I felt like being generous today. Here's a bonus chapter! ~ CC
Much to Elizabeth's relief, dinner at Netherfield went rather well.
Colonel Fitzwilliam wore his regimentals again, much to the delight of her cousins Kitty and Lydia, who gushed over his "smart red coat". Even Mrs. Bennet was taken with him for a moment, admiring his dress and recalling a Colonel Millar who had once quartered in Meryton when she was a girl.
Darcy, of course, proved to be of great interest to those of her family that knew him to be her husband. They were all of them polite and gracious in their address, and even Mrs. Bennet refrained from referencing his true connection to Elizabeth—though she could not seem to stop herself pressing him for information regarding his estate; Elizabeth knew her to be trying to learn his income. Personally, she didn't care how much his estates brought in per annum. That wasn't why she'd married him, it wasn't the reason she had agreed to return to that fateful place. Her only concern was seeing to it that Ned adjusted well to the change and thrived in his new environment when the time came.
Because it was an informal dinner party, Bingley encouraged his guests to sit where they liked, though he still took his rightful place at the head of the table with Miss Bingley at the opposite end. Kitty and Lydia were disappointed when Colonel Fitzwilliam took the seat at Bingley's left, the seat next to him being immediately claimed by Darcy. Mr. Bennet took the next chair and beside him sat Mr. Hurst. Jane was seated at Bingley's right with Elizabeth on hers. Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Hurst each sat across from their husbands, with Mary seated by her and Kitty at her sister's right. A very clearly vexed Lydia was forced to sit beside Mr. Hurst. Then suddenly, on seeing that the grouping was uneven, Bingley laughingly ordered everyone on the left side to move down one chair, and he took the colonel's seat. As this then placed Fitzwilliam across from Elizabeth, he and Darcy switched places.
That Darcy was particularly attentive to Elizabeth was not lost on the other residents of Netherfield, most particularly Caroline Bingley. From the corner of her eye, Elizabeth noted her host's sister trying vainly to conceal a scowl every time Darcy deflected one of the lady's remarks and returned his attentions to her. Mrs. Hurst even made a point of referencing the fact that Darcy, who had been in town but a day, did not address Elizabeth by her married name.
"It is most unusual, I must say," she pressed, "for a gentleman so little acquainted with a young lady to be so informal as to use her Christian name, sir. Do you not think so, Mr. Bennet?"
Mr. Bennet smiled over his wineglass before replying, "It is my understanding, Mrs. Hurst, that Darcy is intimately acquainted with my niece's husband, and by association her." He then deftly turned his attention to back to the conversation he'd been having with Mr. Hurst about the various types of alcohol each man enjoyed.
The ladies soon after repaired to the drawing room, leaving the men to their drink and cigars. The sisters, it seemed, were not of a mind to let the matter of Darcy's interest in Elizabeth drop, for they were upon her the moment the drawing room door was closed.
"Forgive me if I am mistaken, Mrs. Woods, but did not you say your husband died in the war four years ago?" Caroline simpered. "How could he then be acquainted with a gentleman as prestigious as Mr. Darcy?"
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. "Even gentlemen of Mr. Darcy's station have been known to associate with soldiers, Miss Bingley. His cousin the colonel is in the Regulars, after all."
"Well, there is the difference—Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam are family. You do know that the colonel's father is the Earl of Disley?" said Mrs. Hurst.
"Believe me, I am well aware," Elizabeth replied evenly.
Miss Bingley narrowed her eyes. "Just how intimately did your husband know Mr. Darcy?"
"Madam, I do not believe that to be any concern of yours. If you will excuse me," Elizabeth said firmly, then moved over to where her aunt and Mary were seated on the sofa.
"Please, save me from those monstrous vipers," she whispered. "Much more of their badgering, and I should have blurted the truth."
"Well, you shall have to tell it eventually, Lizzy," said Mrs. Bennet.
Elizabeth sighed. "I know, Aunt. But Mr. Darcy and I have not even decided whether we are going to continue our marriage," she said, keeping her voice low.
"I thought he wished you to return to Derbyshire with him and Ned?" asked Mary.
She nodded. "He does, but that does not signify any intention on his part to remain my husband."
That wasn't entirely true, she mused. Darcy told her when she'd questioned him that he wanted her not only to be happy at Pemberley, but happy with him as well. Did that mean he did want to stay married to her?
She determined that during their visit the following morning, she would find out. But oh, how to draw it out of him without seeming too eager? She had despised Darcy for so long that even knowing he was not entirely the villain she believed him to be did not mean she wanted to pick up where they had left off. Elizabeth just wasn't sure how she felt about the man now. That she still found him physically attractive could not be denied, but his tendency to be high-handed was rather vexing. He'd all but threatened her with taking Ned to get her to agree to accompany him back to Derbyshire—as if she would have stayed behind! But even so, it did not mean he wished her there as anything more than as mother to his son.
