Chapter 13 #2
“I cannot tell you what will happen when Bingley and your sister talk today, but I cannot imagine it going the way I thought it would when I first rushed home to deal with the mines.”
“Oh! I completely forgot to ask you how the repairs to the mines are going!”
“No, no, no, Elizabeth. You said that you would answer my question about which question to ask once I told you how Bingley was feeling. You may not push off the question of which question I should ask, yet again, so that you might check on Pemberley’s mines!!”
“I should never do so, sir; I apologise for seeming to. Of course, I do long to find out how your sister fares, how your mines do, and I am positive that other questions will occur to me. But I should never delay answering your question about questions in order to ask my own questions for such important but unrelated topics.”
“Good.”
“But, that said, I do have a related topic that must be discussed before I can answer your question.”
Darcy chuckled and shook his head, confused, bemused, or perhaps only amused. “I am at your service, madam. What is the related topic that stands in the way of me posing my question?”
“I feel certain, from your words, that you do not think of me as perfect. Can you explain how that is possible?”
His whole body laughed that time. He even stopped walking in order to fully release that laugh. Elizabeth felt quite pleased to have caused such a laugh.
“I think of you as perfect for me, Elizabeth. But you must certainly see that many people would judge you ill for your vexing habit of dodging questions and for your impertinent comments, let alone for your enjoyment of word play and teasing. I assure you that many would disdain your decision to laugh and debate rather than to lie about feigning ennui, or to stand about looking down your nose at everything and everyone.”
“Oh dear, I did not realise my faults were this grievous. How can you put up with any of that?”
She was sorry, at first, to see the good humoured version of Darcy subside to the more serious man, but when he spoke, she caught her breath: “Elizabeth, your personality does not follow fashion, and I love that about you more than almost anything else. You smile and laugh when you are happy, which is most of the time, and you show people when you are angry. You engage in impertinence, and you allow your intelligence and knowledge free rein in your conversation rather than pretend ignorance in order to make men feel better about themselves. The very things that might garner you criticism from some earns my undying esteem.”
“Oh! Well, then, I suppose I should be especially impertinent and ask you for your hand in marriage. Fitzwilliam Darcy, I have always seen the good in you, the honourable and courageous and responsible man you are. I have also long regarded you as the handsomest man I have ever seen, and I have fallen in love with you. Would you make me the happiest woman in all of England and marry me?”
“I will. And now that you have forestalled my proposal very…cunningly…may I ask you, would you make me the happiest man in the world, and even in the known cosmos, and marry me?”
“I will. And do not think that I did not notice that you managed to outdo me in the happiest categories. I shall only be the happiest in England, and you of the entirety of the known cosmos? I call foul, sir.”
“It is only right that it should be so. I have many more flaws than you, but you have seen that I am a hard worker and a conscientious person; I shall work tirelessly to make you the happiest woman in all of the known cosmos. I too should love equality in our felicity!”
“Now that that is settled, should we check in with my father, and with Jane and Mr Bingley?”
Darcy agreed, and ushered Elizabeth into the house.
They chuckled when they felt their pink cheeks sting as they warmed up, and Darcy seemed to take great pleasure out of unwinding Elizabeth from her shawl and two scarves.
When they peeped into the parlour, they saw four Bennet sisters with Mrs Bennet… but no Mr Bingley in sight.
Darcy whispered his intention to go straight in to Mr Bennet, and Elizabeth hurried over to her sister, asking, “Has Mr Bingley left already?”
Jane looked as calm as ever as she said, “Yes, Lizzy.”
“And are things…well…between you?”
“We are not, perhaps, as close as some may have thought, but certainly we parted as cordial acquaintances.”
“Cordial acquaintances” sounded very cold to Elizabeth’s ears, and she could not help shuddering a bit.
Jane did not ask where Darcy had gone, and Elizabeth felt a pang that she had no desire to tell her sister about their two proposals and two acceptances.
But she felt Mary’s eyes on her, and she nodded a little at Mary’s raised eyebrows.
Mary gave a soft squeal, and she asked, “Lizzy, do you have time to check a musical piece I received from Uncle Gardiner?”
“Certainly I do,” Elizabeth said. The two girls went into the room with the pianoforte, and Mary asked enough questions that Elizabeth ended up sharing the “question about questions” jest and the result that she was able to propose first.
Mary gave her a hug. “I know you will do well together,” she said.
