Chapter 31
"Have you been to Hyde Park before, Miss Elizabeth?" Darcy asked softly. He and Richard had called on the Gardiners as early as was remotely appropriate, and gained permission from Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner to carry Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth off to Hyde Park in the Darcy carriage.
Elizabeth looked around and drew in a deep, rapturous breath. "Indeed I have, though not quite this early in the year. I simply adore the smell of early spring, and it is marvelous to see the leaves unfurling and the flowers pushing their way out of the earth."
"I too always enjoy spring," Darcy agreed calmly, though his heart was hammering within him. Would she accept his offer of marriage? Even now, he was not entirely certain.
Ahead of him, Jane was walking with Richard, who was, Darcy knew, quite as nervous as he was himself.
"Oh, look at the geese!" Elizabeth exclaimed, turning her steps towards the Serpentine, the lake which separated Hyde Park from nearby Kensington Gardens.
Darcy happily followed her to the shore, where numerous birds were quacking and swimming and diving for food. For a moment, the pair stood side by side, Elizabeth gazing out happily at the shimmering waters and Darcy screwing up his courage to speak.
"Miss Elizabeth?"
She turned on him with a clear eyed gaze and a warm smile. "Yes, Mr. Darcy?"
"I hope all is well at Longbourn?"
She nodded with satisfaction and said. "I received short letters from both Lydia and Kitty yesterday; there are, of course, minor adjustments which need to be made with Louisa and Christopher moving into the house, but for now, all is very well indeed."
"I am glad."
"So am I," Elizabeth said. "My father and mother were, regrettably, not well matched; he is a great thinker and reader, you know, and my mother was not. Louisa has matching interests and is a very sensible lady; I am delighted that she was willing to join herself to my father, and by extension to our merry menagerie."
"While I do not pretend to know the new Mrs. Bennet's heart, I am confident she can see the great love you have for one another, and that such love will expand to include her little son."
"Indeed it will, Mr. Darcy. Lydia and Kitty absolutely adore Christopher, and I think Luke is delighted to have another male in the house. Before we left, he was expressing a desire to teach the little one to ride a pony when he is old enough."
"I remember teaching Georgiana when she was only four years old," Darcy mused. "It was a special time."
"I suppose she is now an excellent rider?"
"She is. Do you enjoy riding, Miss Elizabeth?"
"I do not," Elizabeth said decidedly. "My father never permitted us to buy horses specifically meant for riding, as he was fearful that Luke, who does adore all manner of equines, would act irresponsibly and injure or kill himself. My father is, I think, finally softening after Luke's mature response to the Wickham and Williamson situation, but I am rather set in my ways now. In any case, I enjoy walking very much."
Silence fell again for another minute and then Darcy began again, "Miss Elizabeth?"
"Yes?"
"I feel I should explain some things regarding that most unfortunate interaction with Lady Catherine de Bourgh..."
"You need not, Mr. Darcy. I assure you, I was not discommoded in the least by her ranting."
A laugh escaped the gentleman, and Elizabeth's heart beat more rapidly. He was a remarkably good looking man, but when he laughed, he was quite the most handsome man she had ever beheld.
"Indeed, you were not, Miss Elizabeth," he said when he recovered himself. "I do believe that my aunt had never been quite so confounded in all her life. She thinks very well of herself as she is daughter of an earl, and mistress of the large estate of Rosings in Kent.
"Does she have a son to inherit?" Elizabeth asked curiously.
"No, she has but one child, my cousin Anne, who will gain control of the estate on the day she turns five and twenty. However, Anne is not a healthy woman, and no doubt my aunt will continue to oversee the estate until my cousin marries."
"And you, it seems, were the gentleman she chose to be husband to her daughter."
"Yes," Darcy agreed with a frown. He and his companion were wandering slowly along the Serpentine now, and he smiled at the sight of a nest in the rushes where a female goose was no doubt sitting on her eggs. It brought peace to his heart that in midst of uncertainty, the seasons continued on their endless cycle.
"Yes," he repeated with a sigh. "I am not certain why Lady Catherine was so insistent on our match. One estate is quite enough for a man, after all. I would have found it difficult to care for both Rosings and Pemberley."
"Based on my brief interaction with your aunt," Elizabeth mused, "I wonder if she wished for you to sweep her daughter away to the north so she could continue to be mistress of Rosings."
"I agree," Darcy said with a grimace. "For many years, I felt a certain obligation to marrying my cousin. In my view, my aunt is not a good administrator of Rosings. She clings to old ways of farming, and does not care enough for her tenants' needs. Anne has neither the strength nor the will to counter her mother's plans, and thus..."
