AN: This brings us 2 days closer to the wedding :)

(as you can see, my NaNoWriMo is going splendidly ;))

####

Saturday started with a blast of cold air when a merry, chattering troop of students traipsed into the kitchen and started dividing themselves into teams assigned to various tasks. Derek and Pat coopted Mrs Reynolds to help them put the helpers into order and soon there was a group of cleaners heading outside with secured ladders to start on the upstairs windows, another headed to the cellars to haul out the fruit still waiting to be processed while another group pulled on their jackets and left in the direction of the fall apple orchard.

Elizabeth joined them downstairs as soon as she got dressed and handed Derek the list of tasks she wanted them to cover - instructing him to refer to Mrs Reynolds' judgement in case of any doubts. When she was hastily swallowing her tea and watching Georgiana sleepily munching on her own breakfast, William joined them downstairs.

"They are still asleep" he related with a grin. "I think they were up for half the night, probably dissecting their friends and whatever happened at the dance."

"I hope that at least nobody got drunk" Georgiana sighed. "I remember our dances - well, the few that I went to - and there was always someone trying to smuggle in hard liquor. Older boys, usually, or ones who had older siblings..."

"I'm not sure I want to hear the details, but on the other hand..." William shook his head. "Anyway. You two heading out right now? I'm staying home, so I'll manage the crews, just tell me what you need to see done."

Elizabeth shook her head with a smile.

"Derek has my list. Just make sure they have access to everything and that they are done washing the upstairs windows and floors by the time we are back, I will need some quiet working time today."

He hugged her and she allowed herself to lean on him, just a bit.

"Code going poorly?"

"Quite the opposite. If I find enough time today to do what I had planned, I may be done by Tuesday, instead of Friday, so I will be able to relax a bit before Saturday" she patted his shoulder. "I will just need some quiet, no interruptions until I finish, and a pot of tea."

"I think we can guarantee that. I will text you if we need anything, but be prepared to make a short shopping run to Spar, we will definitely need more sugar than we have in the house. And lemons, a few kilos. And, I think, a big can of cinnamon. And some vanilla."

She looked at Georgiana, who shrugged and washed down her last roll with tea.

"Fine. Not sure how long it will take anyway, so just make sure the girls do any kind of homework they might have been given last week and then make sure they go out for a bit - just don't let them catch a cold, you know."

"Lizzy..." he hugged her a bit closer. "I think I can manage two teenagers for a few hours all by myself. Go. Have fun. Even... I don't know. I won't say 'do some shopping' because I don't want to sound like a typical male sending out women to have fun at the shops, but, you know. Whatever you feel is missing at the house" he frowned. "Ah. One more thing to do on Monday, visit the bank. But Georgiana has the card... Well. We will see if the team finds out we need something that Mrs Reynolds can't locate and I'll text you then, alright?"

She shook her head in slight exasperation.

"I think we can manage a small shopping trip. It will not affect our feeling of self-worth, Will. Quite the opposite. Also, I've been longing to visit the bookshop, so I will check it out today. Georgie, you ready?"

#

As Georgiana was looking for a place to park, Elizabeth wondered how much of a scandal, actually, all that would be. William was one of the main landowners and company owners in the area and, frankly, who knew how the so-called society would react to him getting hitched to her... in only a civil ceremony, to boot!

"Come on. Let's see what changes they managed to make since Thursday" her friend nodded towards the dressmaker's shop they had their appointment at. "Good thing you really wanted a simple dress... And that November is not a really popular time for weddings."

Elizabeth sighed and got out of the car.

"Yeah. Let's see."

#

"Miss Darcy!" the dressmaker greeted Georgiana happily. "The changes to your dress are ready, we can just check it and be done with it in fifteen minutes. Your dress is just being brought in..." she turned to Elizabeth as the door in the back of the store opened. "Like, exactly right now. My partner has been making corrections to it throughout the night, because yesterday we had a power failure here at the shop. Evie! Bring the dress out here?"

"Yeah, yeah" came a slightly breathy reply from the backroom. "Just let me take off my coat. They already in?"

"Yep-p" the dressmaker smiled at them apologetically. "Evie had been sitting whole night and making sure this is ready for today. If all is fine, we will just add the..."

"Lizzy Bennet!"

