Set after Easter in Meryton. Darcy and Elizabeth have returned to Pemberley and a few unexpected letters.
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Darcy was distracted. Elizabeth had been watching him from beneath her lashes for the better part of a half hour while she sorted through family correspondence. She was currently thinking of how to begin a reply to a rather lengthy letter from Mary and Kitty who were in Bath with the Gardiners. They were due to come and visit Elizabeth and Darcy at Pemberley for a couple of months, before moving on to stay with Jane and Bingley. They had a lot of queries about what pursuits they might engage with in Georgiana's company, how it was that they were going to celebrate Christmas, as well as news from their stay in Bath.
Darcy had been doing a similar thing, sorting through the notes from his steward, reading and making notes upon a number of papers that had been left on his desk regarding the estate, and sorting through other correspondence that hadn't been given to Elizabeth. Usually all family correspondence was left on Elizabeth's writing desk, which sat to the right of Darcy's desk in his study, by Mrs Reynolds so that she could keep track of who had been replied to as well as any coming visitors. However that morning, when Mrs Reynolds brought up the post that had arrived in the past few days since their own arrival back at Pemberley, a number of letters had been given to Darcy, something Elizabeth hadn't thought twice about, assuming it was estate business, but she whose contents she was now curious about.
They had only returned from London, where they had spent a small portion of the early Summer, just the day before last, but already both Darcys were inundated with work to draw their focus. However, there was something wrong, Elizabeth was sure of it.
Darcy had always been and, Elizabeth suspected, would always be, one to sort through his problems and thoughts by pacing. However, what Darcy was currently doing was less pacing and more … aimless meandering. This was concerning if only due to the fact that anyone who had met her husband would be loath to ever describe him as aimless.
He had been reading a letter, from whom she was not sure, and had rather loudly sighed upon unfolding it. She had glanced up at him, but he was not looking in her direction and she assumed therefore, that he was not seeking her ear to complain to. As he had continued to read, he had gotten more agitated, eventually crumpling up the letter and tossing it aside before pressing his hands into his eyes. Just as Elizabeth had made to move to stand and go to his side, he had shaken his head, as if clearing it, before turning to another letter and opening it rather roughly. This letter he read with less vocalisation, his body deflating a little as he did so, leaning back in his chair to study it intently before he stood. It was still between his fingers as he wandered the study now.
He came closer to where her writing desk was placed adjacent to his own, and Elizabeth turned her face up toward him, smiling softly even as she eyed him with concern. He met her eye and a small smile pulled at his lips in reply. He leant down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead, fingertips gently grazing against her cheek. As he moved to pull away, Elizabeth grasped his hand gently and squeezed it.
'Do you need me?' she asked softly as he looked down at her. The furrow in his brow relaxed a little and his lips quirked.
'I will always need you, my love,' he replied lowly, leaning tiredly against the edge of her desk, facing her as he threaded their fingers together. Elizabeth smiled and shook her head a little, still not used to the constant and almost offhand flattery he pampered her with, but quickly returned her eyes to his. He sighed a little and dropped his eyes to their hands.
'Mrs Reynolds passed two letters to me today instead of you because of their authors. One was from Lady Catherine,' he rolled his eyes sardonically and reached up to pinch his nose with his free hand. 'The other,' he continued a few moments later, returning his eyes to his wife, 'was from Uncle Joseph. Anne has reached out to him and Aunt Victoria about wishing to spend Christmas with the rest of the family. Away from her mother.'
Elizabeth looked up in surprise. What a strange turn of events. Lady Catherine had yet to speak to Darcy, or Elizabeth, since she visited, if you could even call it a visit, the day before their engagement in Hertfordshire. When she had been apprised of the certainty of their engagement by a short letter from Darcy and a visit from the Earl, their Uncle Joseph, she had declared them both to be dead to her unless Darcy called off the engagement. The Darcys had received a beautiful letter and gift from Anne, obviously sent without her mother's knowledge, congratulating them on their engagement and wishing that they might meet again soon. She had had her wish granted when Colonel Fitzwilliam had visited Rosings and told Catherine that either she allowed Anne to attend the wedding, or he would send the Earl to retrieve his younger cousin. Catherine had argued and tantrumed, but Anne, with her companion, had attended the wedding with the rest of the family.
Following their marriage, while Anne had always written regularly to Georgiana and sporadically to Darcy, she now included regular letters to Elizabeth and Darcy within her correspondence to Georgiana to keep up to date with the family. However, Anne had never been brave enough to defy her mother quite like this, as Catherine still viewed the wedding argument as Colonel Fitzwilliam's fault. Her communication with the 'exiled' side of the family was one thing, the letters were occasionally far between as Anne gave them to Charlotte to send, but actively seeking to spend the Christmas holiday elsewhere was something else entirely.
'I don't think she's well Beth,' Darcy murmured after a few moments, looking back down at the letter he had dropped onto her desk as he had taken her hand. 'She's always been sickly, but Uncle Joseph has implied that perhaps she believes this may be her last Christmas where she is able to travel at all.' Elizabeth felt her stomach drop as her free hand went to her mouth.
'But Georgie only just got a letter from her while we were in London,' Elizabeth began, but Darcy squeezed her hand, forestalling her arguments or reasoning.
'Anne regards Georgie as a younger sister. If Anne was concerned, she wouldn't let Georgie know.' Darcy sighed deeply and looked helplessly at his wife. He wasn't sure what to do with the information or how Elizabeth felt about the situation. Neither of them were particularly eager to get involved with Lady Catherine, but both felt greatly for Anne's predicament and had regularly discussed how to best support their cousin.
