Dis: the storyline, new character development, new events, and new characters are my intellectual property. Glorioux
Small changes and Lizzie's sorrow.
At Pemberley, William was furious because Lydia had moved into Pemberley. His father, worrying his son would be there for eternity, went to see William's mother. They discussed what he could do to make William change his attitude. She told him that many of the newly passed behaved in such a fashion; they were jealous and angry, mostly with those they had offended or hurt. Seemingly, the departed resented their punishment for their actions while alive.
Lady Anne added she had no idea what to do, but she didn't want her son to be a ghost for eternity and wanted to see him near her.
Elizabeth had written to Charlotte inviting her to spend some days with her. She said that she could use a friend. Charlotte said that she'd be there the following week. Collins died, and Longbourn was empty; besides, Collins hadn't inherited Longbourn since Lizzie's father was still alive.
Elizabeth was very excited about the new wedding, but she wasn't ready to be with another man. She still dreamed of being with William on their marriage bed, full of pleasure and love, the only place where he could be loving. She remembered their wedding night when she thought he had changed.
His soft caresses made her want for more. That night, he was gentle and passionate; he undressed her, kissing a trail of fire down her body. "Lizzie touch me the same," he coaxed her, making love to her for hours, telling her how much she loved her and how beautiful she was. "I was dying without you. You are everything to me," William had told her.
Every day was the same, and she learned how to please him. But he was back to being his nasty condescending self the next morning, saying he hated himself for loving her. When she reminded her father was titled, he answered, "It doesn't change who your mother is, does it?"
Indeed, though it would seem he only had liked her for their marriage bed, she missed the intimate times with him. He taught her much, but the day she asked him where he had learned so much, he was furious and said that a proper wife should never ask that question. He had hurt her deeply many times until one day she asked him, "Am I a paid mistress?" and he was silent for days.
She sat in her room and talked to the empty room. "I am the one that hates myself for missing you. I miss the lover, so kind and different, but I dislike the proud man. Why did you treat me so bad? My father was from a good family." After those words, she broke down and cried, knowing she loved William and would always would.
Of course, William was looking at her, spying in her room. And his father heard Lizzie, so he looked at his son with profound sadness. "Oh, William, William what did you do to her? I think she's better off without you, and I am sad to say it. I am now sure that you have much to atone for. You treated her like a lover but not like a wife." George Darcy clicked his teeth in disappointment.
Something squeezed Williams's ghostly heart. It was true he had treated her like nothing more than a paid mistress. Hence, her tears were doing something to him. In the end, he felt a teensy bit of regret, though nearly nothing.
William didn't like what she said next, "I think Richard will not treat me like that. I am looking forward to a man who loves me for what I am. Goodbye William, how I wish we could have been happy." With those words, she lay down, her knees bent, and sobbed, desolate.
His father was aghast, listening, until he heard his son, "No, you will never be happy with him because I will not allow it! I married you, and you are mine, mine forever, you will see!" William yelled, angry at her words. But, at the same time, hearing her sob was doing something to him.
His father asked him, "So how are you going to stop her from being happy? If you try, you know what your future is. Not once you have said you are sorry for hurting her. I see you only care about yourself. Well, I think you need to meet somebody that we haven't met yet; come with me, William." George Darcy grabbed his son's hand and pulled him away from the room. They went into an abandoned part of the Manor built over 200 years before.
They found two ghostly figures, bitter and nasty, sitting in the air and staring at a wall. "We don't want to see anyone; get out of here!" Both said, adding, "We wanted the one we loved, and now they are gone, and we are stuck in here, forever. It is unfair."
"Please, can you tell us what you did to deserve this fate?" George Darcy asked the men dressed in period clothes. Both were around William's age and looked a lot like him, but somewhat shorter, one had blond hair, and the other ghost had ginger hair.
