Destination
As Thomas rode away on Copernicus, Darcy asked, “Would you allow me to deliver you where you need to go? I ask now, as I am certain you do not wish to stand here all day, and Smithers should turn the coach in the right direction.”
A glance passed between the sisters, and Mary said, “Pray turn the coach towards Longbourn, Mr Smithers.”
Elizabeth said, “We were angry before, Mr Darcy, and walking into Meryton covered in mud was a perfectly good way to sink the Netherfield party’s reputation. Now… well, now we would rather have this incident forgotten.”
Darcy said, “I will never forget it, but neither do I want it to become a spectacle. To be honest, I believe that, uncomfortable as it has been for us all, this may well have been the best hour of my life.”
Elizabeth and Mary stared at him in shock.
“Your life must be awful,” Mary said.
He grimaced. “In fact, Miss Mary, you are correct, but it took the two of you to open my eyes to the fact. Now I can never go back to the way I was.”
Elizabeth asked timidly, “Is that a good development or bad?”
Darcy took another pace towards her. “That depends. It is definitely not bad. My life lacked direction; now it has it. After today, it will be either good or great, depending on the answer to a single question.”
Quite surprised to find the gentleman only a pace away, and even more surprised to find herself not only unintimidated, but comfortable with the distance, she asked in a whisper, ‘What question is that?’
In a whisper, he said, “Before I ask, I must say that I know I have much ground to make up. I have not earned the privilege I am about to request, but I will ask anyway. You may take as long as you like to answer.”
Quite perplexed, she said, “I have difficulty imagining a question you might have for me that would take a long time to answer, but I will await the question before I comment on how long it may be.”
“My question is simple. Will you allow me to court you? To court you properly, with an eye to allowing you to see the man I am, rather than the overly proud, strutting peacock you have witnessed to date. Will you allow me the right to treat you with the respect you deserve, and, ultimately, to ask for your hand in marriage?”
Mary gasped, while Elizabeth stood entirely speechless with her mouth hanging open.
Darcy waited patiently, while Elizabeth’s thoughts raced. Memories and connections formed faster than she could sort them, and in desperation, she said, “May I ask some questions of my own, Mr Darcy?”
“Of course!”
Blowing out a deep breath, she said, “Why?”
“Because it took almost losing any chance with you to make me realise that I admire and love you. I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun, but I realise now that you are the perfect match for me. Your sister said you wanted to marry for only the deepest affection, and that made me realise something I had hidden even from myself. That is what I want as well, but I could not have articulated it an hour ago. Nay, I could not even think it consciously. I believe I was running from my own fear as much as anything. Fate gave me a slim chance to overcome my self-imposed stumbling blocks, and I intend to do so.”
Elizabeth stared at him for some time. “But… but—”
“Give me a chance to regain your esteem, please! That is all I ask.”
Mary started to see her sister’s temper rise in what promised to be a thought storm and decided to nip it in the bud.
“Mr Darcy, you labour under a misconception. You cannot regain her esteem. You never had it in the first place.”
Darcy started, looked at Mary, and asked, “Pardon?”
“Lizzy, I trusted you to do the right thing for my benefit this morning. Will you now trust me?”
“Of course, Mary!”
The instant, emphatic reply told both sisters that something important was at stake, and Mary decided she would not fail.
“Mr Darcy, Elizabeth all but negotiated the terms for Mr Collins’ proposal to me this morning. The poor man had no idea what hit him, but is inordinately content with the result. Will you do the same with me, but with your eyes wide open?”
The gentleman surprised himself by answering as instantly and emphatically as Elizabeth had, “Of course, Miss Mary.”
It did not seem quite emphatic enough, so he added, “You have been honest with me throughout this entire encounter, and your wisdom has brought me this far. I trust you.”
“Let us return to the beginning. I can see that your heart is in this. Lizzy could see it as well, but she is too close to it, too affected by it. She has not quite overcome her vanity yet, so allow me. Are you now asserting that Elizabeth is not only tolerable, but is handsome enough to tempt you?”
Darcy scrunched his brow in concentration. The moment the memory surfaced was plain; his face fell far worse than hers had when the wall of muddy water struck her an hour before.
“I… I… I—”
Mary waited patiently.
“Perhaps Bingley’s coachman will get away with it,” Darcy said grimly. “I really need Smithers to beat some sense into me, and I am not certain he will have another beating left for the boy.”
Elizabeth laughed, but it was almost more a confused-sounding cackle than a true laugh.
