The last chapter of book one!

Chapter 57: Pemberley Aftermath

Derbyshire, Pemberley, Sunday the sixteenth August. Twelfth day.

"That man has no education!" grumbled Mrs. Bennet with the strong approval of her Darcy son.

Mr. Bennet who was just studying the –lengthy– wedding contract he had signed looked up and smiled.

"Dear, he has perhaps no education but then he can easily compensate for it with the list of his titles."

He went to the end of the document.

"Let me see... Two times Count, three times Viscount, five times Baron and... Let me reckon... Ten, no eleven, times Knight. Quite impressive, don't you think?" He laughed. "Even if Jane gives him twenty one sons, they will all have a title and an estate somewhere in France..."

Fitzwilliam sniffed and forced himself to stay silent.

Being out of France while all his relatives where slaughtered by an angry mob had been quite an impressive bargain. His brother had just had to come back when everything was finished to grab for all the titles and all the wealth of all his dead relatives...

No Glory there, just opportunism...

"I see that you're thinking of your Brother, dear..."

He looked down at Elizabeth who just came back from a lengthy greeting tour of all their guests.

"How can you..."

"The frown, dear, the frown. If you go on frowning with so much disapproval in your mien it can only be because of him..."

"He grates on my nerves..."

"I know and he knows it too, and each time he sees you frown I see him smile... He's getting to you..."

"I'll..."

She stopped him immediately.

"No you won't Fitzwilliam! First he is your brother and second he is the most dangerous man you'll ever encounter. You are a nice and decent man, Fitzwilliam. He is not! He is a dangerous predator who happens to be nice only when he is looking at my sister. And I'm quite sure that he is never ever decent! So, no, Fitzwilliam, you won't!"

"I could..."

"I won't bargain on that issue, dear. I want you alive and well for the next fifty years. So no fighting with your brother..."

Mr. Bennet's voice came from behind them.

"That's sound advice, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Do not be misled by his age. He's as fit as any young man and he has far more experience in killing his fellow men that I wish you to ever have. And, last but not least, he's your elder and as such you owe him your respect..."

"I owe him nothing!" grumbled Darcy. "He's a Barbarian!"

"And when there's a fight between a civilized man and a Barbarian who wins, usually?"

Fitzwilliam shot him a dark look and did not answer.

What was the worst in that matter was that they were probably right. He was dangerous and he was aware of his strength. And Darcy had seen in his eyes that he harbored no scruples.

If they decided to fight he knew who would win.

He would probably only get a thrashing but he would nevertheless have been trounced. And that would do nothing to strengthen his self confidence...

He sighed once more and Elizabeth attacked once more.

"He's really taking pleasure at taunting you, dear. Each time he gets at you, he wins... You should take it more easily. It's not worth acquiring that ugly crease on your brow."

He immediately smoothed said brow which made Elizabeth laugh to tears.

"Mrs. Bennet, I do believe your eldest daughter is coming back..."

His wife came to his side and he pointed toward the lake.

"See, two horsemen, one white on a white mare the other red on a black stallion. It is them..."

Mrs. Bennet sighed. She was beginning to fear that he had snatched her daughter and went away to his next campaign.

"There we have an impatient son-in-law, dear.." commented Mr. Bennet.

"You mean they..." she remarked drolly.

"I'm sure they..." said he with a smile. "You'll see it in her stride. I'm sure she'll glide over the lawn as if she had wings..."

"They are married, dear, they had a right to do it..." She began to whisper. "And he waited till after the wedding. Fitzwilliam didn't..."

He winked at her.

"Did we?" He smiled and was quite satisfied to see that his wife could still blush at their impatience even twenty-three years after the fact.

"They are all married," added he. "So that is no longer a problem, is it?"

"Indeed not, but then when you speak of impatience, don't forget all the facts..."

He nodded. Indeed there were other facts...

"Which one do you prefer?" asked she after a few minutes looking at the galloping pair.

"Fitzwilliam," confessed he. "He's the son I would have raised. Geoffroy is way too difficult a man to like. Only our Jane could find in her the resources to love such a man. He scares me more than I like to admit..."

"I like them both," said she. "Fitzwilliam is tamer but Geoffrey has that impressive strength in him. When you look at him you see that nothing will ever scare him..."

