Imperative: Volume 2, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice (12 page)

“And . . . how do you feel about it?   Can you let it go?”

“I am trying.  I know that I must.  She needs me to say that I love her and for her to know that I mean it.”

“But you do love her.”

“I never stopped.  Would we be here now if I did not?”  The song ended and with it his unhappiness grew. “It will get harder for all of us as the date of the birth approaches.  She must be terrified.”  He looked down at his hands.  “I must conquer this.” 

“Will she remain with you?  You spoke of finding a new companion and of her going to London after she recovers to complete her schooling with the masters.”

“I cannot imagine her wanting to be near the baby, can you?  Is that not the point of this whole thing?  To save both of their lives?  It seems that I need to have a conversation with her on this.”

“One day the man who asks to marry her will have to be told.”  The men’s eyes met and both considered their own reactions to such a revelation.  “We will cross that bridge when we come to it.” 

“Yes.”  Darcy said softly.  “One thing at a time.”    There was a familiar knock on the door and they turned in time to see Elizabeth poke her head in.  “Your song was beautiful, Lizzy.  Why did you stop?”

“Georgiana was feeling tired and went to lie down.  I thought that I would take some exercise.”  Continuing into the room, she stood behind his chair and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  “I thought that a nice walk would do me some good.”

“It looks like rain.”

“It is March, it always looks like rain.”  Darcy brought his hands up to hold her arms and she spoke against his ear.  “I promise to return dishevelled.” 

“I certainly hope so.”  Turning his head, he smiled at her.  “Where will you go?”

“Not too far.  A half hour and then I will turn back.”  She touched the watch hanging from her dress.  “Do not worry.”

“You know that I will.”  Darcy caressed her cheek and slipping his hand behind her head, drew her face forward.  They kissed gently, and then parting their lips, kissed again.  Darcy drew back and seeing the soft expression in her eyes, licked his lips.  “You had better leave.”  Taking out his pocket watch, he set the chronograph to chime at one hour; his finger stood poised, “Ready?  Steady?” 

“Will!  I do not have my coat on!” 

“That was your error, not mine . . . Now then . . .” Elizabeth tried to grab the watch from his hand, and Darcy tossed it to Richard, who immediately set the timer. 

“Start walking, Mrs. Darcy.”  He said seriously.

“And what if I am late?”  Her hands landed on her hips.

“I will come and find you.”  Darcy took one her hands and kissed it. 

“Now you know that is just a temptation to stay out until sundown.”  Sending a last look to Darcy, she sashayed out.  It was not until he heard the front door close that he looked back to his laughing cousin.

“Do you have any idea how you respond when she is in the room?  Do you know how much you are smiling?”

Embarrassed, Darcy rubbed his cheeks.  “Is that so bad?” 

“No, not at all.  I pray that you are successful starting your own family soon.  With the way that you kiss it will not be long.”

“I apologize for that, I forgot you were here.  That scent she uses . . .” Clearing his throat with Richard’s snort, he shrugged,  “Our family will come when the time is right.   I look forward to it more than I can say.”

“Samuel mentioned that Georgiana would like your aunt to take the baby.” 

“Aunt Susan and Uncle Harding?”  Darcy said doubtfully. “To spare Elizabeth and me from caring for it? I . . . no.  I will have to assure her that taking her baby is not a burden for us.  Besides, Uncle is adamantly against that.  His reaction to knowing Wickham took her was violent enough . . . More to the point, they are hardly young.  I hate the thought of it, but . . . Uncle could die . . . Father did, after all, and then we would be back in the same position.” 

“It could be a penance for him.”  Richard murmured to himself, but Darcy caught it. 

“Penance?”  He sank back into his chair.  “What did he do?  Granted his reactions were not at all helpful, but they were certainly understandable.”  Darcy looked up at the ceiling.  “Uncle bothers me.”

“Oh?”  Richard bit his lip and sat forward.  “How so?”

“How is it that he came racing to Pemberley . . . suddenly coming home after being gone for . . . nine months?  More?  He barely greets Aunt, insists on seeing Georgiana, who he has professed to love but was been unable to bear visiting after her recovery . . . and nearly the first thing he says to me is to watch out for Wickham?”  Darcy looked back to Richard.  “And not a half hour later, I am clinging for my life, and it seems that Wickham and Christmas were there in that cabin waiting for us.” 

“And what do you conclude from that?” 

“Could he possibly have known?”  Darcy shook his head.  “No, no, of course not, but the coincidences are staggering.” 