Tomorrow, she told herself as the gentlemen were returning to their company. Caroline Bingley tried to fix herself to Darcy's side, but he coolly brushed her off. Elizabeth wondered if it was very wrong of her to be amused by it…and pleased.
-…-
Darcy once again met his carriage at the steps of Netherfield. He was gratified by Elizabeth's smile, though he sensed some heavy thought behind it, and wondered what was on her mind. His thoughts were diverted the moment his son greeted him with a cheerful "Morning, Papa!" as he was assisted to the ground.
"Good morning, my son," said Darcy with a smile. "I am afraid the weather promises more rain, so we shall have to remain indoors, I think."
"That's all right," Elizabeth said. "If you can produce crayons and paper, a top or two, perhaps even some toy soldiers, Ned will be amused easily enough. I have even started him on shuttlecock, but that is not precisely an indoor activity."
"As a matter of fact," said Darcy as they started up the front steps, "I did go into Meryton yesterday afternoon to purchase a few things for him. I want Ned to enjoy his visits here."
Miss Bingley was coming down the main stair as they entered the house; she froze in the middle on sight of Elizabeth and her son.
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Woods, but what brings you here so early? And why would you bring a child on a morning call?" she asked.
Darcy fought not to openly scowl at her. "The lady and her son are my guests, Miss Bingley. If you will excuse us."
"Her son? Why, I had no idea your soldier husband had beget you a child, Mrs. Woods. You never mentioned him before," Caroline said as she descended the last few steps.
"That is because I did not think it necessary," replied Elizabeth in a clipped tone. "Good day to you, Miss Bingley."
Darcy placed his hand at the small of Elizabeth's back and ushered her and Ned through the hall. Turning down the corridor toward the library, they had stepped inside the room before either spoke again.
"Allow me to present our son with his new toys, then we can talk," Darcy said.
Elizabeth only nodded and paced over to the window. Darcy led Ned over to the armchairs that sat before the fireplace, between which was a pile of pewter soldiers. He'd bought two flats of them for the boy, and on sight Ned appeared to be absolutely delighted.
"Ned, Mamma and I must talk about some things, do you think you can play quietly for a while?" he asked.
"You no play soldiers with me?"
"I would dearly love to, my son, but first I must speak to Mamma."
Ned tilted his head to the side. "You talk to her 'bout Pem-ber-ley?"
Darcy smiled. "Yes, we will talk about Pemberley."
"Good, I wanna see Pem-ber-ley real soon," Ned told him, then turned his attention to playing with his new toys. Darcy rose and moved across the room to Elizabeth, who was clearly still very agitated.
"The nerve of that woman," she seethed as soon as he drew near. "What business is it of hers to pry into my personal affairs like that?"
"I will have Bingley speak to her," Darcy said. "Come, Elizabeth, pray sit and calm yourself."
With a huff, she did as he suggested and moved to a chair at the table below the window. He sat across from her, though before he could speak she drew a breath and said, "Forgive me, Mr. Darcy. I have been rather on edge since yesterday—since Thursday, if I am to be honest."
"I do not doubt it, madam," he said. "I am truly sorry to have caused you such agitation."
"It's not your fault, not really. I did end up having to tell the truth to my aunt, who surprised me with how willing she was to say nothing until given leave to do so," Elizabeth said then. "Though as my parents likely received my letter in yesterday's evening post, I have a strong suspicion that I may see them today."
"Do you wish me to attend you when you return to Longbourn?"
She looked at him. "I do not know if that is a good idea or a bad one," she said with a nervous laugh. "Though I suspect a confrontation between you and my father to be inevitable."
"I've no wish to upset you further by fighting with him. What would be the point? What's done is done," Darcy said. "I think what is important is that we move on."
Elizabeth sighed. "You're right, sir—what's done is done. But even as much as I am afraid of the answer, I should also like to know why. Why did my parents lie to me? Why did my father accept your uncle's money, if indeed he was bribed."
"You doubt the veracity of the claim?"
"A part of me does, yes," she replied. "After all, considering the lies your uncle has told, why would not one more be possible?"
Darcy inclined his head to concede the point. "I will agree that the possibility exists; however, I believe you should prepare yourself for the unfortunately equal probability of the assertion being as truthful as the fact we're still married."
He then reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, which he held out to her. Elizabeth stared at it for a moment before asking, "What's this?"
