Chapter 65 #2
“It is no small thing to me, Richard. You helped me face my fears about love, supported me on what everyone thought a fool’s quest for someone beneath me, helped me protect Elizabeth when she was in danger.
” Darcy looked at the man he had always admired.
“Do not think of this as a reward for services rendered, however. You are the closest thing I could ever have to a brother, and you should share in my father’s bounty. ”
Richard beamed, then reached out to clasp Darcy’s hand. “Very well. I accept. And I thank you.”
Darcy grinned. “I assume you would prefer the red silk?”
“Of course, I would. You never appreciated it as you should have.”
Both men were still laughing as they emerged from their sanctuary, and the colonel helped Darcy make peace with the teasing he encountered from his friends.
He may never tell them he had fallen in love with a girl they could not respect, but he would never regret most of the journey he had taken with Elizabeth over the years.
The celebration for Elizabeth’s twentieth birthday was the largest they had yet held at Gracechurch Street.
In addition to the Gardiners and her grandfather, Jane and Charles had come, as had Georgiana, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Lord Blakely.
Lord and Lady Matlock were unavailable but sent their best wishes.
They laughed over dinner, and it warmed Elizabeth’s heart to see her young cousins so comfortable with her grandfather.
Fitzwilliam’s cousins slowly opened up to their charm, as well, and she thought again of Blakely’s request for her to find him a wife.
Perhaps now both brothers would be seeking to start families of their own.
She and Fitzwilliam could remain in London for a while, so she could meet suitable ladies for them.
When she looked at her husband, however, all thoughts of matchmaking departed.
She had greater claims on her time at present.
That morning, while they were still in their bed, Fitzwilliam had placed her charm bracelet on her wrist. She cried to see it glimmered with a real diamond. It would now always remind her of some of the people who mattered most: her Uncle Bennet, her parents, and Fitzwilliam.
Following dinner and after music and conversation, Elizabeth announced she had a surprise for her grandfather.
She and Fitzwilliam stood to go to her uncle’s study, where they had stowed the painting she had been working on almost since meeting the duke.
“Mr. Gardiner, will you join us?”
Elizabeth assumed her husband wished for her uncle’s help with the large canvas. Once they were in his room, however, Fitzwilliam began a different topic.
“I apologize for pulling you away from the party. I have been meaning to ask you…Can you tell me how to contact Mr. Green?”
“Mr. Green? My old employer?”
Darcy nodded.
“I am afraid he took his whole family to Canada about…oh, six years ago, and we lost touch.”
“I see.” Fitzwilliam was pensive.
“What is it?” she asked.
“The diamonds. Mr. Gardiner, do you not think Mr. Green had a right to some payment, given that he had a role in brokering a successful business transaction between Lord Rowe and the three gentlemen?”
“Oh, well. I had not considered. Surely it cannot matter now. I do not even know what arrangements were in place. For all we know, his part was to sell any diamonds purchased in excess of those the three gentlemen paid for. I found no contract. Nothing legal binds you to give him any of your diamonds, even if he could be located.”
“Then you should take some of my share.”
“What? Why? I see no cause for that, Darcy.”
“Take only a few diamonds. One for your wife and one for each of your children?”
“What of another suggestion?” Uncle Gardiner grinned. “What say you to purchasing a low phaeton, with a nice little pair of ponies? That would be the very thing. My wife would like above all else to go round the whole park at Pemberley when you welcome guests in a year or two.”
Elizabeth laughed, and Darcy acquiesced to her uncle’s plan and released him to rejoin the others. She and her husband turned to the painting they had come to retrieve.
“Do you think my grandfather will like it, or will it be too difficult for him?”
“He will adore it, my dear. You have heard him, but it was clear from the moment I met him how much he misses your father. This is the perfect gift for him.”
Elizabeth nodded, and he gave her a quick embrace before easily lifting the framed painting and following her back to the drawing room.
Her grandfather loved the representation of himself seated before his son.
She had painted Papa Oliver standing behind his father, a hand on his shoulder.
Although she had used her grandfather’s family portrait as a model, she had made Papa Oliver look different in his clothing and stance.