One said, "We might not have shown our love well, and perhaps we made our wives a little unhappy, or who knows how unhappy. We were after all very rich and powerful men, and believed they were lucky we married them, but we loved them. So, after we died, we did what we thought was our right and tried to stop her from marrying someone else. We did our best effort to prevent the wedding, but it happened, she married anyway, and was happy, much happier than with us. Understandably, we were angry and didn't stop. Sadly, we did so many bad things that we are now doomed to stay here until the end of time."
"But I am not doing that; all I want is that Richard doesn't marry her. That was a mistake, it was an error I] made, and I am trying to correct it." William crossed his arms.
"Okay, and what will you do? What will you do when she finds someone else? You will never be happy that she marries someone else, and that you're dead. Being dead is not so bad if you can go to the next place. In there, you two, Richard and you, could be with her. I explained is possible since we might have loved more than once. Or you can come back somehow to live a new life, but the way that you are behaving, I doubt it. I think the day that I leave with my love you'll be stuck in here. Alas, I will stay by your side trying to help you." His father sighed.
"Father, who is your love?" William asked when they went back to the main house.
"I told you I wouldn't tell you who. You need to figure it out, but it is not relevant. I just don't want you to try to do something stupid, like scaring her, or injuring her, or treating her badly. I don't trust you anymore; your mother told me to be very careful with you. Other Darcy ghosts that stay here, in Pemberley, and in other places, behaved just like you. They haunted and hurt the ones they loved, or the ones that lived here later on, because they were angry. They were punished to see the results of what they had done and to atone. But you're doing nothing like that, according to you, so be it. Believe what you will, but I think you have a lot to learn." his father was disgusted and left in a huff.
Williams' father didn't tell him he had learned how awful William had always treated Wickham and how sad it made him. William was selfish and, at the time, had disliked Wickham, the son of the steward, going to Eaton and Cambridge. George Darcy learned that William probably shot Wickham because Wickham had told William that he knew how badly he treated Lizzie. Wickham told William he didn't deserve Lizzie and had no idea how lucky he was to have her. George Darcy had come a little after that when Wickham begged William to help him.
His son was selfish, jealous, and still arrogant; and he wasn't even a little repentant, or maybe was deep inside. But, perhaps, he wasn't any better, he hadn't honored his father's wishes to treat George as a Darcy and kept his inheritance. He was mad at his father for loving someone else, just like him.
William went to his desk in the library, trying to figure out what to do. Meanwhile, he looked at what he could find on the top of the table and under the table. He couldn't find much since he couldn't move or open heavy books. He could move a few things, a little bit, but not much. He was frustrated, wanting to find the will and destroy it. Hmm, but even if he destroyed it, then what? That thought just occurred to him, so, he went to look for Lizzie.
Maybe Lizzie was taking a bath; yeah, he liked that. Though he smiled to himself, this was the day he found out that he couldn't see her undressed. He wanted to see her naked body, but he wasn't allowed, and that was not right; she was his wife after all. He used to spy on her when she was bathing, a favorite pastime. He thought he was being watched and heard a laughter, not his father's.
"Who in the bloody hell are you?" He asked. No answer, more laughter, but whose? It didn't occur to him it was somebody trying to keep him out of trouble.
Lizzie's Mother
The next day her mother came, she was angry. "Shameless girl," she screamed, "your husband just died, and you will be marrying; you are a hussy."
Lizzie noticed her mother was overdressed, wearing family jewels best suited for a ballroom, and was too loud. William disliked her and didn't appreciate the way she talked to Lizzie. Lizzie was his wife, so what was the awful woman doing? He realized he didn't want others upsetting Lizzie.
"Don't come screaming to my home. If that is what you came to do, you best leave." Lizzie who seldom talked back, had it.
William lost it when Lizzie's mother slapped her so hard, that she left a hand mark on her face. He heard a couple of growls. Who was growling? Only heaven knew.
"Insolent girl, you don't talk to your mother like that." Her mother yelled, irate.
Elizabeth just stood there feeling awful; her mother hadn't slapped her since she was a small child; what was wrong with her? She remembered the last time, when she was older her father had stopped her mother, holding her hand. "Why are you doing that?" Her father asked and said, "If you try to hit her again, we will need to talk to a solicitor; leave Lizzie alone, I told you that years ago; I will be watching you."
