Mrs. Fitzwilliam
Chapter 25
Fitzwilliam arrived to Longbourn shortly after breakfast time. He requested and been granted an audience with Mr. Bennet.
“Mr. Bennet, sir” Fitzwilliam begun once he was seated in the chair in front of Mr. Bennet’s desk, after he introduced himself as Darcy’s cousin. “I came to inform you of my intent to marry your daughter, Miss Bennet.”
“Jane is of age” Mr. Bennet looked up over his glasses at the young man in front of him, not missing the fact that Fitzwilliam did not even bother to formulate his statement as a request. “She does not need my consent.”
“Yes sir, she said that much” Fitzwilliam nodded.
“She did, eh?”
“Yes sir, but I still thought that I ought to talk with you. And I must confess that it is not as much out of consideration for you, as it is for Jane and Bella.”
“Have you come here only to insult me?” Mr. Bennet’s ire rose and he glared at the young man in front of him who glared right back, with the stern expression that he used with his troops when he needed to discipline them.
“No sir. I have come to let you know that I shall be marrying the wonderful young lady who happens to be your daughter and that, just like my cousin Darcy did, I am informing you that I will not allow any interference from your wife into my family affairs. Jane chooses not to marry from Longbourn but she would wish for you to walk her down the aisle. However, I will not suffer Mrs. Bennet who had demonstrated just how abominably she can behave towards many of her daughters, to mar my beloved betrothed’s wedding day. If you think that you can come to our wedding without that person accompanying you, you are more than welcome sir. Mrs. Bennet will not be suffered to behave with Jane the way she did with my dearest Cousin Bella, although we all know that she had tried.”
Mr. Bennet bowed his head and dabbed at his eyes.
“I know that I have failed my daughters, Lizzy most of all. The day when Lizzy quit Longbourn was the bitterest day of my life. There is not a day passing by when I don’t regret my actions, or lack thereof. And I do not know how to make it better. Lizzy has found a worthy man to take care of her, far worthier than her wretched father has ever been. It seems that Jane did too. I pray for the same for the other girls and then I can go to my grave, if not proud at least content that they shall be happy. I am deeply honoured that Jane will allow me to attend her wedding. I promise you sir that Mrs. Bennet will not quit Longbourn anytime soon.”
“Thank you sir” Fitzwilliam bowed his head. “Jane asked me to deliver this letter to her mother. Would you please be so kind as to give it to her?”
“Will you not stay for luncheon?” Mr. Bennet realized that Fitzwilliam probably did not even wish to be introduced to his wife.
“I thank you but no. I would like to be on my way back to town as soon as it may be, as my parents are holding an engagement dinner for Jane and I.”
Mr. Bennet nodded and offered his hand to Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam shook it, actually feeling sorry for the obviously distraught man in front of him.
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“Ooooh, my lovely Jane is marrying! And the son of an Earl no less!” Mrs. Bennet squealed. “I knew that she cannot be so beautiful for nothing! Too bad that he is only a second son but one never knows how things evolve. She might yet become a Countess one day. After all, you too have been a second son, Mr. Bennet” she speculated aloud, making all of her audience cringe at her callousness. “But why did the dear Colonel leave in such a haste, not even waiting to be introduced to all of us? I wager this is your doing Mr. Bennet and you did not even think of inviting him to stay. I am sure that he would have enjoyed getting to know us and spending some more time with his new family! And what is all this nonsense of Jane marrying in London? I will not allow it. She shall marry here where all her friends can see her. I shall throw the biggest wedding breakfast the neighbourhood saw in a long time. I am sure that it shall be the talk of…”
“Mrs. Bennet, before you plan the menu for the wedding breakfast, remember that Jane has no intention of coming to Longbourn ever again, nor does she wish to have you…”
“This is utter nonsense! Of course she would want to come home and have me arrange everything for her! Oh my dearest, dearest beautiful girl! I shall go to see Lady Lucas this instant, then I shall…”
“Here is a letter from Jane for you. The Colonel delivered it” Mr. Bennet said weakly, unable to contain his wife’s verbal torrent.
“Oh, there you are! I am sure that you men ” she scoffed, ”misunderstood everything of what my lovely Jane said and my dearest girl’s letter will clear it all” she smirked smugly, breaking the seal of the letter.
“August 29 th , London
Madam,
As I am writing this, I still cannot believe that I am to be the happiest woman in the whole world. Col. Fitzwilliam has proposed and we shall marry in little over three weeks.
I am sure that you will understand the reasons why I do not wish to marry from Longbourn. I do not want my special day to be marred by the memories of these past years, your determination of having Lizzy, then I marry Mr. Collins being only one of them. Your contempt of Lizzy, your callous behaviour towards her and your continued disparagement of the grandest Lady I have ever known showed me that you don’t really care for any of us, unless we could do something for your benefit. Your behaviour when you were last in London was embarrassing for all of us and I would not wish for a repeat of it.
It was Mr. Darcy who decreed that you are not welcome in any of his homes but it is I who declares the same for mine. This includes my wedding. I will welcome all my sisters with open arms as long as they behave with propriety.
I am glad that Papa decided to allow Kitty and Lydia to go to school. I am sure that with some proper care they will become charming young ladies whom Lizzy and I will be proud to introduce to the ton.
I wish you all the best,
Jane Bennet”
Mrs. Bennet looked at the letter in disbelief. Her most favourite daughter save Lydia, not only forbade her to show up at her wedding but she actually disowned her. She could not understand what was so wrong with her wanting one of her daughters to marry the heir of Longbourn. After all that was the natural way of things.
