4

Chapter Twenty

Darcy stood by Jetty, stroking her glossy black nose, murmuring to her. Elizabeth checked her run as she saw him, and paused for a moment, gathering her senses to her, watching him, until he turned slowly around, as if he had known she was there from the moment she stepped inside. "You wanted me?"

Elizabeth couldn't think what to say. "Yes. I – I hadn't known you were coming today."

"Er, Georgiana asked me," he said. "How are you?"

She thought. "I'm well… Cousin, I am sorry how we parted."

He gave her a pained smile. "So am I. Am I right to presume this means you would like to be friends again?" He sounded bitter.

Elizabeth was thrown off by this. "Oh… well, yes, I suppose so."

"We will be friends then – nothing more, don't worry."

"Cousin…"

"No, Elizabeth, I don't think we need to discuss this any farther!" He turned back to Jetty. "You have a beautiful horse."

"Cousin, please!"

He refused to listen. "Thomas told me your parents gave her to you only a few weeks ago?"

Elizabeth was angry now. "William – I am in love with you, you stupid man!"

He calmly lowered his hand from Jetty, and turned to face her, a questioning look on his face. "Do you mean that?"

She blushed. "I didn't mean… you're not stupid, I am, but... what I mean is, yes, I love you. So much! And I wondered if perhaps you would consider marrying me?" She looked up at him anxiously.

He was smiling, a warm look in his eyes. "Elizabeth, you improper little wretch."

She grinned impulsively. "I know, very improper. Will you?"

He looked at her sideways. "Why the change of heart?"

She blushed. "I had hoped you wouldn't ask that. Can I tell you later?"

He grinned. "I think it will have to wait, because right now I would like to…" She was seized into his arms without warning and found herself being kissed. When she got over the initial shock, she responded in earnest until he broke away to look at her again, holding her tight in the circle of his arms. "Yes, darling Elizabeth. I would like to marry you very much indeed."

The feeling of relief Elizabeth experienced was so profound that she laid her head on his shoulder and burst into the tears that had to be released by pent-up emotions. He couldn't help smiling, but he stroked her hair gently and patiently. "What's the matter, Elizabeth?"

"I almost lost you," she sobbed. "I'm so happy!"

He pushed up her chin, still smiling, and looked at her so fondly she felt faint again. "I love you." He gave her a light kiss on the lips. "Come with me, sit down. Tell me why you almost lost me."

She allowed herself to be led over to a hay bale and sat down next to him. "I really don't know how to tell you," she whispered, smiling at him. "I will look so foolish. You might be offended."

"I promise I won't be," he replied, kissing her again. "I'm too happy."

She smiled. "Oh well, then. I will try to explain. Did you read that horrid gossip column that woman wrote, the time she talked about you and Thomas?"

"No, I didn't, but I heard about it," he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her into his shoulder. "I must confess I was more interested in the part where she said we were inevitably going to marry than the illegitimate children part. You didn't believe her, did you?"

"No, no, not at first!" she exclaimed.

"Not at first? How ominous."

"Yes, well, this is the embarrassing part. Georgiana started talking about it; she was extremely upset about it. She… she was talking about Thomas, and I thought she was talking about you, and she said that even if you were like that sometimes, that woman had no right to talk about you like that, and that she thought most men did it."

He inhaled slowly. "I see."

"That was the night you came back. I didn't even think to consider that she was talking about Thomas. I was very unhappy. I couldn't tell anyone, because Jane became engaged that night – I didn't want to ruin her happiness – and I thought that nobody cared that you had illegitimate children."

He kissed her. "I am sorry, Elizabeth."

"It is not at all your fault!"

"I am sorry that you were so unhappy."

She didn't answer for a moment, being occupied with kissing him again. She giggled. "What was I saying?"

"Something about being unhappy," he said with a grin, squeezing her hand.

"Oh yes. Well, this lasted right up to when you proposed. I hated that, do you know? I knew it was coming and I tried to stop it and I only wanted to run into your arms, but I couldn't. I was so unhappy to make you sad."

"I've forgotten all about it already, I promise you."

She smiled. "I'm delighted to hear it. Well, you left, and I was still unhappy, and then I had a conversation with Thomas. He said that there were some people who shouldn't be kept apart by certain things, and it made me think that maybe I should marry you even if you had done such horrible things. I agonised about it for a long time, and then I decided that I wanted to marry you no matter what. Even if you would be unfaithful to me. Are you shocked? I feel very immoral now."

