18 #3
Jane glanced over his shoulder: Anne and Lady Goddard were no longer in the ballroom, Bennetta, Celeste and Andrew were sitting watching them, their faces pictures of astonishment.
Then as Archer spun her round once more, she saw her parents standing, side by side, and they were smiling at her with a warmth and affection that told her they guessed what had happened and gave their blessing.
She glanced up at her beloved’s face, his usual stern expression wiped away by joy, and before she could think twice, she stepped out of her prison, stopped dancing, stood on tip-toe and with her hands on either side of his face, kissed him, the gasps of the onlookers ringing in her ears.
“I will marry you, no matter what lies ahead for us. I love you, Archer and always will.”
And, oblivious to the audience, he pulled her tighter into his arms and kissed her with all the passion in his soul.
***
MATLOCK HOUSE, LONDON, NOVEMBER 1834
… And so, my dear Catherine, that is all the news I have to share.
Not, perhaps as exciting as yours and Sir Robert’s—I do so hope the baby is boy, I know that will be your dearest wish.
But as long as it is healthy, another girl would find no disfavour with me and will grow up with Cassandra’s little Victoria as a new generation of Pemberley cousins!
I wonder what their world will be like in 1854, twenty years from now.
Good Lord, I shall be thirty-eight, old and wrinkled, no doubt.
Probably still living at home, unmarried, unloved!
I am delighted for Jane, she is a changed girl, laughing where once she would have smiled, all diffidence and shyness quite vanished.
I rather miss my gentle sister, but Mama assures me she is still there, that when you are so very happy, it overwhelms you and you cannot help but show it.
She insists the quiet sister I now miss will return.
As I am not shy and retiring, as you know, I dread to think how unbearable I shall become if I ever fall in love. Which, I fear is unlikely! Finding the right man to spend the rest of your life with seems very difficult. Finding someone you can trust with your heart seems impossible.
The happy couple are to live in London, which is probably a good thing.
It will give time for the scandal of Archer proposing to “the wrong sister” and the two of them embracing so passionately in front of all our guests, time to die away.
I have not spoken to Anne and have no idea how she feels.
She laughs a lot and spent the rest of the ball dancing with Digby Frobisher.
I long to see you again and will hope to travel to Courtney Castle once the baby has arrived. Don’t forget, I am now quite proficient at taking care of infants. I have had plenty of practice with little Vicky!
Give my very best love to dear Robert and Matilda and my sincere regards to his Great-Aunt, Lady Honoria.
Your devoted cousin, Bennetta
P.S. Cousin Miriam has sent Henry a parrot from Africa. It arrived this morning, makes a deal of mess and squawks very loudly. Papa is not impressed!
P.P.S. Miriam writes she will send bolts of silk when they reach the East and the welcome news that she is now Mrs Nicholas Sullivan!
***
The fire crackled and flared, the warmth it sent out into the room not quite responsible for all the high colour in Jane’s cheeks.
That was due to the heavy weight of Archer’s hand on hers as it lay between them, the way his thumb was caressing the soft skin on the inside of her wrist in a way that sent hot flushes across her body.
She glanced up at him and smiled. “So, Mr Maitland, Sir, when did you actually fall in love with me? I have a distinct memory of your disapproval when we first met.”
Archer stretched out his long legs towards the blaze. “I have given the matter some thought, sweetheart, and although I cannot give you the date when I suspected, I knew for certain when I felt the first wave of jealousy.”
“For what?” Jane was alarmed.
“You were sitting in the garden at Deerwood Park, a young gardener gave you a pretty ripe apple and you smiled up at him. I knew from that moment that I never wanted you to smile at another man, ever again! Just me.”
Jane bit back a giggle. “So, I am to be solemn and dour of face to Papa, my brothers, even dear Colonel Fitzwilliam, for the rest of my life?”
Archer squeezed her fingers and turned to her. “No, I love to see you smile. But now I know that special look in your eyes is for me alone and that gladdens my extremely stupid heart.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, not caring what Mrs Darcy thought from her seat at the writing desk.
“Sometimes I don’t feel good enough to be this happy.
You’re like a beautiful bird that has escaped its cage.
Have I trapped you again by proposing? I never want you to feel anything but free. ”
Wickedly, Jane slid her hand under the edge of his coat and felt his heart thumping through the silk of his shirt.
She rested her head on his shoulder. “We have both broken from our former lives,” she murmured.
“We have given each other the freedom to make a new life together and I give thanks for it.”
And they sat in silence, gazing into a future that dazzled them with its wonder, until Elizabeth Darcy gently called them for dinner.
The End