“I cannot believe I said that. I could give you the reasons for my abominably bad temper that night, but they would be insufficient whining. I can only offer a heartfelt apology, and the assertion that it was very soon after that I learned that you tempted me a great deal, Miss Elizabeth. I cannot undo the damage, but I offer my most abject apology.”
Elizabeth, quite surprised at herself, said, “I forgive you, Mr Darcy. I… I… well—”
“Allow me, Lizzy.”
“Please.”
“What Elizabeth wants to tell you is that the jibe pained her because she found you very handsome, and you attacked her vanity, already considerably weakened by years of assault from her own mother. She tried to laugh it off and make a joke of it, but I never quite believed her.”
To Mary’s surprise, tears fell from both Elizabeth’s and Mr Darcy’s eyes. She noticed the wagons full of furniture had left, and Smithers was turning the Darcy coach around, so they stood alone—the three of them, with both her companions leaking tears.
Mary added, “That was the poison at the root of the tree. Mr Wickham then treated her very well, so he found ready acceptance for a tale that did not paint you in a good light. Knowing you as I do now, I believe they were all lies. You need not refute them in detail now; only tell us that we can believe you.”
Elizabeth, quite surprisingly, shouted, “NO!”
Mary and Darcy stared at her in confusion, so she explained.
“Mary, I thank you for your efforts, but this man has told me he admires and loves me. I… well… I am confused, but I know I feel something for him… something powerful. I find myself quite incapable of believing Mr Wickham’s lies any more.
Mr Darcy, if and when I accept your hand, I will want a full accounting, but for the moment, I will not sully this moment with a discussion of that cretin. ”
“As Miss Mary said, I dug my own hole. I hope to get out some day—perhaps you might help me—but for the moment, I at least want to stop digging.”
Tears still ran down Elizabeth’s cheeks, and Darcy drew his handkerchief from his pocket.
He offered it, but her arms remained trapped inside the greatcoat, still wrapped tightly around herself.
He stepped boldly close and wiped the tears away.
She merely closed her eyes, let him do his work, and sighed in something akin to satisfaction.
Mary said, “Elizabeth, I will deny I said this in future, but as of this morning, I can tell you that a kiss from a man you esteem is the most wonderful thing. It can clarify the mind like nothing else I have ever experienced, and since my eyes are full of mud and I am facing the opposite direction anyway, you might give it a try.”
Elizabeth was both shocked and not shocked.
Shocked that Mary would suggest so scandalous a thing; shocked that she found the idea appealing; not shocked that fate seemed to have pushed her in this direction for the past hour; and shocked again that Fate did not seem to have much pushing and screaming to fight.
In that moment, the future opened before her.
Perhaps God or Fate gave her a vision of possibility: Mr Darcy grown very old, with grey hair, a grey beard, a big paunch, and a raspy voice, sitting in a rocking chair before the fireplace; and herself beside him, old and grey, rounded from bearing and raising any number of children.
At that moment, she glimpsed the supreme happiness of that couple, reminiscing on the life they had lived, and it just felt right. It felt natural, it felt… inevitable.
Forgetting the cold November wind, and all concepts of propriety, decorum, or decency, she shrugged off Mr Darcy’s greatcoat and travelling rug.
The wind and cold stung only for a moment, for she slid her cold hands inside another of Mr Darcy’s greatcoats, and this one had the supreme benefit of being occupied.
She wrapped her arms carefully around his waist, while he drew the coat’s edges around her and enveloped her in its warmth, his arms around her shoulders.
With the utmost care and caution, the couple looked at each other, and he said, “I am sorry for hurting you”, while she simultaneously said, “I am sorry for overreacting.”
No more words were necessary as they first moved their faces to an inch apart and came to a stop.
They stared at each other for several long moments, and he said, “I love you, with all my heart.”
She stared a minute more, and finally said, “Then do not be so timid. If you want my hand, ask for it.”
With a grin, he said, “Your sister told me you would only marry for the greatest affection. Have I earned it?”
She smiled, “I have no idea how, but you make my heart sing. I do love you! Though all logic and caution and good sense says I should take my time to be certain, I cannot imagine being any more certain than I am right now. So, ask—please.”
“Miss Elizabeth Bennet, love and light of my life, will you honour me with the great privilege of being your husband for the rest of our natural lives.”
Her smile was something the man would remember to his dying breath, and she said, “Yes… Oh, yes!”
Now that the engagement was properly sanctioned, their lips came together with the lightest touch, and Elizabeth forgot all about the cold November wind.
She thought that her entire life could have occurred in that few seconds of eternity of that first kiss, and she thought that she might never be unhappy again.
~~~ Finis (Short) ~~~