A/N: Coming close to the end now and I truly thank all of you for the tremendous response. Keep them up, as I am absolutely loving them.
I am a careful and diligent man, and in that month at Pemberley and the trip back, I planned my campaign with great care. It was to be a quiet but relentless campaign. I would first work out a way to save Longbourn without Elizabeth going through with that mad scheme her father cooked up. That would require finding Wickham and making sure he came to the attention of the militia, his creditors or both. The dozen men I had assigned to the task were not producing results so I would make it two dozen or three or maybe I would go hunt him down myself. Bad things can happen on a troop ship, or in debtor's prison, or maybe just on the field of honor at the end of my sword if I became impatient. I would have to somehow work out a way to save Longbourn, although with all five Bennet sisters under my protection, I may have been able to just let it go. The community had not died when Bingley left Netherfield, nor would it collapse when the Bennets quit Longbourn. There was no need for Elizabeth to do all of that to protect her sisters when all I had to do was convince her I would protect them with my life. I had only been reacquainted with them for a day when the attack in the parsonage came, so Elizabeth had never seen my love for them firsthand; but she would. Then it would be a slow campaign. I had already earned her trust. Next would be her friendship, and eventually I would just wear my quarry down with my displays of love that might well take months or years to produce results, but eventually I would prevail. Yes, it was a good plan. A very good plan.
My campaign lasted around ten seconds, and ended with the rough equivalent of the enemy king suing for peace while my groomsman was still asleep and my warhorse still unsaddled.
At the end of that FIRST KISS, I was well and truly besotted… not that I wasn't before, and nothing could ever make me unhappy again. After the first minute or so with Elizabeth in my arms, I could well imagine our life in Pemberley, our children hanging off her skirts, the skinned knees of our sons when they fell out of trees, the anguish of our daughters when they put frogs down their dresses… or with Elizabeth for a mother, I probably had that precisely backwards. Either way, frogs and scrapes would be part of our loving family, and all would be right with the world. One day I would be old and gray, looking back on a life well lived, and I would be doing it by reminiscing with Elizabeth.
Somehow, a few minutes into that magical afternoon that made no sense to anybody, I got Elizabeth sitting on my lap where she truly belonged. She was still so small and skinny after her illness she seemed little bigger than Georgiana had been the last time she had done the same, but she was recovering and I had no doubt I would have to get her on her own horse or she would be dragging me for miles through Pemberley's woods within a fortnight.
I was just coming to my newly revised battle plan, which mostly centered on the relative proximity of the archbishop versus Scotland, when Elizabeth very impertinently put Bingley and Jane in the exact spots where she had that awful conversation with her father that had begun this mad adventure. While I quite despised her father, I had to thank whatever gods of fortune were smiling on me that I got to listen to that conversation that finally ended in such a feeling of happiness. Who could have imagined that just a few months of the calendar and just over a week in each other's company could have produced such a result? I had not the slightest idea how I had been so lucky, but I would take my luck where I could get it!
Bingley's tale both exhilarated and frightened us, and I was just beginning to learn how to give comfort to my love, a process I expected to take some time. I could feel tension grow in first her legs, and then her back as the tale became more and more dangerous and daring. I felt her taking on the weight of Bingley's risk as it was abundantly clear he had done it either in her honor or because he still loved her sister or just because he felt it was time for him to become a man. Either explanation placed her squarely in the middle of the ordeal, and I felt had to fight her tendency to take the burden of his choices which he had freely made. Looking at Bingley, I could see a new confidence and stature in him. This was no longer a man who would take advice from his mentor; which considering how bad the advice turned out to be was probably for the best. He might discuss his issues with me as a friend in the future, but we were certainly equals in all ways now, and in courage and fortitude one could make a good argument he was my superior and I would not disagree.
As I was thinking such weighty thoughts, and Elizabeth was becoming too tense for my liking, I found that I could sooth her anxieties by gently rubbing small circles in her back or her shoulders, or by squeezing her waist against me with the hand that was across her stomach. Given our complete abandonment of all manners and rules of society for the moment, all of those seemed the right thing to do there and then. Some of Bingley's words made me tense up in shock as well, and she would squeeze my hand or put her hand over my heart, or simply tuck her head tighter into my shoulder to return the comfort.
