To Dine at Rosings
The carriage rattled endlessly and the winding countryside was replaced with more forests as Derbyshire was left behind and Hunsford replaced it. Elizabeth sat close to Mr. Darcy in the carriage all the while, staring out the windows at the passing view. It had been about a week or two as April seventeenth came about. Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam had written to Jane and Charles Bingly as soon as possible, assuring them that they could stay at Pemberly for as long as they wished.
However, Elizabeth had not known that Mr. Darcy had written another letter and had it sent. Now the Darcy's found themselves on their way to Rosings to enjoy the company of the Lucases, the Collins', and Lady Catherine de Bourgh herself. Since it was such a long journey to Hunsford, the Darcys were invited to stay the night so Elizabeth and her husband had packed excess clothes.
Elizabeth shifted uneasily. As much as she would love to see Charlotte again, she couldn't help but feel a nervous anxiety upon entering the house of de Bourgh. Not only would Lady Catherine and her daughter be flinging insults or shooting her cold stares, but Mr. Collins himself would be boasting about his happy position in life, for it seemed he still had not gotten over the news of Lydia and Wickham running off together, forcing Elizabeth and the rest of her family into utter disgrace. Even though, Mr. Darcy, himself, had taken care of the whole thing and made sure that they were married.
"Do not make yourself uneasy, Elizabeth. Everything will be perfectly fine, and Mrs. Collins will surely be happy to see you," Mr. Darcy announced, laying his hand over hers. Elizabeth smiled and settled back into the carriage.
"What did I ever do to deserve you, William?" she chuckled. Mr. Darcy colored a bit before straightening up.
"You played the role of Miss Eliza Bennet so well that I fell in love with you," he grinned, lacing his fingers with hers. Elizabeth laughed.
"You played the role of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy so terribly, I felt pity in my heart which caused me to marry you," she shot back, smirking at Darcy's look. He laughed.
"Very well then, so long as we are married, but I had always thought you saw me as a handsome creature."
"Oh indeed I did, Mr. Darcy and still do. However, now that I know you better, I have come to realize you played the role so well, indeed, that I couldn't help but fall deeply in love with you." Their playful banter continued the rest of the way to Rosings, until they found themselves walking up the path to where they would meet the Lucases and the Collins.
"Ah, there you are, my dearest cousin!" Mr. Collins exclaimed when Darcy and Elizabeth came into view. "We had almost expected the two of you not to make it, but here you are. I could not imagine being invited to Rosings and not attending! Lady Catherine de Bourgh is such a marvelous woman, with such wonderful place such as Rosings should never be discarded!" Elizabeth and Darcy shared a look as Mr. Collins went on like that for several more minutes.
"My dear," Charlotte finally interrupted. "We should go," she urged him.
"Oh my dear Charlotte, why didn't you speak up?" Mr. Collins cried as he led them hurriedly down the path. Elizabeth had scarcely enough time to greet the others before Mr. Collins was ushering them all up the path. Mr. Darcy had resorted to walking with Mr. Lucas and Maria while Elizabeth hung back to talk with Charlotte.
"So how is your new life with Mr. Darcy? How is Pemberly?" she smiled, as she and Lizzy linked arms.
"Pemberly is wonderful, Charlotte. I'm more pleased with Pemberly and Fitzwilliam than ever," Elizabeth responded happily.
"I must confess, I always knew he'd propose to you one day. I should think you are one of the luckiest women in the world to have secured such a wealthy man so easily," Charlotte smiled. Elizabeth glanced toward her husband, hoping he hadn't heard. It was in Charlotte's nature to suspect Elizabeth to only be marrying Mr. Darcy for his wealth and fortune, for she had only married Mr. Collins in order to secure a comfortable home and roof over her head.
This act had caused Lizzy to look upon her dear friend in a different matter. No longer were they as close as they had once been. Charlotte saw things differently in marriage than Elizabeth, but Elizabeth was happy for her company all the same.
"Secured him, Charlotte? I should not think I secured him at all. I should very much like to think that I fell in love with him, not because of his fortune, but because of his generous nature," Elizabeth smiled, seeing her husband turn his head slightly as he walked ahead of her. She knew he had heard her. Charlotte noticed the faint smile gracing Darcy's lips as he continued to chat to her father.
"Well, either way I am very happy for you, Lizzy," she chuckled and slipped ahead to walk with her own husband allowing Darcy to fall into step next to Elizabeth who slipped her arm through his as they reached the great doors of Rosings.
"Generous nature, Mrs. Darcy?" he whispered in her ear as the servants allowed them entrance. Elizabeth blushed and looked up into his shining brown eyes and small smile.
"You know better than anyone how I married you for love. If I had been tempted in even the smallest way by your large fortune, I would not have turned you down when you first proposed," Elizabeth smiled up at him, making Darcy's heart pound with affection. He held his tongue, however, as the small party took off their coats, bonnets, and hats, before heading into the drawing room where they found Lady Catherine de Bourgh in her own chair as usual and Miss Anne de Bourgh next to Mrs. Jenkinson who was once again worrying about her health.
Upon seeing them, Lady Catherine instructed them all to sit, but not before flashing Elizabeth a cold stare. Elizabeth situated herself next to her husband on the couch while Maria Lucas and Mr. Lucas sat as close to Lady Catherine as possible, for they admired her greatly. When Elizabeth looked across the room, she could see Mr. Collins also sitting on the edge of his seat and wedged up to the side of the couch closest to Lady Catherine's own chair.
