Chapter 29 #2
“I am endeavouring not to,” he replied with suspicious gravity, though the unmistakable curve at the corner of his mouth betrayed him entirely.
“You are failing in that endeavour most miserably.” Her tone was severe, but she was certain her own lips were betraying her, and she could not truly be angry with him.
“I merely admire your determination,” he said. “Few ladies would attack a lake with such enthusiasm. I am delighted that you are making the effort, and you have certainly improved from your first assault upon the lake.”
Elizabeth laughed despite herself, though a moment later she gave a triumphant little cry as the boat finally obeyed her intended direction for more than a few strokes.
“There!” she declared with far too much enthusiasm. “I have mastered it.”
“At present,” Fitzwilliam agreed solemnly. “But if you do not attend to what you are about and keep at it, you will capsize us, and I, for one, have no desire to swim in this lake.”
The boat immediately began drifting sideways once more as Elizabeth lifted the oars too high from the water, and her enthusiasm caused it to rock precariously.
Elizabeth surrendered the oars with a groan whilst her husband’s carefully restrained composure dissolved at last into open laughter.
Monday, 14 September 1812
They had planned to remain at the Lakes for a fortnight, but when the end of their second week arrived, neither was yet eager to leave. However, after a few days more had passed, they both felt the pull of responsibility and began to speak in earnest of journeying to Pemberley.
“It should take three or four days to make the journey,” Darcy said one morning as they lingered over tea after breaking their fast, “and with the harvest nearly upon us, we ought to return. Georgiana mentioned in her last letter that Mrs Annesley has been assisting her and Miss Mary in making plans for the harvest festival.”
Elizabeth, who had been gazing out towards the lake, turned back to him with interest. “How do you typically celebrate the harvest at Pemberley?”
Darcy paused before answering, his fingers resting lightly against the handle of his cup. For several moments, he allowed his eyes to drift to the window as he considered the harvest festivals he had known throughout his life.
“It has been a quieter affair since my mother died,” he admitted at length.
“We continued the tradition after her passing, but while she lived, the festival was far more lively. The first year after her death, my father could scarcely bear to think of it at all, though Mrs Reynolds ensured something was done for the tenants. Everyone understood the circumstances.”
A faint smile touched his expression. “In the years that followed, there was generally a dinner for the tenants and their families, and afterwards dancing and other amusements, though those festivities usually commenced after my father and I withdrew. Since becoming master, I have attempted to introduce a few diversions for the children and such things, but I cannot claim the matter received much of my attention.”
He glanced towards Elizabeth then, his look softening.
“I believe, perhaps without fully admitting it even to myself, that I was waiting for my wife to take charge of it once more. Last year, however, Georgiana surprised me. Though it was difficult for her, she began taking an interest in such responsibilities and asked if she might assist with the preparations.”
“That is good,” Elizabeth said with a bright smile. “If we begin our journey on Tuesday, then we can certainly arrive at Pemberley within the week, can we not?”
At his nod, she continued. “I doubt I shall have enough time to meet all your tenants prior to the event, since I imagine it is less than a month away . Still, I should at least be able to meet those I have not yet had occasion to visit during the celebration. There is only one thing I would wish to alter in your description of the festivities.”
“Anything you wish, my love,” Darcy replied, his gaze fixed warmly upon his dear wife, who had become even more dear to him in the weeks since they had married. He hated the thought of returning to Pemberley, if only because it meant that business would intrude into the time they spent together.
“This year, sir,” she said with an impish look, “I hope I might persuade you not only to remain for the dancing, but to open it with me.”
That caused Darcy to smile broadly, something he had discovered himself doing with far greater frequency in the past weeks than at any other period of his life.
“I should be delighted to open this—and any other celebration—with you for the rest of my life, Elizabeth.” With those words, he rose and helped her to likewise stand, drawing her gently into his embrace as he bent to press a brief kiss to her lips.
“Indeed, I believe we shall make it a new Darcy tradition. We shall open the dancing together, so the people of Pemberley may see that their master and mistress stand united in all things.”
Elizabeth’s eyes softened at his words, and her hands came to rest lightly against his chest. “I believe,” she said quietly, “that your tenants will like that very much.”
“And I believe,” Darcy replied, unable to resist another kiss, “that I shall like it even more.”
He kissed her again, slower this time, lingering as though unwilling to surrender even a moment of her nearness.
Elizabeth’s hands slid upward from his chest to rest against his shoulders, drawing him closer still, and Darcy deepened the kiss at once, pouring into it every measure of love, gratitude, and desire that had steadily grown within him since becoming her husband.
A soft sound escaped her as his hand settled at her waist, and the knowledge that he had drawn such a response from her nearly undid his remaining restraint. He lifted his head only enough to rest his forehead briefly against hers, both of them slightly breathless.
“You realise,” he murmured, his voice lower now, “that you make it exceedingly difficult for me to behave with any degree of sense or propriety, even here in our own home.”
Elizabeth laughed softly, though the colour in her cheeks deepened beneath his gaze. “Do I indeed?”
“You do.” His thumb brushed lightly along her jaw before he claimed another kiss, warmer and far less restrained than the last. “And I cannot find it in myself to regret it.”
If the Darcys returned to their chambers that morning rather than venturing out amongst the Lakes, no one was troubled enough by the circumstance to remark upon it, indeed, no one other than the few servants who accompanied them even noticed, and they only wore smiles as they speculated amongst themselves how soon the Darcy heir would be born.