So it's been a while. Thank you all, dear Readers, for sticking with me! This isn't much of an update, but it's taking our Elizabeth and Darcy on an entirely different path, to which we may see them mature and grow. It's been a few month's after they've been married, and you'll see that Jane and Bingley are already married.
I think Jane and Bingley are so important to Elizabeth and Darcy that it's hard not to make them apart of the story. And Bingley is just so fun and refreshing.
Moody would be the only word to describe his month's pregnant wife. Moody, temperamental, irrational, volatile, capricious, emotional.
Ok. So you could use many words to describe his wife.
Asking her why she was so irrational had been a mistake. He knew that now as he continued to replay the scene over and over again in his head, and now he was all alone, in the billiards room, with Bingley, who was doing nothing but making his rotten mood worse.
Bingley would never have to deal with an irrational woman. Well not anymore. He supposed Caroline would have been included in a long list of complicated women that they knew.
The list really wasn't that long. It would include Caroline, Elizabeth, and his Aunt Catherine.
"Darcy, man. It could not have been as bad as you are telling me. Elizabeth is nothing if not respectful, even when annoyed."
Darcy's sigh filled the room, and Bingley braced himself for the onslaught. Jane had told him that Elizabeth was not comfortable so he had made every change he could to make her stay a comfortable one. From extra help with the children, to taking her husband away from extended periods of time.
But even now only a few weeks into his own marriage, and months into the Darcy's, he could feel the tensions between the Duchess and her husband. And as much as he wanted to defend his long-time friend, the pressure he was putting on his wife at this time at times seemed too much.
His child she was carrying would be a Darcy. The mother of his child would not. It would be a hard for any man to take, he supposed. He was happy that he would not have to go through that when the time would come.
"Tell me what I am supposed to do, Bingley. What would you do? My wife, carrying my child, will not let me around her most of the time. She prefers to spend her time with the children, which I cannot fault, but even so. Is it wrong to be worried over her?"
"I suppose not, Darc, but even so. You knew going into this marriage that she's been through this before, and she does not need coddling."
"I DO NOT CODDLE HER."
"You do not give her room to breathe either."
"How is it that everyone can be around her except her own husband?"
"Perhaps you should talk to your wife."
"She will not allow it."
"Then perhaps you are going about talking to her the wrong way."
"And how would you know? You have been married for a mere fortnight."
"And you consider the amount of time you have been married has made you an expert."
"More so than you!"
"YOU DO NOT DESERVE HER," Bingley's shout startled even himself. "You do not deserve her. You still are not over the fact that he had her first. You claim to love her and her children, but cannot stand the fact that another man had her first. We all see it. I see it. Jane, the most angelic person on God's great earth sees it. And even your wife sees it. You want to know why Elizabeth prefers to spend her time elsewhere. That's why! You are not worthy of her! And she lives in regret every day that she made a mistake! After everything she has been through, you have the nerve to put this pressure on her. Perhaps it is not done in your society. But since when do you care what society thinks or says? Since you married a Duchess."
Darcy could only stand and stare as Bingley left the room, mumbling something about giving him time to think.
Elizabeth was in a foul mood, the only thing keeping her sane was the constant chatter and happy giggles of her two most precious treasures. They, to her, were worth so much more than any jewel, or gown she owned.
When her children smiled, she could see their father.
And regardless of what she found out about him after his death, she missed her late husband.
The past two months, though they should have been the happiest of her life, included some of the most miserable moments of her life. The fights with her new husband were not so bad. She could handle them. And most of them were instigated by her. But the way he looked at her at times when they were talking about the child they were to have, and constant jabs that he would lay in the undertones of his words laced with sugar.
As it were. Elizabeth was in no mood for sugar.
She did not know whether she was overreacting, perhaps she was. But she knew her husband's feelings. He wore his face every time he spoke to her. So Elizabeth preferred that he did not speak to her. She sent him away at night, more often than not. And only saw him when social necessities arose. Dinner was awkward, and many at the table, knew her struggles. She was not a woman to keep things in when they were irritating her, and her beloved sister, she knew, told her new husband everything.
She was ready to be home, in London. Darcy wanted to be at Pemberley. She knew that, so excuse after excuse she made to stay at Netherfield, with her sister and her new brother. And thankfully they had not minded.
She knew at some point they should make the already decided trip to Pemberley. The child was to be the heir of Pemberley. But she also knew that if she gave in now, her future would be decided for her.
Perhaps it already was.
The battle of wills was about to begin.
Please Review!