His smile was smaller, but his eyes sparkled like hers and Grandfather’s.
“If you wish, I can paint another one when we go to your home, one with my grandmother. I did not know what she looked like…”
“I have a better idea, my dear.” Grandfather looked at her with such affection that she thought her heart would burst. In such a short time, he had become closer to her even than Uncle Bennet. “I will hire a painter, and we will sit together for a portrait when you come.”
Elizabeth agreed.
“I would like a miniature done at the same time, if it is not too much trouble.” Her husband smiled down at her. “The one I have is good, but it is not quite the thing.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I will exchange one of me for the one of my mother, then. I have not spoken to her for too long.”
Elizabeth had spoken aloud to her mother little in the past year, but she had naturally thought of her and of her father a great deal in the past month.
She could not feel their embraces or visit their graves, but she felt closer to them and more part of a family than she ever had before.
She was content with her place in the world and secure in the affection of others for the first time.
It had nothing to do with her rank in society.
She had accepted she was inexplicably loved by the Gardiners.
She now fully understood she was a Bennet, but she was also a Rowe. And best of all, she was a Darcy.
After a leisurely journey to Wales to deliver a bounty to an awestruck Mr. Holman, Darcy and Elizabeth had traveled at last to Pemberley. He had dreamed for three years of bringing her here as his bride, but he had thought it impossible for so long.
“I was such a fool, Lady Elizabeth. How did I ever convince you to become Mrs. Darcy?”
They had been admiring the newly installed painting in Pemberley’s portrait gallery. The image of her parents holding a baby he knew to be Elizabeth was still an odd sight for his wife, but it felt natural for him to see her so cherished. She turned to him, and he held her shoulders gently.
“Did you convince me? I had wished for it when I knew it to be imprudent. I only needed to be assured you were the same generous man my sixteen-year-old self had held a tendre for. That man went against propriety to speak to me and wished only for my happiness in a world that had cared little for it, or so I had thought at the time.”
Darcy pulled her to him, unconcerned with the correctness of their servants seeing them and instead thinking only of his wife’s happiness and his own.
Capturing her lips with his was better than the dreams he had both clung to and sought to banish.
The memories of Elizabeth had been his eager companions, but now they were making new memories together.
His sister would arrive at Pemberley the next day, and he and his wife would settle into the future they had chosen together.
Elizabeth was excited to finally be in the countryside all spring and summer.
Flowers bloomed abundantly already, and the newlyweds sought out every variety together.
They had been exploring the grounds for weeks, racing across fields on horseback and taking meandering walks with multiple pauses behind trees and bushes.
Thinking of their many interludes had him deepening their kiss now, and his wife was a willing participant.
Finally, they broke apart reluctantly, breathing heavily. He rested his cheek atop her head.
“Are you sure we should not send Georgiana back to London, my love?” His voice was low and rough.
“Of course we cannot. Your sister needs to feel welcome in her home.” She shifted to smile up at him, and he took in her hooded eyes and flushed cheeks. “We may need to start making better use of our bedchamber, however.”
“I thought we were making very good use of it, but if you disagree, you may show me now what you mean.” He began to guide her toward the stairs that would take them to their rooms. She laughed but went willingly.
“I mean we will need to restrict our displays to places less public once she arrives. Other than that, however, I am overjoyed she is coming. I have never had a sister, and Georgiana has already welcomed me so lovingly.”
Darcy slipped his arm around her waist as they walked. “She is grateful for your friendship, as well.”
They continued comfortably for a few moments, their feet making soft thuds on the rug, before she spoke again.
“Fitzwilliam, will you show me the cave where you and your cousins played as children?”
Darcy had other ideas on his mind, but abrupt as the suggestion was, he would always put his wife’s comfort first.
“It is some distance away. Would you like to ride out and take a picnic?”
“That sounds perfect. Perhaps you could gather blankets, and I will speak to Cook and get the book you have been reading to me.” She looked at him, at once shy and confident, as he had often seen her over the years.
Darcy thought his wife’s plan for their final day alone for some time would be better than perfect. It would be a day of memory-making.