“Devastating.”

Darcy closed his eyes and nodded.  “Ignore me.  The stress we are all feeling is enormous.”  Waving his hand as he searched for words to match his thoughts, he finally just put it down with a thud on the desk.  “He was fixated on the man, more so than I, as I had Georgiana to worry about.  In his condition, that fury might have driven him home.”  Richard said nothing, only taking out his snuff box to watch the jewels glitter in the light from the fire.  “He is so different now.  I imagine Albert is as well.  Remove the drugs and the real man appears?”

“I think that there is only a shell of my brother left.” 

“Oddly enough, I think the same of my uncle.” 

“What would you do if you caught up with Wickham?”  Richard asked softly.  “I know that the demand for ten thousand pounds was a ridiculous request, but . . . what if he asked for something reasonable?”

“What could possibly be reasonable?”  Darcy laughed hollowly.  “If I saw him again I would cut off his cock and feed it to the pigs, and toss his bollocks into the cess pits.” 

Richard’s low chuckle made Darcy’s crooked smile appear.  “I like your style, Cousin, I always have.” 

“What would you do?”

He shrugged.  “A commission, somewhere far, far away.” 

“Is that so terrible?  You are saying that your career is hell if you do that.”

“But I am leaving it.”  Richard smiled.

“I can think of no good reason to reward Wickham for his deeds.  Even with my reluctant acknowledgement of Georgiana’s culpability, I cannot think of a reason why I would want to help Wickham.”

“To get him out of your life.”

“Every time I have paid him or his debts he has always come back for more.  There is no being rid of him.  He is a cockroach.”

“Cannot a man change?”

Darcy’s head tilted.  “Are you the same man who demanded we destroy his portrait?”

Richard nodded.  “Yes, I am.  Perhaps I have a streak of forgiveness running through my veins after watching my brother’s downfall.” 

“That is not the same as what Wickham did.” 

“What does Elizabeth say?” 

Darcy groaned and Richard looked at him expectantly.  “She says that it is good that Wickham managed to care for Georgiana and that she cared for him.  It makes this baby . . . its conception was one rooted in . . . some semblance of . . .  I refuse to say love, but . . . care, I leave it with care.”

“I had not thought of that, I rather like it.  For everyone’s peace of mind, such as it is.”  A carriage drove past the window.  Richard glanced at it and then sat up.  “You have a visitor.”

“Not again!  We have seen enough of the neighbours.”  Darcy bit his lip.  “It is undoubtedly the women coming now that we were all introduced last night.  They will want to see Elizabeth . . .”

“Fortunately she is gone and Georgiana is resting.  Parker will send them on their way, however, you
will
have to make a decision about exposing Georgiana.”  Richard looked at him and heard the exasperated sigh.  “It is bound to happen sometime.  This is why she is Miss Cargill.”

“They will tell everyone in this damned town about the ruined girl living at Sommerwald.”  Darcy stood and went to open the door.  “Ask me what I think of Wickham now.” He strode out to the hallway to see who had come. 

Parker answered the knock. “Mr. Kelly, Miss Kelly.”  He bowed as they entered, and immediately spotted Darcy.

“Please forgive our intrusion, Mr. Darcy.”  Sophie smiled.  “You must feel overwhelmed by all of the visitors.”

 Darcy bowed. “I am afraid that my wife is out walking at the moment, but she should be returning soon, if you would care to wait for her?”  He cleared his throat and his fingers went to his ring.  “We could go up to the drawing room?”

“Thank you for your tolerance, sir.  But we only meant to stay for a few minutes.”  She smiled at his nervous gesture until she saw Richard emerging from the study.  She spotted the snuff box in his hand and met his eye.  “Are you never without that, sir?” 

Surprised, he looked down at his palm.  “I forgot that it was there.”  A small smile crossed his lips.  “And good morning to you, too, Miss Kelly.  Sir.”

“Good morning.”  Robert bowed and looked curiously at his sister.

“Forgive me, sir.  Good morning.”  Blushing, she turned to Darcy, “Mr. Darcy, is it true that you purchased that hideous example of jewellery for Colonel Fitzwilliam?”

Darcy looked back at Richard quizzically, “Yes, it is.” 

“I do
try
to avoid lying.”  Richard smiled at her and grinned when her blush deepened.