Elizabeth's eyes snapped from the photobook of dresses spread on the counter to the newcomer.

"Evie Martin! What are you doing here?"

"Pursuing my bloody dreams, against all wishes of my mother. You?"

Elizabeth snorted.

"The same, obviously."

She surveyed the woman holding her dress with curiosity. Still a bit more stocky than average, still in blacks and grays, still... Looking at her with narrowed eyes, trying not to laugh.

"Lizzy?" Georgiana leaned closer. "Care to..."

She snorted.

"Georgie, this is Evie Martin, the third person, from all of my various schools, that I'd classify as 'not very terrible', although she is rather terrible in keeping people updated about herself. What are you, allergic to social networking?" she asked the dressmaker. "And, Evie, this is Georgiana Darcy, my future sister-in-law, so, well... You can guess what exactly I'm doing here."

"Bloody hell" Evie gasped. "Darcy? As in, William Darcy, the king on the Pemberley hill, the most sought-after single dad in the county..." her eyes narrowed again. "Oh don't you even tell me. That kid. Yours? Going by the eyes and the fact that with a father that tall she is still... well, a shortarse."

They all stood in silence for a moment until Elizabeth giggled, Evie joining in.

"I honestly hope you didn't voice your opinion on my daughter's height in her hearing."

"I honestly hope you know me better than that, Liz" Evie bared her teeth in a wide smile. "I wouldn't say something like that to a kid, come on. Anyway... wow. I mean, really, wow. You did well for yourself, girl."

"I suppose you did, too" Elizabeth nodded towards the racks of dresses.

"Well, Berta - Berta Dobbing, here, my partner in crime - and I are trying to keep this place afloat. Good thing the shop itself belongs to me, so the cost is easier, but it is hard work. Anyway. Your dress then, milady. Come on, let's see how badly it fits!"

#

An hour later Georgiana had her dress already in a protective sleeve, hanging from a peg in the main room, where she waited as Berta was taking measurements of a five-year-old prospective flower girl who seemed unable to stand still. As Elizabeth came out in her dress, carefully pinned up in a few more places, her friend looked bored to tears.

"Come on, Georgie, tell me what you think" she said in a slightly wavering voice. "Is it... I mean, it's not exactly..."

Georgiana gave her a once-over and nodded.

"Very good. That will... Very good. Let's just hope William doesn't trip over his own legs when he sees that."

Elizabeth twirled in front of the long mirror, admiring the way the material draped.

"Evie, how did you even manage to make this? I mean, I know how long it takes to cut this amount of material!"

Her old classmate winked.

"Let me and Berta keep some professional secrets, Lizzy. I liked the challenge and now that I see it's you, it was all totally worth it. It feels good to prove non-standard stuff can be done. It's not easy to sew for someone who is at the same time short and..." Evie nodded towards Lizzy's bust. "Well, built. That's why the so-called designer lines usually don't allow much space for breathing. This one should be comfy, easy to put on, quite easy to take off" she winked "and won't show any bra straps in inconvenient places. I hate these dresses that are so fancy they don't allow for a bra underneath. So. Let's take it off you and I'll start working on the corrections. This should be the last fitting, don't worry, I should have it finished by Monday, Tuesday the latest. Do you need any accessories? Gloves, hat flowers, whatever? Do you even have a hat planned?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"No hat. No time to find one that would match. And I hate them. If you can find me matching gloves, then it would be perfect, but I can live without them... No, I think I have everything. And I do have a perfectly matching pair of shoes, fortunately."

"You could get some accessories for the girls, to give them matching colour accents" Georgiana suggested. "Maybe a pair of neckerchiefs? Rose wants to wear the navy skirt and a blazer and Mina has that dress..."

"Wait, what? Girls?" Evie frowned. "You have two kids...?"

"Twins" Elizabeth sighed. "I'll explain everything one day, hm? Maybe we could get a coffee, now that I know you live somewhere in the area? It is kind of a long explanation..."

"Coffee on Tuesday," Evie said decisively. "As a reward for finishing the job in express time, I demand a full story!"

#

Evie. Evie bloody Martin.

Elizabeth shook her head. That kind of coincidence should not happen.

"I mean, what are the odds" she whispered. "Of all people."

