An Earlier Meeting

September 1806

Fitzwilliam Darcy stood by the window in the blue drawing room at Pemberley, staring out at the rain. It had been raining for nigh on a week, ever since the day of his father's funeral. It seemed fitting in a way that the sky was weeping, for he could not. He had thought he would, sometimes even wished that he could, but he felt as though he had been frozen inside, that all his tears were in an icy lump behind his eyes, lodged there making his head hurt. And his heart.

At least all the relatives were finally gone. Some had hovered solicitously around him, some had watched him furtively for any signs of an impending emotional outburst, some had been overly cheerful, some too dour. He knew that they had meant well, most of them anyway, but he had desired nothing more than to be left alone. What a feeling of relief when he watched the last carriage drive away!

Almost the last carriage. Georgiana was to leave today, to return to boarding school. Their father had sent her away to school when he realized that he was dying. He hadn't wanted her exposed to the trauma of any deathbed scenes. Fitzwilliam had disagreed with his father's decision, though he had voiced it very little. Georgiana was so shy with anyone outside their family circle. It seemed to him that being sent away from home to the unkindness of a school environment where she knew no one was likely to cause her worse misery than being in the same house with her dying father. As it happened, their father underestimated the swiftness with which death would take him. Georgiana had been at school for just two weeks when Fitzwilliam had to send for her. Their father was dead.

"Fitzwilliam?"

He turned to see Georgiana in the doorway, dressed from head to toe in black, her eyes too large in her small face and her hands gripped tightly together.

She took a steadying breath. "I am ready to leave now." Despite her efforts her voice quavered, and his chest hurt. What was he doing, sending her away again? If he had not thought it best for her to be sent to school less than a month earlier, why was now any better?

"Georgie, come sit with me for a moment." His mind was working rapidly. Everyone in the family expected her to return to school today, but he cared little for their opinions. His only concern was what Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzwilliam, the cousin with whom he shared her guardianship, would think-but certainly he would agree that Georgiana's well-being was more important than anything else. And truthfully, he didn't want her to leave. It was too soon. She might be a mere child, but she was all he had left.

She approached him so reluctantly that for a moment he wondered if he was wrong and she did want to leave.

"Tell me, what do you think of your school?" God forgive him, he had not paid enough attention to her upon her return, but there had been so much to attend to with the funeral and the solicitors and so many other things, and she had been surrounded by their aunts and female cousins. He should have spent more time with her.

She stared at her tightly clasped hands and shrugged.

"Do you like it there?"

Another shrug.

"Answer me please, Georgiana."

"I know that I must go there. I suppose it is no worse than any other school. It is just that all the girls there already know each other and I don't know anyone. I would much rather be at home." She looked up at him suddenly. "I am not complaining! I know that I must go, that it is my duty to go, and I do want you to be happy. I hope you will be very happy."

"Georgie, I don't understand you. Why do you think it your duty to go away and why should it make me happy?"

"I told Lady Catherine I did not want to go back to school and she said that it is my duty to go there and not complain to you. She said that you are to marry Cousin Anne soon and you will not want to have me underfoot; that I must let your wife settle in in peace. She said that she would have me at Rosings for my holidays, but please can I come home to Pemberley, Fitzwilliam? I promise I will be no bother. Or perhaps I could go somewhere else?" She looked down at her hands. "I…I really do not wish to go stay with her."

He insanely wished that Lady Catherine had not already left so he could have the pleasure of throwing her from his house. "First of all," he bit out, "I am not marrying Anne, not now, not ever. Secondly, you are never a bother and Pemberley is your home—you are always welcome here regardless of my marital status. Finally," his voice was rising, "never listen to anything that woman says. You are to smile and nod, not actually listen to her, do you understand?"

His sister nodded, wide-eyed, then asked timidly, "Are you angry at me?"

"I am very angry, yes, but not with you." He paused, forcibly calming himself. "Listen, Georgie, you don't have to go back to school now if you do not wish to. There's no law that says a ten year old girl must go to school."

"I'm almost eleven!" She eyed him indignantly.

"There's no law that says an eleven year old must either!" he retorted, amused. "You must go eventually, but it will keep for a year or two. I don't think we need to be adding more unhappy things to our lives right now, do you?" He stared at his sister in alarm as she slumped back on the sofa, huge tears sliding down her face. "What? What is it?"

"I'm just, I'm so happy," she sobbed. "I thought you didn't want me here anymore, and I would miss it so, and I miss Papa, and I would miss you!" She surprised him by throwing her arms around him.

He patted her back a little awkwardly, then drew back and kissed her forehead. "Georgie, what do you say to taking a little trip somewhere?" he asked suddenly. The idea had just come to him, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked it. As much as they loved Pemberley, it would do them good to be away for a time.

She stared at him in silence for a moment, then asked timidly, "To where?"

"Where would you like to go? You may choose."

"Really?" she breathed. "Above all things, I would like to go to London."

"London! But why? Would you not like to go somewhere new?"

"It is new to me—I have not been there since Mama died, and I was so little then that I was not able to do anything, or see anything. I would love to see the menagerie at the Tower, and the palaces and, oh, everything!"

She looked so enthusiastic that he bit back his wish that she would choose somewhere else—he was weary of London—and said, "Very well, then. I will send word for the London house to be opened and that we will arrive in a week's time. I will need several days here before we can leave. In the meantime, I am certain there is a London guidebook in the library—look through it and make a list of the places you would especially like to see, and we shall endeavor to view them all."