Elizabeth scurried toward the port with Rene trailing behind her.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth, wait up. You're moving much too fast! The ship isn't going to set sail unless Mr. Darcy orders it so. You've nothing to rush for!" The young girl was breathless with trying to keep up. Elizabeth heard it in Rene's voice and slowed her steps, stopping for a minute to wait for her companion, her partner in piracy. After Elizabeth had taken over the title of pirate, so had all the other women in the room, Rachel Jones pronouncing quite heartily that "sometimes a spot of piracy is the only way to ever get anything done."
They matched their steps easily to each other and began a companionable stroll towards the docks.
"Elizabeth," asked Rene, "May I speak with you about something?"
"Yes, of course. You may speak with me about anything," answered Elizabeth.
"Elaina loves Mr. Richards. I know she does so do not play dumb with me. It is one of the reasons I've flirted so atrociously with him. I wanted to aggravate her into showing her affection for him, into fighting for him. I suspect that she's been in love with him since we lived in America. All her stories seem to have some far off dark haired romantic figure in them, some unattainable and perfect man who will never give the flawed and tragic heroin a second glance." Rene laughed. "It is all rather funny isn't it! Mr. Richards let me read one of his stories the other day Elizabeth, and I couldn't believe it! Do you know what it was about?" Her voice was shaking with barely controlled mirth. "A brooding and handsome young man falls in love with the smart and beautiful and eccentric young woman who thinks of him as nothing but a friend! And of course, the smart, beautiful, eccentric young woman sounds much like Elaina."
"So you mean to tell me that this whole time you've been harassing your sister about Mr. Richards… it has been to goad her into showing him how she feels?" Elizabeth was stunned. She had certainly not seen this coming.
"Yes, or to goad Mr. Richards into declaring to me, or her, his true feelings towards my sister. They are the two most obtuse, stubborn, and blind people I know. And they're supposed to be intelligent!" Rene loosed a small "hmph" and focused on a ship that was growing on the horizon. "But what do we do now? There's smiling and furtive hidden glances aplenty, but nothing solid. We must convince Mr. Richards to confess Elizabeth! We just have to! I am absolutely determined to have him as a brother in law!"
"Maybe they will come together on their own Rene. It just takes some people more time to feel comfortable showing their affections than others," spoke Elizabeth, thinking of Jane, and how Charlotte had warned her of hiding so completely such emotions.
The girls lapsed into silence as the ships in the port loomed closer, the bustle of the seaside quickened, and the smell of fish in the air became stronger. Elizabeth easily spied Darcy's ship, The Anne, and walked purposefully toward it, quickening her steps, Rene following in her wake.
When they reached the gangplank to the Anne, Rene turned to Elizabeth once more. "That is what you told Elaina to do isn't it?"
"Excuse me?"
"You told me to come with you, told Rachel to go to Mr. Darcy, and then you spoke privately with Elaina, and never told us her part in your little plan. And since you were so secretive, ou had to be discussing a sensitive subject." Her words tumbled faster as she spoke, building up momentum for the final revelation. "And what could be more sensitive a topic to her than Jonathan Richards?"
Elizabeth smiled proudly at the ounger girl. "I knew you were brilliant Rene."
"But how? What is Elaina going to be able to do that will help you marry Mr. Darcy today? And that includes Mr. Richards at that! This is an impossible scheme Elizabeth! I don't see what you're getting at in the least. Why won't you tell us your whole plan?" Rene pouted, jutting her lip out as far as it would go and narrowing her eyes. "Why don't we just hire thieves to kidnap Mr. Darcy for you?"
"Because my father or Miss. Bingley for that matter, would hire thieves to kidnap me! No, it must be done this way." They resumed their journey up the gang plank and boarded the ship. Captain Halloway, having just reached the boat himself, greeted the women suspiciously.
"I'm afraid you two young ladies are gowin ta haf ta leave. You have no business here," spoke the good captain.
"I'm sure we do," answered Elizabeth. "A man took passage on this ship with a younger woman. He is my father and I wish to know in which direction he went in when he left the ship."
"Your father Miss.? Well then, he hasn't gone in any direction. He has yet to leave the boat."
"Then might I speak with him? Will you show me to him?"
"I do not think tha tit could hurt ma'am. Follow me."
Elizabeth followed closely, her young companion as close on her heels as she was on the captains.
"I do not know why he has stayed on the boat ma'am. Perhaps he was just waitin for you though," spoke the captain abruptly, stopping mid sentence to look back at her. She collided into him, and Rene into her, just as Captain Halloway picked up his steps once more, leading them below deck. He stopped just short of a door in a small hallway.
"He's in there ma'am. I assume you wish to speak w' im privately."
"Yes thank you," she replied, opening the door and motioning Rene to follow her through into the room.
Her father stood looking out the porthole, his hands clasped behindhis back.
"Father."
With one ward, whispered in rather worried tones, the man tuned around to find the unsure gaze of his missing daughter centered squarely on him. She was relief flood his eyes as he closed the space between them and took her into his arms.
"Oh Lizzy, You are alright I see," he finally said, holding her at arms length to inspect her for any damage.
