Chapter 2
Chapter Two
DARCY
Fitzwilliam Darcy woke up a little before dawn, and he stretched for almost half a second before he realised—it was his wedding day!
The evening before, after saying good night to Netherfield’s many guests, and after checking with the servants to ensure that all were ready to enact the many plans for aiding the wedding, the wedding breakfast, and his subsequent journey to Town with his bride, William had read the letters Elizabeth had sent him during his time in London, attending his injured cousin.
Instead of tossing and turning in impatience, as he had rather thought he would, he felt so certain of his future felicity, he had just lain down, closed his eyes, and—apparently—had gone straight to sleep.
Now he rose, walked to the window that looked in the direction of Longbourn, although he could not see it, and wondered if Elizabeth was reading his note.
Darcy smiled at the thought of how she must look as she read it.
It was wonderful to be certain of love. It was even more wonderful to be certain of a lasting love. He was almost as positive of Elizabeth’s lifelong love for him as his absolute assurance of his constant, everlasting love for her.
He was a very lucky man. Many men had been orbiting around Elizabeth when they first met in London.
Men who met her afterwards had shown him—whether through gentlemanly congratulations to him or through not-so-gentlemanly looks of appreciation at her—that they had seen not just beauty, which is not all that unusual, but sparkle.
A confident, friendly, happy woman. A breath of fresh air in a rather stagnant assortment of gentry. Clever, witty, and kind?
Elizabeth was rather like a fusion of Aglaea, Euphrosyne, Thalia…and—his lips twitched in a smile at his own whimsy—a unicorn.
He was lucky to have discovered Elizabeth, but he was even luckier to have won her regard.
If he had been sitting with her, just now, and if he had managed to force all these words that unfurled inside his head to pour out of his mouth, so she could be witness to his praises, she would wave them all away; she did not seem to know her value.
But he would attempt to prove it to her.
Every day. For as long as they both shall live.
Eventually, the house began to stir, and his valet arrived.
Darcy submitted to an extra dose of hygiene and sartorial splendour in a life that was already adequately acquainted with both.
When his valet was almost finished arranging his cravat, Reggie and Richard burst into his dressing room to tease him; Wessex, Johnson, and Wright lurked in the corridor to encourage him to eat at least a little, and Georgiana met him downstairs with an affectionate kiss on his cheek and words of gratitude for giving her a sister.
The Hursts and the other guests—so many guests!
—also said words of congratulations and encouragement as people assembled and carriages began to rumble out towards the small Meryton church.
Glad that Hurst, not he, was currently the host of Netherfield Park, Darcy made certain his carriage was first in the procession. He was taking no chances of being late.