"That was weird" Georgiana confirmed. "Because, really, this is one big country and you two knew each other from London..."

They parked in front of the big grocery store and sat in the car quietly for a moment.

"It actually explains why she never shows in the 'your classmates are so successful' digests my mother shares with me. This back there? This isn't a success in my mother's book."

Georgiana looked understandably confused.

"Mother thinks that success is getting a bloke - which Evie obviously didn't, or at least didn't marry one - or making a heap of money in some celebrity fashion thing. Which Evie obviously isn't. Also, moving to a small town is a no-no. Unless you are filthy rich, then you can afford to be eccentric. If you are just managing to stay afloat, you are simply weird. Or stupid" she sighed. "Anyway. Evie says she gave up on social networking because all people she had linked to there treated her as if she was crazy to move out into the wilderness, but she agreed that reconnecting with me may be worth the hassle of reanimating her account. And I think I can make her a bit of a publicity - even if it's only the family. I mean, sewing these dresses for the girls was fun, but they were never my forte. Also, it's hard to make them a surprise present of clothes now that they are grown - harder to sew without taking a measure."

"And if you make them something decorative, it's forever. Clothes at this age are a thing for a year if not less."

"Well, they won't grow much taller, I'm afraid, but they will definitely need looser tops, soon."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"We should buy that sugar and go home" Elizabeth suggested reluctantly. "Not that I don't like Pemberley, but being there when the cleaning crew is in..."

"It is a bit of a disaster, yeah."

"We could buy the sugar and the spices..." she trailed off. "And maybe go get a coffee? I mean, just..."

"Skive off housework?" Georgiana giggled.

"Well, a bit? Not like we would be much help, I will not be able to work anyway until they leave and stop making all that noise and they won't be happy with another person watching them."

Georgiana only fetched her purse.

"Fine with me. Sugar, spices, lemons. I will text Mrs Reynolds, see if she needs any groceries done, and then we can go browse in the bookshop and have a coffee there. And we could check the schedule for the knitting club."

Elizabeth got out, buttoned up her coat and stretched slowly.

"The knitting club?"

"Yep. There is one, they advertise on the door. I remember seeing the ad like ages ago but never paid attention to the details. So, Spar first, then coffee? They have cakes and sandwiches, too."

"Absolutely."

#

Forty pounds of sugar, a jar of cinnamon, a packet of vanilla and five pounds of lemons, two coffees, two slices of fruitcake, an hour of leisurely conversation and several books later they were headed towards the house (with a detour to the greengrocers and the cheese shop). Elizabeth felt a tiny, tiniest twinge of conscience but, by Jove, it felt good to just stop focusing sometimes. To just let go and allow herself the day off. Well, half day.

"I just hope the house is still standing."

"Oh, Will wouldn't allow them to ruin the stupid thing too much" Georgiana took a left turn. "Uh... Can you check my phone? It's buzzing."

She fished out Georgiana's mobile and checked the text message.

"Oh... we have to turn back" she sighed. "Will wrote 'buy 20 peelers, 50 litre jars and cheesecloth', where do we buy cheesecloth?"

"No idea" Georgiana sighed. "Let's start with the peelers. That will be either Spar again or the cook shop. Or the gardening centre, they had all these wine and cheese things..."

The peelers and the cheesecloth turned out to be the easiest part, as apparently, every shop in the vicinity stocked on basic preserves supplies for the fall. Despite that, the jars were in scant supply, due to the simple fact that they were not the first buyers on that particular Saturday and all the estates in the vicinity seemed to be suffering from the surfeit of late fall apples. They managed to clean out the shelves in the supermarket, not even reaching 20l of volume, so they turned towards the Cookshop, where Georgiana managed to arrange for the shop assistant to lend them a little trolley they used to take the jars to the car and Elizabeth fell in love with a cake decorating stand.

Quite soon she found herself dragged by her collar away from the pink shelves by eye-rolling Georgiana.

"We will come back" she smiled at the saleswoman who was watching them with a slight grin. "J-just one question - do you have - Georgiana, do let go of me! - do you have some jar tongs? This kind of thing to lift..."

"Just behind you" the woman pointed out. "You are definitely going to have a very busy week, I see."

"Oh, you have no idea" Elizabeth confirmed, pulling out her purse. "No idea."

