Darcy and I alighted from the carriage at the front of town hall. A stable boy came around to us and took the horse and carriage. Darcy took my arm and we walked slowly into the ball. I was slightly nervous. What Darcy had said before finally sunk in: I was going as a guest, not as a servant. I couldn't just melt into the shadows and serve punch all evening. I would be receiving the punch this time, and dancing. Dancing. Over the past few years I had learned to dance vicariously, but I had never actually attended a real dance. As though he sensed my discomfort, Darcy tucked my arm more securely in his, and gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back, and slowly felt my unease melt away.
We walked through the massive double doors, and then Darcy whisked me into the main room. It was massive, it seemed large enough to fit the entire population of Manhattan! I couldn't help but gape like a country bumpkin. The lighting and decorations were very impressive as well. Lady Catherine's house may have been grand, but I now realized it was grand in a very dull way. I had never been to a ball such as this, most of the ones I had served at previously were private balls, so they were much smaller.
Lively music was playing, and I could see the musicians in the balcony overlooking the dance floor. Two lines of dancers faced each other, bouncing away merrily. The room was very crowded, and those who weren't dancing were being pushed right up to those who were. It was crowded, and the room quite warm, but everyone was smiling and laughing.
The happy atmosphere was beginning to lift my spirits, and I found myself smiling. Darcy didn't bother trying to mingle, and I was glad for it. Instead, he pulled me right up to the dancing couples and we watched the rest of the dance.
"Can you dance?" Darcy practically had to shout in my ear.
"Yes, I can dance. Not all of them, but most," I replied.
Darcy nodded, and the music ended. Everyone clapped for the musicians, and then they struck up a new tune. People grabbed partners and couples scrambled back onto the dance floor.
I turned to Darcy a little hesitantly, "I know this dance; I recognize the music."
Darcy grinned at me, and then pulled me onto the floor. We lined up with the other couples and the dance began. I had to think hard to remember the steps, so I watched the other dancers closely. I could see the Darcy was having to do the same thing to a certain degree, but then we both fell into the pattern. The dance was exhilarating and the music was wonderful. I had never actually danced like this before. I felt truly free.
We danced the next dance as well, but I was not familiar with the third so Darcy led me to the refreshments table. He looked at me, suddenly unsure.
"What?" I asked.
"Do you drink?" he asked.
"I've never drunk that much, no. But I can drink," I assured him.
He handed me a glass of wine. I took a sip and found that it wasn't that bad. We managed to find a spot against the wall that wasn't crowded with talking people, and we stood there while sipping our wine. Eventually we began to make our way around the rooms, and I was able to take in the size and splendor of them all. We started back in the entrance hall, and began to work our way around the rooms we had access to.
There were chandeliers in each room, and so many candles that there was no place for shadows. All the ladies were wearing white, and I was very glad for my dress choice earlier that afternoon. We quickly figured out the purpose for each of the three rooms, the first was the entrance hall and general mingling area. The second was the main hall, where the dances took place. And the third room was especially for refreshments.
As we were walking about the rooms, another couple approached us.
"Darcy!" The man called out, and Darcy turned toward him.
Surprisingly enough, Darcy greeted the man with a smile and a bow. "Fitzwilliam!" Darcy said, much to my shock and slight horror.
Fitzwilliam? I stared at the man. He looked nothing like the filthy mountaineer who had bought me. In fact, he appeared to be quite the gentleman, but looks could be deceiving. I had to admit though, he looked quite good once he was cleaned up, young even. He didn't appear a day over thirty at the most.
Fitzwilliam turned to me and bowed, and I grudgingly curtsied in return.
"Miss Lizzy, how good to see you again," Fitzwilliam said, yet I noticed the embarrassed way he seemed to say it. Perhaps he felt bad for treating me the way he did when we first met?
"It's Mrs. Darcy now, Fitzwilliam," Darcy said, placing a hand on my elbow.