"You would have married me no matter what?" he whispered in her ear. "I love you. But you must never think I will be unfaithful to you, Elizabeth. There has not been anyone before you, and there will be no one after you."

She felt like she would cry again, overcome by the tenderness of his voice. "Thank you."

He kissed her hand. "What happened next?"

"I wrote you the letter. What did you think when you read it? You have no idea how much effort I put into it."

"I did not know what to think," he said. "Before I had thought about it for more than a few seconds, you appeared in the doorway."

"Yes," she moaned, "looking like a scarecrow."

"I thought you looked more beautiful than ever," he said seriously. "After you left with Georgiana, I sat down for a while and thought. I came to the conclusion that you must have decided that you wanted to be friends again but not lovers and that you wanted me to act as if nothing had happened."

She gave him a spontaneous little kiss on the nose. "I would never be so cruel!"

"Don't forget, you had already broken my heart. But what happened next?"

"Georgiana made me write name after name on the wedding invitations, and she chattered away while I pretended to listen, but really I was musing on what I could do, how I could approach you. And then I heard Georgiana say something that sounded more interesting. In short, she said that the conversation we had had was actually about Thomas. I was so astonished and so happy, I jumped up immediately and ran off to find you. You know the rest."

"I do indeed," he said, drawing her in to his shoulder again. "And see? I'm not in the least offended."

"You are so good to me," she said, her voice sounding suspiciously like a sob. "And I never thanked you properly for that beautiful necklace, and for coming to find me and rescuing me from that horrible man when I ran away. And for giving me your handkerchief when we dined at Mr Bingley's that time, and for…"

"Stop right now, Elizabeth," Darcy said firmly. "I love you too much to hear that from you."

"I want to thank you!" she protested tearily.

"Tell me you love me and you'll marry me."

"William, I love you and I will marry you."

"Then, my love, there is no need to thank me."

Lord Matlock gave a rather nervous Darcy his wholehearted permission to marry Elizabeth, as did Rosalind. Jane, Georgiana and Lady Matlock were both ecstatic; Lady Matlock shed numerous tears at the happy conclusion of the romance she had seen unfolding before her. Richard clapped Darcy on the back and kissed Elizabeth's cheek, but as the conversation got more and more feminine, he muttered something along the lines of 'too many weddings', and slipped out. He was seen carrying a fishing rod towards the river a few minutes later.

When Elizabeth went to her bedchamber that evening, she couldn't sleep. She lay in bed smiling, thinking about William and how he had smiled and how he had kissed her. And then she thought about Mr and Mrs Bennet, and smiled some more. She missed them still. She imagined what their reactions would have been; how surprised and serious Mr Bennet would have been until she had told him that she really did love William, and then he would have kissed her on the forehead and been very happy; how Mrs Bennet would have been so flustered and embarrassed and confused as to how to behave around William, feeding him too much and being overly polite, but rejoicing in her daughter's luck and secretly calculating all the money Elizabeth could expect from the match. She laughed. What would Mary, Kitty and Lydia think when they heard? She would be glad to see them again at the weddings.

Elizabeth fell asleep with the comfortable feeling that she was the luckiest person in the world.

Elizabeth was married to Darcy on an autumn morning, a month after Jane and Georgiana's weddings. She couldn't stop smiling the entire day, and even Darcy scarcely lost the smile; in any event, the satisfied, fond look in his eyes every time he looked at Elizabeth was never absent. The happy couple left the church and went immediately to Pemberley, which Elizabeth had visited several times before her wedding. They didn't even argue for a whole three weeks, and even then, it was a tame event; they enjoyed it so much that they ended up kissing each other in the height of their anger. Two years after they married, Elizabeth had a baby girl whose name was Vivian, and after her, she had three more children – Fitzwilliam, Edward and Rose. Lady Catherine de Bourgh never quite forgave Elizabeth for stealing Darcy from her own daughter, but in the main, the Darcys were always on excellent terms with all their extended family, especially the Fitzwilliams.

If you liked this story (even if you didn't), come and check out some original fiction and poetry at an e-zine myself and some other writers have created: www. halfwaydownthestairs. net We've put a lot of work into it and had a lot of fun, so it would be great to get any comments on it, as well as on this piece of fanfiction. We also accept outside submissions for our next publication.

See you there!