Elizabeth Bennet was oddly still as she sat at her mirrored dressing table.
A flood of activity buzzed about her in the swarming room, but still she did not flinch.
Mrs. Bennet, now fully recovered from her earlier fainting spell, sat propped up with pillows on Lizzy's bed, dictating orders to her female servant.
Kitty and Mary were each given separate orders by their mother, thus making for a very frantic scene in small chamber.
"Oh Hill hurry, make haste!" Mrs. Bennet shrieked out hysterically. "We must have Lizzy downstairs at once, or…" The lady of the house theatrically fanned her handkerchief around in front of her face. "…or the charming Mr. Darcy might reconsider and leave the house!"
Lizzy did not move an inch as Hill began pulling at her hair to create a thoughtful design.
The second oldest Bennet daughter seemed to be in a daze, ignoring all activity in the room, and blocking out even her younger sisters' grumblings about being roused so early and to their horror to attend to Lizzy.
Lizzy's eyes instead endlessly gazed down at her new adornment, a ring, which christened her left hand.
She could not believe all that had transpired since she rose from her bed in the early hours of the morning.
A ring, a passionate embrace, and now a husband.
"A husband, a husband… " Lizzy pondered this new revelation over and over in her head.
She could not believe that the morning was anything but a glorious dream, but wait, she focused back on the ring.
She was reminded again that it was no dream, but reality. All that transpired in her father's study was real, and she was now engaged to Mr. Darcy.
Mr. Darcy.
"No!" Thought Lizzy. "My Mr. Darcy!"
A smile began to tug at Lizzy's lips as she thought of Darcy and the embrace they shared before her mother had penetrated their solitude.
Lizzy remembered the feeling of her body flush against Darcy's.
He held her tight in his arms, cradling her frame, consuming her with his arms and then his lips.
Ready and all too willing Lizzy kissed him most ardently back, and when his lips parted and his tongue began to gain entrance into their caress, she did not hesitate but encouraged his activity.
A red flush began to travel down Lizzy's neck as she recalled her memories of her last parting with Darcy.
Lizzy thought if only he would kiss her like that again, she swore she would become as uncontainable as Lydia!
"Miss Eliza. Are you ill?" Hill's eyes found Lizzy's in the large looking glass situated at the dressing table.
Lizzy flushed anew, this time with mortification at her recollections and longings.
She swore she would maintain her decorum and decency, first by pushing her heady reminiscences of Darcy to the back of her mind…..for now.
"Yes Hill, I feel very well, very well indeed." Lizzy smiled up at the trusted servant.
Hill went back to braiding Lizzy's hair up on top of her head.
Mary began to lay out Lizzy's dress and shoes, while Kitty returned to the room with an update on the gentleman waiting downstairs.
Lizzy began to take small breaths realizing that soon she would have to be in the company of Mr. Darcy again.
Looking down at the ring once more Lizzy wondered what the rest of the day would hold.