#

The house was still standing, the windows were gleaming, the girls were in the thick of it, sitting with the group of students in the kitchen, peeling the apples like crazy. There was a station in the corner where two persons were washing the apples (rather carefully), another one for two checking the apples for spots and then a long table of people peeling, cleaning, coring and cutting up the apples, with bowls being sent down the table, where large pots were waiting and Mrs Reynolds was overseeing the apples being mixed with sugar and slowly turned into pie filling.

Their offering of sugar and glassware was received with enthusiasm, but the peelers were apparently the most important purchase they had made, as some people exchanged their knives for peelers with alacrity as soon as the new tools were washed. Several trips to the car were made and soon she and Georgiana were shooed out of the kitchen with an order to have some rest and not worry about anything.

"Dad said you should just go upstairs and try to relax. No checking on the progress, no micromanagement" Mina pushed Elizabeth out and in the direction of the stairs. "We will be bringing you your tea in a moment and all you have to do is relax and code. We will manage everything."

She grinned to Georgiana, who was already up the first flight of stairs.

"Fine, fine... Just..."

"No just. And Dad said to make sure you don't try to go to the cellars to check on the storage or anything. You have work to do and are going to be provided with all needed resources. Starting with tea. In ten minutes. Up, up. We stay down here and we'll help with the cleanup and everything."

"And yes, we did our homework and our stuff is packed for Monday" added Rose from the door. "And Mom, you should put on these headphones, because I will be booting Mina out in like half an hour for her practice session with aunt Georgiana and if you don't want to spoil the surprise for herself..."

"OK, OK! I'm going! I'm going!"

She exchanged glances with Georgiana, who simply rolled her eyes and disappeared in her room.

####

Sunday morning was full of noises from the general direction of the kitchen and some more from the girls' room, but in their bedroom, they were resting, warm and content. He hated the fact that he was about to shatter that peace, but there were two more points to be discussed...

"Liz," he nudged her shoulder. "Liz?"

"Mmm?" she raised her eyes from the book in front of her.

"Liz, we have to..." he sighed. "We have to talk about money. I know it's a touchy topic..."

"Touchy?"

"Painful?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Now, it would be best if we signed..."

"William!"

"Just... please, listen to me?"

She had set the book aside and sat up, drawing a cardigan around her shoulders.

"It would be best if we signed a prenup. I know you weren't happy with the last one, although I'm not sure what it was... but, for clarity, I asked my lawyer to prepare a good draft, so you can have a look. We can discuss each item separately then and you can tell me what you want to change."

"No," she said quietly. "You will tell me with your own words. I need to hear it from you."

He looked up at her shaking shoulders and laid what he hoped was a calming hand on one of them.

"Fine. Not a problem. It's not very complex, so..." he trailed off, tracing a pattern on her forearm. "The house is maintained from an investment fund. It had been established by my grandfather and is quite self-sustaining by now, so unless the international trade crashes in some spectacular way, Pemberley doesn't need a penny from our everyday incomes. The grounds are supported by a foundation that uses the gardens to maintain certain rare flowers and invites classes of gardeners for hands-on experience in spring and in summer. We don't sell - well, not yet - the produce or the flowers, of course, but they are used in the house - like everything from the orchard or the herb garden. And, of course, we decorate the house with the flowers, in the season. There is also a separate account used for all the everyday house expenses, including anything bought on a larger scale, like the furniture or bulk amounts of supplies. This part is, I hope, obvious - we need to sign this in order to ensure that under no circumstances are your private resources being used for the estate purposes, taxes or any other matter. I don't want you to be importuned by some idiot who decides that they can claim your money is somehow part of the estate assets. Now, the new house has been separated from the original grounds and will have its own address, plot number and so on. I've set up a separate account for the upkeep and estate matters, so again, in case there is some kind of mishap, a wrong calculation of any sorts, none of us would get inconvenienced by having our private money blocked..."

"Will?"

"Mhm?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The prenup...?"

"But..." she sat up straighter and looked at him, a deep frown marring her forehead. "But you say the account for the house has been set up by your grandfather..."

"Quite definitely. The lawyers can dig up the original document if you wish to see it..."

He saw her lips trembling, pulling into an unhappy bow.