Mr. Bennet laughed.

"I heard him speak of Lydia and he said that they were cut out of the same cloth since they feared nothing..."

"Don't speak of Lydia! She did disappoint me today... With her schemes, she could have spoiled her sisters' wedding!"

Mr. Bennet puffed.

"Nobody could have spoiled her sisters' wedding! We were all on another planet. I noticed nothing and neither did they."

"The people are spreading rumors like mad..."

"And what? Let them. I'm sure that before the end of this day they all will have seen your daughter's naked back without even a cape to hide it..."

"You can't be serious! Never will Jane accept..."

He smiled at her.

"You'll see dear, you'll see. She is no longer only our daughter! She is a wife now and a wife to the man who chose the very vestment you just spoke about. I'm quite sure that they will choose to shock us and the world before sunset..."

As soon as he was back with his wife, blue and white mushrooms shot out of the soil everywhere. And so many French soldiers did have an effect on the merrymaking of most. And so it happened that Mrs. Bennet was finally quite satisfied with her daughter's initiative to have her husband for herself those early three hours.

Within five minutes of her return Jane was with Elizabeth and soon they were joined by the rest of the Bennet sisters and Georgiana.

Nobody asked the question but all knew only by looking at Jane that something had happened and that that something had been as satisfying as one could imagine.

"Are French lovers as good as is rumored," asked Lydia.

Jane blushed but did not protest.

Her sisters were young but not so young as to know nothing about life. And what they knew, quite a bit if one asked, they had learned under Jane's tutelage.

"How should I know, Lydia? He was the first and I will probably never have the opportunity to compare..."

Lydia looked at the heavens. Sometimes Jane could be the most annoying of her sisters.

"Of course not! But..." She looked around and began to whisper. "Did he unleash the bliss of sexual satisfaction?"

Jane could only laugh at Lydia's choice of words. If she searched she could probably guess out of which book she found her vocabulary.

"That he did," she agreed. "And he did it more than once..."

That unleashed a salvo of giggles and comments and questions and soon they were all laughing and joking. Even Mary who would not let her usual mood rob her of the fun of the event.

"May I?"

He turned around and a slight smile blossomed on his lips.

"Of course, aren't you at home?"

"Legally, I'm at your place..."

d'Arcy's smile increased.

"Quite true, quite true. But then legality is such an interesting little piece of cheat work... You wouldn't believe what one can do with a little money and a few politicians in his pocket to get a new very 'adapted' pieces of legislation..." He winked. "Napoleon is a master legislator. He has fathomed everything around that topic... I bit quite a chunk out of that knowledge too!"

Fitzwilliam looked at the little flock of white dresses d'Arcy was looking at.

"They are beautiful, aren't they?"

d'Arcy nodded and his smile smoothed.

"That they are!" sighed he.

"Why so melancholy? Is something troubling your happiness?"

d'Arcy shook his head.

"Nothing. She's even more than I dreamed of... What makes me melancholy is seeing her with your wife."

"How so?"

"I'll move, Fitzwilliam," said d'Arcy forgetting, while lost in his thoughts, his usual arrogant tone. "And when I'm away they won't see each other for a very long time... I fear she will, one day in the future, resent my taking her away from the one person she is nearest..."

"My, my, Geoffrey," laughed Fitzwilliam accepting the opening his brother had just made. "We are really in a melancholic mood..." He looked at his brother's shining eyes. "And violently in love..."

d'Arcy looked Fitzwillilam in the eyes.

"You can't imagine how violently in love. I must force myself to stay here and not run down there to grab her and take her again to that grove..."

"Grove?"

d'Arcy didn't turn and just smiled seeing his wife and Lydia playing a sort of catching game...

"I believe it's the name to use. Lots of oaks around a pool and a spring... And the most extraordinary moss bed you can imagine." He chuckled. "I imagine that's were you took your first love. When I found it I couldn't think of anything else to do about it..."

"Difficult to find?"

"Not for me... My men passed a hundred times before the entrance without even having a hint of what was behind. Me? I just happened to walk into it..." He looked amazed. "I suppose its one of these places you find only if you don't want to enter them... The Bretagne is reputed to be full of them. But it's the first time I personally was granted entrance to one..."