Fitzwilliam congratulated us,and he and Darcy launched into a conversation. I tried to listen politely at first, but didn't understand much of what they were saying, they spoke quite a lot of business, and I gathered that neither of them were quite as poor as they had first appeared to be. I busied myself with looking about the room and watching everyone. There were so many types of people here. Some looked kindly and decent, but others appeared as though they were skilled highwaymen, they way they shifted about. It was slightly unnerving, and I unconsciously stepped nearer to Darcy.
"May I have this dance?" I looked up, startled, to see that Fitzwilliam looking at me expectantly.
"Of course," I said, and he took my arm.
We danced in silence at first, but then Fitzwilliam spoke, "I feel that I must apologize for treating you as I did when we first met. I have no excuse for my behavior, and only hope that you can forgive me."
I could feel myself warming slightly to the man, "I do forgive you, and I'll admit that I didn't exactly appear to be a respectable young woman," I replied with a smile.
We danced in silence for a while longer, before Fitzwilliam spoke again, softly this time,"I am truly happy for you and Darcy. It's about time the man has had a woman in his life that he can trust."
The dance ended then, and Fitzwilliam led me back to Darcy, who had been watching us dance. Fitzwilliam took his leave, and I was left to puzzle over his last sentence. It made me all the more curious about Darcy's past.
An hour later, Darcy and I had danced many more times, and I was just finishing my second glass of wine. My head felt light, and I felt the slightest bit dizzy. Darcy seemed to be feeling the effects of the wine as well, as I had noticed him smiling at me more throughout the evening.
"Are you ready to go?" Darcy asked.
"Yes," I replied.
We managed to get back to the hotel safely, and back up to the room. Darcy opened the door to my hotel room, and walked in. I followed, but tripped and fell into his arms. I was giggling insanely, and Darcy smiled. Darcy tried to set me up right but my shoe caught on the edge of my gown, and I almost went down again. Darcy caught me and pulled me against his chest while I scrambled for my balance. I suddenly realized that Darcy's face was right next to mine, he seemed to realize the same thing and we stared at each other. I felt the overwhelming desire to kiss him and without even knowing what I was doing, leaned in slightly.
Darcy mimicked my motion, until our lips were merely an inch apart. In a sudden bold move, probably inspired by the wine, I stretched up the rest of the way, and kissed him lightly. I pulled away and immediately felt embarrassed. I tried to pull away but Darcy only held on tighter, leaned down, and kissed me. This kiss was different. It started out chaste but soon built up to something more. We were moving then, Darcy managed to swing the door shut, and maneuver us farther into the room.
His lips were soft as they caressed mine, and I felt a thrill run through me. His arms curled around my waist tighter, and one hand pressed against my back, holding me against him. Somewhere along the way I had wrapped one arm around his neck and my other hand gripped his shoulder.
Darcy broke away just as suddenly as he had kissed me, and we both stood there breathing heavily. He then let me go and took a step back. I felt suddenly scared; worried I had done something wrong.
Darcy looked horror stricken, and I could feel a strong wave of shame begin to wash over me. "I apologize," he then said breathlessly, "I should not have taken advantage like that."
I looked at him, "There is nothing to apologize for. You didn't take advantage of me. I kissed you first, after all, so I'm sorry," I said, a little unsurely.
"No, you did nothing wrong," Darcy hastened to reassure me, "I should retire to my room."
He turned to leave, "Wait!" I called softly, "Stay here tonight. Please? You can sleep here, it is our last night," I then realized what that sounded like, "I don't mean…like that. I mean merely, stay here.…" I trailed off miserably, telling myself to stop speaking before I made even more of a fool out of myself.
I heard Darcy move toward me, and looked up to see him approach me hesitantly.
"I know what you meant," he said softly, and then smiled, "There is no need to be embarrassed. I will stay here, and I will not attempt to take advantage, I assure you."
Darcy turned his back to me and removed his jacket and shoes. I quickly turned away and wiggled out of my gown and draped it over a chair, and then pulled my nightgown over my head. I turned back around to see that Darcy had kept his back turned the entire time I was changing. He hadn't bothered to change into his night clothes, merely remaining in his pants and white shirt.
