Chapter Six #3
Monday morning, Darcy was finishing up some correspondence before attending his solicitor’s office when the strident tones of Aunt Catherine boomed from the foyer.
For a brief moment, he was thankful Georgiana was not there to witness what he knew would be an unpleasant encounter.
She did not need to be subjected to the fury he expected from his least favorite relative.
“Where is my nephew? I demand to see him at once!”
The thud of her walking stick as it hit the marble floor echoed in the short hall leading to his study, and he knew somehow, she had learned of his pending marriage.
Even if Uncle Robert had sent an express this morning, which he assured him he would not, there was no physical way any letter could arrive at Rosings until at least noon.
Lady Catherine burst through the door and Darcy calmly finished sanding the letter to his steward and placed it atop the one to Mrs. Reynolds. He dared not show any weakness. His aunt had the instincts of a wild animal. One wrong move and she’d pounce for the kill.
“You can be at no loss, nephew, to understand the reason for my journey hither,” she said upon her immediate entry into the room.
“Indeed, you are mistaken. I cannot account for why you have honored me with your presence this fine morning.”
“A report of a most alarming nature reached me the other day,” replied her ladyship in an angry tone, “I was informed you are planning to bind yourself in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood, I instantly resolved on setting off to uncover the truth of the matter.”
“I am not prepared to discuss my personal life with you, Aunt Catherine. May I offer you a beverage before you leave?”
“This is not to be borne. I insist on being satisfied. Are you engaged to Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”
“As stated previously, I am not discussing my personal life. The topic is closed, our conversation is complete.”
“If you marry that tart from Hertfordshire, I will take you to the courts and have it annulled.”
“On what grounds?”
“On the grounds, you are engaged to Anne.”
“I do not recall proposing marriage to my cousin. No settlements have been drawn up. No promises were made, by either myself or my parents. There has never been an engagement between me and Anne, other than in your fevered imagination.”
“You know your betrothal is of a peculiar kind. Have you not heard me say from your earliest hours you were destined for your cousin?”
“From my earliest hours? Cousin Anne was not even born in my earliest hours. I highly doubt my mother would plot the marriage of her son to an unborn entity. Your argument has as much strength as a house of cards on a windy day.”
He stood and moved around the desk toward the door.
“If you marry this unknown upstart, you will be censured, slighted, and despised by everyone connected with you. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never be mentioned by any of us.”
“Us, as in the Fitzwilliams?”
“Yes, they will cut you off and set you adrift.”
“I am independently wealthy with my own connections, and I am a Darcy. As fond as I am of my mother’s family, I do not depend on them, and will not be harmed if they never mention me in conversation.”
“I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
“Today is a chance for you to learn something new.”
“If you were sensible, you would not wish your betrothed to quit her own sphere.”
“She is a gentleman’s daughter.”
“True, but who is her mother? Her uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their low-brow connections.”
He briefly wondered how she could know of Elizabeth’s origins and family dynamics.
“If I do not object, they can mean nothing to you.”
Lady Catherine glared at him.
“Do not deceive yourself into a belief I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance I require.”
“Then, I shall have Mrs. Whittaker prepare you a room. Good day, Aunt.”
“Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the objections I have already aired, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your hastily arranged engagement. How the light skirt forced you into a compromise. I know it all. What I do not understand is why you cannot just set her up in a little house and take your pleasure whenever you like. You need not marry your ladybird. Heaven and earth! ? of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
He gave a start at his exact words being echoed by his aunt.
“I am tired of this conversation, and have a business appointment to attend.”
“You have no regard, then, for the honor and credit of our family!” Her ladyship was highly incensed. “Do you not consider a connection with her will disgrace you in the eyes of everybody?”
“I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments.”
“You refuse, then, to oblige me.” At his curt nod, she continued, “I hoped to find you reasonable, but you are stubborn, just like your father.”
She pivoted on her heel and strode through the door, her voice ringing down the hall.
“I take no leave of you, Darcy. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.”
The thumps of her walking stick and vociferous displeasure soon receded, and Darcy could only wonder how she learned of his circumstance so quickly. It seemed as though news of his impending marriage had spread at least as far as Kent.
His plan to tuck Miss Elizabeth away at Pemberley was starting to unravel like a ball of yarn in the care of a frisky kitten. He must now endure her company in London. Blast Aunt Catherine and her infernal interference. If only he had disabused her of that stupid engagement years ago.
He picked up the letter written to Mrs. Reynolds and consigned it to the fire.
He no longer needed to inform her of a new mistress.
