Chapter 7:
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy was sitting by a rickety chair, staring out the window, waiting for the beautiful figure of his wife to appear. He could not believe that even an hour without her, left him feeling alone and empty. Each hour of the day he was remembering more and more, pieces of a puzzle seemed to come together but there was a big blur of all the recent memories. How recent he had no idea since he had not grasped the concept of time. And the biggest blur was his marriage to Elizabeth. He knew he loved her and he knew that she would not lie to him, but something seemed off.
He held on to those moments were the world seemed to stop existing outside of their small bedroom, like this morning, when she was reading to him. Her voice filled the room and all he could do was stare at her—oh God, she was so beautiful. He never knew he could be thus attracted to a woman, not only with his body, but with heart and soul. He was bewitched and he knew it. He may not know how they married nor what happened afterwards, but he knew that his heart was hers.
He must have missed her crossing the yard and walking into the house, for he heard frantic footsteps by the door and saw Elizabeth run inside, shut the door quickly and look around the room with fear in her eyes. She slouched her body against the door, her heavy breathing slowing down.
"By God! What is ever the matter?!" asked Mr. Darcy, standing up and walking towards her. "Elizabeth?" he asked again, as she not responded to his first question.
Lizzy could not answer, she was trying to make sense of everything that had happened. She had seen Mr. Wickham which was as odd as his smile and his knowing eyes. She knew he wanted her to hear that she should send regards to Mr. Darcy. He knew. But something about that knowledge terrified her. She practically ran back, holding on the produce for dear life. She knew he had followed her, she knew he now knew where they were. But he had not come in. But she felt his eyes on her as she walked into the house, she looked back once and their eyes met—and fear ran through her.
He was dangerous. That, she knew.
"Are we in trouble?" he asked more softly, patting her hair. She allowed him to wrap his arms around her. She could not believe how natural it felt to be held by him, to be held by anyone at this point. She had been so alone. She needed this, even if only for a moment.
"We need to get back to England" she finally spoke, her words sounding hurried. "That is where your home is and where we must go. Now. Fitzwilliam" she said, swallowing hard, "We were taken hostage by some men, I do not know who nor why, but they were armed. We escaped and they are here. I saw a man that I recognized" she said, not wanting to say his name. She did not know what Mr. Darcy remembered but she knew that they did not get along. And she did not know how these news would affect him, as his memory had been recovering so well.
"They went into the hospital the other night, I hid under the bed, and Miss Murphy notified me that another man came looking for us" she finally said, finishing her tale. She had said enough, enough to see the fear in his eyes and the despair of not having the means to do anything. "I believe they know where we are now, we must leave."
Mr. Darcy nodded, softly caressed her hair and cupping her face, gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"You are not alone, Elizabeth. I am well now. I may not have my entire memory and I may not have my full strength, but I will protect you" he said, whispering the words of reassurance. He was staring into her watery brown eyes, and he could feel her melt in his arms with his words. And at that moment he knew that his life's purpose was to take care of Elizabeth, and he would.
"Miss Murphy has managed to find us a carriage into England. She told me last night that she would bring us the details today. I do not know how long we can wait, but regardless we owe her a great deal" said Lizzy, explaining. They were in this together and she would not lie to him nor keep anymore information from him.
"I shall send her payment with one of my men" he said, sounding more like the Mr. Darcy that she knew. Proud and haughty, she thought wryly. "I do have money, do I not?" He asked with an eyebrow raised, with a chuckle.
"Indeed" she said, "quite a bit" she added, blushing, "Your estate is in Derbyshire, do you remember Pemberley?"
"Pemberley..." he said, sounding out the word. There was a tenderness in the way he said it, that she knew immediately that he remembered it. A love that strong could never be forgotten.
"I feel the same warmth of feeling I feel when I say your name, Elizabeth" he said, speaking honestly and passionately. Lizzy opened her mouth in shock, her eyes watered again at the warmth with which he spoke. "I love you, Elizabeth" he said, leaning in and kissing her softly on the lips.
This was not the first kiss Lizzy had expected. They had shared many intimate moments these past few days, but being kissed by a gentleman who loved her, while their lives were in danger, somehow, felt more profound than anything else. It was a kiss sealed with a promise.
"Mr. Wickham" said Lizzy, pulling away from the short but sweet kiss. She sensed his muscles tense. "He is here, I saw him. I do not know what he has to do with this...but...I got scared when I saw him."
"Wickham" said Darcy, feeling an anger that he had not known was possible to feel boil inside him. "He must be behind this. We must make haste and leave now."
"Fitzwilliam, wait!" she said, as he had already left her by the door and was putting on his coat. "We do not know where to go or how to find a ride home" she said, her voice controlled but wanting to tremble.
"I do!" said a voice from behind them, as Colonel Fitzwilliam barged into the room.
"Richard!"
"Colonel!"
"Darcy! Miss Elizabeth" he said in a hasty greeting, "I insisted Miss Murphy show me to your location. I knew Wickham would bring you up north. Come, we must make haste."
"Elizabeth saw him" said Darcy. Lizzy colored at his usage of her given name, and if the Colonel noticed that intimacy, he did not show it.
Mr. Darcy finished putting on his coat, slipped on his boots, which were still in good condition, and was ready to leave. He reached for Lizzy's hand, squeezed it tightly and led her out of the room. Lizzy was already dressed, with a coat, and a borrowed umbrella in hand, which she grabbed as they left their tiny room, a slice of paradise for the past two days. She wanted to look back and remember, hold on to those memories, that peace, but she could not. This tiny room had been their home away from home, their solace and now, it was gone. What happened in that room was not real and reality had hit them hard.
"Come" said Mr. Darcy, pulling her, noting her hesitation.
"Yes" said Lizzy, giving him a weak smile and nodding. They practically ran down the stairs and out the back of the house, where horses were waiting for them. The Colonel, practical as ever, had come with men. There were five men and seven horses. Lizzy stopped walking, noting their method of travel and felt sick. She hated riding horses, but wait, there were only seven?
"Mrs. Darcy will ride with me" he said to the men and the Colonel. Richard's mouth opened wide but he closed it and simply nodded. They did not even have a chance to thank their hostess nor Miss Murphy, for the Colonel threw his leg over the horse, mounting it like a soldier, and Mr. Darcy helped his wife up his horse and then mounted it, wrapping his arms and legs around her. If Lizzy felt any mortification, she had no time to feel it, for within seconds, she felt his legs kick the horse and they were off.
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Thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews! I'm already re-reading this story now as I go and honestly...its kinda good lol I'm really enjoying re-reading it and doing minor editing.
Someone mentioned about how I included the trusting how he feels vs what he remembers. So I actually got this from the book "The last letter from your lover" where the doctor tells her to trust her feelings vs memories and she realizes how she doesnt like her husband, when he comes near her, she cringes, and she trusts that. like something is missing from the puzzle. emotional memories are the last to go, they are deeply rooted in memory. so in general amnesia patients or even ppl with alzeimers might forget a person or a memory, but they will remember the feeling associated with someone or a feeling associated with a particular scenario and often the feeling is what evokes the memory to come out. (actually really cool side point, smell is the first thing to go in ppl with alzeirmers, it could be years before they show memory loss, which suggests the deep connection between smell and memory, which is true, bc often smells can you bring back to memories).
Anywho, here is another chapter! What did you think?
