The morning of her wedding day dawned bright and crisp, with a mist rising up off the grasses. She sat up in bed, feeling Jane sigh and move beside her under the counterpane. Light was filtering in through the windows, and Elizabeth thought that she might take one last walk through Longbourn's fields as a single woman, unmarried and entirely free.
Well, as free as any woman might be. She smiled at that thought. Was she really free? The weight of an uncertain future had been pressing upon her before her engagement to Mr. Darcy, and then at first when the wedding was being settled she felt even more certain that things would be at the very best barely tolerable for the rest of her life.
Now though… she thought back to the last few days she had been in London after the Charrington Ball with a wistful smile on her face. Mr. Darcy had called on her nearly every day (he had taken rooms with a friend at a nearby home, so as not to overwhelm her or cause anyone to talk about them anticipating the wedding), taking her out for walks in the magnificent public gardens, Mrs. Booth trailing behind them with a book in her hands.
Elizabeth was certain that she was beginning to fall inexplicably, inextricably, in love with Mr. Darcy. Jane had said it, when Elizabeth had walked into Darcy house after one particularly long sojourn, seeing the look of happiness on Lizzy's face.
"You've gone and fallen in love with him, already, not even married yet, and look at you Lizzy! Oh, I am so, so very pleased," Jane had said.
Elizabeth couldn't help another sigh as the happiness filled her up and needed to escape somehow.
Yes, she decided, she was falling in love with Mr. Darcy. Given that he was a few hours from taking her as his wife, and slipping a ring on her finger, it was a good thing as well. She rose and dressed herself simply, not bothering to call for a maid. It would only wake Jane, who deserved to lay abed for a little longer.
She ducked down the stairs as quietly as she could, and when she stepped out the backdoor towards freedom, she jumped when her father appeared.
Mr. Bennet was wearing a walking coat, and carried a stick to support him as he sometimes took for a short jaunt. He offered her his hand, wordlessly, a sad smile on his face.
"Papa?" she asked, taking his hand.
"You were going to escape for one of your little adventures, were you not?" he asked, as he lead her down the garden path and out towards one of the trails that spilled out into the fields beyond.
"Oh, yes, did you… were you waiting for me?" she asked, slightly confused. His countenance was shrunken, and he looked rather… melancholy. She wondered if he wasn't altogether pleased at the idea of her marrying. Certainly her mother was quite out of her mind with joy about it.
"You wouldn't mind if I came along, would you? It would soothe my heart to see you in the woods, as I watched you when you were quite little," he admitted. She blinked in surprise. She did not remember him accompanying her for any walks when she had been younger.
"When I was little?" she asked. Mr. Bennet chuckled.
"Oh, you were so small and stubborn, and your mother busy with the other girls that she never noticed you creeping out the back gate." He smiled with true affection as they began a slow, steady pace, towards the tall woods. "So as often as I could, I would follow you to make sure you did not get into anything too much for you to handle on your own."
They fell quiet as they walked, and they stepped out into the woods, the long trail winding through and around the Longbourn property edges. Finally they came out on top of a large hill, that overlooked the house and the gardens. Lizzy stared down at her home for all her years, and thought that she might never look on it in the same way again. For the next time she returned to Longbourn in any manner, it would be as a married woman who kept residence in Pemberley, or London, as it suited Mr. Darcy.
She let out a breath and Mr. Bennet suddenly embraced her tightly, pulling her into his chest. She shivered, feeling his emotions that he could not express, the trembling emotion in him. He was sorrowed to lose her, and even if he had been a rather lackadaisical father, more absent while he hid in his books and his maps, he did love her.
"Oh Papa," she said softly as she looked up at him. He smoothed a thumb over her cheek and then kissed her forehead.
"The only thing that has brought me comfort," he confessed, "is to see how happy you were when you came back from London. He is a good man, and I think, in some small way, you will find love with him."
She let him hold her for awhile longer, not wanting to deny him the last chance to trade affections with his favorite daughter. It did her heart good, to know how much he cared. She could face the day, and indeed, her entire future, knowing that she had his support for her unconventional wedding.
They were a bit late getting back to the house, and there was a rush to get her ready for the actual wedding. Her mother was busy with the planning and execution of the wedding breakfast, invitations for which had been sent out to all four and twenty families of good connections in the local area. Longbourn would be full to bursting, and Lydia and Kitty both were giggling and making merry, preparing to flounce out in their nicest dresses and impress both guests and young gentlemen that might be coming to celebrate.
Elizabeth felt as if the whole world was moving around her, and she were standing still, and it wasn't until Mr. Darcy gently lifted her finger to slip the ring onto it, that she felt as if she had caught up to time.
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