Chapter 9 #2
She realized then that she could not stay behind. If Mr. Darcy was going into the wilderness to protect a ghost or a princess, she would be there to see the outcome. She had contacts that Darcy did not. She had the trust of people who saw him as an outsider.
"He does not know," she whispered to the night air.
He did not know that she saw the cracks in his armor. He did not know that she knew of his failure at Ramsgate. And he did not know that she was beginning to respect the man who had failed.
In the room below, Mr. Darcy sat at his desk. The letter from Colonel Fitzwilliam lay open before him.
The man has vanished, Darcy. He left the regiment under a cloud of debt and suspicion. There are rumors he has taken ship for the Americas. If he finds his way to you, I trust you will do what is necessary. For the sake of your sister, do not let him stand in your way.
Darcy closed his eyes. The images of Ramsgate flashed through his mind—the pale face of his sister, the mocking smile of the man he had once called a friend.
He could not allow that shadow to touch his life again.
He would lead the expedition. He would find the source of the unrest on the river, and if Wickham was part of it, he would end the threat once and for all.
He walked to the window. He could see Elizabeth on the balcony above. She looked like a silhouette against the moon. He wondered what she was thinking. He wondered if she could ever understand the choices a man made when his heart was bound by duty and his hands were tied by blood.
"Tomorrow," he said to himself.
Tomorrow the work would begin in earnest. Tomorrow he would start the journey that would take him away from the city and into a world where the laws of society were replaced by the laws of survival.
His gaze found her. She did not move. She waited until he turned away before she went inside. The letter from her mother was placed in a drawer, buried beneath a pile of ribbons. It was a piece of the past that she would carry into the future.
The next morning, the heat was even more intense. Thomas arrived early, his face flushed with excitement.
"The guide is here," he said. "He is waiting at the Governor's house."
"Then we shall meet him."
Elizabeth joined them in the hall. "I should like to accompany you, if only to see the man who is to be your savior in the woods."
"It is a business meeting, Miss Bennet," Darcy said.
"And I have a keen interest in business. Besides, I believe my father is still asleep, and I find the company of Thomas much more stimulating than the company of a sleeping man."
"Very well."
They walked through the streets, the dust rising in small clouds around their feet. The city was waking up, the cries of the vendors echoing through the narrow alleys.
When they reached the Governor's house, they were shown into a small parlor. Governor Claiborne was standing by the window, talking to a man whose back was turned to them.
"Ah, Mr. Darcy," the Governor said. "I am glad you are here. I should like to introduce you to the man who will be leading your party."
The man turned around. He was handsome, with a grace that suggested a life of privilege followed by a life of action. He smiled, and for a moment, the room seemed to brighten.
"Lieutenant Wickham," the Governor said. "Meet Mr. Darcy."
She knew him at once. The name had been in her pocket, but the man was now in the room. She looked at Darcy. His face had gone perfectly white.
"Mr. Darcy," Wickham said, his voice smooth and easy. "It has been a long time."
"It has," Darcy said, his voice like a shard of ice.
Elizabeth stood between them, the only one who knew the full extent of the disaster that had occurred. She saw the way Wickham's eyes traveled over Darcy, mocking, and confident. And she saw the way Darcy's hand rested on the back of a chair, his knuckles white.
"The Lieutenant has a great deal of experience in the territories," Claiborne said, unaware of the tension. "He is exactly what we need."
"I am sure he is," Darcy said.
The expedition was now a matter of survival. Darcy realized that he could not leave Elizabeth in the city, not with Wickham so close. And he could not go into the wilderness with a man he could not trust.
The decision was made in an instant.
"I will lead the expedition," Darcy repeated. "But the party will be larger than we discussed."
"Larger?" Claiborne asked.
"Miss Bennet and her father will be joining us," Darcy said.
Elizabeth looked at him in surprise. He was moving her into the line of fire, or perhaps he was moving her away from a different kind of danger.
"I believe the change of air will be beneficial," Darcy added, his eyes meeting Elizabeth's.
"And Thomas?" she asked.
"Thomas and Mademoiselle Cécile," Darcy said. "We shall travel as a diplomatic party. It will provide a better cover for our movements."
"A family outing in the wilderness," Wickham said. "How charming."
"It will be many things, Mr. Wickham. Charming is not one of them."
The shift was palpable in the atmosphere. The game had changed. The letters had brought the past into the present, and the future was now a path through a dark and unknown land.
Walking from the house, Elizabeth stayed beside Darcy. She did not ask him why he had changed his mind. She did not tell him that she knew about Wickham.
"You are a very complicated man, Mr. Darcy," she said.
"And you are a very observant woman, Miss Bennet."
"We shall see which of us survives the journey."
"We shall indeed."
The sun was high in the sky, casting no shadows. The city of New Orleans was behind them, and the river was ahead. The expedition was no longer a mission for the Crown. It was a duel between two men, and Elizabeth was the only witness who knew the score.
The statehood of Louisiana had been a beginning. But for Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, it was the start of a war they had not expected to fight, in a place they had never expected to be.
The letters were destroyed later that night, burned in the same fireplace that had seen the planning of the mission. But the words remained, etched into the minds of those who had read them. Georgiana was safe, for now. But the man who had threatened her was now holding the map to Darcy's future.
Elizabeth watched the smoke rise from the chimney. She knew that the next few weeks would determine more than the borders of a state. They would determine the fate of a family and the heart of a man who would rather die than see his honor.
"We go to the river," she whispered.