Chapter 15 #2
Elizabeth sobered, suddenly understanding what she was being told.
“So you told him these tales?” It was all rather fantastical and her mind struggled to connect this to herself.
Surely Darcy would not believe such lies told by a young girl?
He had never breathed a word of any of this to her, just began treating her as though all of it were true.
It was laughable, at least until one considered how deeply it had affected her and her son.
“I told him,” Georgiana confirmed, unable to look Elizabeth in the eye. “And at other times, it was the unspoken truth that persuaded him.”
“But…he believed you? How could he believe such absurd stories?”
“He did,” Georgiana said, a deep, scarlet hue spreading over her chest and face. “Particularly as…well, Mr Wickham had been caught by the servants on several occasions sneaking in and out of the house.”
It took Elizabeth a moment to understand. “To see you?”
Fresh tears flowed as Georgiana nodded. “A note was found as well…one of mine, but my brother thought it was for you, particularly as it was placed in your bedchamber with…”
She was crying harder, and Elizabeth looked to Kitty for further clarity.
“A handkerchief embroidered with the initials ‘GW’ was found in your bedchamber. It had a lock of hair wrapped in it and the note asking for an assignation.”
“But…but how?”
“Georgiana’s friend had put them there. She had made the handkerchief herself and used a lock of her own hair. Her hair was similar in colour to Mr Wickham’s so it made for good proof.”
Elizabeth found herself fighting strange and contradictory impulses.
Should she laugh? Should she cry? It was like a bizarre novel gone awry, and she could not make sense of any of it.
Behind it all was rage, rage that her husband had believed all of this silliness with never a word to her.
“Who is this supposed friend that caused such problems?”
“Miss Bingley,” said Kitty. “Miss Caroline Bingley.”
When Darcy heard footsteps descending the stairs, he rose hopefully, but it was only Kitty and Georgiana who appeared. Georgiana was pale and had clearly cried, and Darcy went to her immediately. “Are you ill?”
Georgiana shook her head. “No, but…I spoke to Elizabeth and told her what I did, and Miss Bingley as well.”
“I see. And what did she say to it all?”
“Nothing really,” Kitty said. “She laughed at first, thinking it all quite fantastic. But then she was quite sad by the end of it all.”
“Where is she now?” Darcy asked.
“I think she would like us to leave,” said Georgiana. “She seemed very tired.”
“I cannot leave, Georgiana. I need to speak to her.”
Georgiana pursed her lips for a moment, then glanced at Kitty. “We shall collect Mrs Annesley and go to the carriage. Elizabeth was in her bedchamber. At the top of the stairs and to the right.”
“Very good.”
Elizabeth had moved to the chair in her room. It looked out towards the shore, and she often would gaze at the water to calm her nerves. Alas, with the state her nerves were in presently, it was not having its usual calming effect.
The first knock was so quiet that she barely heard it. When it was repeated more strongly, she said, “Come in.”
The door opened very slowly, and Darcy entered cautiously and looked around the room. Elizabeth had decorated it in pale, airy colours that matched the seaside—aqua and blue and indigo—and Darcy appeared to like it.
“I should have thought you had left by now.”
“I could not, not until we had spoken.” He went to her chair and knelt. “Elizabeth…the boy…”
“Bennet.”
“Yes, Bennet. He is your son?”
Elizabeth caught her breath. This was what she had feared all this time, these many months. Would Darcy want to take him away from her? “He is our son,” she said slowly.
“Mine?” Darcy asked.
She glared at him. “Yes, yours. Or did you think he belonged to George Wickham, since you evidently believed that of me.”
“No, no. I did not mean to question—”
“I am well aware that you do not ask questions, you merely pass judgments, but in this case, I shall tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bennet is your son.” She rose and turned to the window, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing the skin of her upper arms, desperately trying to calm her nerves, but to no avail.
He rose as well and came behind her, standing very close. “Elizabeth, I do not doubt he is mine, nor do I doubt your good character.”
“You mean you do not doubt it now.”
“I have made gross errors in judgment against you, for which I am so deeply sorry. It is my only wish that you will permit me to beg your forgiveness, to show you how I have changed… Rather, it was my only wish, but now I must also wish to meet my son.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, unseen by Darcy as she still faced the window. How she longed to deny him this! She was shocked at the resentment that burnt in her and by how badly she wanted to make him suffer, to make him hurt as she had hurt these past two years.
However, she reminded herself sternly, she needed to think of her son and place his best interests first. Bennet deserved a father, even if that father did not deserve him. In any case, it was Darcy’s right. She could not deny it to him any more than she could banish him from Pemberley.
“He is napping now. Come back tomorrow. You may meet him then.”