Lizzy stood watching Mr. Darcy's figure disappear into the crowd and turning away she prayed that her unstable composure would hold firm till she too could make a retreat. Turning to watch the newlywed's carriage ascend over the hill she was forced back into reality by her mother's voice.
"Lizzy we must away! Lizzy what is wrong with you, you look faint. Come, come I cannot having you ruining your sister's day by fainting on the church lawn." Mrs. Bennet continued to pester Elizabeth as they made their way to the waiting Mr. Bennet.
"Mama I am well." Lizzy protested to no avail. "Papa please believe me I am well enough to walk back to the house now."
Mrs. Bennet interrupted. "I will hear no more on the subject! Mr. Darcy has already secured you a ride in his carriage."
Lizzy now agreed that her mother was correct. She was about to faint!
"Mr. Darcy you say?" Lizzy began to nervously look around as if waiting for another attack.
"Yes, yes Mr. Darcy, Lizzy. He just made his wishes known to your father after suspecting you had grown weak from the excitement of the day. He truly is the best sort of gentleman. How lucky we are to have made such a connection." Mrs. Bennet beamed ignoring the now look of horror fixed on her daughter's face.
"Mama please. Let me travel with Kitty and Mary, or you and Papa."
"Lizzy that can simply not be done. Your sisters have already left for the party and there is not enough room in our carriage. I have heard enough on the matter, we will all be late if we do not leave this instant!" Mrs. Bennet turned and walked away with her husband following behind, a look of empathy on his face.
The wedding guests were thinning out now with the remainder of the crowd headed towards the wedding breakfast. Lizzy stood glaring at the last carriage waiting outside the church.
Walking towards her unwanted form of transportation Lizzy began to think back on the last two months; especially Lady Catherine de Bourgh's visit to Longbourn.
Lizzy thought back to her mode that fateful day two months ago and the rapid change her heart had made towards Mr. Darcy. She reviewed in her head all of Mr. Darcy's acts of kindness; saving Lydia, restoring Jane's hope, and protecting the reputations of the remaining Bennet sisters.
Lizzy walking towards the carriage recalled how she believed herself to be in love with Mr. Darcy that day, but how after his Aunt's visit she could never again trust herself around him.
After his Aunt had left Longbourn, the night of Jane's engagement, Lizzy attempted to convince herself that the conversation was a lie and that the message was delivered out of spite, but she could not overlook the letter she received two days later. The letter, in Lizzy's eyes, confirmed his Aunt's ugly message, and she could not ignore it since the writer was one to be trusted.
Cast into sorrow, Lizzy nursed a broken heart in silence for those two months. She refused to read any letter Darcy had sent, travel with Jane to Netherfield, or sit in the drawing room if Mr. Bingley would call with his companion.
Darcy had given up hope he would ever win Elizabeth's heart, until that fateful day in London. He knew that the necklace would at least serve as a conversation starter. She could not deny him after such a gift had been given.
Little did Darcy know that Lizzy was firm in her position. She had sworn to herself while rereading that wretched letter that she would never again let Mr. Darcy back into her heart. Doing so would be her undoing.
Now sitting in the carriage Lizzy waited anxiously for her traveling companion.
Lizzy waited, wondering how she was going handle the upcoming conversation.
Two months ago she would have never believed that Mr. Darcy sought to make her not his wife but his mistress; but then again thought Lizzy so much has changed she couldn't believe anything of this world anymore.