"But, this means it was already in place thirteen years ago...?" her voice was now shaking, too.

"Absolutely. This part is copied almost verbatim from that old prenup, nothing changes here."

"B..." she squeezed her eyes shut. "But why..."

"Liz?" he abandoned the thick file on the floor to grasp her shaking hands. "Elizabeth, what is wrong?"

"That's not what I was supposed to sign" she managed finally. "I remember, there was a passage about me contributing to the upkeep in an equal manner..."

"What?!"

#

It took a while for him to calm down.

Yes, he believed her implicitly.

Yes, he trusted her recall.

No, he couldn't imagine what Aunt Catherine might have been thinking. Well, apart from the obvious. And, well, she did succeed, bloody meddling...

No, he couldn't forgive himself for not having made sure Elizabeth had read what he had brought home from the lawyer's office.

Apparently, either Anne or her mother were sneaky enough to replace the dry, but quite agreeable document with something so inflammatory Elizabeth just couldn't stand it. Considering the state of the both of them at the time (what with her not sleeping the nights through and him... not as appreciative of her efforts as he should have been) they never actually discussed it. They just argued, in little biting exchanges, never really saying what they meant. And, in retrospective, they both had a talent for, in equal measures, not talking in a straightforward manner and hearing what was not being said.

Now, they ended up on the bed, with him half-lying, propped on the headboard and Elizabeth curled up on top of him, shivering just a bit. A thick afghan was pulled over the both of them and he held onto her with both hands.

"How... How are we going to ever be free of them? This is never going to end. Every time I think we are finally done and... something like this happens. How can we actually live our lives normally? Not to mention dealing with other members of our families who can't stand the very idea of an us..."

"Well, of all the toxic people, you've managed to pacify your parents rather effectively, aunt Catherine and Anne are in custody and I don't see Lydia stirring herself to come up here."

"Now without betraying herself to Jane first, no."

"If uncle Harry decides to grumble, Richard is determined to terrorise him into silence, if not acceptance. The only real risk I can foresee is your sister Kitty trying to emasculate me with an ice-cream scoop. She always seemed a bit too... Intense."

She hugged him a bit closer.

"I think we will be fine," he gathered her in a tighter embrace. "As long as we have the girls and they are fine with us as us, we should do exactly as it fits us, not someone else."

"Alright," she sighed "tell me the rest."

There were several more special accounts linked to his name that were set up de facto for business or estate purposes, from the employee salary fund to the separate account just for the maintenance of antique decorations of the interior of the house.

"Now, your own money - whichever source of them - should be completely safe from any kind of company or house related catastrophes, and I will ask an accountant and a lawyer to manage our tax returns, just to make sure we are not risking you losing out on this whole marriage business. I hope you don't mind that, but with the amounts we are talking about I'd much rather have a professional do that, truly."

He felt her holding her breath, but then she nodded.

"It would be good, yeah," she said finally. "I have always been uneasy when doing my own taxes, especially if I had multiple sources of income... I know most grownups figure it out around their second year in a paid job..." she shrugged.

"No worries. This is a very nice partnership they have, a tax advisory for slightly complicated cases. They helped three years ago when Georgiana got awarded compensation money for a copyright infringement some magazine that had printed her article without credits or a proper payment... Well, anyway. They are good and they don't expect the customer to know everything about the law..."

They sat in silence for a moment, but he felt her growing antsy.

"There is more" she suggested.

"Yes, oh perceptive one. I asked them to add a paragraph on the rules if you are ever employed in any of the family businesses - because Pemberley is a business, too, after all - to make sure your salary or income from that source is, again, your own and separate from any cost or profit the initiative would produce."

"So..." she licked her lips. "That's it?"

"More or less. There is some stuff regarding what will happen depending on which of us dies first and so on, but..."

His lips were suddenly and very pleasantly shut with a kiss.

"Don't," she said simply. "I don't even want to consider that. Let me read the whole thing, but don't mention this aloud. Understood?"

He nodded slowly, mesmerised by the way she moved, straddling his legs and leaning over him.

"One more thing..." he managed to murmur. "The house accounts... All the adults have cards - and there is one for you, waiting at the bank... tomorrow..."

