By Force of Instinct (40 page)

“Are you sure?” she asked timorously.

“I am absolutely certain,” he replied strongly, his concern for her evident.

seeing the two in a close embrace, elizabeth chose to make a quiet exit, but before she could do so, Darcy caught her eye with a look of gratitude.

she was pleased with the resolution; it was clear that they were in for some further trials, but perhaps a base for understanding had been prepared. she would address Darcy later about Georgiana’s other concerns, and surely they could find some sort of solution.

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Chapter 13

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner arrived at Longbourn the day before the wedding with the intent of staying there several days after the ceremony. It was a pleasure for them to see the Bennets, despite the chaos attending the upcoming wedding, and also to visit with the two young men whom they had come to know in London. Both Bingley and Darcy, along with Miss Darcy, joined the Bennets for dinner that night to enjoy their company along with that of their brides-to-be.

It was a pleasant occasion full of lively conversation between the young couples and the Gardiners to which Mr. Bennet added the occasional dry comment; Mrs. Bennet paid no attention at all and talked only of the wedding to Mary and Kitty. After the ladies withdrew, Mr. Gardiner’s amiability and wide-ranging discourse came to be useful; Darcy and Mr.

Bennet were still observing their fragile truce, but it was not one such as to allow free and easy discussion. Darcy was relieved when the time came to rejoin the ladies; he considered each encounter where he and Mr. Bennet did not come to verbal blows or end in dead silence as a success and did not wish to press his luck.

Later that evening, after the guests had departed, Mr. Gardiner sat with Mr. Bennet in his library drinking brandy and making desultory conversation. Mr. Bennet finally said with a certain sheathed resentment, “you and your wife seem quite fond of Mr. Darcy.”

Mr. Gardiner, as yet unaware of the history between the two, allowed this 243

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to be true and said, “He is pleasant company and has a lively intelligence.”

Mr. Bennet sipped his brandy. “I had been under the impression that you had certain reservations regarding Lizzy’s engagement to him.”

“Less the engagement than the circumstances, although it did take me some time to be assured that Lizzy was happy with the arrangement.

Although I believe him to be a very responsible young man, he has a certain lack of control where Lizzy is involved, and I am sorry to say she did not seem to be doing anything to discourage him. I confess I was rather glad to hand that problem back to you,” said Mr. Gardiner. “I would like to say that I hope they have been learning some restraint, but I doubt it to be true, judging from the look on your face.”

Grimacing, Mr. Bennet said, “He could hardly have been worse. He offers her every encouragement—do you know that I caught her creeping into the house in the middle of the night? I do not call
that
responsibility on his part.”

“nor would I,” said Mr. Gardiner with a shocked look. “Well, at least this particular problem will resolve itself to everyone’s satisfaction tomorrow. I try to console myself by remembering that he clearly adores Lizzy and would do anything for her, which has a more literal meaning in his case than in most, given his involvement with Lydia’s marriage. And that was when he and Lizzy were apparently in the midst of a quarrel it seems neither expected to resolve, though I did not understand this until much later.”

“
What
had Mr. Darcy to do with Lydia?” asked Mr. Bennet with grave suspicion.

Mr. Gardiner looked at him in dismayed surprise. “you mean to say that Lizzy did not tell you? oh, dear; I have rather put my foot in it this time, then.”

“I do
not
like secrets where my family is concerned—so I ask again, what had he to do with Lydia?” Mr. Bennet’s expression was approaching a glower.

With a sigh, Mr. Gardiner replied, “Having let that much slip, I suppose I must tell you it all, though I confess that Darcy had requested that we keep it secret from your family. The truth is that he did it all—found her, made the match, paid off Wickham’s debts and purchased his commission, and left me to take the credit for it.”

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Mr. Bennet stared at him in shock, then leaned forward and rested his forehead on his hands. There was little worse, he thought, than finding oneself overwhelmingly indebted to a man one heartily disliked. These last few months since Lydia’s elopement had been difficult enough for him even without the problem of Darcy. This was a complication he did not need, even though it gave him a certain relief regarding his indebtedness to Mr. Gardiner. “Ah, why did it have to be
him
?”

