Chapter 26 #4
“Miss Lucas, or may I call you Charlotte, and will you call me Patrick?” She nodded her agreement.
“I recently turned thirty so I want to preface what I am about to say with the reminder I am not a young man prone to flights of fancy.
In these scant hours as I have had the pleasure of getting to know you, I have found a lady who I believe will suit me as well as I will suit her.
“Grace is now five years old and in need of a mother. If my application this day is successful, then you will soon meet her as she is to return anon. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I love you, but I believe I am well on the way, and I can tell you that I respect and esteem you greatly. Is there hope? Do I have reason to hope you mayhap have similar thoughts and feelings?” Elliot held his breath in anticipation.
“Yes, Mr. Elliot, Patrick, my thoughts and feelings are exactly aligned with yours. Before I met you but yesterday, I believed I was an old maid destined to be a burden on my family which prompted my desire to enter service. That all changed when I met you and felt the…liked you.” She blushed and he smiled with relief because he understood exactly what she meant.
She was also attracted to him and that was a relief, because wanting one’s wife more than she wants you is a misery too many men experienced.
“I admit I am relieved you like me as well, Charlotte.” He offered quietly so she was in no doubt of his attraction and her blush heightened most becomingly.
“Like you, I do not believe I am in love with you yet, but I do have tender feelings which I am sure will develop into love soon enough, and I already esteem and respect you greatly by position and how you have described your preferences for your parish. I would love to meet your daughter, Grace, and I am sure I will love her as I would any children I may be blessed with in the future. I will not ask she call me mother, but I will hope to earn the title with both your approvals,” Charlotte revealed, looking down to find her hand in his and not remembering if she had taken his or he hers.
“It pleases me greatly you have never asked me about my financial position, which shows me that you are not interested in me for pecuniary gain.
But I want you as a partner in my life as well as the wife I will get to cherish to know my situation.
I own a small estate, Riverdale, in Shropshire, that I inherited from my maternal grandmother.
I lease the estate out as I have no need for it at present.
It brings in a clear three thousand a year.
“If I…we have a son the estate will go to him, but if not, Grace will inherit it as there is no entailment away from the female line on the property. I have a fortune of thirty thousand that I have just invested with Mrs. Darcy’s uncle, Mr. Gardiner.
From what I have been told of the success he has had, there will be more than enough to provide for Grace, any future daughters we have with a decent dowry, a legacy for second sons, and beyond.
“In addition, with the three livings I hold, I earn a little more than two thousand a year. I only spend a small portion, and most of the rest goes toward my investments. I hope you can see even if you had no dowry, we would not suffer financially.” He held her hand tighter as he saw her eyes continue to widen.
Charlotte Lucas was flabbergasted; she had not in her wildest dream believed she would attract a man such as this. Yes, he was wealthy, but more than that he was a good man, a man willing to entrust her with his daughter who he obviously adored.
While she was considering all that had transpired in such a short time, Elliot knelt in front of her.
“Charlotte Lucas, I do not think we need a courtship.” He smiled as he saw her crestfallen look and went on.
“Will you please make me the happiest of men and agree to marry me, to be my wife and a mother to Grace?” he asked hopefully.
Tears pooled and spilled down her cheeks as she heard what he asked, and she nodded vigorously. “Yes, Patrick, I will marry you. Yes, yes, yes! I will, I will be the best of mothers to Grace possible, and she will always feel the love of her family.”
As she gave him the answer he was hoping for, Elliot stood and drew her into an embrace.
Both forgetting their four chaperones, she looked up into his eyes in an invitation he did not want to ignore and gave her a light, sweet kiss, which was her first from a man not of her family.
Before he could deepen the kiss, they heard an enunciated “Ahem” as the four chaperones approached them.
“I assume this means that Mr. Elliot proposed to you, Charlotte? Please tell me he did, or my brothers are about to defend your honour and I would hate to have to root against them as the hero tries to escape with his lady love,” Kitty teased.