"I don't recall if I mentioned it yesterday, but I wrote to my attorney asking his opinion on the legality of our marriage—I wanted to be certain of Ned's legitimacy, among other things," Darcy replied as she took the paper in hand. "That express, received this morning, was his reply. I thought you might be interested in what he had to say."
"Does not my reading this letter breach the attorney-client privilege?"
"Mr. Keller would not be able to speak to you about my affairs without my consent, that much is true, but I am showing the letter to you willingly."
Elizabeth's expression said "Very well" without her having to speak the words. She then unfolded the letter and began to read it aloud. "Dear Mr. Darcy… To say that I am astonished by the contents of your letter would be a gross understatement. That said, I have consulted both the law and the Church—you may recall my cousin Albert is a bishop—and here below is the result of those labors:
"As you know, the Marriage Act of 1754 made irregular marriages illegal in England, but they're still legal in Scotland as the Scots have refused to adopt the Act into law there. It is why so many young couples cross the border to marry when one or both of the pair is underage, as you stated your bride was at the time, that they may marry without the consent of their parents. However, even with the Act in place, irregular marriages conducted in Scotland are still recognized here, and are thus as binding as any held in a church and formalized by license. Therefore, Lord Disley was correct in that you and Elizabeth Gardiner are still bound together as husband and wife, as there is no application for annulment or divorce on record bearing your names.
"You may rest assured, sir, that the son you mentioned is by law your legitimate heir.
"As to the Church's position, they don't particularly like to recognize the legitimacy of such marriages when one of their membership has neither conducted the ceremony nor presided over it in a house of God, and in the absence of a proper license, but they will and do. Regardless, Albert recommends you acquire a license, which he has given his word he will backdate for you if you can provide evidence that you were indeed married in the village of Gretna Green on the date to be indicated, and providing you make a sizable donation to the charitable organization of his choice.
"That is, of course, unless your intention is to sever the marital bond with Mrs. Darcy and continue your lives separately as you have done these four years. Please reply at your convenience with word of your choice in this matter. Whether you intend to remain married or no, I personally recommend your acquiring evidentiary support of your marriage in case of any possible future legal entanglements regarding legitimacy or custody of your son. Yours, Augustus Keller."
Elizabeth sat staring at the letter for some moments more; Darcy suspected her to be reading it over a second time. When at last she folded it and handed it back to him, she said in a low voice, "I suppose by the last line Mr. Keller suspects that should we divorce, there would be a legal battle as to whom Ned will live with."
"I told you before, Elizabeth, that I've no intention of separating you and Ned," Darcy assured her as he put the letter back in his pocket. "You've suffered enough cruelty as a result of our choice to elope, I'll not subject you to anymore."
She lifted her eyes to him, her chin elevated and her spine straight as she said, "And what of our marriage? Would not a divorce be just as scandalous an affair as our eloping to begin with? That is what your uncle was trying to avoid by ensuring our separation, is it not? A scandal."
Darcy nodded. "Lord Disley confessed he wished to save the family the embarrassment of my eloping to marry a girl below my station," he said. "But then or now, the truth will come out—and people will talk all the same."
Elizabeth snorted softly. "Yes. I can just imagine what Miss Bingley is grousing to her sister about at this moment—not to mention the servants who have seen us together."
"I didn't want to leave you." The confession slipped out almost before the thought had even registered in Darcy's mind.
"Then why did you?"
A heavy sigh escaped him. "Lord Disley and my father caught me up outside the jeweler's shop where I had gone to purchase you a wedding ring while you slept," Darcy said. "In fact, I was rather forcibly made to climb into my father's carriage, which began to move off immediately. I demanded to be let go—reminded them of the purpose of my journey to Scotland and that I could not leave you behind. I said I would not abandon you. My uncle told me that your parents had already gone away with you, after you—'quite eagerly', Disley assured me—had accepted the ten thousand pounds you were offered to say we were prevented getting married. He claimed at the time that the blacksmith and the second witness were paid as well."
"But why did you never search for me to confirm the accusations?" Elizabeth challenged. "You told me you wanted to love me every day of forever, Fitzwilliam! If that was true, why didn't you try to find me? I would have told you it was all a lie. You can have no comprehension of how devastated I was to be told you had given me up for the promise of sixty thousand pounds. I felt so ill-used, so utterly foolish! When I never saw you again, when you didn't reply to my letters, I began to feel like you had seduced me just so you could bed me, that the marriage itself had been a sham you arranged ahead of time. I felt like I had never really mattered to you at all!"
"Mamma? Why you yell at Papa?"
In unison Darcy and Elizabeth looked to their son; he stood facing them with several of the toy soldiers in hand, on his face an expression of concern that bordered on tearful. From the corner of his eye, Darcy noted Elizabeth blinking as though she fought to keep from crying herself.