“You try to avoid being caught.”  Darcy laughed.  “I am sorry that my cousin’s gift is offensive to you, Miss Kelly.  My wife has not seen it, but I can imagine that her reaction would be similar to yours.  May I point out that I did not choose it, my cousin did?”

“Thank you for another black mark upon my character.”  Richard grinned.

“Anything that I can do to help . . .”

Robert sent Sophie a look and turned to their host.  “Mr. Darcy, we are only here to issue an invitation, there is no need to keep you any longer . . .”

“Nonsense, Darcy and I are glad for a distraction while his wife trudges hither and yon.”  Richard approached Sophie.  “Shall I escort you upstairs?  I am quite curious to hear this mysterious invitation.”

Now completely embarrassed, she demurred, “It is really nothing . . .”

“If it was you would not have come, would you?”  Offering his elbow, he tilted his head.  “Do not go all shy on me, Miss Kelly, not after attacking my treasured snuff box.  I will not have it.” 

“I should warn you, Miss Kelly, my cousin is a man of direct speech.  If he offends do not hesitate to correct him.”  Darcy smiled at Richard.

“Shall I issue the same disclaimer about my sister?”  Robert asked and stepped up to offer her his arm.

The two men’s eyes met and Richard liked the protective light that he saw.  
Interesting.
 Smiling pleasantly, he turned to Sophie.  “Allow me.” 

The party arrived in the drawing room and had been settled for no more than five minutes when a few raindrops struck the window, and were suddenly followed by a deluge.  Darcy was up and at the window in a second.  The rain was coming down so hard that he could barely see the Kellys’ carriage.  “Lizzy!”  He cried and without a word, he spun and left the room.

“Darcy . . .” Richard called after him, and standing, nodded to their guests and followed him out the door, leaving Robert and Sophie sitting together.  “What should we do?”  She whispered.

“Well we cannot very well leave in this weather.”  Going to the window, he tried to see through the rain.  “I hope that she has found some shelter.”

“What do you think Mr. Darcy will do?”  She joined him at the glass.

“There is your answer.”  He pointed as a figure clad in black appeared below them and then disappeared into the storm.  “And there goes the colonel.”   He murmured as the blue-coated soldier left the house.  The rain let up a bit and they could see him walking out to the drive and scanning the horizon as he turned.  Seeming to have found a direction, he set off.  “I should join them.”  He turned to leave when Sophie grabbed his arm. 

“Look!”  She cried and pointed. 

“LIZZY!”  Darcy called and looked around uselessly as the rain pounded down.  The noise was deafening.  If she heard him it would be a miracle, but he continued to bellow her name.  “LIZZY!”   For some reason he felt drawn towards the sheds where the sheep were housed to dry.  It seemed a reasonable place for her to run when the rain began to fall.  Vaguely seeing the path ahead of him, he kept walking and calling for her.  “LIZZY!”  He cupped his hands to his mouth and stopped quickly when he realized that the rush of sound he was hearing was not the wind, but the shallow river that had become a raging torrent with the incredible rain.  “Whoa.”  He stopped before he slipped down an ancient bank incised into the crumbling soil and stepped back.  Just as he was about to call again, the rain let up enough for him to see a little more clearly.  “What was that?”  Straining to listen, he scanned the water. 

“Will!” 

“Oh God!”  His heart pounding, he sprinted upstream to the spot where Elizabeth lay clinging desperately to a tree root projecting from the bank.  “Lizzy, hold on!”  He dropped onto his stomach and inched forward. 

“Will . . . I cannot!” 

“Yes, you can!”  He concentrated on her terrified eyes and tried to ignore the lower half of her body being buffeted by the rushing current.  The water was still rising, and every inch brought her closer to him.  “Hang on, love.”  Looking behind him, he managed to hook his boots into another exposed root, anchoring him in place as he stretched forward.  “Take my hand, Lizzy.”

“I am afraid to let go.”  She squealed when some debris ran into her and nearly knocked her loose.  Darcy looked upstream and saw that a large tree was flying straight towards her. 

“Lizzy . . .
Trust me
!”   He commanded, and taking possession of her gaze, demanded that she reach for him. 

Elizabeth bit her lip and crying out, let go and reached.  For a second their fingers touched and slipped.  Elizabeth screamed and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him quickly just as the tree sped by, just grazing her feet as he got her to the bank.  Now with both hands, he dragged her up to the grass and not willing to trust the sodden earth, he rolled them several yards away to solid ground.  Elizabeth curled in his lap and sobbed while Darcy rocked her back and forth as he held her tightly to his chest.