Chapter 24
Bingley collected Jane at the Gardiners early the day after the wedding. Mary and her Aunt Gardiner accompanied them as chaperones. Jane was grateful her mother was too tired from the wedding to want to do the job herself.
It was fairly early in the day and the menagerie wasn’t too crowded. She held Bingley’s arm as they walked around and looked at the animals, commenting on their size or coloring and whatever else came to mind.
“I’ve always thought it interesting that the male animals are more colorful and showy than females. So different from the way people behave,” Jane mused.
“It truly separates us from the animals,” said Bingley. Jane gave him a quizzical look. “Our women are so beautiful,” he said softly, looking directly at Jane.
She blushed and moved on to the next exhibit. “How are your sisters?”
“Louisa is well. She just informed me last week that she is expecting a child this Christmas.”
Jane smiled brightly. “That’s wonderful! Please give her my congratulations.”
“I shall. She and Hurst plan to leave for his estate shortly before attending a house party in July. They will remain in the country for the rest of the summer. She hasn’t yet decided if she will return to town for her lying in.”
“Will Miss Bingley accompany them to the country?” she asked. She leaned over to look at a small monkey of sorts sitting in the bottom of a cage.
Bingley moved closer. “That is undecided. It depends largely on what I do this summer.”
“Oh?” she asked distractedly as she moved around the cage to get a closer look.
“Yes. I usually spend a large portion of the summer at Pemberley with Darcy, but obviously, this summer is not usual.”
Jane sent him a small smile of understanding before returning her attention to the primate.
“I was thinking of visiting the seaside,” he said uncertainly.
Jane straightened and looked at him seriously. “Whereabouts?”
“I had considered Margate. Your sisters said how beautiful it was and I would like to go where I have acquaintance in the area.” Jane nodded with what he thought was a disappointed expression and he stepped toward her.
“Miss Bennet, I’m saying this all wrong.
I would like to see you this summer, and since you are in Margate, thither I will go.
Would you allow me to call on you there? ”
She studied him for a moment before speaking. His jaw was slightly tense and his nostrils were flaring a bit with the strength of his breath. His shoulders were straight but rigid and the tips of his ears had gone red.
“Will your sister accompany you?” she asked, and moved to look at a lizard-like creature in another cage.
“I am undecided. I would be able to entertain if I had a hostess, but I do not know that the town would suit her.”
“Have you asked her opinion on the subject?” Jane asked.
“Not as yet. I had thought I would wait for my plans to be fixed before asking her what she wished to do,” replied Bingley.
“What if she wished for you to accompany the family to the house party?” she asked as she moved to yet another cage holding a red exotic bird. Her voice was light, but her shoulders were tense and her eyes strained.
“I have no desire to go to the house party. Caroline will go there, looking for a husband, but what I am looking for is soon to be in Margate,” he said warmly.
“Oh,” she said softly, her cheeks flushed and her eyes wide.
“Miss Bennet, I want to call on you. My intentions are entirely honorable. If you do not wish for my attentions, I beg you tell me now and save us both the mortification of me following you about unwanted,” Bingley said fervently.
Jane looked at him in shock, stuttering over her response. “I, I, Mr. Bingley, I do not, that is, I rather like, I mean,” she stopped and took a deep breath. “I would be pleased to receive your call in Margate, Mr. Bingley.” He beamed at her and she added, “Without your sister.”
Dearest Jane,
I know you are wild with curiosity so I will put your mind at ease.
I am well. My husband is very well, too, and very kind to me.
Do not worry for me, dearest. Mr. Darcy is very gentle and attentive and I have great hopes for my felicity in this marriage.
It is still all very new and strange, and I suspect it will take me some months to become accustomed to living with a man such as he, but it is not overtaxing and I find myself enjoying his quiet company and wry humor.
We are proving good companions and I can’t help but think that bodes well for the future.
I wish I could have met your friend Mrs. Pearson before we leave for The Lakes, and especially her brother Mr. Walker. I could not visit anyone the day after my wedding, but believe me I very much wished I could—if it had been another day, of course.
I was glad to hear you enjoyed visiting them before you returned to the seaside.