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Bingley stared at the paper announcing the engagement of Miss Jane Bennet of Longbourn to Col. Richard Fitzwilliam, second son of the Earl of Matlock. He still could not forget the beautiful lady who stole his heart in Hertfordshire from the moment he had first met her. When he left Netherfield, frightened by Mrs. Bennet’s openly voiced expectations of him marrying her daughter, he did not realize the depth of his feelings for the fair lady, considering it only a slight infatuation. Later, when he longed to see her again and be in her bewitching company, it was Caroline and Louisa who prevented him from returning to Netherfield whenever his yearning became too strong to withstand. Now, it was too late. A better, more decided man had won her and she will never be his.
“Oh, don’t tell me that you are still pinning for that country nobody” Caroline sneered at him, absentmindedly leafing through the society pages of the newspaper.
“She is not a nobody. She is now Darcy’s sister-in-law and as of a week ago, the fiancée of his cousin, Col. Fitzwilliam.”
“What?!” Caroline shrieked not believing her ears. “I thought that they were somehow related but she is actually the sister of that conniving chit who managed to ensnare Mr. Darcy?. Theirs must be the most artful and scheming family in the world.”
“Only because they managed to do what all your arts and scheming could not achieve does not mean that they are artful and scheming. It only shows that you are not appealing enough to a gentleman of quality, no matter what you do” Bingley retorted bitterly and quit the breakfast table, leaving his sister to seethe and express her rage by breaking everything in sight. He was in no mood to listen to her rants. He wryly thought that his sister was just now most effectively demonstrating why no one wished to marry her.
Caroline was beyond incensed. Had she not done everything in her power to prevent her brother to return to Hertfordshire and woo Jane Bennet, she might be by now Mr. Darcy’s sister-in-law with all the social benefits which that status would bring her! But all was not lost. There was still a much better match that could provide her with the same status. After all, Mr. Darcy did have a sister of his own. The only problem was that this would take some years, as everybody knew that Georgiana Darcy was still too young to marry. But maybe if she got everybody believe that the match was a done deal…
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“I am telling you, they are as good as engaged” Caroline Bingley crowed, daintily stirring her tea. “They are only waiting for her to come out in society and…”
“Isn’t Miss Darcy a bit too young to be engaged already?” Miss Rowena Dashwood asked. “I don’t think that she is eighteen yet.”
“Yes of course she is, but that does not mean that arrangements cannot be made ahead of time. As soon as she will be eighteen the engagement will be announced, of that have no doubt.”
Darcy paled with fury, seated at the table behind Caroline Bingley. He and Elizabeth entered Gunter’s without Caroline noticing their arrival and they overheard most of her bragging. Elizabeth was on the verge of confronting the presumptuous shrew but Darcy was quicker.
“Miss Bingley” he stood, towering over the startled woman. “If you were a man I would call you out immediately” he thundered at her, not caring that all the eyes in the confectioner’s shop were trained on him. “How dare you spread such falsehoods about my sister?”
“Mr. Darcy! I… I…” Caroline sputtered.
“You shall stop spewing your nonsense immediately or I shall make sure that nobody receives you ever again, so that you cannot spread such inanities. Are you out of your mind woman? You will stay away from my family and if I hear that you continue to spread falsehoods about any of us, especially my underage sister, I shall destroy you. Do you understand?” Caroline could only stare at him, pale like a ghost. “Do. You. Understand!?” he snarled.
“Ye… Yes sir” she stammered, shaking like a leaf.
“Good. Keep this in mind” Darcy spat, then without another look at the hapless woman he sat back at his table and calmly proceeded to order treats for Elizabeth and himself.
Darcy did not need to follow up on his threat. The scene at Gunter’s quickly made its rounds through the parlours of the ton and Caroline Bingley was no longer received even by her closest friends who feared to be included in Mr. Darcy’s wrath by association.
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The day of their wedding was the happiest for Jane and Fitzwilliam. The ceremony was small by the ton’s standards but it was exactly what they both wished for.
“Breathe Richard” Darcy whispered in his cousin’s ear as he was standing by him at the altar, waiting for the bride to arrive.
“I am trying” Fitzwilliam whispered back, “but it is damn hard with this noose strangling me” he cursed under his breath, tugging at his neckcloth. ”I miss my uniform” he sighed.
“Eventually you’ll get used to being a gentleman ” Darcy chuckled, winking at Elizabeth who was standing at the other side of the altar and she answered him with a brilliant smile.
A hush came over the congregation as Jane appeared at the church door on her father’s arm.
“Oh my” was all that Fitzwilliam was able to say, his breath taken away by the sight that was his future wife.
Mr. Bennet’s eyes were filled with tears as he placed the hand of his eldest daughter into her eager groom’s hand. His eyes went to Elizabeth who was watching him. He looked at her with a mixture of emotions shining in his eyes. Guilt, regret, shame, contrition and love. Most of all love.
Elizabeth nodded slightly and smiled her full forgiveness. Finally, she could let go of all her resentments towards her parents, her father foremost. After all, it was he who educated her since she was little, who allowed her to pursue her own interests, who opened a world of knowledge for her. If things would have been different, she would probably still be sitting in Longbourn’s parlour, listening to her mother’s endless complains and rantings.
Instead, she went out in the world and found her true vocation, that of trying to ease the sufferings of those who were wounded, and of trying to better equip those who were there to help them, the nurses and the doctors, with the means to do so.
And in the process she had found the love or her life. She enveloped her husband who was standing by his cousin’s side in a loving glance, which he returned in full. Elizabeth Darcy was happy with her life.