Chapter 23 #2
Lady Anne agreed with her sons. “My brother may have the means to assist in locating someone to address the issue of Wickham’s impressment.
It would be prudent for you to speak with him this evening, Richard,” she suggested.
“The earl never held Wickham in high esteem and disapproved of my husband’s partiality towards him.
I, too, had reservations, but my ability to express them was limited, given my husband’s deep respect for the elder Mr. Wickham.
However, since Wickham poses a threat to our family, we must take every possible measure to ensure he cannot harm any of us, including safeguarding Elizabeth’s family in Hertfordshire. ”
Lady Anne invited their guests to join them for dinner, though all declined.
Elizabeth considered agreeing but did not want to put her housekeeper and cook out as they planned to eat at home that night.
Richard would contact George and Fitzwilliam the next day once he found men for them to hire and would follow the rest of the Darcy family to Hertfordshire a day or two after they departed.
It felt odd to Elizabeth to arrive at Netherfield, so close to Longbourn, without the intention of visiting or staying at her childhood home.
When they disembarked from their carriage, they were greeted by Mr. Livesay and two of his friends.
Viscount Travis, whom Elizabeth had met before her marriage, was to stand up with the groom while the other came to get away from London for a few days.
Several members of Mr. Livesay’s family, his mother and his married sister, would arrive in the days leading up to the wedding.
While in the area, there were places Elizabeth longed to revisit, and she hoped to convince her husband to accompany her to a few.
She had not been in Hertfordshire for months, and even then, Hertfordshire had barely felt like home after her grandmother died.
She would like to visit the dower house where she lived once more and, of course, to visit Oakham Mount.
That incline was the highest point near her home, and she loved to walk there in the mornings to watch the sun rise over the countryside.
There were far better places to watch the sunrise in Dovedale, and she had explored a few with her husband in the short weeks they had stayed at Oakridge.
Learning to ride made these expeditions easier, though she still hoped to spend at least one morning at Oakham Mount to say a final goodbye to her childhood.
Fitzwilliam knew of her desire and intended to make it happen.
However, he worried doing so would make it easy for Wickham to find them and made plans to ensure the men they hired would accompany them.
Elizabeth agreed to ride rather than walk, and they were to make the journey the first morning at Netherfield.
Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam arose early and, attired in comfortable clothing, made their way to the stables where their horses had already been readied.
The previous night, they had arranged for a picnic breakfast to be packed into saddlebags secured behind the saddle on Fitzwilliam’s horse.
Horses for their guards had also been prepared, complete with water and a flask of coffee.
The guards maintained a discreet distance behind the couple, though Elizabeth could not help but be keenly aware of their presence.
She regretted that such precautions were necessary, as she hoped for a more private introduction to these cherished places.
Nevertheless, she consoled herself with the thought that she could still savour these moments one last time and appreciated her husband’s efforts to make them happen.
Finally arriving at the base of the mount, Elizabeth brought her horse to a stop. “We should dismount here, my love,” she told him.
He did as she suggested and moved to help her down.
His hands lingered on her waist as they were somewhat hidden from the guards where they stood.
Leaning down, he kissed first her lips, then her nose.
“If not for the guards, I would enjoy loving you here,” he whispered.
“Perhaps once we arrive home, we will be able to find some isolated locations for the purpose.”
Fitzwilliam was delighted when she blushed brightly at his words. “Come, dearest, you are not still bashful with me, are you now?”
“Outside, Will?” she asked. ‘Are you certain you would wish it?”
“Yes, dearest,” he replied. “If we were at Pemberley, I can think of several places I would like to take you, which are very private and secluded. At Oakridge, well, I am unfamiliar with the estate and will have to seek out places of privacy. But, yes, dearest, outside.”
Her cheeks were flushed, along with her throat and chest, yet Fitzwilliam discerned a glint in her eyes that conveyed it was embarrassment rather than an objection to the proposition.
The couple ascended the hill, where they enjoyed the spectacle of the rising sun.
Their guards maintained a distance and observed no signs of anyone nearby.
While the Darcys made a concerted effort to conceal their affection for each other, the guards spent much of their time facing outward, away from where the couple stood.
They quickly learned to avert their gaze when the couple embraced and smiled knowingly at their frequent displays of affection.
After leading him to the bench Longbourn’s steward had built for her use, Elizabeth told Fitzwilliam stories of her childhood as they watched the sunrise and ate.
“Many times, I thought my mother would faint when I would return from one of my walks. As a girl, I frequently climbed trees and played with the boys from the neighbourhood and would come home with my dresses torn and covered in mud. Although my grandmother would assist me in cleaning my dresses and teaching me to mend the inevitable tears, Mama would sometimes see me and complain about my wild ways,” she laughed.
“I was decreed a hoyden at the age of seven—I had to ask my grandmother what that meant. My grandmother told me to delight in the title, though by the time I was thirteen, she had begun to teach me to act like a lady and how to tamp down on my natural impulses. I was an active child, and she taught me to use that energy constructively. She was the one who taught me so many things about what it means to be a gentlewoman and the mistress of an estate. She, along with my uncle, were the ones who taught me what it truly meant to love someone else.”
“I wish I could have met her,” Fitzwilliam replied quietly.
“I do, too,” she replied, her voice soft. “I miss her.”
“My father’s father died when I was a baby, and my grandmother lived on the estate until I was ten.
My mother’s parents were alive when I was born, but both passed before my fifth birthday.
I have vague memories of them and a few more concrete memories of my grandmother, but not like you have,” Fitzwilliam replied.
“Grandmother was more my mother than a grandparent,” Elizabeth said. “Without her, I would not have survived childhood long beyond birth. Mama wanted nothing to do with me except when it benefited her.”
Darcy pulled her into him. “I love you, Elizabeth, and I am grateful your grandmother saved your life and helped form you into the exceptional woman you have become.”
“Thank you, Will,” she replied. “We have been here long enough, do you agree? Let us return to Netherfield.”