Chapter 6: Summer Lovin'
Oxford, August 2002
xXx
River Cherwell
"So, punting is your idea of romance?" laughed Lizzy, her eyebrow teasing him.
It had driven him mad for months, that eyebrow... the need to kiss it. Then he remembered he could kiss it now. So he did. And then he pulled her even closer to him, hands firmly round her waist, and kissed her lips for good measure. Lizzy twined her arms around his neck and smiled up at him.
"You don't think this is romantic?" he smirked.
(There was some more kissing.)
"I wasn't aware this was punting, Will."
"How would you know? It's disgraceful that you've never been punting. How can you even call yourself an Oxonian?" replied Darcy, in his haughtiest voice. It irked Lizzy a little that she found that voice adorable now; Thomas was right, she was getting soppy!
"I do apologise Sir, I am but a humble lady. Perchance would you condescend to properly instruct me in the ways of this mighty city?" She replied cheekily, darting out of his way as he attempted to tickle her in response.
"Oh dear Sir, I fear that was most improper."
"I'll improper you in a minute!" cried Darcy as he gave chase down the riverside path.
"Mr Darcy!" she gasped as he caught her, breathing heavily from her run, "How dare you put your hands on my person."
"Lizzy..." he warned her.
"Will?" He loved that challenging look too. "Don't you know my courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me?!"
He laughed. "How can you expect other people to stop bringing up Pride and Prejudice if you insist on doing it yourself?"
"Someone recently told me I would get teased anyway, so I should stop trying to avoid it. It's quite fun! Plus, if you insist on being haughty, I don't think I have a choice."
"I think that is called impertinence!"
He decided he liked it just as well his namesake, and responded as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do.
xXx
Summertown
Thomas and Georgie were playing in the garden of Darcy's house, under the supervision of Georgie's au pair. Lizzy took a deep breath as Darcy knocked on his grandmother's door. She knew that, of all his family, this was the important introduction. His grandmother hadn't been well enough to take care of the Darcy children after her son's death, but she had insisted on moving to Oxford to provide a loving presence nonetheless. Will was very fond of her. He smiled at Lizzy reassuringly.
"Nan? I've brought Lizzy to see you."
Mrs Darcy was a very skinny, very wrinkled old lady. She sat by the window, with a scrabble board on the table in front of her.
"Will you play?" she asked Lizzy.
"Yes, of course."
"Good girl. Come sit here and let me get a look at you. Fitzwilliam can make himself useful and sort out some tea while we have a game and a chat. Go pick up some buns from the bakery first, love."
Darcy didn't look too keen on this idea, so Lizzy nodded at him while his Nan made shooing motions with her hands. Mrs Darcy clearly wanted to interrogate her, she might as well get it over with. Only her Grandad Walton was still with them, and he wasn't the full shilling anymore, so she wasn't sure what to expect.
Lizzy laughingly refused to tell Darcy what they talked about, but when he came back she was calling his Nan Mary, so he guessed it must have gone ok. His Nan told him he better not split up with Lizzy, because she thought she might prefer granddaughters to grandsons, and he knew it had.
xXx
The Turf Tavern, Holywell St
Lizzy looked over at Will, laughing with her friends, and wondered how she has ever thought him uptight. She and her friends were celebrating their A-level results (all went as planned for her and Jane, thankfully), and it was an incredibly girly evening. Darcy wasn't just holding his own, but was charming everyone around him. And he was hers. She was so proud of him.
xXx
The Trout Inn, Wolvercote
Lizzy stretched, basking in the sun, and watched Jamie and Jane chat softly, a soft smile on her face. Jamie had a break in his choral schedule and was staying with Darcy for the week. The four of them had spent the morning biking the canals and were now ready to enjoy a well earned pub lunch. She felt very grown up and happy.
Lizzy sensed Darcy's presence a few seconds before he dropped a kiss on her hair and placed the tray of ciders on the table.
"I've told them we want food, as well." he informed the table, not that Jane and Jamie were listening, before sitting beside Lizzy and taking her hand.
"This was a brilliant idea, Will." Lizzy beamed at him.
"It's nice isn't it?"
"I can't believe I've never been here before."
"I can't believe how many places in Oxford you've never been before! How've you lived here eighteen years?" Darcy laughed.
"Getting Dad to leave the house is hard enough, and Mum's caught up with her Headington crowd, I suppose. Who else would take us?" She sipped her cider. "Young ladies shouldn't be in pubs anyway," she added primly.