"Mamma did not mean to yell, Ned," Darcy said slowly.
"Indeed, I did not," Elizabeth said, her voice shaky. "I'm sorry if I frightened you, darling."
"I don't want you mad at Papa, we just got him!" Ned went on, his bottom lip beginning to tremble.
Elizabeth held out her hand and the little boy ran to her, grasping his toys tightly in one arm as he threw the other around her waist and sniffled. Darcy rose and moved to kneel next to them, carefully laying one hand on Ned's shoulder while Elizabeth cradled his head in her arms.
"Forgive us, Ned, we did not mean to upset you," Darcy said. "It's just that part of the reason you and Mamma did not see me for so long a time… it upsets her. I'm trying to explain to her why we were apart."
Ned turned his head to look at him with teary eyes. "Why you was apart?"
Darcy flicked his eyes up to Elizabeth's face to find her eyes full of unshed tears and curiosity. Drawing a breath, he looked back to Ned as he replied, "Do you remember I told you how someone lied to Mamma? Well, someone lied to me too. Just like Mamma was told I left her, I was told that she left me."
"You see, Neddy," said Elizabeth with a sniffle, "I believed Papa did not want me anymore, and he believed I didn't want him anymore."
"And we were wrong to believe that, Ned. Very wrong," Darcy added.
Ned sniffled again, then stood straight and wiped at his eyes. "Stupid lies! I don't like them—they hurt people."
"Yes, lies can hurt. Papa and I don't like them either, Ned, because they hurt us and they've hurt you," said Elizabeth. "But now that Papa and I are together again, we want to make things better. But it will take time to understand each other again. Remember, it's been a long time since Papa and I met."
Another sniffle escaped the little boy, then he said, "We still go to Pem-ber-ley? And see the dogs and puppies? And live there too?"
Darcy smiled at him and nodded. "Yes, you and Mamma will go to Pemberley with me to live, and you will not only see the dogs and puppies, but horses and all kinds of animals, like the ones you see at Longbourn. You will also meet my mamma and my sister."
Ned's brow furrowed. "You has a mamma and sister?"
"I do. And I do not doubt they will adore you, my son," Darcy replied.
Elizabeth brushed back Ned's hair. "Do you feel better now?" she asked.
Ned nodded. "Please don't yell at Papa no more." He then looked to Darcy and added, "And don't upset Mamma no more. It not nice to yell or upset people. Mamma said so."
Darcy chuckled at that, and was relieved to see that Elizabeth smiled as well. "Your mamma is very wise, Ned."
"We will do our best to be civil, darling," added his mother.
The little boy drew a breath and sighed, then turned and walked back over to the remaining pile of toy soldiers. Darcy watched him as he returned to his seat, and listened for a moment as his son began to lecture his pretend troops about being nice to each other. He then looked over at Elizabeth to find that her eyes were still misty.
"Never, in all his life, have I seen him behave like that before," she said. "He has witnessed squabbling between my cousins Kitty and Lydia, and he didn't react as he did just now. Then it was more like he was startled."
"Has Ned ever seen you upset?" he asked her.
Elizabeth blinked. "That must be it—he's never seen or heard me in such a state. Oh heavens, how upsetting it is to realize I have frightened my child."
At first Darcy only nodded, then said, "I meant what I told him, Elizabeth—I was wrong to believe the lies. I can give no excuse for it, save to say that my father and Disley were exceedingly convincing in their manner. And I did try to find you, for a time. Even as angry as I was, I wanted to be sure you were at least safe—your family had left Lambton so abruptly with no word as to where you intended to go."
"For a time? You mean you stopped looking?" she asked.
He sighed and sat back in his chair, then drew a hand over his face. "When my father died, it seemed as though the whole world had fallen on my shoulders. I regret now that, in light of the many responsibilities I had gained so suddenly—not the least of which was learning to manage my mother's damaged mental state—I decided that my former wife's whereabouts was the least of my priorities."
It was then Elizabeth's turn to sigh, before she said, "I suppose I cannot fault you entirely. I never tried to go back to Pemberley to see you, after all. Of course, after writing so many letters that went unanswered, I admittedly grew very bitter and resentful. I think I even hated you for a while—hated the girl with the sixty thousand pounds even more, though I knew you hadn't married whoever she was. At least, I was certain I'd have seen some form of announcement in the papers if you had."
"Elizabeth, I have given the matter a great deal of thought these last three days," Darcy said, "and the truth is, I find I do not want to end our marriage. I want Ned to grow up with his mother and his father together in the same house. Will you come back with me, be my wife, and make Pemberley your home?"