Chapter 38
The servants, after taking an inordinate amount of time setting up the picnic, finally left after bowing and curtsying to the master and his guest.
Darcy smiled and thanked them kindly. Then, he nonchalantly picked up a knife, cut a piece of bread and started to spread butter and paté on it, “would you like some?” He asked with a casual and maddening smile.
“Mr Darcy…” Elizabeth said, infuriated. “What do you mean by that, sir?”
“Well, the bread is so fresh it is still steaming, so it is better with the French terrine.” He took a bite and exaggeratedly moaned in ecstasy. “Are you certain you do not want any?”
She looked over the delicacies spread out on the table, “I have changed my mind,” she said with a clipped tone, “Please pass me some grapes.”
He filled a small plate with grapes and strawberries and passed it to her. She immediately put it down and picking up a couple of grapes, she threw them back at his head.
He laughed, “What have I done to deserve this aggression against my person, Miss Bennet?” He asked feigning pain while rubbing his head.
“Mr Darcy, put the bread down and answer my question immediately, sir, before I set Hamlet on you.”
The dog looked up when he heard his name.
“You forget, madam that Hamlet belongs to me.” He smirked.
“He may belong to you, but he loves me.”
“Like me then.”
He put another piece of bread into his mouth and chewed slowly looking at her.
Her eyes filled with tears.
He stopped teasing her,
“Elizabeth, please do not cry.” He said reaching for her hand.
She ignored the fact that he had used her Christian name without any hesitation and, more importantly, without her permission. However she did not snatch her hand away.
He stroked her hand lovingly but stopped after a few moments. He looked around to see if there were any onlookers.
“I will be leaving Pemberley soon, Mr Darcy; my time in Derbyshire is almost over.”
He nodded, “I have been considering how much happier my mother and sister are with you here.”
“And you?” She murmured.
He looked at her intently and his eyes darkened, “I must confess, Miss Bennet, that I can no longer envision Pemberley without you. You belong here.”
“As your mother and sister’s companion?”
He smiled; she was going to force him to say every word loud and clear, “no, madam, as my wife.”
It was her turn to smirk, “it seems to me, Mr Darcy that you have spent the entire spring and summer attempting not to say exactly what you have just said. I do not know if I should take you seriously or simply laugh at a good joke.”
“Not just the spring and summer, but the winter as well.”
She gasped, “That long?”
He nodded, for the first time looking sheepish.
“What changed your mind then?” She said.
“Before I answer any more questions, Miss Bennet, I need to know the answer to mine.”
She feigned confusion, “I do not remember you asking me anything.”
“That is a good point. My dear Miss Bennet, let me ask you now what I should have asked you back in February,” he took a deep breath, and then plunged in head first; “will you marry me?”
The tears that had been threatening to fall finally ran down her face. She gave him a watery smile.
“Dearest, loveliest Elizabeth, I love you. I love your wit, your kindness, your courage. I love the way you challenge me. I love every hour I spend in your company. You make me want to become a better man.”
His gaze never left hers but she seemed unable to form words.
So he continued, “When you were injured and bedridden I discovered how helpless affection can make a man. Watching you suffer was unbearable because I would have given anything to spare you even a portion of the pain.”
Elizabeth’s tears kept on falling.
Darcy reached out and wiped her tears with his thumbs. He pressed a handkerchief into her hands and then continued softly, “I do not say these things to force your hand, but I think you love me just as much as I love you. In fact I do not simply suspect it, I know it.”
She frowned, “how can you be so certain?” She said drying her insistent tears.
He smiled confidently, “because you told me so.”
She shook her head, “I do not think so. I have not even permitted myself to think it or say it out loud, let alone tell you, of all people.”
“But you have.”
“When?”
“After I found you half dead, and carried you back to the house.”
She gasped.
“Do not be concerned, my love. Only I heard it and I replied, just as quietly, that I love you too.”
She gave in and smiled at him; a brilliant smile that made even the sun behind her seem pale in comparison.
A laugh of sheer happiness escaped him, “does this gorgeous smile mean yes?”
She threw another grape at him and laughed, “Yes, you maddening man, I do love you, with all my heart and soul.”
He released a breath and grasped her hand, “then,” he said, his voice unsteady with delight, “I am the most fortunate and the happiest man in England.”
“And I,” Elizabeth replied squeezing his hand, “am the most fortunate woman in the world.”
He leaned forward toward her and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was brief but promised a world of warmth to be treasured for many years to come.
When he straightened, they heard a squeal behind them.
When they looked in that direction, mother and daughter were hastily retreating into the house and giggling like school girls.
“Do you think your mother has guessed what is happening here?”
He smiled, “no, she certainly has not guessed it because she knows exactly what is happening here, since she planned it from the very beginning.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are under the misapprehension that my mother is surprised by anything that her children do. She is not! She is a strategist and very crafty at that too.”
Elizabeth laughed, “Are you saying that she chose me for you?”
“In a sense, yes, once she realised that you were perfect for me. You discomposed me so much, you challenged me, and you did not worship at my feet as all others did. And, most importantly, when she detected that I had already fallen in love with you despite my desperate attempts to not give in.”
“How did she know?”
He smirked, “trust me my darling, she knows everything.”
“It was a gambit then; like with Charlotte and Lord Holton. She simply benefited from a very lucky coincidence as she could not have foreseen the outcome.”
He shook his head, “no, indeed. She schemes, she plots and she plants ideas and before you know it, you are eating out of the palm of her hand.”
“Surely not;” Elizabeth laughed.
“Indeed. In fact I suggest once we are married,” he said teasingly “we banish her to the dower house forthwith.”
“You would not dare, and I certainly would not permit it,” she said testing him.
His eyes were soft and full of mirth, “no indeed, I love her most dearly; I would not part with her unless she wished it.”
Elizabeth smiled at him with eyes full of adoration. She looked so beautiful, so fresh, and so full of life that she took his breath away.
He kissed her again, both savouring the intimacy. Her soft and warm lips under his making his head dizzy.
After a few moments, they stopped and looked at each other lovingly.
He cleared his throat to bring himself under good regulation, “Having said that though, I do not know how I will survive with the two of you living under the same roof and scheming against me.”
“Scheming against you? The two people who love you most in the world?”
“The two women who know me best in the world.” He corrected her. “How on earth am I going to get my own way from now on, I have no idea?”
They laughed happily together, making plans for the rest of the summer and future.
Darcy went back inside and invited his mother and sister to join them for their picnic lunch where they shared with them their happy news.