He trailed off and Elizabeth nodded wisely. "I do understand. It pains Luke very much when tenants refuse to use modern methods of agriculture and husbandry. It must be difficult to know that you could ... you could marry Miss de Bourgh and solve the problems you see at Rosings."
"But I will not marry Anne," Darcy declared, stopping and looking down into her lady's countenance. "Richard helped me see that I was carrying a burden not meant for me. Indeed, there is no reason to think that Anne wishes to marry me, either. We are both taciturn, silent creatures. We both would benefit from ... from a more lively companion for life."
Silence fell between them, and Elizabeth's heart beat with hope. Could it be?
"Miss Elizabeth?"
"Yes?"
"When we danced at Netherfield, you told me at the time ... well, I gathered from your conversation that you felt it incumbent upon yourself to live within easy distance of Longbourn for the sake of your younger sisters and brother. Do you ... do you still feel the same way?"
She shook her head, her clear gaze fixed on his dark eyes. "No, Mr. Darcy, I feel very confident that my new stepmother will be a good mistress, and good mother, to my siblings. My role has changed. I no longer feel bound to Longbourn."
He smiled at this in open relief and then reached forward impulsively to take her gloved hands in his own large ones. "Miss Elizabeth, I have admired and loved you for many months, though I am not certain I have showed my adoration appropriately. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "You truly have loved me for months, Mr. Darcy?"
"Indeed I have," he vowed. "Your liveliness, your intelligence, your commitment to your family captured my heart last autumn, though I confess I was fool enough not to recognize it. How I missed you this winter! Please, do make me the very happiest of men and accept my hand!"
She smiled tremulously and said, "You are quite certain you are at peace with my aunt and uncle in trade, and my uncle the solicitor..."
"That matters not at all," he declared. "Yes, even a year ago, I was fool enough to believe that such things mattered a great deal. I know better now."
Tears of joy spilled from Elizabeth's eyes, and she tightened her grip on Darcy's hands. "I love you as well, Mr. Darcy. I accept your proposal with joy."
His breath rushed out of him, and he fell quite light headed with relief and joy. "Miss Elizabeth..."
"I believe you can now safely call me Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam," she said daringly.
"Elizabeth," he murmured. "My dearest, loveliest Elizabeth."
She smiled up at him mistily, then pulled him a little closer and rose onto the tips of her shoes, whereupon she kissed him firmly on the lips. He welcomed the kiss ecstatically and was inordinately disappointed when she moved away a few inches.
"We will be happy together," she announced.
/
"Miss Bennet?"
Jane, who had been enjoying the warm rays of the sun as they reflected off the stones of the pathway, turned to look up at her companion. "Yes, Colonel Fitzwilliam?"
Richard Fitzwilliam cast one quick glance around, noting with satisfaction that no one was nearby; Darcy and Miss Elizabeth were the closest, and they were currently wandering along the edge of the Serpentine.
"Miss Bennet, I have come to love, admire, and adore you. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
For a moment all was silent and Richard, who had been feeling hopeful, felt his heart sink. The lady looked surprised, yes, but also disturbed.
"Why do you wish to marry me, sir?" she finally asked.
"Why? Because I love you, of course; you are an excellent sister, and devoted daughter, kind, gracious, serene, and gentle."
The lady's brow, which had been marred by worry lines, smoothed at this answer.
"Do you think I am particularly handsome?" Jane asked, not coquettishly, but seriously.
The colonel stared down into her lovely visage and said, with understanding, "Is that your concern, Miss Bennet, that I have fallen in love with your beauty, not your person?"
"Yes," his love said simply. "So many men have lauded my face and ignored my character."
"You are beautiful, of course," the colonel said, picking his words with care, "but it is your commitment to your family, your kindness, your good heart, which has won mine."
"My dowry is a small one, Colonel."
He shook his head urgently. "A year ago, I thought a substantial income was vital to my happiness, but no more. I do have an allowance of 500 pounds a year, settled on me for life, and my cousin Darcy has offered me one of his subsidiary estates in Lancashire. It is rather far north and the climate is not particularly salubrious, but it would mean I could leave the army..."
"Yes," Jane said abruptly, and her face shone with joy. "Yes, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam. I will gladly marry you."
/
Mr. Bennet sat on his favorite wingback chair in the drawing room in Longbourn and gazed with satisfaction on the domestic scene playing out before his eyes. On the hearth rug near, but not too near, the fire lay his new stepson, little Christopher Hurst, who was currently on his knees rocking back and forth. The baby was not yet crawling, though he had discovered that he could move around by rolling over and over until he fetched up, to his supreme indignation, trapped against a couch or a wall. His mother, new sisters, and nursemaids were kept busy placing him in the center of the room again.
