Letters

Jaina Kenobi


Darcy was torn between whether to laugh or shake his head at Elizabeth's letter. Eventually, he settled on both while he wrote his reply.

My darling wife:

Do not trouble yourself on the length of your letter, Elizabeth. I greatly enjoyed your tidings and can only wish I had something of equal interest to impart. Unfortunately, my business is dry and boring even to myself, and I fear that sending you a letter filled with the details of my daily life would serve only to put both of us to sleep. Your letter, on the other hand, was quite entertaining.

I am glad that your father has come to Pemberley again. You know he is welcome whenever he likes, and I should be glad to know that he will delay his return to Longbourn until I can come home and greet him myself. The added pleasure of knowing that his extended stay would give you joy also spurs my invitation, of course, as I am sure you would have suspected.

But, Lizzy, do not think me ignorant of what you were trying to accomplish with that letter. I read the overtones of your concealed information in every line of that missive. You cannot have expected that I would not, of course. I can offer nothing in reply save an acknowledgement of your efforts and a reminder that I cannot return home any sooner than I had originally planned, no matter how it pains me to be away for so long. If you would like to travel to London and give me your news, that is your prerogative, though something tells me that you would argue the impossibility of such an action, due in large part to the very secret you are so anxious to tell. I can read between the lines better than you might think, my dear.

Be that as it may, I am still stuck in London until this business is finished, and it will be finished much faster if I leave off my letter-writing and return to the matter at hand. Send my love to Georgiana and my respects to your father, if you would be so kind.

Yours,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

If she only knew the pain she was giving him! Oh, he would tolerate it happily, for it clearly amused her to tease him, and he did usually enjoy her teasing. But now, all it did was pain him, to imagine all those he loved most at Pemberley, enjoying the beautiful weather and each other's company, without him there. And to hear Elizabeth's voice as she teased him, to see that sparkle in her eye... she would make him guess at her secret, he knew, but he suspected that it was nothing more than that she was not, as he had half feared when she had begun to seem ill, dying of some strange disease. Of course, reasonably, he knew that she was in no danger, but the mere idea of being forced to watch his wife die as he had been forced to watch his mother die, and being helpless to do anything but watch, was far too terrifying for him to be rational about it. But in her letter she seemed happy, even joyful, and he had no reason to fear that her news was serious.

Still, he reflected as he went to bed that night--alone again--he would be most grateful if this little mess would simply resolve itself and leave him free to go home to his wife.


Poor Darcy, he would feel much worse if he knew what his wife had gone through. Of course, if he knew, my story would have no point whatsoever. Admittedly, it hasn't got much of a point now, but what little point it has would be quickly destroyed by that. Plot? You mean this thing was supposed to have a plot?

Anyway, hopefully you're enjoying this. I think there are only 3 letters left (not certain, everything is subject to change) and then, of course, we get to see what the effects of those letters are, which will probably take a chapter after that. So, if things don't change too drastically, there are about 4 chapters left. If you're keeping count.

Jaya