr Bingley's family disapproved of Mr Bingley's choice of bride. What has changed?"
"Yes! I cannot accept she is a bad person! People have acted worse than what she now presumes about me, and she has invariably been nice with them and even forgiven them. But I can say without fail that Miss Bingley's motivation is wealth and titles."
"Sorry if I am making an assumption, but does not your family have any wealth?"
"Do not worry, Georgiana; my father knew that our estate was entailed to our cousin and so he did not think it was fair to work hard and make the estate profitable if it was to be given to someone else and none of his children would benefit from it."
"I see, but I agree with you, Miss Bingley's only interest is money. She was trying to befriend me so she could get closer to my brother. Sadly, she is not the first one, William understood their actions and tried as much as he could to shield me. The money must come from somewhere else. What about your cousin?"
"As far as I am aware, my cousin has no wealth either except that he knows your aunt, Lady Catherine."
"Do you think my aunt could be behind all this?"
"I do not know Georgiana."
"It is all quite confusing; I am sorry we are the bearer of such news. But I am sure everything will come to light one day." Mrs Gardiner stood to sit next to Elizabeth and held her in her arms to console her niece.
"Is everything alright?" Came a masculine voice from the door.
It was Mr Darcy, who looked worried at Elizabeth's state.
Elizabeth calmed herself down and replied to him.
"Yes… yes, Mr Darcy, all is right. We were talking about my family, and I felt sad about it, that is all!" Mr Darcy crossed the room to kneel in front of her and grabbed her hands in his.
"Well, this is understandable, but I promise you, we will go back and make the truth come out of it. I would not want you to live apart from your family. I am conscious they are important to you."
His last words surprised Elizabeth. She supposed he would stop any interactions with her family, but yet again it seemed she was wrong about him. She thanked him for his support. At that moment Elizabeth decided one thing. On the morrow, after the wedding, she and Mr Darcy should discuss what they want or need from each other. They tended to make their opinion of each other with nothing but wind.
While they conversed, the other men entered the room. She did not notice until her uncle addressed her with the same concerns.
"Oh! Yes, do not worry uncle, I am fine now. But how was your quest? Did you find the house?"
When none of them replied, and some even looked down at their shoes, the ladies figured it out something was wrong.
"You should not concern yourself about it, you are safe, I will make sure that nothing happens to you." Said Darcy.
"Please, Mr Darcy, I hate being ignorant of things that affect me." After Mr Darcy again made eye contact with Mr Gardiner; who nodded with a little exasperation but smiled nonetheless at Elizabeth's stubbornness; Mr Darcy looked at his sister to be sure she would be ready for such news. She inclined her head at him too.
"As you wish, but if it is too much, you should stop me, alright?"
A unanimous 'yes' came from the ladies. Darcy stood to place himself on the sofa next to his sister.
"So we found the cottage, but it had suffered a fire which destroyed most of it." He heard a unanimous gasp. They all looked surprised by this information. "The fire was not fresh and probably happened two weeks ago but did not spread to the forest, nor did it seem to come from it."
"So it was intentional?" asked Georgiana.
"Yes, that is what we imagine. We investigated and found three bodies, or what remains of them."
"One of them is alive!" Elizabeth's anxiety rose.
"How so?" Mrs Gardiner enquired.
As if Darcy sensed his fiancée's worries, he squeezed her hand to attract her attention.
"Do not worry my love, we explored around to find any traces of him, and luckily for us, he was bleeding quite a lot. The dogs tracked it easily, and it lead in the opposite way of where we are now. Also, they stopped at a village. We made inquiries to see if anyone had witnessed an injured man and some of them had. Apparently, he went south…"
"But he might have turned around?"
"Yes, he could have, but it is unlikely. The people who saw him said they saw him two weeks ago. He was on a horse. It only took an hour to go from this village to here, and if he had found us, we would know by now. There is another thing, from the cottage there are many paths via which we might have escaped; an injured man would not start a witch hunt while wounded."
"But… we are not sure, are we? He could have hidden somewhere. He might want to recover, then he will attack?"
"Yes, it is possible, but there is one more reason it is likely he has gone south without looking back."
"What is that?"
"They described the man as a handsome soldier who talked like a true gentleman."
"Oh, Wickham! It is Wickham is not?" Darcy just nodded to her.
"Are you sure it was not one of the others who pretended to be him?" Questioned Mrs Gardiner.
"No, no, the men were definitely not handsome, and as for their speech, their strong accents would give them away. And I cannot imagine any of them assuming to be Wickham; perhaps taking his clothes as to impersonate a soldier, but to use his manners and tone of speech, it is too strange. They did not seem to find Wickham very important in their eyes. Indeed, I assumed that they wished to get rid of him as soon as they had the money."
"Yes, Elizabeth is right. None of them would pull off an acting role like this or would even consider it. Wickham knows he can charm his way through. It has saved him before, and still it will do. I can picture him trying to playx the unlucky soldier who has been attacked by ruffians." Elizabeth could not agree more with him. It was in Wickham's nature to spread lies and false pretence.
"But do you believe Wickham would not want to come and harm you?" Wondered Mrs Gardiner.
"Wickham has a lot of failures in his character, but if there is one thing I might give him credit for, it is that he is not stupid. He is on his own, injured. It makes no sense for him to strike right now. He knows the chances are against him. If I were him, I would hide and recover, and try to find allies if attacking us again is his goal. Even then, I am not sure that it is what he is after."
The Colonel stepped in.
"As a man of war, I agree with Darcy. It is also part of the training we give our soldiers. They have to know when they are not on the winning side. So I cannot be surprised if he acts like this."
"But what shall we do?" Asked Elizabeth.
"We should go along with our plan, the wedding should be tomorrow, and then we will leave in the afternoon for Pemberley. There we can see what we might do to find him."
"How long would it take us to get to Pemberley?" Wondered Elizabeth.
"Weather depending, we should be at Pemberley in 3 to 4 days."
"Oh, so long!"
"I know, my dear, but we are quite far up north. I will make sure the travel is as agreeable as possible."
"Thank you, I, just… sorry, this is silly of me!" She shook her head to dismiss the thought.
"No, please, what is it?"
"I… I just wanted to be home sooner." She smiled at him.
At this Mr Darcy nearly jumped out of his seat, and if it were not for their companions in the room, he would have kissed her without restraint. That Elizabeth would consider Pemberley, her home, made his heart swell even more.
Oh Dear, Oh Dear Wickham's back or is he ?
As usual awaiting your sharp reviews!
stay safe everyone
maddilizzie