A Favorite Daughter Read online

  “Then why are you here?” Wickham picked up the empty canister on his table and tried to drain the very last drop into his equally empty glass. “No, let me guess. Might your being here have anything to do with our new friend?” He toppled the empty canister on its side. “What was his name? Oh yes! Mr. Coble of Hertfordshire.” He laughed a little. “What business can you possibly have in Hertfordshire? Not that it matters to me. All I know is the man owes me quite a hefty sum, by now. I can hardly wait to get what’s coming to me.” Wickham hiccupped.

  Darcy rolled his eyes. Wickham was so deep in his cups that Darcy wondered if he should simply give up on the fool.

  No, it will not do. I need to settle this matter with Wickham once and for all.

  Summoning a nearby waiter, Darcy demanded a jug of water be brought to the table. Not long after its arrival, he threw most of its contents into Wickham’s face.

  Being drenched in cold water proved rather sobering - at least enough so to alert Wickham to his senses.

  “Listen to me, you fool,” Darcy declared. “You had better locate this so-called friend of yours and retract everything you said about what happened last summer.”

  George Wickham huffed. “And what if I do not? You do not frighten me with all your fancy airs and meaningless threats. I know you!”

  “Then you know that I do not make idle threats. If you value your freedom, you will do as I say. Did you really expect I would sit idly by and hope and pray you would never betray me further after what happened?”

  Though Wickham’s scheme was directed at young Miss Darcy, Darcy was convinced that harming Georgiana was not Wickham’s chief goal. He really meant to hurt Darcy himself.

  “I will see you rot in jail before I allow you to harm my family or me ever again.”

  Wickham’s mouth twitched. “Jail?” he balked, still wiping water from his face. “I have done nothing that warrants being locked away!”

  “Nothing except amass significant debts from here to Derbyshire. I know it all - the gambling, the swindling of unsuspecting merchants. I know it all because I have covered it all. I own your debts, which means I own you.”

  Darcy threw a disgusted glance about the room. He glared at Wickham. “I am only thankful that my father cannot see you. He would never have believed you capable of sinking so low. Of course, you and I both knew better.”

  “Your father - my godfather - never meant for me to suffer so in life. We both know who is to blame for my current predicament. Had you only granted me the living in Kympton that ought to have been mine—”

  Darcy rolled his eyes. “I have heard it all before. Pray, give it a rest, for if you think your situation is dire now, imagine how it would be were you locked away in a dark cell.”

  What must have been about a week later, Elizabeth sat across from her intimate friend, Charlotte. The agony she suffered the last time they were together was gone. “Mr. Coble has recanted his scurrilous allegations against my sister Lydia!”

  “How wonderful! This means you are no longer in danger from that vile man.”

  “Oh! It is indeed wonderful. And now that the banns have been read, Mr. Collins and Mary are to be married. I could not have wished for a better outcome.”

  “Let us pray that Lydia has learned a lesson, and she will do no harm in the meantime.”

  “To be sure. I have threatened to throw her in Mr. Coble’s way if she even bats an eye at another man before Mary’s wedding.”

  “Good for you, Lizzy.”

  “It is positively amazing the fear of being forced to wed the ‘merry’ widower has over such a silly girl. Even I am surprised that she and Kitty kept their silence this entire time.”

  “Poor Lydia must be miserable.”

  “It serves her right. But she is young. She will, no doubt, be back to her old ways before the wedding breakfast ends, at which point our family will be obliged to lock her away forever.”

  No doubt desiring to change the subject, Charlotte said, “What of Mr. Darcy? Does he remain in town?”

  “I believe he does,” Elizabeth said. “And I will not deny my being concerned about his absence.

  “I have not the slightest doubt that I have him to thank for Mr. Coble’s about-face. Were Mr. Darcy here, I might at least thank him. I can only imagine to what lengths he must have gone to ensure a happier outcome than would have otherwise been possible.”

  “Fear not, dearest Lizzy. No doubt, it is only a matter of time before Mr. Darcy returns. A man does not go to such lengths solely to be of service to a damsel in distress. I am sure he is in love with you.”