"You forget we met in a club, Lizzy!" laughed Jamie. Lizzy mock-glared at him, with no effect. "How do you know about this place, Darcy?"
"Mum and Dad used to bring me here," he replied softly, "I think I learned to cycle on the towpath." Lizzy squeezed his hand.
"We should bring Georgie," she suggested. He smiled at her gratefully.
xXx
Headington
Darcy couldn't believe he was manning the tombola stall at a church summer fete! Mrs Bennet had, he felt, cornered him last week after he dropped Lizzy off and somehow talked him into it. It wasn't difficult to mind the prizes and take money for tickets, but he didn't enjoy talking to so many people. He had briefly complained to Lizzy, who had taken a break from the cake stand to bring him a drink, but she had told him it was good practice.
"How do you expect to be a psychologist if you can't talk to all kinds of people?"
"Research." he replied flatly. She laughed, gave him a peck on the lips, and sauntered off. He was staring longingly towards her when her aunties, Rose and Daisy, came up to him.
"Ooooh," gushed Daisy, "I do like to see a young man with that look in his eye."
Darcy jumped. Daisy ran her hand up his arm and squeezed. He backed away.
"Onslow used to look at me like that. He used to call me edible! You look like you want to eat Lizzy up like she's one of those cakes she's selling." Daisy giggled.
Darcy didn't know what to say. He had rethought his original opinion of Lizzy's family, but this conversation was beyond his ability to be polite. He thought he might even be a little scared.
"You know who I'd like to eat," said Rose. "That yummy vicar."
Mrs Bennet came rushing towards them. "What are you doing here? Where's Daddy?!"
"Father is in the car with Onslow," Rose told her, "and I've come to see the vicar."
"The vicar?" Fiona was shrill. Darcy winced.
"Oh, she is silly. We've come to support you of course!" Daisy corrected. Darcy knew Daisy was being kind; Rose seemed very serious about the vicar.
Jane joined them. "Aunties!"
"Oh Jane, you lovely girl, are you helping your Mum?"
"Yes. It's her first year in charge and it's really important to her."
Darcy thought Lizzy's Mum seemed anxious and ready to swoon. "Mrs Bennet, if you can have someone else look after the tombola for a little while, I can bring your sisters for tea."
"I can take over, Mum," Jane added.
"Oh Will," she cried grateful, "thank you. Please, call me Fiona. And Jane; such a good girl."
Will linked arms with Daisy and Rose and steered them towards the area set up like a little tearoom. He asked Daisy about her daughter, Stephanie, and granddaughter Kylie, and listened to Rose complain about her cheating boyfriend, who had gone back to his wife. He even braved a conversation with Rose and the vicar, which went reasonably well. He didn't quite manage not to judge but felt glad he made the effort, especially when Lizzy gave him a beaming smile and a huge hug after they saw her aunts back to the car.
xXx
Christchurch Meadow
Lizzy and Will lay on on a picnic blanket, full of good food, and feeling at peace with the world. Will was flat on his back, while Lizzy curled into him, her head on his chest and her hand playing with the buttons on his shirt. He stroked her hair and revelled in the happiness of calling her his. This had been the most blissful month of his life. They had talked a lot before, and even laughed and teased, but there had always been a barrier. Since he opened up to her at her leaver's ball, it had evaporated, and now each day was full of the joy of discovery and growing ever closer. He thought he couldn't love anyone more than Lizzy, and yet he loved her more every day. Young as they were, he knew she was it for him. She hadn't told him she loved him yet, he knew she wasn't ready, but she was so loving and so open now. She was worth any wait.
xXx
Headington
Lizzy heard laughing from her father's study and, wondering who could be in there, peeked round the door. Will was sitting playing chess with her Dad and letting him tell Latin jokes. Some girls might have felt jealous that their boyfriend was visiting their Dad without even saying hello. Lizzy just felt her heart fill fit to burst. She left them to it.
-x-
Lizzy's room, later that evening.
"Will?"
"Yeah?" He was playing with her hair.
"I'm ready for you to say it again."
"It?"
"Yeah. It."
"Oh. It."
He sat up, took her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes.
"Elizabeth Bennet, I love you."
She gazed back and the look in her eyes stunned him. He felt truly adored.
"And I love you, Will. I think I've loved you for longer than I even knew."
