Epilogue
“Exactly where are you taking me, Fitzwilliam?”
Darcy simply smiled at his wife, who was cuddled up against him in the carriage.
“You will see soon enough. Why, do you fear we are neglecting our guests?”
Elizabeth looked at him in fond exasperation. “Well, yes, if you must know. Poor Bingley and Jane must think we have quite abandoned them.”
“They could do with a bit of abandonment if you ask me. Bingley would never outright complain, but your mother has hardly let a day go by since their marriage without visiting her beloved ‘Mrs Bingley’. Perhaps we can convince them to stay beyond the Twelfth Night ball?”
“Perhaps. Dear Jane has begun to lightly suggest that perhaps Mama is a bit too eager to visit Netherfield. She will not say it explicitly, but ’tis clearly the reason they were both so eager to accept our invitation for Christmastide.
Aunt Gardiner has also been most firm about keeping my mother and father at Gracechurch Street over the next few days.
I believe she desires to afford the Bingleys as much privacy as we do. ”
Darcy was silently relieved for the interference of Elizabeth’s blessedly sensible aunt. Mrs Gardiner was truly a treasure for hosting the Bennets, despite his own generous offer to house the whole family.
Poking his side, Elizabeth queried, “You still will not tell me our destination?”
“Patience, my love,” Darcy replied with a laugh. “We are almost there—in fact, we have arrived.”
Handing Elizabeth down onto Westminster Bridge, Darcy struggled to hide his amusement at his wife’s completely baffled expression.
“A bridge? You pulled me from our warm home to visit a bridge? Is this some strange practice of the Quality to which I am unaccustomed?”
“Come here!” Darcy laughed, pulling Elizabeth into his arms and pointing to a spot upon the river below.
“There, one year ago, I spotted you upon the ice, and my world was forever changed. I thought it fitting to commemorate the moment. Now, will you laugh at your husband for the sentimental fool he has become?”
A tender smile gracing her beautiful face, Elizabeth kissed his cheek and replied, “Laugh? No—I am afraid I cannot. For I love this sentimental fool more than life itself.”
As a light snow began to fall, the Darcys remained undisturbed in their quiet embrace—too full of adoration for one another to pay the rest of the world any mind.
An admitted ‘great reader’ and history professor, LM Romano has channeled her passion for Jane Austen and historical fiction into writing Austenesque fiction.