'Pemberley will host Christmas, that was already loosely decided between Aunt Victoria and myself as we discussed inviting the Gardiner's and my parents for the holiday, seeing as we,' Elizabeth motioned between herself and Darcy, 'promised my father at Easter that we would spend Christmas with them, either here or in Hertfordshire. Anne can travel to London with the Collins' as they go to Hertfordshire, or Fitz can collect her from Rosings as he travels from London to Derbyshire once he is on land again. I shan't subject her to my parents but perhaps she will be well enough to travel with the Gardiners if they don't detour through Hertfordshire?' Elizabeth looked around distractedly for a pen and some paper to better organise her thoughts as they raced through the logistics.
'Fitz said he likely won't be home until early November from Ireland, correct?' Darcy nodded absently but Elizabeth hadn't even glanced up at him for confirmation. 'If so, it would be better for Anne to travel earlier in the season, maybe in the second week of November if possible in order to give her ample recovery time before the holiday season and before it gets cold enough to upset her breathing while travelling. She'll need to stop more often as well to ensure she rests enough, maybe travel for 6 or 7 nights instead of 3 from Kent.' As Elizabeth spoke, Darcy slipped off the edge of the writing table and, as she completed her sentence, plucked her pen from her fingers, pulling his wife from her chair to wrap her tightly in his arms.
She wrapped her arms around him in response, confused at the reaction but reveling in his touch nonetheless. She ran one hand gently through his hair while he buried his face in her neck.
'Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're simply amazing,' he murmured, pressing a kiss to her skin after every word before pulling back to look at her with such tenderness she felt herself melt a little more into his embrace.
'Will, did you honestly think I would say no?' she asked, confused and knowing it must be showing on her face from the way he smiled at her.
'Catherine has been nothing but disgusting in her behaviour toward you, from that very first time you visited Miss Lucas,' he explained. Elizabeth smirked a little at his use of Charlotte's maiden name. He never referred to her as Mrs Collins, never wanting to be reminded of her odious husband in the process. 'I could not have blamed you in the slightest if you were to prefer to not have Anne here for what will likely be most of the winter, as it does increase the chances of Catherine making an appearance.' While Elizabeth had not thought it through as well as William obviously had, she was not going to deprive Anne of a proper family Christmas, and a winter at Pemberley, on the off chance that Catherine deigned to make an appearance at the Darcy's home.
Elizabeth reached up to cup her husband's face in both of her hands and pressed a soft, very intentional kiss to his lips.
'You silly man,' she murmured against his lips, feeling him chuckle a little against her as his shoulders relaxed, his entire body losing its tension as he leaned further into her palms. 'I have loved getting to know Anne through our correspondence, but would love the opportunity to do so in person. I think she may be in for the shock of her life with a Christmas with both of our entire families, but it may be the best thing for her, to see a real family Christmas. Goodness only knows what it's like for her usually.'
'I feel terrible that Georgie and I have spent Christmas for many years just by ourselves, or with the Fitzwilliam's, visiting at Easter as if it was the only time we could do so,' Elizabeth was shaking her head, and titled his chin to look at her.
'There is no point feeling guilty about the past. We should only look to the past as it gives us pleasure. We can make it up to Anne this year,' she kissed him once more before pulling back, her stomach twisting nervously but needing to ask.
'I do have to ask though. What was the letter from Lady Catherine?' Darcy immediately tensed again, and he unwrapped one arm from his wife so that he could rub one of his eyes tiredly.
'Uncle Joseph went with Fitz to talk to Lady Catherine, inviting her to Christmas with the family wherever it was to be held, as well as to check on Anne and assess how she was fairing. He didn't mention Anne's letter, just so Anne's life would not be made harder by an irate mother, but apparently he said enough that Catherine saw fit to write me a rather abrasive letter reminding me of all the reason's she was not in contact with me, and why she would never set foot on my estate again.'
Elizabeth didn't need to ask to know that the letter was full of vile things about her. Catherine would not have missed an opportunity to degrade Elizabeth and further attempt to persuade Darcy of the things she did not like about Elizabeth. The small comfort that Elizabeth took from Catherine's dislike of her was that, according to her Aunt Victoria, Catherine disliked Victoria with almost as much intensity as she currently dislikes Elizabeth when Victoria was being courted by Joseph, Catherine's brother and the current Earl of Matlock. Apparently Victoria's lack of a title made her, in Catherine's eyes, nothing but a fortune hunter and entirely unworthy of the future Earl. This dislike was not as heavily vocalised due to Joseph's position in the family, as well as Darcy's mother, their sister, choosing to marry a man for love without a title as well, but it was and still is, an ever-present tension in the family.
'I guess that means I should reply to Aunt Victoria before I get too caught up in Mary and Kitty's letter, ensuring our family that they will have a full family Christmas with the Darcys, Gardiners and Bennets, or she will be on our doorstep demanding to be a part of the party planning far earlier than we would be prepared for,' was all Elizabeth said with a cheeky smile, knowing that talking about Catherine only made Darcy more agitated and infuriated.
Darcy chuckled and looked down at her with such a tenderness that Elizabeth felt her breath catch. Would she ever get used to that feeling? She hoped not.
'You are the most amazing woman. Thank goodness for you Mrs Darcy,' he smiled, reaching out to pull her close, the two of them swaying slightly on the spot as they embraced.
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Thanks for reading!
Cillia x