  This was not the first time that Charlotte had made allusions along a similar vein about Mr. Darcy’s affection for Elizabeth. Only this time, Elizabeth was not so quick to dismiss her friend’s supposition.

  “If only it were so, Charlotte. For the first time in my life, I have come to know how much I could have loved such a man. Leave it to me to come to such a realization when all hope must surely be in vain.”

  Elizabeth indeed had a reason for doubt, for the Netherfield party had recently left Hertfordshire. Mr. Bingley had gone to London not too long ago, taking with him Jane’s best chance of strengthening their acquaintance and leaving behind a vague promise of his return.

  His sisters’ departure almost immediately afterward, no doubt, was meant to put an end to all of Jane’s hopes, for a letter was delivered to Longbourn with words to that effect later that very day.

  Had they found out about the Bennet family’s impending doom? Was Lydia’s shame fodder for the Netherfield party’s further derision? The final nail in the coffin sealing Jane’s fate?

  Elizabeth could not rightly say, and if Mr. Darcy, too, had decided that the risk of his continuing acquaintance outweighed any possible rewards, Elizabeth could not rightly say that she blamed him.

  “Your hopes for a future with Mr. Darcy are not in vain,” Charlotte cried. “Do not dare allow such despair to fester in your mind.”

  “But it has been days since Mr. Coble abandoned his pursuit.”

  “What is such a short passage of time in the overall scheme of things? Mr. Darcy will return. Of that, I have no doubt. And when he does, you must not delay. You must seize the happiness that surely awaits you, and hold on to it for the rest of your life.”

  Chapter 24

  When Mr. Darcy returned to Hertfordshire, he along with his friend Bingley went directly to Longbourn. Sitting in the parlor surrounded by chattering women and engaging in polite, meaningless conversation was certainly not what he wanted to do.

  Mr. Darcy had but one thing on his mind, and that was being alone with Elizabeth. With what delight did he suffer when Mrs. Bennet and Miss Mary excused themselves to oversee the final wedding preparations, and the younger ladies went for a walk to Meryton with errands of their own.

  Only Jane and Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy remained in the parlor. Now it was Mr. Darcy who was the one to suggest a turn in the garden. The latter couple allowed the former to outpace them, and when they came upon a fork in the path, Mr. Darcy coaxed Elizabeth to follow his lead.

  They walked and walked, and soon the garden in which Jane and Bingley had taken a seat was nowhere in sight. The silence that had accompanied them most of the way was broken when Elizabeth broached the subject of what had happened with Mr. Coble.

  Mr. Darcy began speaking on the matter, sharing what he could and omitting what he felt he could not.

  Elizabeth listened. She spoke very little, and when he concluded his speech, she said, “Other than my undying gratitude, what do I now owe you after what you have done for my family, sir?”

  “Surely you must know you owe me nothing.”

  “But I can scarcely imagine the expense you must have incurred to bend that evil man to your will.”

  Thinking it only fair to relieve Elizabeth of the burden she suffered, Darcy confided in her his own family secret. He told her of Miss Darcy’s near brush with scandal the summer
before, how Coble had learned of it, and how the villain had attempted to use it against him.

  This information seemed to ease Elizabeth’s mind, and despite the compassion such a confession must surely evoke, she did not press him further on the matter.

  Now, she was silent again. Too silent for his liking. He told her as much, which was sufficient encouragement for Elizabeth to speak on a different subject.

  “Sir, I am a curious creature, and as you ought to know by now, my frankness of character demands satisfaction.”

  “What is at the heart of your assertion?”

  “Well - I fear I would be terribly remiss if I did not ask you about your feelings regarding your friend Mr. Bingley and my sister Jane.”

  “I will not deny that my friend’s feelings for your sister are strong - such that I have never witnessed before, and I must confess to being more than a little concerned.”

  “Why is that, if I may ask?” Without waiting for a reply, she added, “Is it my family’s want of connections, our lack of fortune? I ask because neither of those things is a great secret and yet Mr. Bingley does not seem to be bothered.”

  “No, it is just that he is of an age where his connections are constantly increasing. He is only just coming into his own. There is so much of the world he has yet to experience.”

  “Do you feel an alliance with my sister will hinder his prospects? Again, Mr. Bingley must have considered that as well.”

