Epilogue
“IT IS TIME I PERMIT YOU AND ELIZABETH THE OPPORTUNITY TO REPAIR your marriage without a chaperone,” Edward insisted when Darcy asked him to accompany them to Scotland.
“I am forever in your debt.You protected Elizabeth. I shall never forget that fact.”
Edward shrugged his response, but Darcy recognized how awkwardness still remained between them. “You chose the perfect wife for you, Darcy. No other woman of our acquaintance would go through what Elizabeth did to save your life and to change your future.”
“My wife’s natural charisma has won her another admirer,” he said simply. “I have observed it to be so with everyone she encounters, whether a lord of the realm or one of my servants. You just proved your fine taste, Cousin, and my exceptional good fortune.”
“Then you should address any misgivings the lady has.” Edward instructed. “I will send Trident on to Pemberley. Should I also send news of your success to Georgiana?”
“I will write to her later today, but you will arrive long before the mail service from Scotland. She shall be glad to hear the news from someone she trusts.”
“Extend my regards to Elizabeth.” Edward strode to the horse and mounted. He patted the animal’s neck. “He is an excellent example of horseflesh.” With a salute, he sped away towards his family estate in Matlock.
In mid-afternoon, the Darcy carriage neared the center of New Town in Edinburgh.
Throughout their journey, Elizabeth kept a running verbal journal of everything she observed out the coach’s windows.
Each prospect was more impressive than the one before, and Darcy simply sat back and enjoyed seeing the city through her eyes.
“Did you ever see a building so tall?” Her mouth was agape as she moved closer to the window for a better view.
“That is St. Giles Cathedral,” Darcy commented. “Although I have never seen it personally, Gladstone’s Land is reportedly six stories.”
“You practice a gammon?”
“No, my love. I speak the truth.” Darcy smiled, returning his gaze to hers.
“It was not many years ago when one could smell what is known as Old Town from miles away, but in the latter years of the past century, the city made a concerted effort to enact changes. Renowned architects created a new look for Edinburgh by adding neoclassical elements and planning gardens as barriers to the filth of the walled palace and abbey.”
“I enjoy hearing what you learned at university. I wish women had access to such an education.”
“You would drive the professors to Bedlam with your insatiable need for knowledge.” He laughed as her brows drew together in disapproval, but before she could counter the evaluation, Peters pulled up on the reins at the front of an upscale hotel.
Scrambling down from the perch, the coachman let down the steps before moving back. “We be here, Mr. Darcy.”
“Thank you, Peters.” Darcy carefully dismounted from the coach and turned to brace Elizabeth on the narrow steps. “I will send someone out to assist with the baggage, Peters. Place the coach and team in the mews. Mrs. Darcy and I will stay for three days.”
“Yes, Sir.” Peters turned to unload the luggage.
“Are you prepared for a new adventure?” Darcy whispered as he placed his wife’s hand upon his arm.
Elizabeth’s eyes lit with excitement. “I am so glad we decided to follow your cousin’s advice.”
Darcy tilted his head to speak only to her ears. “If you would permit it, I would give you the world, Elizabeth.”
She wrapped her arm through his, snuggling into Darcy’s shoulder. “I will allow you to love me. The world, for me, depends upon you, William.”
“Then you will forgive me?” he whispered.
Elizabeth laughed lightly. “Absolutely not.” She paused, and he anticipated her upcoming taunt. “It will take several hundred of your kisses to earn even an ounce of my forgiveness.”
The hunger within him reawakened, and he growled seductively, “I will begin earning that first ounce as quickly as I have you behind closed doors, Vixen.”
They dressed for supper after spending several hours walking the intersecting streets surrounding their hotel and exploring gardens and visiting shops. Elizabeth served as his valet and he as her maid. They laughed, they teased, and they kissed. They mentioned nothing of their night of terror.
Elizabeth sat at her dresser, arranging her hair. Darcy bent over to kiss the nape of her neck. “You are beautiful,” he whispered.
“Mmm.” Elizabeth closed her eyes and enjoyed his closeness.
“I never tire of your touch.” Her breathing became shallow.
Elizabeth watched his reflection in the mirror as his lips moved lightly across her bodice, increasing her desires and feeling the blood pool in her stomach.
Within moments, she moaned, “Please, William.”
