CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The Last Sunday at Longbourn
The Sunday before the wedding was quiet by Longbourn standards.
No one was ill. No officers were being arrested.
No countesses arrived unexpectedly. Lady Catherine remained safely in Kent.
Even Mrs. Bennet's nerves seemed to understand that they had been overworked and required rest. The family walked to church together.
Darcy and Bingley met them there. Elizabeth saw Darcy before he saw her.
He stood outside with Richard and the Earl, one hand resting on his cane.
The morning was mild enough that his coat hung open. He laughed at something Richard said.
Elizabeth stopped. Jane nearly walked into her.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
Jane followed her gaze.
A slow smile appeared.
"Oh."
"Do not."
"I said nothing."
"You said 'oh.'"
"So did Mama when Mr. Bingley first danced with me."
"That is a dangerous comparison."
Jane's smile remained serene. Darcy turned and saw Elizabeth. The laughter left his face but not his eyes.
He came toward her.
"Good morning."
"Mr. Darcy."
"Miss Elizabeth."
"We are very formal today."
"It is Sunday."
"Naturally."
He offered his arm.
She took it. Inside the church, the Bennet pew was crowded enough that Darcy and Elizabeth sat closer than custom ordinarily permitted. Their sleeves touched.
The sermon concerned duty. Elizabeth listened more carefully than she usually did.
Duty had once been the only reason she intended to honour their engagement publicly.
She had thought herself generous for offering Darcy time to recover before refusing him.
Now she understood duty differently. Duty without affection could sustain behaviour.
It could not create happiness. Affection without duty could be equally unreliable.
Bingley had loved Jane and still left. Darcy had loved Elizabeth and still judged her family.
Lydia had fancied Wickham and nearly aided him because she mistook intensity for trust. Perhaps marriage required both: feeling strong enough to make duty willing, and duty steady enough to carry feeling through ordinary days.
Darcy glanced at her.
"You are thinking," he whispered.
Elizabeth looked at the clergyman.
"In church. Shocking."
His mouth twitched. After the service, they did not return immediately to Longbourn.
Darcy asked if she would walk a little way.
They took the path behind the churchyard, with Georgiana and Kitty a discreet distance behind.
The air smelled of damp leaves and early growth.
Darcy used the cane only on uneven ground now.
"One week," he said.
"Less."
"Six days."
"You have been counting?"
"Have you not?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Perhaps."
They walked.
"Are you afraid?" Darcy asked.
She looked at him. He did not appear embarrassed by the question.
That, too, was change.
"Yes."
He nodded.
"You?"
"Yes."
"Of what?"
Darcy considered.
"That Pemberley will feel too much mine and not enough ours. That Georgiana will feel displaced. That your family will think I take you away. That I will become busy and forget what I learned here."
Elizabeth listened.
"And you?"
She looked toward the fields.
"That I shall miss Longbourn more than I expect. That I will offend someone important before the first week ends."
"You will."
She elbowed him lightly.
"That everyone at Pemberley will compare me to your mother."
Darcy's expression changed.
"They will not."
"Some will. People compare."
He was silent.
Elizabeth continued, "I am afraid I shall not know how to be mistress of such a place."
"Neither did my mother when she married my father."
Elizabeth looked at him.
"She grew up at Matlock."
"A great house, yes. Not Pemberley. Every estate has its own habits. Mrs. Reynolds taught my mother half of what she needed to know. She will teach you too, if you allow it."
"I intend to."
Darcy smiled faintly. "Good."
They reached a gate. Beyond it the path divided: one direction toward Longbourn, the other toward Netherfield.
For three months that division had represented almost nothing.
Darcy had lived at Longbourn. Bingley had come and gone daily.
Their households had blurred. Soon the roads would mean home in different directions. Elizabeth rested her hand on the gate.
"We shall make mistakes."
"Yes."
"You agree very quickly."
"Experience."
She laughed. Darcy covered her hand with his.
"But we shall not hide them."
Elizabeth looked at him.
"No."
"And we shall not allow Richard to mediate every quarrel."
"Definitely not. He would enjoy it too much."
"Agreed."
Behind them Richard's voice called from farther down the path, "I can hear you."
Darcy closed his eyes.
Elizabeth laughed. Georgiana and Kitty were laughing too. Darcy opened the gate for her.
"Longbourn?"
"Longbourn."
They took that road together.