"I'm decent," I said, and then darted over to the bed and crawled under the covers. Darcy went around to the opposite side, looked at me, and then climbed into the bed as well. I could feel the wine and the late night making my head heavy, and I could also feel rational judgment once again slipping away.
We both lay there for a few minutes, the silence becoming quite uncomfortable. I rolled over to face Darcy, and saw that he was already looking at me. I hesitantly scooted toward him until I was right next to him and could feel his breath on my face. We stared at each other for several moments, before he tucked his arm under my head, and I melted into his side with his arms wrapped around me.
I rested my head on his shoulder and my arm draped itself across his chest. I was beginning to drift off to sleep when I had a sudden thought.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"For what?" he asked, his voice just as sleepy as mine.
"For being nice to me, and for today. For everything."
"You've already thanked me for this once before," he reminded me.
"I know, but I wanted to thank you again."
We were silent for another minute, and then I had another question, "Why are you being so nice to me?"
I looked up to see him staring thoughtfully at the ceiling, "Because I now realize that I was wrong about you. I apologize for some of the things I sad when we first met," he looked me right in the eye as he spoke. "And I deeply apologize for everything that you've had to go through since coming to live with us."
"It's not your fault; living with you and Georgie has been the most peace I've had since my family- my adopted family- was alive," I mumbled into his shirt.
He seemed to tense when I said this and he seemed pained about something when I looked up at him.
"Did your adopted family treat you like you were really their daughter?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, they always did. My mother treated me the exact same way she treated my siblings. And my brothers and sisters treated me as a sister. I never had any reason to suspect…" I trailed off, and felt a wave of sadness wash over me for the loss of my family. "What about you?" I asked. "What is your story?"
Darcy lay very still for a long time, "My father died five years ago, and I was left in charge of my younger sister, Georgiana," he paused, and swallowed hard before continuing. "Georgiana met and fell in love with a foot soldier named Wickham. He tried to persuade her to elope with him, but when he found out that he would not receive a penny of her inheritance, he disappeared. Georgiana was crushed, and the situation only became worse when she learned that she was pregnant. We managed to hide her condition for several months, until not even the loosest dresses could hide it. We told society that she had come down with a fever, and she stayed either inside or on the estate for the next couple of months.
The situation was dire indeed, but only grew worse when she went into labor prematurely. She developed complications during the birth," Darcy swallowed again, and I could tell that this was hard for him to tell.
"She died soon after the childbirth," Darcy whispered, "The baby survived. She was able to hold her daughter before she died, and made me promise to take care of her child and not let Wickham know of her, lest he try to take the child away in another attempt to gain her inheritance. The child, as you probably have already guessed, is Georgie. I named her Georgiana, after her mother, but call her Georgie because to say Georgiana reminds me too much of my sister."
He stopped then and stared at the ceiling, lost in his memories. I stared at him, shocked at his story. Everything suddenly made sense, why he was living in America, and why he was so private about his life. His relatives and connections, his money, and his protection of Georgie, everything made sense.
"And so you moved to America to hide Georgie?" I asked.
"Not only that," Darcy paused again, searching for how to phrase what he was trying to say, "I didn't want anyone to slander Georgiana's name. As far as anyone else knew, she died of a fever. Not even Wickham knows that she was pregnant," he stopped then, and hesitated. I felt he wasn't telling me something, but then he continued. "I moved, to protect Georgiana's name and to hide Georgie from Wickham and to keep her from being torn apart and scorned by all of society. I truly love my niece, and I am not doing this because I am ashamed of her existence," he turned and looked me in the eye, "I hope you understand that."
I nodded, "I've seen you with her, and how you dote on her."
He nodded, and then absentmindedly brushed his lips across my forehead. I closed my eyes, and felt my head grow increasingly heavy. I curled myself more securely into his side, and his arms tightened around me. I noted just before I drifted into slumber how well we fit together and how nice sleeping next to him felt.
Hey guys! I just wanted to mention that I've been watching a web series on Youtube called "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries." It's a modern take on Pride and Prejudice and I think a lot of you guys would like it! As always, thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts on my story. My beta and I love reading your reviews!