Thinking about her father's words, Lizzie had courage and told her mother, "Though once I was afraid, I am not anymore. You don't come to my house and hit me; you don't have the right. I want you to leave."
But her mother lifted their hand to hit her again; she was behaving rather strangely.
That's when Richard walked into the room right before William tried to hit the woman; he didn't want somebody to mistreat his wife. It filled him with righteous angry.
Richard walked into the room. "I heard you, and Elizabeth is right. Let us make sure this doesn't repeat again. Perhaps is best if you leave, right now."
Fanny Bennet didn't stop when Lydia who was looking for Elizabeth, came in the room.
"You," the mother went to Lydia, "come to live in the house of the awful man who killed your good husband; maybe you are also a tramp. I'm starting to believe it; what a disgrace this shameful Elizabeth is, polluting all my daughters."
"Mother, please come with me," Lydia begged, her eyes full of tears. Darcy's cousin was there.
"I am not coming to the shameless wedding. I see, hmm, now you are with another man." She stared at Darcy's cousin. "You are learning from a wanton. She is a trollop; and you are learning from her how to ensnare the rich men." Fanny Bennet was raging, out of control.
William whispered, "Boo,"to scare her; she didn't hear, but he laughed along with his father. It felt good to laugh again; his father also floated around saying boo, boo, and they laughed more.
Once again, Lizzie started crying, sobbing. The Darcy men stopped laughing, they wanted to hurt Mrs. Bennet, but they controlled themselves, knowing that it wasn't right and that they would be punished. Hence, they were grateful when Richard grabbed Mrs. Bennett's hand, right before when she was about to slap Elizabeth again. "Madam, you should leave. Let me walk you to the door, and please do not come back if you're going to treat your daughter like this. Please go."
Lydia sat down, crying. She was sure her suitor would never come back. Finally, someone loved her, and her mother decided to do this. George had never loved her. Lydia remembered; she had chased him and decided to get into his bed when he was super drunk. He asked her, "Lizzie, my love, are you here?" and Lydia answered, trying to sound like Lizzie. She hoped nobody ever found out about it. It had been an error based on her mother's tales, but that wasn't an excuse. Moreover, George hated her for killing his chances with Lizzie, though she had reminded him he took her to London with him. he had mourned Lizzie forever.
Lizzie sat on a couch to cry desolately. Her mother had never cared for her; no matter what she did, or how much she gave her, or what a good daughter she was; it was all wasted. But something was wrong with her mother right now. Maybe she was sick. She looked at Lydia. "Do you think something is wrong with our mother?"
Lydia said, "I don't know." Lydia was also quite embarrassed that Mister Darcy, the man wanting to court her, was there.
Darcy's cousin came by Lydia, "Mrs. Wickham, please come with me, I want to see the children," and gave a handkerchief. He loved her; that much was obvious. "My brother is coming today. I think Georgie will like it," he kept talking as they walked away.
"Son, you treated Lizzie dreadfully; imagine her life, a mother who always treated her rough, then having somebody tell you all day long that you're not good enough for them, that you are too low for them. Would you have liked that?" His father asked.
William had no answer, "I want to go and see my son. I had enough of this." William said and left with his father; remorse had made its unwelcome presence, making him wish he could comfort Lizzie. The idea of a second chance with her, in the place he could go to, was starting to grow.
Richard held Lizzie's hand for the first time. He told her not to cry. "I think your mother'e head isn't right. I'll talk to your father, and we'll ask she doesn't come alone. Is that okay with you?"
Lizzie nodded, grateful that Richard was such a gentleman, though she still wished that William had been like that. She couldn't deny it; she would love William forever; but he was gone. Now she had Richard, a good man that she liked and would learn to love. She also knew had Richard tried for her at Kent, she would have accepted and loved him.
a/n Poor Lizzie, but she has someone by her side. Be ready for a happy ending, for most,