Chapter Thirty
Darcy
D arcy stared for a moment, unable to comprehend how best to respond. He knew he had spoken poorly out of anger to her that day, but he had not anticipated that she would respond in such a way.
He looked at her as she sat by the fire, unsure how best to approach her now.
After what felt like an age, he sat down in a chair next to her.
“I may have acted rashly…” He mumbled softly.
“I beg your pardon, sir, I do not believe I heard you,” Elizabeth said, turning to face him slightly, her eyebrows in a slight frown.
“I said, I may have acted rashly,” Darcy said firmly. “In my haste to clear our names and to correct the course our lives have taken, I acted without taking your feelings into consideration. Truthfully, I worried that your affection for Charlotte would prevent you from seeking out Miss King when we are in Hertfordshire and so I acted.”
Elizabeth listened quietly, her expression softening slightly.
“I am aware my view is foolish. You are protective and loyal towards your friend. Traits that are admirable even if I believe are misplaced in this instance. I am afraid that Charlotte has deceived you, and leaving her to make a mockery of us is not something that I can abide by…” He took a deep breath before carrying on. “But I should not have allowed this single-mindedness for the truth cause me to become dismissive of you,” he explained softly. Elizabeth nodded as she let him speak before leaning back in her seat, relaxing slightly.
“I may have been blinded by my loyalty. It is not that I am unaware that Charlotte could have betrayed me, but I also cannot ignore the fact that if she did not, then we are putting our reputation at risk again by falsely accusing her. That is to say nothing of her reputation,” Elizabeth finally said.
“I understand that…” Darcy sighed. “If you can forgive me for my foolishness I would endeavour to be more than civil again,” Darcy said, taking her hand in his.
“I think I may grant you this favour, if you also can do the same for my blind loyalty,” she replied.
“I will always forgive you for your faults. As long as you can forgive mine,” Darcy chuckled which earned him a slight glare from Elizabeth, however, there was no venom in her eyes.
“What a forgiving husband I have,” she said with sarcasm.
“Only for my forgiving wife,” he chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He glanced over to the bed and sighed, they still had this matter to attend to. “And then there is our other pressing issue…”
“Indeed. I will let you have the bed. I am more than capable of spending one night asleep in a chair,” Elizabeth said firmly.
“I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to sleep in such discomfort. I will take a cushion and sleep on the floor,” Darcy retorted.
“I cannot agree to let you do that on my behalf, it will be far too uncomfortable,” Elizabeth replied. “I am sleeping in the chair, you shall take the bed.”
“If you are to sleep in the chair, then I will simply sleep on the floor,” Darcy insisted.
They were at a stalemate it would seem. The pair looked at the bed, and then at each other, and they both knew they were too stubborn for this conversation to end in a satisfactory way.
“We are not going to agree…” Elizabeth sighed.
“You speak as if this is a new revelation,” Darcy chuckled. “There is another solution, but I fear it is not one either one of us will be eager for.”
“And what would that solution be?” Elizabeth asked.
“If we cannot agree on who is to sleep on the bed and who is to sleep elsewhere, then the only option may be for us to both sleep on the bed…” Darcy said tentatively. The pair had been married for almost a year and yet had never been in the same bed together. Elizabeth grimaced somewhat and sighed.
“It is a less than agreeable solution, and yet if we do not take it we may both sleep sitting up in the chairs due to our stubbornness,” Elizabeth said.
“Indeed… It would be most unusual for us…” He sighed. “We can try to be as far from each other as possible,” Darcy reassured her and, despite the growing discomfort between the pair of them, they both stood up.
The pair approached the bed, neither one of them sure how to navigate a situation like this. Elizabeth lowered herself onto the bed and under the covers first, so close to the edge that she appeared like she could fall off at any moment. Darcy acted similarly. As Elizabeth closed her eyes and let herself be taken by sleep, Darcy lay there, his heart racing from the proximity. He was entirely unsure what to do with himself in this moment. It was the first time he had been in such an intimate situation with anyone, let alone the woman who had occupied his thoughts for so many months. Eventually, though, despite himself, his eyes grew heavy, and sleep took over.
As he shifted awake, he could smell the faint scent of roses, and felt something warm pressed against him. Opening his eyes slightly, he realised the pair had drifted closer together in their sleep, and Elizabeth’s head was pressed under his chin. Darcy’s heart skipped at the unexpected contact, his eyes widening for a moment before he composed himself. In truth, he did not dislike this, even if it was not how either of them would act under normal circumstances. He accepted the moment before carefully untangling himself from the bed and going to perform his ablutions, not wanting Elizabeth to awaken to them both in that position and to feel more uncomfortable than she already felt the night before.