By the time Bingley finished his mad tale, and stood there looking at my sister with a loving look, I wondered… truly wondered at the tricks of fate. Jane had been right. Neither of them would have found contentment and happiness starting from the Netherfield ball, but I had no doubt they were both of the right caliber now, and supposed I might be dealing with him more as a suitor than a friend before too many months had gone by. Actually, that was probably wrong. I thought days or weeks might be more to his liking, presuming Jane did not discourage him. She did not look very likely to do that right there and then.
When his astounding tale was complete, the parsonage was finally running out of things to burn. Many of the locals had come by to see what was happening, but since the parsonage was isolated enough to just let burn, I found that my carriage men and some of Aunt Catherine's footmen had formed a sort of protective circle around our group, and would allow nobody close enough to see or hear us.
When we all decided it was time to return to Rosings, I spoke up.
"Bingley, I will presume my aunt offers you the hospitality of Rosings. Will you be joining us?"
To his credit, he looked first to Jane to get a small nod from her, then to Charlotte to get her small nod, and then to Elizabeth who was not satisfied with a nod."
"Oh for Heaven's sake, Charles! You survived St. Giles, you can survive a house full of women. We are not all that much more dangerous!"
With that, the rest of the sisters made sure he was quite welcome, and he finally accepted, although his opinion of the relative danger of Bennet sisters versus St. Giles was not remarked upon.
Before we left that magical spot though, I spoke up one last time.
"My friends and sisters, I have one more thing I would like to say, just to make certain everything is absolutely clear and unambiguous."
Everyone looked at me wondering what madness I was planning to perpetuate, so I got right to it.
"Elizabeth Bennet, Love and Light of my Life. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"
She just nodded her head, smiled and cried; and we were all most satisfied.
I was unable to resist adding, "At your very earliest convenience."
She just laughed along with everyone else, and I started shifting in my chair to help her to her feet, and was surprised by an unexpected command.
"A moment, if you please Nephew!"
We all turned our attention to Aunt Catherine, sitting there looking quite pleased with the afternoon with Kitty and Mary standing next to her. All three looked as lovely as any three women I had ever seen in my life… well, aside from Jane and Charlotte and Anne standing next to them.
Aunt said, "That was an excellent proposal, Fitzwilliam. Well worded. Succinct. Proper. Heartfelt. Truly, all a proposal should be."
I smiled in gratitude, and she said, "Elizabeth, your answer lacked verbosity, but made up for it with expressiveness, so I applaud the entire operation."
Elizabeth nodded in appreciation, but then I caught a small grin on her face, and a look of mischievousness in both ladies and wondered what was coming next. I braced myself for a storm, and that is exactly what I got.
Aunt continued, "Yes, a most excellent proposal and I will allow that special circumstances required a slight bending of the proper forms since your intended was already on your lap."
Now everyone was just looking perplexed, and she looked around at the rest of the group, and said, "I will expect the other two to be done properly on their knees!"
I just laughed along with Elizabeth who did not look as surprised by the declaration as you might have thought she would. Apparently she knew my aunt better than I did, which was hardly surprising.
Richard was the first to take a knee, despite having to extract his arm from Charlotte's, who had already been clinging to him so tightly it would have been considered a compromise in more normal circumstances.
He still beat Bingley to the ground, and proved his mettle with his next words.
"Miss Lucas. I believe Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of choice. Were you to marry me tomorrow, you would know as much of my character as if you studied me a twelvemonth. Every day of our life together, we can choose to be happy, to be kind, to be loving, to be good and loving parents. Should you accept me, that child you carry shall be mine, regardless of any past circumstances, and loved and honored exactly the same as the rest of our children for all the days of my life. I lay my heart at your feet, for you somehow captured it in the first five minutes of our acquaintance, and I have never regretted the loss. Miss Charlotte Lucas, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife? Will you choose to be happy with me?"
I would like to say I could describe the look of delight on Charlotte's face in some detail, but to be truthful, both Elizabeth and I were crying so hard by the time he was done, all we could hear was Charlotte's affirmative response.
"Richard Fitzwilliam, you are an honorable and loving man, and I can now see the kindness you have shown all around you and the love you have shown me. I will be your wife with all of my heart and all of my love, if you will kindly get off your knee and help me back to the carriage. My back is killing me!"
Did I ever tell you that Charlotte is my very favorite sister!