Instead, Elizabeth would remain at Darcy House until he knew for sure if she were enceinte.
If she carried Wickham’s bastard... he pressed his fist to the center of his chest at a sudden tightening.
He could not bear the thought of her carrying another man’s child.
He would cross that bridge when, or if he came to it.
Before leaving for Matlock House, he ordered all his mother’s furniture removed from the mistress chambers to the attic and replaced with whatever remained upstairs. He could not bear the presence of Miss Elizabeth to sully the cherished memory of his mother.
***
“You have everything in place?”
“I believe so. There have never been so many express posts sent to and from Longbourn as there have been this past week. Aunt Maddie promised to write to her brother with all the details.”
“And your trunks?”
“I have my one trunk ready, and Mr. Potter and his son know to follow the carriage at a safe distance and at my signal, attend the next day. There is a lovely inn at Lambton, I am told and I have given them enough funds to carry them safely through the week.”
“It seems you have all things in hand, Lizzy.”
“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
“My brother James loved that book. Next to the Holy Bible, the Art of War was his most treasured possession.”
“I have both packed in my trunk and feel exactly the same.”
“Next to Lizzy Izzy?”
Elizabeth smiled at the reference to the treasured doll her dear Papa had given her before he left so many years ago.
“Yes, she is safely tucked away in my trunk.”
“If James and Isabella could only see how well you have grown up. I know they would be troubled over the way your marriage has come about, but of you, as a person, they would be so proud.”
“My biggest regret is the harsh fact I am not marrying for love. It was my deepest wish to have a marriage like my parents.”
“Did I ever mention your parents very nearly did not get married?”
“No.”
“As you know, your grandfather de Cortez was an important man with great plans for his only daughter. Plans which did not include the second son of a gentleman in England. Although James was wealthy in his own right as captain of a ship, he still fell far below the social ring your mother traveled in Spain. And yet my brother persevered. You have the same tenacity as your father – and of your mother. Isabella went against her father’s wishes and pushed to marry James.
Thankfully, de Cortez relented and he never regretted them having a beautiful daughter of their own. ”
“I barely remember him. I was twelve when he last visited. He was tall and swarthy, so very aristocratic.”
“Aye. He scared Fanny into good behavior for those two months. It was his greatest wish to see you married, unfortunately, he died before that came about.”
“I do miss his letters.” She turned her focus back to her upcoming nuptials.
“I sent a note to Hertford House, informing the ambassador of my marriage. José and Sophia will be surprised, I am sure by the news, but details are required to update the royal archive. I also let them know I could no longer accompany them to Spain this summer.”
“I wonder what the high and mighty Darcy will think when he finds out he plopped a distant cousin to the Spanish King onto his estate in Derbyshire?”
“He may never know. To him, I am simply Lizzy Bennet of Hertfordshire, not Elizabeth Rose Isabella de Cortez Bennet, granddaughter of Count Frederick de Cortez of Luciana.”
“You will always be the granddaughter of a count and cousin to a king. You are well within your right to exert a little control now.”
“First, I must marry to secure the future of my cousins. The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy so that he cannot fathom our real intent. I will tell my future husband all he needs to know when required. He must come to like me on my own merits, and given the amount of anger he has exhibited thus far; that will take time and patience.”
Elizabeth left her uncle’s study and made her way to the room she shared with Jane; sad this was the last time she would see her favorite cousin.
She opened the door and was surprised to see her aunt seated on the bed, awaiting her.
She patted the mattress and Elizabeth sat down beside her.
She instinctively knew her aunt was there to give her the much-dreaded marital bed talk.
“Now, Lizzy, I know Mr. Darcy is quite upset over this whole incident, but there will come a time when he will seek your bed because he needs an heir.”
“Aunt Frances, I highly doubt that as Mr. Darcy cannot stand the very sight of me.”
“I believe he likes you far more than he lets on. I have seen his eyes follow you about the room when he thinks no one is watching.”
“He looks at me only to find fault.”
“I have seen your eyes follow him as well.”
“They do not,” she insisted and then looked down at her hands when her aunt quirked an eyebrow at her. “It is hard to miss him, he is so terribly tall.”
“I have been accused of not understanding many things, but knowing what a man thinks when he looks upon a beautiful woman is not one of them. Mr. Darcy is fascinated with you and when the time comes, you can use that fascination to smooth the angry edges of your hasty marriage.”
She then proceeded to spell out, in minute detail, what a new wife could expect in the marriage bed. For a long time after her aunt quit the room, Elizabeth was glad Mr. Darcy had no intention of laying claim to her body and was sending her to Pemberley.