Chapter 32

'Come, Mr. Lucas. I am very interested in your trip. Ireland, huh? Let's sit… there. We can talk there with some peace.' Bingley led Lucas to the window alcove with his body. Jane followed. Lucas had no other choice than to abandon Elizabeth. He looked back at her which did not go unnoticed by Darcy. She looked at Darcy. Darcy hesitated; he did not know what to do with himself. All of a sudden his mind went blank. He did not know what to say. Perfect; just what I need now is a disability to converse.

'Would-would you like to sit down, Mr. Darcy? … When did you arrive back? It is quite a surprise to see you at Longbourn.' Darcy, grateful for the invitation, sat on the chair that Lucas had occupied at the table. He noticed that her voice trembled as she spoke. He wanted to hug her and kiss her so that she would recover. He turned in his seat toward her; his palm moist all of a sudden. He cleared his throat.

'Good surprise, I hope.' She blushed at his daring and looked away.

'Of course. Only you told me at the ball in November that you would not be back.'

'I know. You know that it was not what I wanted.'

'Still, you decided to go. Uh, I am sorry. I am being petty. Where did you go?' Her hurt flared, but she knew this was hard for him.

'Pemberley.'

'Home.'

'Yes, I can always think more clearly at home.' She nodded. He did not give up on me. Did he think about me? Is he telling me that he thought it through and decided to come back?

'I see.' She looked away. This was too much feeling. Her whole body was concentrated on the man in front of her. Is the pain over? What was about this man that attracted her so? Much more than any man before him. She still could not believe he was sitting opposite her and talking to her at that very moment.

'To answer your question, we arrived only today.'

'We?' She looked back at him.

'Yes, this time I have brought my sister.'

'She…is she here, at Netherfield?'

'Yes. She wanted to come.'

'Why have not brought her with you?'

'I wanted to but when we arrived, we learnt that we were not expected.'

'No, you were not.'

'Well, Bingley says he has been so busy that he has not checked his mail for the last few days as he is not getting many letters anyway. So, the housekeeper was surprised. You can well imagine. Georgiana stayed to get us settled. She let me come. She knew I wanted to… pay my respects at Longbourn.'

'You-you,… did you tell her?' Darcy shrugged but nodded.

'We are close. She knew something was… wrong with me.'

'What was wrong with you?' She knew she was impertinent, but she could not stop herself. Darcy was taken aback. He should have known, he thought to himself. How he missed her cheekiness. He chuckled at her, then sobered. He looked straight into her eyes.

'I was not here.'

The door opened and two trays of refreshments were brought in. Mrs. Bennet directed Hill and Richard to put one tray on the table and one on the smaller, lower one.

'Come, Kitty, help me serve our guests. Ask them how they like their tea. Everybody, please help yourselves to the biscuits and cakes. There are some sandwiches as well. Mr. Darcy, you must be famished after your trip.'

Elizabeth was still sitting unmoving. Her heart was beating so hard that she was afraid others would hear it. She heard from afar that her mother was favouring Mr. Darcy. Bless her, she thought. She looked toward her and her mother winked at her. That brought her out of her frozen state. Mr. Darcy wanted to be there, she hoped he meant with her. She was beaming at Darcy as he praised her mother's efforts.

'Thank you very much, madam. I am quite hungry, indeed. This is a wonderful display… I am sorry for turning up unannounced. I had sent a message to Netherfield, but Mr. Bingley here has been too busy to read his correspondence.' Darcy noticed Elizabeth looking at him with the most beguiling look. It took hard concentration to finish his speech to Mrs. Bennet. What caused you this change? I will make sure I repeat it a thousand times.

'Yes, just blame me. But it is true. I am sorry Mrs. Bennet.'

'Well, no real harm done although it would have been nice if we could have looked forward to Mr. Darcy's visit.' She glanced at her daughter.

'Please accept my apologies.' Mr. Bingley bowed to her.

'Come, Mr. Bingley, I cannot be angry with you. I have the cake you liked so much the other day.'

Mr. Bennet joined the group.

'Mr. Bennet, Mr. Darcy has come to pay us a visit. He arrived only today, have you not, sir?' Darcy nodded. 'What an honour it is then to have you here with us on the same day.' Without being asked, she prepared her husband's tea and selected some sweets on a small, lovely plate for him. She gestured for him to sit with Lizzy at the table. With the same movement she patted Elizabeth's shoulder.

'Mr. Darcy, welcome back to Longbourn.' Darcy was on his feet again and bowed deeply.

'Thank you, Sir. It is good to be here.'

'So, you could not keep away from us, heh?' He asked as he sat down.

'No, Sir.'

'What are we men without our ladies, I ask you? There is nothing more satisfying than to be surrounded by one's family. I am lucky. I am surrounded by the prettiest ladies in all of Hertfordshire. Starting with my daughters' mother.' He chuckled at his own joke. His daughters joined in or demurred.

'Mr. Bennet. What are you saying?!' His wife turned crimson. She shook her head, but inside she was a young bride again.

'Just the truth, my darling. Just the truth.' He winked at Darcy. Darcy was grateful for Mr. Bennet's mirth. It broke the ice.

'So where did you go, young man? Anywhere interesting?'

'I went to London from here, but soon I travelled to Pemberley, my estate.'

'Remind me where it is?'

'It is in Derbyshire. Quite a distance. From London it is three days, from here, I would say two if one has good horses.'

'Hmm. A long time ago, I travelled to the Lake District with friends. It was breathtaking. I was young; we climbed not one peak.'