She sounds a very kind friend and Mr. Walker an amiable man.
Are you still confused there, dearest? Do you know what you will say should he offer his proposals?
Know that I am with you in spirit if not in body and that you are welcome to join us wherever we are if you find yourself in need of respite.
Where is Mr. Pearson’s estate? If it is not too far from Derbyshire perhaps you could see your friend when you visit me—but of course I am getting ahead of myself. We have not even settled the dates for your visit and I am already planning your life! Forgive me, dear sister.
I am wild to know what Mr. Bingley means by saying he will go to Margate.
Shall you choose him, then? Oh, dear sister, what a choice you have before you!
Only you would have two amiable, handsome, wealthy men chasing after you.
Perhaps it is as Mama has always said. You could not be so beautiful for nothing!
I can hear your voice in my mind telling me to stop teasing you, so I will desist now. Take care of your heart, Jane. I will support you no matter your choice.
We leave for The Lakes tomorrow and I am all excitement to see them, though I confess to some nervousness over the journey itself.
I will be in a confined carriage with Mr. Darcy for days.
Do join me in praying my tongue does not run away with me.
It would be awful indeed to be trapped with an angry Mr. Darcy for so many days at once.
Give my love to my sisters and parents and scratch the ears of the marmalade cat in the garden for me. I must close and check my trunks for the journey. Here is the direction of where we shall be. I will write you when we have arrived safely.
Your sister,
Elizabeth Darcy
P.S. If you want Mr. Darcy to speak with Mr. Bingley, all you need do is ask. I’m sure he would be happy to oblige.
Elizabeth pressed her seal into the wax and was just placing it on the salver when she felt strong arms encircle her waist. She smiled and leaned into him.
“To whom are you writing, my love?” Darcy asked.
“My sister Jane. May I ask why you are sneaking up on me in such a way?” she responded, closing her hands over his arms.
“I wanted to see if you’d like to take one last walk in the park before our journey. I imagine you will not like the confinement.”
“You are beginning to understand me, Mr. Darcy.”
“As I should, Mrs. Darcy. What kind of husband does not endeavor to please his wife? And is not understanding her needs the first step in meeting them?”
“While that may be very sound indeed, I do not think it the usual way, though I am happy to be the recipient of your efforts.” She smiled happily and he kissed her neck, reveling in the freedom to do so.
“You make me very happy, Elizabeth,” he said.
“How long do you suppose it will last?”
“What? My happiness? Decades, I should hope,” he said, somewhat surprised at the question.
“No, I didn’t mean that. Of course I want you to be happy always. I meant this joy you feel in kissing me, especially in public rooms of the house.”
He shrugged. “I cannot explain it, but kissing you like this pleases me tremendously.”
“Perhaps it is the novelty of being able to do what was forbidden only a week ago?” she asked.
“Perhaps,” he answered as he continued to kiss her neck, seemingly unperturbed by her words.
“It is all so very new and exciting. Surely I will become commonplace soon enough.”
“Never!” he said vehemently. “There is nothing common about you, my sweet.”
“You say that today. Mayhap after nearly a week in a carriage, you will feel very differently.”
The first day in the carriage was easy enough.
They played a simple word game Elizabeth had learned with her sisters, slept a bit, and read from their individual books.
Darcy told her that they would travel the longest distance in the first days while they still had the stamina for travel.
Once they had been on the road three days, they would slow their pace and see a few sights before arriving at The Lakes in a week’s time.
Elizabeth found this plan agreeable and spent the first day pleasantly engaged with her husband.
She could not say she loved him yet. Circumstances had been too strange, emotions too raw, and her own nature too distrusting to love him so quickly, but she did feel a soft sort of tenderness toward him.
It was a warm feeling that filled her with a gentle sensation when he was near and made her fondness for him grow rapidly.
He was a good man, she had realized that long ago, but the longer she was near him, the nearer she was to him, the more obvious it became.
And the more ridiculous she felt for her previous bad opinion.
Never one to focus on mistakes of the past, she brushed it aside and focused on today, on her growing respect for the forthright man who would be her companion throughout her life.