Mr. Gardiner looked at him incisively. “you do not like him, do you?”

“
That
is an understatement, my friend.”

“What do you dislike about him?”

Mr. Bennet sighed. “He is proud and disagreeable, and I do not like the way he treats Lizzy.” His list of Darcy’s sins was not as impressive as it had been a week earlier when he had been forced to cross off a few of them, and he was not completely happy about this.

“Proud and disagreeable?” Mr. Gardiner sipped his brandy. “now I have never seen any evidence of that—he has always been perfectly civil and amiable with me. But perhaps the more important question is how Lizzy feels about the way he treats her. He is not perfect, though frankly it is possible that he
is
just perfect for Lizzy.”

“edward, I am not looking for ways to forgive the man!” he exclaimed angrily.

“
That
is apparent. I feel sorry for Lizzy, caught between the two of you.”

“Lizzy manages well enough,” said Mr. Bennet curtly.

“Well, I see there is no moving you on this one, so I shall not waste my breath,” said Mr. Gardiner. “shall we talk of more pleasant matters instead?”

the day of the weddings dawned bright and cold.

Mr. Bennet finally caught Mr. Darcy inside the nave of the church. He had spent a less than pleasant night and was not looking forward to this conversation. It had not passed his understanding that, just as Lydia’s fall was related directly to his failure to impose discipline upon his daughters, many of his recent difficulties were owing to an attempt to overcompensate by controlling the behaviour of his remaining daughters. He wanted to end this as quickly as possible and return to his native state of indolence, but first there remained this unpleasant task. “Mr. Darcy,” he said.

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Darcy turned to look at him. “Mr. Bennet,” he responded courteously, quite preoccupied with the upcoming ceremony.

“It has come to my attention that I owe you a debt of thanks for your efforts on behalf of my youngest daughter,” said Mr. Bennet.

Darcy’s full attention now turned to him. “sir, I am sorry if learning of it has caused you any discomfort; I never intended you to know of my role.

you owe me nothing—I took the actions I did for my own reasons.”

“nevertheless, you have my thanks.” Mr. Bennet paused, then added with an effort, “And my apologies; it seems that I have misjudged you on a number of counts.”

It took a great effort for Darcy to keep himself from agreeing aloud with that statement. Instead, he thought about elizabeth, and what he was willing to suffer on her behalf, and said with all civility, “I hope we are both learning to understand each other better. to be quite frank, though, you are telling this to the wrong person; it is your daughter who needs rather badly to hear this from you.”

Mr. Bennet smiled ironically. “you may well be right. Until later, then.”

He walked off towards the front of the church.

Mrs. Bennet was fluttering all about Jane and elizabeth, making last minute adjustments to their hair and their gowns while her daughters looked at one another with amused patience. Jane could not be happier, and her smiles showed it; while elizabeth’s happiness was more felt than expressed. she was both happy and relieved that this day had finally arrived, and her sadness over parting from her family and home was tempered by the glad knowledge that there would be no more separations from Darcy.

As the moment approached, Mr. Bennet joined them, preparing to give away his two eldest daughters at once. He kissed Jane’s cheek, and told her that he knew she would always be happy, since Bingley would never permit anything else, and then turned to elizabeth. “Lizzy, my love, you have all my best wishes for your health and happiness.”

Though she wished no discord on her wedding day, elizabeth could not help saying sadly, “But not your blessing.”

to her surprise, he smiled at her dryly and kissed her cheek. “you have my blessing as well. your young man will just require some growing accustomed to—he is not so placid as Jane’s. now, I believe we are required inside.”

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elizabeth felt tears spring to her eyes at his words. “Thank you,” she said softly, as he offered her his arm.