"Yes father, I am very much alright." Elizabeth thought that there might be tears pulling at the corner of her eyes, and she pulled her determination tight around her. "And, besides not being with you and Jane, I am very happy as well."
Mr. Bennet's face hardened. He dropped his hands from her shoulders and once more clasped his hands behind his back. "I've come to take you back Lizzy. Back home. To your mother, and to Jane, and to Mr. Collins." There was no give in his words, but Elizabeth would not give either.
"I would gladly come back home to you, or Jane, or Mother father, but not to Mr. Collins. I do not love him, and refuse to marry him, as I always have. You knew when you approved the engagement that I was miserable over it. I told you then that I would not marry that odious man, and you did not listen. And if it had not been for Mr. Darcy, I very well might have been forced to do your bidding! I might very well be shackled to a toad for the rest of my life!
"But as it is father, Mr. Darcy did rescue me. And I put special emphasis on the word rescue. For even traveling with a man I thought to be ignoble and prideful was more tempting than marrying that… that man. And I now know that Mr. Darcy is the best of men, and the only man I could ever respect as a husband… the only man that I could ever love."
"Elizabeth—" interrupted Mr. Bennet heatedly.
"No! Do not interrupt. I came to see if I could garner your approval of my marriage. Have I? Do you bless the union I will enter into with Mr. Darcy this day?"
"Never," came her father's cold negative. "You will do as I say Elizabeth, and you will marry Mr. Collins."
"No, no I will not. If you change your mind father, and wish to walk me down the isle, we will be at the local church at noon. I would like to have your blessing father."
He just glared at her.
She sighed in reply to her glare then turned her back on him and faced Rene who stood patiently in the doorway. "Come Rene, there is much to be done."
Mr. Bennet was furious. His favorite daughter, the one who was a paragon of sense and reliability had turned as silly, no, sillier, far sillier than her sisters. He stormed around the room for a bit before pulling up the chain of his weathered pocket watch. Eleven o'clock. One hour. He had one hour before the accursed union was solidified. And he was quite sure that he had a better chance of stopping the wedding than he did of convincing Elizabeth to get a divorce. Why had he done it all, he thought warily. Why had he forced her to marry Mr. Collins? Why had he chased her all the way here, insisting that she leave the man she did love and marry a man she didn't, even after the kidnapping had caused such a scandal as to make it almost imperative that Elizabeth did marry Darcy.
He knew why. She was his daughter. And as her father, he was her rock. And especially with their particular family, they were each others' sensible companions in a house full of ridiculousness. Mr. Collins was also ridiculous, and totally unworthy of his favorite daughter. But, as long as she was married to Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennet remained his daughter's sensible rock in a life full of… well… silliness. But, if Elizabeth married, dependable, noble, intelligent Mr. Darcy, then where did that leave him? Who was he to his daughter once she had found someone to replace him?
No, he'd effectively lose his Favorite if she married Mr. Darcy. He could not let this happen.
It never occurred to him that this was a tad selfish, and that if he loved his "favorite" so much, he would want what made her happiest, and that at the moment was Mr. Darcy.
Mr. Bennet stopped and stared out the porthole for a second more before striding purposefully toward the door and throwing it open. He left the boat then, never noticing the two pairs of dark feminine eyes watching him from its railing.
Elaina knocked carefully on the thick wooden door before her. She could hear voices on the other side: the light almost joking voice of her father, Darcy's deep timbre, and Mr. Richardson's lyric tones that would hold a hint of a laugh if he were smiling. She was bid enter, and before she turned the door's handle, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Elaina," said her father, "do you need something child?"
"No, yes. Yes, father. I was wishing to talk to Mr. Richards actually. It is a matter of great importance, that only another writer could understand." She really wasn't lying to her father. It was a matter of great importance, and most likely, Mr. Richards would only understand because he had the same hopelessly romantic notions that she had. It came with the writing territory really.
Richards looked inquisitively at Elaina. "A passage?" He asked.
"Yes, a passage. I'm having a bit of a hard time making sense of this poem. Shakespeare. His meaning is simply alluding me I'm afraid." Elaina knew he could not pass up a chance to read Shakespeare, or to assert his literary superiority. It was a never-ending mock battle between them. One they both had always delighted in. "Would you care to have a look at it Mr. Richards?" She held his eyes for as long as she could, hoping to grab his attention. And she did, for a while, until he tore his eyes from hers and looked to Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy nodded his head in approval, and Elaina realized that the man looked more somber and forbidding than she had ever seen him. He actually looked morose… unapproachable… cold. If this was what he was like without Elizabeth, then her little lies and trickeries today certainly were for a good cause. She was sure he would frighten many small children if he walked around continually looking like that.
Mr. Richards turned his gaze once more to his friend and nodded his assent, following her from the room. She led him up the stairs and into the small parlor that had been paid for for the ladies use. Yet when she closed the door behind Mr. Richards, she did not hurry to find the troublesome Shakespearean poem. She simply leaned against the door and looked strangely at Mr. Richards.
Mr. Richards, was growing uncomfortable under her odd gaze. "The Shakespeare? Elaine?" He added when she did not answer his first question. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth before stepping away from the door, her eyes still holding his.