She was to know disappointment again, for her husband straightened to step away from her. With his back to her, he said, “I apologize.”
Still watching him in the mirror, Elizabeth swallowed her initial ire before she spoke. “William, we fought every apparition in Stanwick in order for us to know a normal life, but nothing has changed!” She placed the brush down heavily upon the table.
Darcy reasoned, “Defeating Wickham did not change what I am.”
“I do not care! Do you hear me, William? I … do … not … care! I love you, and I want my husband to claim me as his wife.”
“We do not know whether we broke the curse.”
Elizabeth stood to pace in agitation. “How will we ever know? It is not as if the curse came with a book explaining what can and cannot happen! We can continue to deny ourselves, and nothing will change—or everything will change. But we will never know which it was. There is no guarantee. We eliminated the source of the vampirism, and all the books say to stop the line from continuing, one must seek out the source. Wickham and Lady Ellender plagued the D’Arcy line. What more can we do?”
“Think of our children,” he pleaded.
“I am thinking of our children. Between your family and mine, girls outnumber boys six to one. We have better odds at having a daughter, and I want her, William. I want to clothe her in ruffled dresses and observe whether she has blue eyes like you or green ones as I do. I want to visit her in the nursery and read her stories.”
“And what if the child is a boy?”
She came to stand before him. “We teach him how to meet what Fate gives him in the same manner we would teach him how to meet blindness or some other deformity. In every generation the tendency for vampirism would become weaker, for the human part would be more dominant.”
Darcy moved a loose curl behind her ear. “And what if I infect you?”
“I am not certain I would mind. It is quite daunting to consider how I will grow older, and you will essentially stay the same. Every one of those we fought fundamentally never aged a day from the time he was infected. Did you never consider that fact?”
“Truthfully, I did not.” Darcy’s interest piqued.
“Did your parents not age?” she asked.
“It goes without saying, we look upon our parents through a child’s eyes. They remain the same until one day we look upon them, and the lines of aging are prevalent.”
“Perhaps aging occurs, but at a slower pace,” Elizabeth reasoned.
“Obviously, I aged,” he thought aloud.
“Because you never used your abilities previously,” she asserted. “What of now? Now that you have tapped into your powers? Am I to watch you remain a virile man when I am turning grey?”
She asked questions to which Darcy held no answers.
“This is all new to me. I possess no idea what the curse means to my private life. Now I regret refusing to speak to my father about his struggles. I do not even know if he possessed some power beyond the strength of a vampire. Although I respected him as the Master of Pemberley, we both pretended I did not resent the infamy he practiced on my mother.”
“But she loved him, William. Think upon it. Lady Anne bore him a second child in our sweet Georgiana.”
Again, Darcy knew surprise. He spoke in revelation.
“I knew of my parents’ affection prior to their marriage.
Many on both sides of the family speak of it.
But as I learned more of intimacies as a young man, I imagined how my father had seduced the innocent Lady Anne.
In truth, I felt repugnance for the man who could not place his desires aside.
Do you believe it is possible that my mother encouraged him? ”
“I know nothing of the man other than his reputation as a kind and generous master, but I do know the man his son became, and I cannot imagine your father taught you the qualities of empathy, responsibility, benevolence, tenderness, and caring without possessing them himself. The earl and Edward speak of your mother’s great capacity to love and her streak of independence. ”
Her husband was not quite ready to abandon his former thinking. Therefore, he argued, “With such logic, am I to believe you will claim your mother’s renowned ‘nerves’?”
“You are to believe my mother’s hysterics are those of a woman doing all she can to ensure her five daughters are well situated because society denies them what should be theirs.
Will I move heaven and earth to protect my children?
I warrant it, Mr. Darcy. Lady Anne could have left your father, and under the circumstances, the former Mr. Darcy would have permitted her abandonment, but she chose to keep his secret and nurture the relationship.
Can I envision a woman giving her body and soul to the man she loves? The answer is a resounding yes.”
Darcy’s gaze studied her. “Then you want this?” His voice told of shame and desire and hope.
“Yes, William. With all my heart, I want whatever Fate brings us. I cannot imagine anything worse than what we have already faced.” Her chin rose in defiance.
“I never agreed to be a part of your life because I desired your position in society or your wealth. I would love Fitzwilliam Darcy even if he were a simple cottager.”