Chapter Fifteen Letters and Judgements #3
“I should have been disappointed if he had not. A gentleman ought to object when a young woman offers him blood and matrimony in the same conversation. He need only have the sense to surrender when she persists.”
Elizabeth reached for his hand. “Do you believe I am making a mistake?”
“I believe you are marrying a difficult man whose wealth, habits, and history would overwhelm many women. Fortunately for him, you have always found simple men tedious.”
His fingers closed around hers. “There is still time to withdraw, Lizzy. The banns and the expense of that licence do not bind you. The bowl does not bind you until your blood enters it. If you have changed your mind, I shall take you home and allow your mother to destroy me.”
“I have not changed it.”
“Do not answer from courage. Courage may compel someone to continue merely because retreat seems humiliating.”
“I am not marrying him because I promised to save him, nor because I fear disappointing anyone. I am marrying him because I love him.” Elizabeth allowed the certainty to settle between them.
“If the binding fails and he remains a vampire, I shall still marry him at four o’clock.
We shall arrange our lives around darkness, Fletcher’s salve, and an alarming quantity of animal blood.
It would be inconvenient, but marriage to Mr Darcy was never likely to be convenient. ”
Mr Bennet studied her face, then raised her hand and kissed it.
“Then you have my blessing for the second and final time. I hope he appreciates its increasing rarity.”
He gave her the sealed packet. Elizabeth broke the red wax and found a letter wrapped around an old ring set with a deep red stone. The hand was careful and youthful, though the woman who had written it had lived nearly as long as Mr Darcy.
My dear Miss Bennet,
My brother has written to me of Mr Wickham’s death, your courage, and the choice you have made together.
I have spent fifty years believing that some injuries could only be endured, never ended.
You have shown me that endings may also become beginnings, though I am not yet brave enough to leave the refuge I chose.
The ring belonged to our mother, Lady Anne, who lives quietly on another continent with our father.
I believe they would be so pleased and relieved with this turn of events, should they ever hear about it.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen any time soon, because of their special circumstances.
I am sure my brother will explain in time.
Fitzwilliam will tell you that you should not accept the ring, because he believes every object connected to our family’s past must be guarded from happiness. Kindly disregard him.
I cannot attend your wedding, but I hope one day to meet the woman who persuaded my brother to choose life.
Yours very affectionately,
Georgiana Darcy.
Elizabeth slid the ring onto her right hand. It fitted perfectly. “She writes like him,” she whispered.
“Does she refuse to be happy in several paragraphs?”
“She expects him to refuse the ring.”
“Then she knows her brother too well.”
The study door opened, and Charlotte entered in a travelling pelisse. She had dressed for the chapel, though she carried a small bag containing clean linen and several objects which Mrs Bennet would have regarded as unsuitable for bridal prayer.
“The carriage is ready.” Charlotte closed the door behind her. “Mr Collins has sent word that everyone is assembled at the chapel. Fletcher has brought the bowl without incident, though it attempted to occupy the seat beside Darcy.”
“Has my wife noticed anything?” Mr Bennet placed Miss Darcy’s letter inside a drawer and locked it.
“She believes Jane and I are accompanying Elizabeth for private reflection before the ceremony. She approves because it permits her to arrive later and be observed entering.”
“A happy alignment of deception and vanity,” Mr Bennet said.
Elizabeth rushed to her room, where Jane helped her into the freshly pressed wedding gown.
They returned to the hall and put on their cloaks.
Mrs Bennet was in the dining room, disputing the arrangement of the wedding cake with Mrs Philips, while Lydia and Kitty argued upstairs over a string of pearls.
Mary had taken refuge at the pianoforte and was rehearsing music no one had requested.
Mrs Bennet called that Elizabeth must not remain in the cold longer than necessary, that prayer did not require kneeling on stone and that no one was to light the largest candles before she arrived to witness the effect.
Elizabeth followed Jane and Charlotte outside. Mr Bennet handed them into the carriage and took the place opposite. The late December sky had begun to darken, bare branches bowed above the lane, and frost covered the ground.
As the carriage carried them to the stone chapel, Elizabeth closed her fingers around Lady Anne’s ring and thought of the linen Charlotte had brought for the cut which would bind her to Mr Darcy.
The chapel tower appeared between the trees. Candlelight already glowed faintly through its narrow windows, and somewhere inside, a vampire waited to discover whether he would leave it as a man.