Afterwards, she could recall little of the actual ceremony beyond the look in Darcy’s eyes when he saw her, and the intensity of his gaze as they took their vows. The wedding breakfast was slightly clearer, and was no-table to her mostly for the reason that she had never seen Darcy smile and laugh as freely in public as he did that day. This expansiveness seemed to be contagious; she also saw Georgiana in earnest conference with the dif-fident eldest son of Lord Allington. she made a mental note to invite Lord Allington and his family to dinner when they returned to London, thinking this might be just the thing to build Georgiana’s confidence.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Darcy planned to depart early; Darcy hoped to reach Blenheim by nightfall, as he had made arrangements for the use of a small house there for the night before continuing on to Pemberley.

elizabeth took her last looks at Longbourn, knowing it might be quite some time before she saw it again. she shared a tearful embrace with Jane, and many promises to write faithfully, and listened patiently to Mrs. Bennet’s anxious final advice for her future.

Just before they were to leave, Mr. Bennet came up and, taking elizabeth’s hands in his, spoke to her quietly. “Well, my dear, it will be a time before I see you again, so there are a few words which I should say now. I am sorry for any distress I may have caused you these last weeks; you seem to have known what you were about better than I did. I hope that we can start again with a better understanding in the future.”

elizabeth, who dearly wanted to part from her father on good terms, said lightly, “you are forgiven; I know that it is not an easy thing to part with so many daughters at once!”

He smiled somewhat stiffly, and said, “Thank you, my dear.” He indicated that the conversation had come to a close by handing her into the carriage, where she was immediately joined by her new husband. Darcy called to the coachman, and the carriage began to move away to the accompaniment of many cries of farewell and the waving of handkerchiefs.

They had barely reached the road when Darcy, noting that elizabeth was biting her lip, moved to sit next to her and took her hand in his. “It will not trouble me to find that you are sad at leaving your home behind,” he said.

“It is very understandable.”

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she looked up at him in the dimness of the coach with a weak smile. “I feel more as if I have been leaving it in stages for some time,” she replied.

In a stronger voice, she added, “And I am very, very happy that we are married at last.”

“As am I, my sweetest, loveliest elizabeth,” he said softly, placing an arm around her shoulders.

It began to rain. the ride had been a long one, and the rhythm of the raindrops on the top of the coach lulled elizabeth into a restless slumber, her head against Darcy’s shoulder. He had never seen her asleep before, and the sense of her vulnerability moved him deeply. He felt as if he could just hold her like this and watch her sleep forever. This theory was not tested, though, as it was not long until a brisk wind kicked up, making the carriage sway and waking her. she smiled at him sleepily, and he could not resist kissing her tenderly.

not long after, the carriage’s pace slowed to a crawl. Darcy looked out the window to assess the situation, and saw that the rain had been freezing on the road, leaving patches of ice. He did not want to worry elizabeth, and he had the greatest of faith in his coachman and team of horses, so he said nothing until the carriage pul ed to a halt in a smal hamlet. “excuse me, my heart,”

he said before stepping out into the cold rain to confer with the driver.

The driver was toweling down the horses, whose manes and tails sported droplets of ice. on seeing his master, he said, “Mr. Darcy, sir, to my way of thinking, we’ll not make Blenheim tonight.”

Darcy, who had already reached this conclusion, said, “can we reach oxford, do you think?” It was not quite what he had in mind, but the Mitre had excellent accommodations and food, and could certainly do.

“I’ll do my best, sir, but no promises—you can see for yourself what the road is like,” came the response.

Darcy returned to the carriage and explained the new plan to elizabeth.

“It sounds lovely,” she said absently, brushing the droplets of rain from his coat, and wrapping the blankets back across his lap. Darcy smiled at her solicitude.

The road, unfortunately, only grew worse, and from time to time they felt the carriage skid and slip on the ice. It was growing dark, and Darcy, holding elizabeth in his arms, began to feel some qualms about their safety.

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He was not surprised when they turned into a cobblestone yard in a small village. Looking out the window, he saw a sign identifying the building as The red Lion. He frowned—this was not what he had in mind at all, but it would have to do.

The coachman came around and conferred with him briefly, then went into the inn. He returned, accompanied by an ostler. “They have a room, sir; it won’t be what you are accustomed to, but it is dry.”