Chapter 27
Time marched on towards the prewedding ball and then the ceremony to unite Jane and Hadlock, which would be some days after.
The ball was set to be held on the night of the sixteenth day of June, a Tuesday.
Lady Edith had chosen it in consultation with the bride and groom to allow three full days before the wedding on Saturday.
The last thing anyone wanted was for the couple getting married, or for that matter, their family members, to be too tired on the day of the wedding.
It was the day before the ball, and Elizabeth was riding Cleopatra, the mare she had fallen in love with at Rosings Park, on her way to Oakham Mount before sunrise.
William was riding alongside her on his stallion, Zeus.
Behind them rode a groom and Mrs Annesley.
With the sun expected to rise a little past half after three that morning, Elizabeth felt somewhat guilty that Mrs Annesley had to be up around three on this day.
Nevertheless, this was one day she did not want to miss her early morning exercise.
William had requested that she join him riding to the hill, as he had said there was something particular he wanted to ask her. Elizabeth found herself hoping the question he wanted to ask was if she would agree to marry him.
Unlike at Hunsford, she was ready and willing to hear William’s proposal.
It had been more than a sennight since she had admitted that her tender feelings had become full, ardent, and dedicated love.
Elizabeth had hoped William would understand the subtle signals she had sent him to indicate she was ready for him to ask the most important of questions.
Until yester-afternoon, the darling man had been obtuse.
While they had walked in the former Netherfield Park’s park with Kitty, Anna, and Lydia, Elizabeth had leaned her head towards William and simply said, “I am ready.”
The dear man had stopped dead in his tracks as he stared at her with an incredulous look as if he were trying to ascertain if he had heard what he thought he had heard.
Elizabeth had arched an eyebrow and asked if she needed to repeat herself.
That had snapped William out of his stupor, and he had requested that they take in the sunrise from Oakham Mount.
That had led them to where they were at this moment.
They arrived at the base of the hill. While the groom assisted Mrs Annesley from her saddle, Darcy helped his Elizabeth down.
She had no objection when he lifted her from the saddle, placing his hands either side of her slender waist. She rested her hands on his shoulders.
Darcy lowered Elizabeth slowly so he would be able to hold onto her longer.
He placed her feet on the grass very gently.
She did not remove her hands from his shoulders, and his hands were still on her waist.
Had Mrs Annesley not cleared her throat; there is no telling how long the two would have remained in that attitude.
Both were snapped out of their romantic haze. Darcy shook his head to clear it and offered Elizabeth his arm, which she gladly wrapped her hand around.
Elizabeth knew she should feel shame for being so lost in love’s trance when Mrs Annesley reminded them that they were not alone, but she was not.
Instead, she walked next to William as they ascended the path to the summit, with Mrs Annesley following them.
They could have ridden up to the top, but Elizabeth had asked if William objected to walking; he had not.
She had begun to believe that he would grant any request she made which was in his power to give.
With the loving look Elizabeth had bestowed on him when he assisted her from her saddle, Darcy almost felt like he was floating to the summit of the hill and not walking. He believed that if not for her hand on his arm, he may very well have drifted off on the wings of the light breeze.
Darcy could not believe that it was barely two months since the disaster he created in Kent; now he was on the cusp of again begging Elizabeth for her hand.
It had been some time since he had known he could marry none but her.
Second chances were rare, and Darcy had no intention of squandering this one.
He had not planned his proposal, as he was certain Elizabeth would appreciate that the words came straight from his heart and did not seem rehearsed.
On arriving on the flattened top of the hill, Elizabeth and Darcy made for the boulder on the eastern rim of the summit; the same one that they had sat on each time they had come here, which was quite often during the fortnight since arriving in Hertfordshire.
Mrs Annesley took a seat on the opposite side of the hill, utilising one of the benches under the stand of oak trees.
From there she could see the couple but not hear them.
“Elizabeth, are you sure this is what you want?” Darcy verified as he looked deeply into her magnificent emerald-green eyes.
“Yes, William, I want nothing more,” Elizabeth confirmed with no doubt.
Darcy took several long strides to approach Mrs Annesley. “Will you grant Miss Elizabeth and me some minutes of true privacy? There is a question I need to ask her, and she deserves it to be just the two of us.”
Mrs Annesley took her role as chaperone very seriously. That being said, she thought the request was a reasonable one given what Mr Darcy intended to ask. “I will wait on the path, just below the summit. When ten minutes have passed, I will return to this bench,” she allowed.
Although he did not say it, Darcy felt like her forbearance made her deserving of a bonus in her next month’s wages.
He helped Anna’s companion to stand and walked to the head of the path with her.
There was a flattened rock next to the path about two yards down from the summit where Mrs Annesley positioned herself.
Knowing their time was limited, Darcy walked back to Elizabeth as speedily as he could without actually running.
Seeing William’s impatience to return to her caused Elizabeth to let loose a giggle. She was no longer giggling when William dropped onto one knee before her—not caring about the fact he was kneeling in sand—and took each of her hands into one of his own.
For some moments, Darcy drank in the beautiful face of the woman he loved before he spoke.
“Elizabeth Rose Bennet, I love you with all that I am, and I will spend the rest of the days He grants me in the mortal world making sure you are happy. I respect and love you more than I have words to adequately describe. Will you grant me my fondest wish and agree to join your life with mine? Elizabeth, will you marry me?”
“I see you have taken Polonius’s advice from his speech in Hamlet where he says that ‘brevity is the soul of wit’,” Elizabeth teased.
“That is my way of saying that you wasted no words and cut to the heart of the matter. So let me be brief in my reply. I love and respect you too; you are the only man for me. So yes, William. Yes, I will marry you.”
If Darcy’s heart was singing before, now it was doing so with the voices of a choir of herald angels.
At the exact moment that he sprang to his feet, the sun broke above the horizon.
Elizabeth was surrounded by the sun’s rays, making her look even more glorious than normal.
He released her right hand, and then while he held it gently, he slowly, watching Elizabeth closely to make sure he had her permission to do so, drew the glove off her left hand.
With that done, he withdrew a velvet pouch from his pocket.
Darcy opened it and extracted a ring. The stones glinted in the new day’s sun as he very gently slid the ring onto her fourth finger.
Elizabeth had never seen a ruby that large before. It was surrounded by four blue-green stones she could not identify[7].
She soon forgot about the ring on her finger as William slowly lowered his head towards hers.
Elizabeth tilted her head up so their lips would be able to meet.
Being kissed by the sun’s rays, she could think of no more perfect place to experience her first kiss.
It thrilled her that the first man she kissed would be the only one she would ever kiss in a romantic sense.
Her heart was already racing. However, as his lips brushed hers, it felt as though her heart wanted to leap out of her chest, so it too could feel William’s lips.
Like he had since things had thawed between them, Darcy did not rush Elizabeth with their first kiss.
It was chaste and a light touch of their lips, but his betrothed decided that was not enough because she snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.
Darcy could do nothing but comply with his love’s wishes.
His arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her body tightly against his.
The kisses deepened until he flicked her lips with his tongue, and Elizabeth’s lips parted instinctively.
Soon, they were tasting one another. He had lost all sense of time as they unleashed their mutual passion.
As such, he had no idea how many of their ten minutes they had already used.
“I am returning!” was called out by Mrs Annesley, which caused the newly engaged couple to step back from each other.
Elizabeth and her betrothed were reminded that they were not alone, and until they married, would more than likely not be without others in any meaningful way again.
Darcy felt himself return to his normal state as a certain organ shrank.
All he could do was hope that Elizabeth and her maidenly sensibilities had not noted his reaction to their kisses.