Chapter Seventeen #3
“Bingley must have guessed we needed some time alone and turned them back to the house,” Darcy said.
After a long silence, Elizabeth said softly, “I was certain you would hate me after you received the note I left at Lady Sterling’s house.”
He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I could never hate you. The note did affect me, but not in that way.”
She regarded him with a curious expression.
Very well. The story was embarrassing, but Darcy owed her the truth. “I had visited Sterling House with the intention of making you an offer of marriage. A real offer of marriage.”
Elizabeth’s free hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, William! I did not— I never wanted to cause you pain!”
He smiled gently at her. “I know. I believe that ultimately your absence had a salutary effect on me. It made me question many of my assumptions. Had I proposed a month ago, it would have been a very different and less successful proposal.”
“And it would have included fewer Greek tutors?” Elizabeth teased.
“Oh, certainly. Your absence forced me to stop thinking only about what I wanted and consider what you might want as well. I am very relieved I was correct.”
“I assure you, William. I missed you fiercely these last weeks. I would have accepted any proposal from you. Even if you suggested a tutor in”—she shuddered—“mathematics.”
“Should I cancel the tutors?” he asked, teasing.
“Do not dare!” she cried. “My mind is still quite hungry for knowledge.”
After a short silence, Elizabeth spoke again, with laughter in her voice. “I keep imagining that I will run into Longbourn and announce that you and I are engaged! They would be exceedingly puzzled.”
Darcy chuckled. “They would. I do not think anyone could quite understand our path to marital harmony.”
“Then I suppose it must be our secret.”
As they came within view of Longbourn, Elizabeth noticed Darcy’s distracted expression. “What are you thinking about?”
“I must confess I have been considering the fastest way to marry. If that is your desire as well.”
“Oh, it is,” she said in a low voice that stirred Darcy’s less civilized emotions.
“Very well,” Darcy said. “I will take that as a challenge to see how quickly we might be wed.”
Epilogue
Very quickly, as it turned out. The obvious solution was to share Jane and Charles’s wedding day.
The other couple pronounced themselves delighted at the idea, though they were a little bewildered by the sudden desire for haste.
The day after Darcy’s proposal (his real proposal), he rode to London and back to obtain a special license so that they might be wed in the Meryton church at the same time as Jane and Charles.
Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam made a quick visit from London for the happy event. The colonel was pleased to make Elizabeth’s acquaintance, while Georgiana was teary-eyed with happiness that they would soon be sisters.
Jane and Charles were not the only ones who were confused at Elizabeth and William’s sudden enthusiasm. Nobody had considered them to be the most demonstrative of couples. But suddenly, after a simple walk in the country, they snuggled on settees and kissed in corners.
Nor could anyone account for how quickly they abandoned the plan for a long engagement. Elizabeth’s family members questioned her in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, but she only smiled and said she was eager to start her new life.
Everyone possessed different theories for the couple’s newfound ardor.
Jane just exclaimed that it was romantic.
Bingley concluded that Darcy had resolved whatever argument he had with his fiancée.
Mr. Bennet decided that Darcy was simply an odd man prone to mercurial mood changes, and he hoped Elizabeth would not be too disturbed by them.
Miss Bingley opined that it was a vulgar display that demonstrated Elizabeth’s influence on Mr. Darcy.
Mrs. Hurst thought Elizabeth’s beauty had cast a kind of spell on Mr. Darcy that had overcome his reason.
Mr. Hurst did not have a theory; he was asleep.
Lydia suspected that Darcy might have got Elizabeth with child during the walk (a theory that made Elizabeth laugh heartily).
It did not matter to Kitty; she only wanted an invitation to Pemberley.
Mary tried to cram weeks’ worth of improving sermons about wifely responsibilities into one day (Elizabeth was forced to take several very long walks).
When Lady Sterling visited, she stated that William had obviously overcome his foolish pride. “And it was about time.”
Mrs. Bennet did not care one fig about what had precipitated the haste; she was too unhappy about the insufficient time to have a gown made. And she had her heart set on a fancy church wedding in London. Nobody knew how she suffered.
She was more than satisfied, however, when Mr. Bingley announced that his sisters would host a grand and elegant ball at Netherfield after both couples returned from their wedding journeys.
The ball was in honor of the newly married couples, but Mrs. Bennet somehow contrived to believe the ball would be for her. No one disabused her of the notion.