This time he turned toward his brother.

"Seems my estate likes me, Mr. Darcy."

Fitzwilliam could only nod. Indeed his estate seemed to like that odious cousin –brother– of him.

He patted said brother on his shoulder.

"I hope you'll stay in that melancholic mood a long time, Geoffrey..."

d'Arcy turned around and looked at Fitzwilliam with surprise in his eyes.

"Why so..."

"Because the non-melancholic d'Arcy is an arrogant, insufferable and obnoxious prick!"

That brought out a laugh.

"You'll take note, Fitzwilliam, that you and Napoleon are of the same opinion! However he said it in Corsican which is a much more inspired language than English..."

Fitzwilliam didn't answer and just shook his head before walking back to the crowd of guests.

Already back to his old insufferable self, indeed.

"They spoke without hitting each other..."

"Of course they did," said Mrs. Bennet to her husband. "They are both gentlemen and now they are brothers. They won't hit each other..."

"Brothers often hit each other, dear. They need it to establish their place in the family."

"Those two won't need hitting each other to know who comes first. It's obvious..."

Mr. Bennet shook his head and squeezed his wife's hand.

"Those things are never obvious, dear, but the fact that Fitzwilliam went to d'Arcy and that d'Arcy even laughed while they spoke is a very good sign, indeed. Could it be that our younger son has just fathomed the reality of their situation. Won't be easy for young Fitzwilliam but it's far better that he knows where he is standing. He could even learn something from Jane's husband."

Mrs. Bennet looked at him wide eyed.

"You know that I like them both but I do doubt that there is a trace of benevolent teacher in Geoffrey."

"One can always learn by looking at a master's work. And Jane's husband is a master schemer. The only thing I really fear is his ability to make enemies..."

"Grand men do awaken jealousy in lesser men's hearts. I just hope that it will not be the case for Fitzwilliam. The way he reacted yesterday gave me a great fright..."

Mr. Bennet shook his head.

"He's is a grown man and he has Lizzie. He won't let jealousy eat his heart. But I fear that his brother's looming presence will do no good with his self confidence. It's never a good thing to feel one's inferiority..."

Mrs. Bennet pointed toward their daughters.

"Do you really believe that Lizzie and Jane will let such a thing happen? They'll see that their husbands are happy and smug. And jealous bouts are not in their plans..."

"I hope so, dear, I hope so..."

He pulled at his wife's hand.

"Let's go back and bask in everyone's jealousy, shall we?"

"With pleasure, dear, with pleasure..."

Finally they were alone.

"Now that we can speak openly," said Lizzie. "How was your first experience with your husband."

"Fantastic," answered Jane with shining eyes. "And even if it would have been the most awful experience in my life never would I admit it! Even to my beloved sister..."

"Your sparkling eyes have already betrayed you. Not to mention your springy gait..."

"My springy gait? That's surely an exaggeration, Mrs. Darcy."

"It's not, Madame d'Arcy. You do walk as if these poor sun bleached lawns had springs hidden under them..."

Jane sniffed.

"Well, if that's the case, I see no other solution then to find a place to sit... We wouldn't want all those poor serious people to divine that Geoffroy and I have already bitten said apple..."

"Only the blind under them have not seen it, dear. And since there's nothing more satisfactory in such meetings as this as gossip, I'm sure they have already heard about it..."

Jane smiled at her sister.

"Well then, no need to sit, then... Let's speak while walking to the lake..."

"With pleasure!" answered Lizzie.

They were a few hundreds yards out of everyone's eyes –Maureen and ten other blue and white bodyguards excepted– when Lizzie ask the question that haunted her.

"Could you find the grove?"

"He already knew about it! It's the place he brought me to... And you were right, it was fantastic. Did you try the pool?"

"No, that spring is cold as winter, we had the will to try it but then Kitty and Georgiana called us and we just ran out of time..."

"Indeed? We were so full of ourselves, we felt nothing of the cold. We cleaned ourselves in it just before coming back... I've never felt better in my life! Never!"

"That's because you're a wife and because you're loved! You'll see it will become even better..."

"I hope so, Lizzie, I really hope so..."

End of first part