Cousin Elizabeth (The Darcy Cousins #1)

Chapter One

“But Ethan, I don’t want to go to England on my own! Can you not go with me? Father asked us both to go!”

“Elizabeth, you know I cannot leave the estate right now. Pa taught me all he had time to, but there is just so much! I’m barely back from university.

I thought there would be many more years before I’d need to take over.

I…I wish someone else could do it. I wish I could go with you.

” Ethan put his head in his hands. He felt like an imposter sitting in his father’s desk chair, with piles of paper scattered all over the desk.

Father had always kept everything so tidy. He’d be ashamed of how it looked now.

Elizabeth was guilt-ridden at her outburst. The last few weeks had been hard on them both.

The illness had come on so suddenly. Their father had been hale and healthy one day and brought down by a lung infection the next.

He had coughed and lingered for nearly two weeks, struggling to impart as much knowledge as he could.

Just two days before he passed, he made an impassioned plea to his children, “I was so angry when I left Pemberley, I nearly spat in my brother’s face.

It was for no good reason. He simply was questioning my attachment to your mother.

Saying she didn’t have enough of a dowry, or any good connections, to help me along in life.

He didn’t think the twenty thousand pounds papa left me would be enough.

He couldn’t understand I was in love, and I didn’t feel like I should have to explain myself.

I was a hothead back then.” Their father tried to laugh, which made him go into a coughing fit.

Elizabeth helped him drink a bit of water.

“I stomped and yelled and waved my fists around. I packed my bags that very day and left for Hertfordshire. Your mother was only seventeen at the time. I was friends with her brother at Cambridge, your uncle Thomas. That’s how we met, through him.

I rode straight to Longbourn with barely a stop for rest. I must have looked like a wild man when I asked her father for a private interview with her.

Mr. Bennet was a kind enough man, but he had many questions about what my prospects were, and why I was in such haste.

He said he would not approve of anything but a courtship, and a long engagement, and that I would need to get my life in order before he would give his consent and blessing.

I was so hasty when I was young. So hasty. ”

Andrew Darcy stared off into space for several minutes before he took another sip of water and continued his story.

“Neither Caroline nor I were happy with her fathers’ stipulations.

We were both so in love. I probably should not admit this to you children, but we anticipated our vows.

Her brother…caught us. Thomas was smaller than I, but I let him beat me.

I deserved it. Mr. Bennet bought us a common license, and we married the next week.

” He gasped for breath again. “You know how gossip is. The entire town of Meryton was whispering. Carol couldn’t stand it, so we went to London.

That’s where I read about the large tracts of land being sold off in America for a pittance in comparison to England.

My young mind set on fire with the very thought of having my own estate and thumbing my nose at my brother.

I was a fool, but your mother would always support me.

Why she loved me, I will never understand. ”

There was another long pause, “My children. I foolishly broke with our family, and although Carol wrote to her mother for a time, when she passed, she just never wrote again. Thomas had said some cruel things when he found us, and Mr. Bennet could barely look at her. Well, we had each other, and we figured that was enough. Then you two came along, and I was trying to build this place up, so…time just passed. When your mother died, I sent a letter to Thomas to let him know and told him about you two. That’s when your cousins on the Bennet side started to write.

Tommy just sent a short note saying my brother’s wife had died too, and that’s the last I ever heard from him.

I…I just couldn’t bring myself to write my brother for the longest time.

I finally sent a letter of condolence. It wasn’t answered.

I wonder if it got there?” Andrew stared off into space for a long time.

His children wondered if he would fall asleep again, but suddenly…

“That’s my greatest regret, my children, that I left my family behind without a backward glance.

Now it’s too late. For me, anyway, but I want you to know your family.

It’s not a big family. It was just me and my brother as Darcys.

George married into the Fitzwilliam family, from what your uncle Tommy wrote.

I only knew a little of them when I was growing up.

Not much. In the Bennets, it was Thomas and your mother.

And then there’s Tommy’s girls. I’m glad you’ve been writing them, Kitten.

Do they talk about having more family? Did you say their mother passed some time back? ”

Elizabeth handed him his tincture in a cup of tea. His voice had grown scratchy. “Yes, Aunt Francis passed a few years ago. She had…well…it sounded from their description like what you’ve got. Oh papa!” She broke into sobs and ran out of the room.

Andrew Darcy stared after his daughter, “Son, maybe you both can’t understand why this is important, but you need to know your family. I’ll understand if you can’t go right away but send your sister with her companion and John Smith. He’s a smart one and will keep her safe. Promise me.”

Ethan was quiet for a moment, “I promise papa. We will make you proud. I promise.”

Andrew smiled at his son. He knew his time was coming soon. He could swear he smelled his Caroline’s perfume sometimes. She’d be there when he crossed over. He was sure about that.