"Jon… I lied," she stated bluntly, worry escaping into her voice.
"You have? Well, what is the truth?"
She stepped closer to him. "I need your help Jon. Very badly. If you refuse to help me, I… I don't know what I'll do!" There was an edge to her voice that alarmed him.
"Elaina, what is it? You can tell me. I'll help you with whatever it is. You should know that." He had steered her to an arm chair during this speech and now knelt before her, looking up into her eyes.
"You promise you'll help?"
"Yes, of course. With anything."
Only now did she allow herself a tiny smile. She had him. He could not back out of a promise. Though she thoroughly hoped he didn't despise her for manipulating him so after this was all done. But surely he would not fault her scheme. Surely he would see the romantic conclusion it would help to bring about. With a heavy intake of breath, she began. "As you know, Mr. Darcy is refusing to marry Elizabeth now."
Mr. Richards was momentarily caught off guard. Why was she talking about Miss. Bennet and Mr. Darcy? "Yes, he told us the wedding was called off. He did not however, say why. Do you perhaps know this little detail?"
She smiled again, and told him of Miss. Bennet's father's untimely arrival. She could see by the confusion on his face that he did not know the whole Elizabeth, Darcy, bridenapping story, and she did not think it imperative to tell him at the moment. Besides, he might steal the story for his own. And she fully intended to use it herself. But creative writing aside, it had come time for her to take him up on his promise.
"That is why I need your help," she ended.
Mr. Richards looked almost disappointed. Scenes of heroes and knights rescuing distressed damsels had ridden through his head ever since she had first asked for his help. And now it appeared that she wasn't even the one in distress! "How can I help, Elaina?"
"Now Jon, remember that you promised." She once again pulled her bottom lip through her teeth. His silence beckoned her to continue. "We must get married," she exclaimed before she could even form the right words in her mind. And oh! How wrong it had all come out! She clapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. She closed her eyes abruptly, not wanting to see his reaction to her words.
Silence. She did not open her eyes. "That came out wrong. Oh I'm so sorry." She tried to chuckle her eyes closed, but it came out rather despairingly. "What I meant to say was that-" and she was cut off by the feeling of hands wrapping around her arms. She risked opening her eyes when the hands, presumably Mr. Richards, had pulled her to a standing position, oh so close to him. He was not much taller than she, and she looked him straight in the eye. What was in them stopped her heart, sent shivers up her spin and made her breath catch in her throat. The kind of reactions she wrote about before the heroine tragically dies (or her lover does), and loneliness once again descends on the world.
But this was real, not fiction, and Elizabeth and Darcy and the wedding that was not to be had been swept completely from her mind. For one split second, Elaina thought that Jon was going to lean in and kiss her. And he did. And all thought was also swept from her mind.
When he raised his lips from hers, he found her eyes closed, and nudged her chin up a bit with his thumb to coerce her into opening them. He was glad, relieved, when she did. For along with confusion and shock, he found excitement and longing in them as well. "Yes, we must."
"Excuse me?" said Elaine. She wasn't sure she could form or understand a coherent sentence at this point.
"I was just agreeing with you. Though I never hoped to ask you, to receive your approval, I never once thought that you might ask me! It is all very improper you know, but we are both forward thinkers are we not?" He looked down at her jubilantly. She was rather jubilant herself, hearing his words, knowing for sure, for the first time, that he might love her as she had him all these years. But of course, she had not meant to ask him to marry her. And if she did not tell him this, then Elizabeth's plan would not work. And even if she did wish to stay like this forever, she was on something of a short schedule.
"We must be at the church by noon!" she exclaimed, realizing once more that she had not said exactly what she should have said. She rushed on, not giving him the time to do anything. "No, no, that came out all wrong as well," she said, pulling herself from his arms and walking to a safe distance across the room. "Let me explain. First I will say that I most definitely would like to explore… that," she faltered, not being able to come up with a sufficient word for their kiss. "But not just yet. We must get to the church soon. Elizabeth is determined to marry Darcy and he will not because of, oh I don't know why! But she will have her way with this Jon, and I mean to help her. And you promised me anything! And so you have to help me!"
Richards' eyes, which had previously held uncontained joy, switched coldly to confusion and then restrained anger as her words tumbled forth. At least she had said that she would be open to exploring the kiss. And he knew she would, he had seen it in her eyes. So putting that all behind him, for now, he tried to make sense of her declaration. "And why must we go to the church?" he asked calmly.
"Why, to get the preacher of course."
"Yes, of course." He pulled out his pocket watch. "It is ten past eleven. We have plenty of time till twelve. Why not explain this plan to me more thoroughly?"
She leapt across the room and yanked at his arm, pulling him towards the door. I'll explain on the way over there. We don't have nearly as much time as you think!"Perplexed, he followed her out of the door, hoping that she would prove good on her vow to explain to him on the way to the church. When they stepped out onto the street, he took her hand through the crook of his arm, pulling her just a little bit closer than he might of dared to before. She looked up at him, noticing the slight change, and smiled brilliantly.