The gentle patience of all the womenfolk was in stark contrast to the first Mrs. Bennet, who had found her babies exhausting and irritating, and thus her children had been largely raised by nursemaids. Bennet was confident the servants had been kind and gentle with his children, but it was a beautiful thing to observe a mother so committed to the care of her own son.
Louisa looked up at this moment and met his eye, and smiled at him, and he smiled back. His new wife was yet a young woman. Perhaps in time they would be blessed with a child of their own.
"Oh," Lydia exclaimed in frustration, and Louisa turned away from her husband towards her youngest stepdaughter, who was staring down at the knitted baby sock which was unraveling in her hands. "Oh, I must have missed a stitch. I will never be able to knit properly!"
"Lydia, my dear," Louisa said, "you are doing marvelously well. You have learned so much in a few days. Now I believe you have been sitting for quite long enough. Perhaps you would like to go out to the stable and observe your brother's new prize?"
Lydia hesitated and looked down at her new stepbrother. "Are you certain you will not need someone to play with Christopher?"
"The baby will need to take a nap soon, my dear," Louisa said. "Run along and get some exercise, Lydia."
/
"Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam!" Kitty Bennet exclaimed as the two gentlemen entered the Longbourn stables leading their horses. "Is everything all right in London? Are Jane and Lizzy all right?"
"They are very well, I assure you, Miss Kitty," the colonel said quickly. "I hope you and your family are all well?"
"Indeed we are," Kitty said, and dropped a belated curtsey.
Lydia's head suddenly appeared above the wall of a nearby stall, and she smiled down at the newcomers. "Good afternoon, Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Father just gave Luke a new thoroughbred foal!"
The door swung open, and Luke Bennet, his eyes shining, gazed out from within the loose stall at the gentlemen. "Is she not a beauty?"
Darcy, while eager to see Mr. Bennet and ask for permission to wed Elizabeth, found himself surging forward to inspect the horse standing within, a fine-boned, white stockinged bay with the long neck and high withers of her kind.
"How old is she?" Colonel Fitzwilliam inquired.
"Nine months," Luke declared, his eyes feasting on the beast at his side. "Father purchased her from a man two towns over and gave her to me only yesterday."
"Congratulations, Mr. Bennet," Darcy said heartily. "May I inquire whether your father is at home?"
Kitty, who had been looking bemused, straightened up as her eyes brightened with understanding. "Yes, he is."
"Thank you, Miss Kitty," the colonel said with a bow, and the two gentlemen departed hastily. Behind them, they heard Lydia inquire curiously. "Why do they wish to see Father?"
/
"You have my blessing of course, both of you," Mr. Bennet said to his two guests, and then added ruefully, "I must confess I find it remarkable that as soon as I found myself a wonderful new wife, I am losing my two eldest daughters, though I could not ask for better gentlemen to carry them away."
"I believe that the two events are directly correlated, Mr. Bennet," Darcy said. "Last autumn, when Elizabeth and I danced at the Netherfield Ball, she explained that she felt bound to Longbourn since she believed that she and her elder sister were needed to help raise their younger siblings."
Mr. Bennet, who had been in the act of pouring brandy for his guests, froze in surprise, before recollecting himself and finishing his task.
He handed a glass to both men and then lowered himself into his seat behind the desk in his library.
"I confess I was not aware of my daughters' sense of obligation toward their siblings," he admitted, "but I should not be surprised. I am so very blessed by my children. I have not been a particularly diligent father for many years, and have been all too ready to leave the care of both my family and the estate on the shoulders of my daughters. I daresay no man, especially an indolent fellow like myself, can change instantly, but ever since Luke was attacked, I have been more attentive. If we had lost him..."
He shook his head and Darcy said, "I understand your distress completely, sir. I too have come to understand my own failures of late – those of egotism and arrogance."
"And I," the colonel added, "realized that I have been clinging to my own pride in refusing to accept help from my very wealthy cousin; I am thankful that I will be able to provide Jane with a good home at the Darcy subsidiary estate in Lancashire and leave the Regulars."
Bennet nodded in satisfaction at this and said, "I am thankful you will not have to leave my daughter behind when you go to war. Now, when do you plan to marry?"
The two cousins looked at each other and Darcy said fervently, "As soon as possible, sir."
/
/
Author Note: I'm busy working on editing, formatting, etc. for publishing of this story. You can look forward to an extended edition - The Author's Cut? - with various additions and tweaks to the story including a very long (~ 40 extra pages!) epilogue. I'll be sure to publish a note here on FF when "Longbourn's Son" is available.