“Yes, he did Kitty. And he has made me so very happy.” Charlotte blushed as she nodded then looked at their chaperones. “Though I do appreciate the willingness to defend my honour,” she smiled sweetly at the four of them.
“Brother said if this happened, we were to bring you to see him in his study.” Georgiana offered.
“Lead the way please, Miss Darcy.” Elliot nodded once in her direction as he held his arm out to his betrothed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elliot, with Miss Lucas next to him, knocked on Darcy’s study door. They entered hand in hand, which told Mr. Darcy all he needed to know, though too Charlotte’s look of happiness would have said it as plainly, as did Elliot’s expression.
Darcy had not seen him this excited or happy since before he had lost his wife, though he would never say it to his friend. After some perfunctory questions, he granted his permission and blessing on behalf of Sir William Lucas.
He pulled a chord that would ring a bell to summon Douglas and requested he ask Mrs. Darcy to join the party in the study. As soon as is wife entered and she saw the look of joy on her friend’s face, she hugged Charlotte and congratulated Mr. Elliot.
They then had a discussion about timing and the location of the wedding. The couple decided they would marry in three weeks after the banns were read, and they chose to marry from the Kympton Church, since they had found each other in Derbyshire.
Darcy sent an express to Sir William Lucas and dispatched a coach and attendants to transport the Lucas family to Pemberley when they were ready to make the trip. That saved his friend Elliot the trip to and from Hertfordshire and the dreaded departure from Charlotte’s side.
Once the rest of the party were apprised of the plans, everyone agreed they would stay at Pemberley until the wedding.
The Earl of Matlock sent an express to the parson at the living he bestowed in Matlock with a request he come perform the ceremony and was sure it would not be an issue because his parson was a good friend of Elliot’s.
At the same time, Elliot sent an express to his father, Sir Everett Elliot, to share his glad tidings.
He requested his father inform the family and join them at Pemberley five days before the wedding.
He also requested his mother send the engagement ring his grandmother had bequeathed him so he could present it to his betrothed.
He was sure his father and mother, Lady Ilene, and the rest of his siblings would heartily approve of his Charlotte. He asked his mother to let Grace know she would soon have a mama and asked that someone accompany his daughter back to his house as soon as possible.
His family had started to despair he would ever marry again, yet in the space of but two days that had all changed.
As he thought about his Charlotte, he acknowledged he was falling in love with her, but he would wait for her to arrive at the same point before telling her.
He had no desire to put pressure on her to make a declaration she was not ready to make yet.
Charlotte Lucas was almost euphoric. Not only was she, one who had decided to go into service rather than be a burden on her family, engaged, she was going to have the joy of being a mother from her first day as Patrick’s wife.
The Darcys had told her their Twelfth Night Ball would double as an engagement ball for herself and her betrothed. Her life had changed so much in the space of days, changing what she saw as a bleak future into an eternity of happiness, respect, and love.
Yes, she had fallen in love with her betrothed. She decided to wait to tell him as she did not want to rush him if he was not yet in love with her. She had not yet met her soon to be daughter, but her heart was already expanding with love of her based on the way her father talked about her.
That night at the ball, Charlotte Lucas felt like a princess.
Her maid had given her a delightful coiffure, Elizabeth and Jane’s French lady’s maids had worked magic with her gown, and to top it all off her best friend had lent her some of the Darcy jewels to wear.
Charlotte pinched herself to make sure she was not dreaming, things like this did not happen to her, did they?
Her fiancé had warned her some of the local matchmaking mamas may resent her for usurping a position they had coveted for their own daughters ever since his year of mourning was complete, but none of that bothered Charlotte this night.
She felt like she was floating among the clouds, and never had she enjoyed dancing as much as she did with her betrothed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Some days later, back in Meryton, Lady Sarah Lucas had all but fainted when her husband had shared the news with her. Like Charlotte, Lady Lucas had believed her oldest was well and truly on the shelf.
Rather she was engaged to the son of a baronet who was a very wealthy man, a landowner, and the father of a young daughter. She had to pinch herself to make sure she was not dreaming.