“I do, too,” Elizabeth said. And she realised with surprise that she did feel exactly that: calm acceptance that she and Darcy were very well matched. “Even our arguments will be fun,” she said to Mary, not without some wonder.
“Lizzy! Papa has asked for you and Mary to come back,” Kitty said from the doorway. “He is even asking for Jones to come to the landing with Lydia!”
“That was quick,” Elizabeth whispered to Mary as they re-entered the parlour.
“Ladies,” her father addressed the family, “I am pleased to announce that Mr Darcy has proposed and our Lizzy has accepted, and they are to be married. The date will be determined, but it shall be at least a month from now.”
When her father said his first words, Elizabeth’s eyes were locked onto Darcy’s, but when he said the word “proposed,” for some reason she flicked a glance towards Jane and saw that she looked shocked and upset, as if it were bad news.
But Elizabeth’s eyes turned back to Darcy’s again, after a mere fraction of a moment, and when she looked back at Jane, after their father’s announcement was over, Jane was smiling.
Mrs Bennet squealed and crowed in the most mortifying way.
Kitty looked pleased and not the least bit surprised, and Lydia called out from the landing a tentative, “La! ’Tis good news!
” that was almost certainly motivated by Mr Bennet’s stern look.
Mary gave her a sideways hug and smiled and nodded at Darcy.
Jane said, “Congratulations to the happy couple!”
Elizabeth shot another glance at her elder sister, remembering that first negative response. She felt certain that the sweet smile and pleasing words were insincere.
But again, she shook off her conflicted feelings about her sister and allowed her eyes to fix onto Darcy’s smiling gaze. She longed to be by his side, and she startled as she remembered her father’s words.
“A month!” Elizabeth said. “That is such a long wait.”
Mrs Bennet stopped crowing long enough to say, “Goodness, child, it has not even been a month since you met! And it takes time to make arrangements for a trousseau and a wedding breakfast, you know. Especially one worthy of Mr Darcy! Ten thousand a year!”
Mr Bennet spoke over her continuing effusions: “One month is not a long engagement, not by any means, Lizzy. By all rights, I should insist on a longer engagement, but I see the sense of Mr Darcy’s arguments that he needs to be in Pemberley for the Festive Season, as he always is, for his family’s and tenants’ sakes, and that he wishes for his bride to be by his side.
This plan also gives him time for a more relaxed journey home to check on his mines and to fetch his sister. ”
Elizabeth nodded. All of that sounded sensible. She remembered how empty she had felt the last time Darcy left to go to Pemberley, but she felt certain that she would feel very differently this time. She could not tell from his expression what Darcy felt about the timing.
But a moment after that thought, he was by her side, leaning down to whisper to her, “It sounds torturous to me, too, dearest, but your father is correct in each of his points. I could even posit arguments for each of your mother’s points, as well.”
“Oh, dear, I believe the end of the world may be nigh,” Elizabeth whispered. “My betrothed is siding with my parents over me!”
“Your betrothed is so very happy to be counted as such; he is convinced that heaven has come to earth.” He held both of her hands and brought them up to his lips for a kiss as he continued in a soft voice, “But I certainly hope that the end of the world will hold off for a good, long while, because I am positive it will take decades for me to take a full measure of your character, your personality, your charms, your charisma.”
“When do you have to go back to Pemberley?” Elizabeth asked. “I am going to miss you so much.”
“I have not yet planned all the timing, I wanted to sit with you and discuss. Your father has allowed us the use of his bookroom and even provided a calendar. Are you ready to have that discussion?”
Elizabeth agreed but hugged her sisters and parents before following him into the bookroom. She was startled that her father followed her to the door, but he said, “I am allowing you the privacy of the room, but the door shall remain partially open, and I will be nearby.”
“Thank you, Papa.”
Only a few moments after he stepped out, Elizabeth found herself in her beloved’s arms. Even with her father lurking nearby, even with the door still open a few inches, Elizabeth felt almost entirely satisfied within the tender embrace.
After what seemed a timeless period of silent bliss, the two were startled apart by the words, “I had better hear some wedding planning in there.”
Elizabeth sat in her father’s chair, and her beloved brought one of the chairs around so that he was sitting beside her.
“First,” he said, “I want you to learn about the marriage articles I had drawn up. Your father has already approved…” Elizabeth had to work hard to block out all the new sensations she was feeling, but she managed to focus on the practical tasks at hand.