"Mhm, tomorrow" she nodded absently, plucked the papers from his hand, replacing them haphazardly on a side table and removed his glasses. "Right now, I find myself in a sudden state of need of some reconfirmation..."

He was more than willing to oblige.

####

Mina felt a little disappointed with the lack of any interesting festivities on the 5th of November, but it was not going to spoil her mood. She had spent a wonderful Saturday morning on helping Dad (together with Rose) on their big surprise and then the lunchtime and long into the afternoon with the students, who, after a while, lost all their inhibitions and started sharing some rather risque stories, forgetting about the presence of the "little ears" at the table. This whole thing turned out to be unexpectedly entertaining for a weekend-long session of housework and, together with Rose, they had even had a chance to explore parts of the basement normally closed to them.

Mid-afternoon Rose had sent her upstairs, as promised, and she spent the rest of the day practising the songs they had chosen and then, joined by Rose, cleaning their working room.

Sunday from dawn was again spent in the kitchen, but she only managed to breathe with relief once Dad showed up and announced he and Mom would be leaving for a short trip "to air their heads" and then could be seen packing Mom into the car and driving away.

"Good" Mrs Reynolds sighed. "Can't be sure she won't find it by accident. Now you two can run upstairs and straighten everything and clean your bathroom! And prepare your outfits for Saturday, because I'd rather not find out one of them needs mending two hours before the ceremony. And neither would your mother!"

Well, the outfits were clean and ready, hanging on the door of their wardrobe in their protective sleeves, their rooms were reasonably clean (but not too much, to avoid drawing suspicions) and there was no trace anywhere of the preparations that took them the entire half of Saturday.

"We could go and see how the group in the gardens is doing" Rose suggested. "As long as we don't get ourselves roped into picking sloe or whatever, I think I'd rather be outside."

Mina shook her head and took out the tablet.

"I need to practise the carol" she sighed. "I mean, I love it, but with the songs for the wedding and everything..."

"Well, you need to practise the wedding songs, too. And now you have the chance, Mom is out and aunt G is home. And there is only one week left..." Rose grimaced. "I think I will be happy as a ringbearer. I just have to show up, not lose them, stand still and not smile too stupidly. No rehearsal or practice needed."

Mina shook her head and put the tablet away.

"Yeah, the wedding songs are a higher priority. I wish... Maybe I just shouldn't do that carol thing? Isn't it a bit too much? I mean, people may start thinking I'm some kind of a show-off, if I sign up for everything like that."

Rose's arms went around her and she found herself hugged tightly.

"You are not a show-off, you just like singing. So you sing. If anyone says you are showing off, well, they are jealous. I used to take a lot of time to ride Star and there were some people complaining about me getting awards and stuff - not that many, but..." she shrugged.

"Why aren't you doing anything this year? I mean, I think there is an event like, every weekend..."

Rose rolled her eyes and flopped back onto her bed.

"First, I was away all summer and September. Then you were sick. Then we were all kind of running around and trying to understand stuff. Then there was your singing competition. And suddenly we are preparing for the wedding and still trying to pick up things at school and Dad had all these problems with the company... I was mostly riding her around the grounds, to give her some exercise, but I don't think I will have much time for practising anyway. Next weekend it's the wedding, then it will be all the craziness with Christmas preparation and stuff, so..."

"Rose" she patted her sister's hands. "Once they are done with the wedding craziness, you have to talk to Dad about it. Because like it is, you are... I don't know. Losing this. I mean it. I'm not a particular fan of Star, or any horse, but she is yours and you should be riding her, because it's your thing and you have to keep at it. I know it's more hassle than singing - I mean, I can sing anytime I like, no preparation needed - but you have to make time for her. And Dad is the only one who can help you with it, right?"

She felt Rose nodding against her shoulder.

"So you have to organise it. Or get him to help you with it. Once this all calms down, go and talk to him if there are any events this year or next that you can prepare for. I will be the first one to admit I know nothing about this stuff, but you two do. So you two discuss and find something. Are we clear?"

Rose drew a shuddering breath.

"Clear," she breathed softly. "I'll talk to Dad. But you keep practising, with aunt Georgiana, with Mom or by yourself, but you keep singing, clear?"

"Clear."

"Twins, not clones."

"Twins, not clones."

####

So? :)