'My estate is south of that. The Peaks are beautiful indeed. I can never have enough of the view.'

'Father, you climbed a mountain? How big was it?' Kitty asked in awe.

'I was not always an old man, Kitty. We actually climbed several. They were quite enormous. It took us hours to reach the peak sometimes. The views from the tops were all worth them though. Houses seemed this big from above.' He gestured with his fingers. His daughters loved learning this little bit of information of their father.

'I would love to see it one day.'

'I am sure you will, Miss Elizabeth. It is worth going. It is wild but at the same time peaceful, harmonious.'

Mr. Lucas excused himself after the tea. He could not gain Miss Elizabeth's attention. He looked at Darcy with a grudge and left.

'How is everything? Mr. Bingley, another cup of tea? Lizzy? Mr. Darcy?' Darcy followed Lucas with his eyes. He would have to ask about him.

'My dear, everything was exceptional. I am full, thank you.'

'Yes, Mrs. Bennet. The sandwich was very lovely. May I say that the pound cake was especially tasty.' She smiled at him.

'Mr. Darcy has brought his sister.' Elizabeth informed her parents.

'Really? And where is she?'

'At Netherfield, madam. I am afraid as we were not expected, we gave extra work to the housekeeper. She stayed behind to help us settle.'

'Oh, I see. Well, bring her tomorrow. We would be honoured to make her acquaintance. Tell us about her.' She sat on the other side of Darcy.

'Her name is Georgiana, after my father. I am her official guardian together with my cousin, who is a colonel in the Majesty's army.'

'You have a colonel for a cousin? Is he handsome?' Lydia interrupted.'

'Yes, if he is handsome, it is not for me to say. He is not bad looking, I guess. My sister is not yet sixteen and she looks nothing like me.'

'Well, that is a good thing, I suppose.' Mr. Bennet chuckled.

'Yes, well, I meant she is blonde, just like my mother was. I resemble my father.' He gestured to his hair.

'You say she is not yet sixteen?' Lydia spoke up.

'Yes, Miss Lydia. She is your age, I believe.'

'What are her accomplishments?' Mary asked.

'She is very good at the pianoforte. She loves music, although she changes her favourite composer regularly. Nowadays it is Mr. Beethoven I believe. She practices diligently.'

'Do you hear that, girls?'

'I would not mind learning to play the piano. I like music. I like to dance.' Lydia shared. All the Bennets looked at her.

'What? Why are you all looking at me like that?'

'Nothing, Liddy. We are just happy you said that. I am sure Elizabeth would not mind starting you off and then Father could hire a teacher for you.' She looked at their father, who nodded.

'You could also ask my sister. I am sure she would teach you the beginning. She must remember her studies.' Darcy offered.

The visit was most successful. Everybody thought so. The two gentlemen left only after promising that they would all dine with the family on the morrow.

Darcy and Bingley had a lovely lively dinner with Georgiana. She was asking one question after the other. She wanted to know it all. She wanted to learn all that her brother could not tell her. They had to laugh at her enthusiasm. They happily shared everything they knew.

When she retired, the two men went to the billiard room for a game and a drink.

'I would love to have a sister like yours. Miss Darcy is… genuine. Her questions came from the desire to know this family. Not like my sister who would look for cracks in the information and could not wait to use it to her advantage.' He shuddered.

'I am a lucky one, for sure.' They started the game. Bingley went first. After the first shot, he straightened and said to Darcy:

'I am really glad, Darce, that you have decided to come back. And before you say anything, mainly not because now I can play billiard. Miss Elizabeth was not herself since you left apparently. I had to talk to her at one point.' Darcy squeezed his eyes shut.

'How so?'

'Miss Bennet said she was not faring well, and I could see it, too. I hope you do not mind that I told her not to give up on you just yet. I explained to her that you were caught off guard and that you needed time to sort your thoughts through.'

'You know me well. I want to thank you. Well, thank you for that, but really your words haunted me.'

'My words?'

'Yes, when we fenced.'

'And?'

'They just shouted at me when I made my decision. You told me to feel.'

'Wow. Did I say that? Yes, I did! And you say that helped you?' Darcy nodded.

'I cannot believe it. I helped you. Is this how you feel when you help me?'

'Do not be such an ass, Bingley. I regret I told you.'

Bingley laughed. 'No, please do not. It is just a rare gift that I can help the great Fitzwilliam Darcy.'

'You make me sound like a paragon. I am far from it. I had to realize that I have never been truly happy. Content, yes, but I never knew what happiness was. Not long since my parents died. Eli…Miss Elizabeth has awakened something in me and it would not be denied. It was excruciating to leave her. For three weeks I was without her. No matter how I tried, she was with me. It was liberating when I made my decision. That is when I heard your voice. It pushed me through. I will forever be grateful for that.' He bowed to Bingley. His friend swallowed at Darcy's genuine sentiment. 'I meant what I said to Miss Bennet. I do not think I could live without her, not now that I know that she exists in this world. It took me some time, but I had to deny myself to feel what I would lose if I had said no to her. It will bring some challenges in our affairs, but her companionship is more important to me than the ton.'

…

Thank you all for your support. I will continue the story. There is more to write, I agree. Let's get these lovelies married.

Check out the story website; there are new pictures of the Lake District and Mrs. Bennet's tea 😊 and a new Pemberley and Rosings fantasy. The link is in the profile. If you have a problem finding it, send me a message.