The conversations started easily enough. Elizabeth answered kindly when spoken to, even when most of the comments directed toward her and Mr. Darcy were rude and insensitive. Elizabeth endured it as best as she could and Mr. Darcy jumped to her defense at every given time, feeling disgust at his aunt's ill manners toward his beloved wife.
To Elizabeth, it seemed, Mr. Darcy was still Lady Catherine's favorite nephew and only had a problem with his wife. Therefore, her rude comments were almost always addressed toward Elizabeth.
"Lady Catherine, do you suppose we could have some music?" Mr. Darcy finally spoke up, after finding it harder and harder to control his temper toward his aunt.
"Music?" she gasped, before turning her head as if thoughtful. "Very well, Miss Lucas, would you care to play for us?" she inquired, turning toward Maria.
"Pardon me, madam, but I do not play very much music," Maria squeaked, feeling herself shrinking under Lady Catherine's gaze. Elizabeth tried not o giggle. Maria had always worshipped Lady Catherine and was terrified that she might do something wrong in her presence.
"You do not play much music? Come now darling, you must know the piano well!"
"I'm sorry, but I do not," she whispered, looking downcast and sad. Lady Catherine's lips pursed.
"Very well, Mrs. Collins, you may play for us then." Elizabeth watched Mr. Collins' face light up, but it soon diminished when Charlotte turned down the offer.
"I do not play at all, ma'am," Charlotte spoke up kindly, suddenly catching Mr. Darcy's eye. She smiled. "However, Elizabeth plays very well. I do believe we should allow her a chance," Mrs. Collins spoke up. Elizabeth sighed, knowing this was her husband's devious plan to make sure she kept her promise.
Immediately, Lady Catherine's eyes hardened inexplicably as she noticed the exchange between Charlotte, Elizabeth, and Fitzwilliam.
"I feel that our piano could not possibly take her fingering. She played on it last year and it has been in a wreck ever since, quite like how she is slowly tearing down Pemberly," Lady Catherine spat. Elizabeth looked into her lap, feeling hurt, but determined not to show it. Mr. Darcy's brow furrowed angrily, as he clutched the seat cushion.
"I should like to understand how the other young ladies could have played if it is in such a wreck?" Darcy spoke up, staring Lady Catherine in the eye. She huffed.
"It must have slipped my mind. If only Anne could play, she would outwit any of you at the piano, but because of her state I'm afraid playing is out of the question," sighed Lady Catherine, looking at her daughter who was holding a handkerchief up to her nose.
The conversations were slim after that, and Lady Catherine made sure to ignore the Darcys at all possible costs. At last, the party found themselves on their way back toward the Collins' comfortable home.
The Darcys agreed to stay with the Collins' for a night, since staying at Rosings was out of the question. Lady Catherine made it clear she wanted nothing of Elizabeth's sort in her house any longer.
At last, they all retired to bed and Elizabeth and Darcy kissed each other quickly on the lips before retreating to their own rooms. However, both of them couldn't sleep and were continuously tossing and turning, longing for the other. At last, Mr. Darcy got up and tip toed into Elizabeth's room. She greeted him sleepily as he climbed into bed next to her.
Elizabeth stared through the gloom at her husband whose brilliant brown eyes stayed trained on her face while his large hand brushed back her beautiful brown curls.
"I'm sorry, William," she whispered after a while. Mr. Darcy looked at his wife in confusion.
"For what, Elizabeth?"
"For not keeping my promise and playing at Rosings today. I hope it didn't disappoint you."
"I must be honest and admit it did disappoint me, but more in the sense of my aunt's disgusting character. I was barely holding it together in there, Elizabeth. Only your beautiful smile melted the ice in my heart," he whispered back, and smiled before kissing her hands.
"I can make it up to you and play at Pemberly, however, you must realize I still play very ill," she chuckled, making Darcy's heart swell with joy.
"Very well, I shall hold you to that promise, when we get home," he smiled, leaning over her and planting a very delicate kiss on her lips. Elizabeth grinned before the two of them fell into a comfortable sleep.
A/N: Alright! New chapter! Woo! Okay, so as a kind review so nicely pointed out to me, I had made a mistake in my word choice in the last chapter. I accidently wrote contempt instead of content, so I changed that for anyone who wanted to know. Sorry about that. Anyway! I hope you all like this story so far, and I really hope I'm not failing miserably as a writer. If you think I can do better, please tell me and add as much constructive criticism as you can :)
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well, and I would also like to mention that I might not get around to writing a lot within the next week because of a boat load of homework that has been dumped on my head before the holiday break.
Anyway! Reviewer thanks!:
Avanell: I'm very glad you liked it thanks for the comment :D and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well :D
Phantom's Angel 1987: Also I'm glad you thought it was cute and I hope this chapter was cute too lol thanks for the review :D
NO!: I'm not really sure if you were disappointed in the parts you said No! about or happy with them, but I sincerely hope you didn't find them disappointing :(
Liz: Thanks sooo much for catching my mistake lol I can see where that might have gotten confusing. If you find anymore mistakes in this one, do not hesitate to tell me. I usually don't notice things when I write, and sometimes notice them when I'm rereading the chapter haha. But anyway, thanks very much :D
And thanks to everyone who is favoriting my story or putting it on story alert! Thanks Thanks Thanks! :D cookies for everyone!