  “If I am to be completely forthcoming about my concerns—”

  “Please do,” Elizabeth interrupted.

  “I have observed the two of them most closely, and I fear your sister’s attachment to Bingley is not so strong as his attachment to her. All things considered, an equal degree of affection ought to exist if nothing else.”

  “What if I were to tell you that my sister rarely shares her true feelings with anyone?”

  “I dare not argue with you. You know your sister best.”

  “Surely you can understand the reason my sister does not wear her most heartfelt sentiments on her sleeve?”

  “Are you suggesting she is unsure of herself and what she might add to a possible alliance? That she would rather do anything but subject her heart to agony and pain?”

  “I suppose,” Elizabeth said tentatively. “Surely you must comprehend her reasoning.”

  “What of your own reasoning, Miss Elizabeth? Are you afraid of subjecting yourself to possible heartbreak and pain as well?”

  “We are not talking about me, Mr. Darcy. In broaching this topic, I believe I am thinking only of my sister.”

  “I say it is time you stop thinking only of your sister, rather sisters, and start thinking of yourself.”

  “What are you saying, Mr. Darcy?”

  “Miss Elizabeth,” he began, “have my feelings toward you been so muted - my intentions so unclear?

  “I love you, most ardently. You have bewitched me from the moment I first laid eyes on you. I recall telling you in Kent you must never hesitate in reaching out to me.

  “During your moment of crisis, I asked you to place your trust in me, and you did. Your doing so meant the world to me. Now, I have something more to ask. Will you continue to place your trust in me? More than that, will you let me spend the rest of my life with you? Loving you?”

  Elizabeth’s warm smile encouraged Mr. Darcy to draw nearer. “What I truly mean to say is, will you marry me? Will you be my wife?”

  Elizabeth said yes.

  She said yes!

  And she further added that her sentiments were as ardent as were his, even if bewildered more aptly described the moment she first laid eyes on him. But love him, she did, without even knowing precisely when she had made a start. She supposed she was in the middle of loving him before she even knew she had begun.

  Every look, every word, and every second Darcy and Elizabeth ever shared had led to that moment, and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love was meant to do.

  Our first kiss.

  Elizabeth’s response, so innocent and yet so passionate, was everything he dreamed it would be - promising him of all the pleasures between the two of them yet to come.

  Epilogue

  Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day Mrs. Bennet’s third daughter, Mary, became the new mistress of Longbourn. Mary, the one daughter whom she feared the least likely to find a husband, was the first of her daughters to do so.

  The happiness that was hers grew three times over soon after the newly wedded Mr. and Mrs. Collins drew away in their carriage headed to Brighton, the first destination of their wedding journey, and it was time for Elizabeth’s as well as Jane’s closely held secrets to be revealed.

  Elizabeth was engaged to marry Mr. Darcy, and Jane was engaged to marry Mr. Bingley.

  Oh! What a happy day indeed.

  Soon enough, Mrs. Bennet boasted of having three sons-in-law. She could think of no one more deserving of such an honor than herself.

  Elizabeth really loved Mr. Darcy, and she loved him even more, suspecting, as she did, that reassuring words from him had been the impetus his friend Bingley needed to declare himself to Jane. In doing so, the younger man had defied the most ardent wish of his sisters, especially Miss Caroline Bingley’s. That did not, however, stop her from expecting a place at his table.

  By design, Elizabeth rarely spent time in the company of the Bingley sisters. Her marriage to Mr. Darcy was destined to change that. Miss Bingley, especially, was very deeply mortified by Darcy’s marriage, but wishing to retain the right of visiting at Pemberley, she wisely chose to keep all her resentments to herself.

  Jane and Mr. Bingley remained at Netherfield. This arrangement, although not always so desirable to his easy temperament owing to the proximity of his dear wife’s relations, proved infinitely desirable to Jane’s affectionate heart, for it allowed her to be near her dear friend, Charlotte. Jane’s happiness was Bingley’s happiness, and thus he would never have any cause to repine.

  And although Elizabeth would have loved being the one to behold the joy in her dearest sister’s face when Jane began to distinguish various shades of light and, albeit vaguely, some shapes, reading Charlotte’s regular accounts of Jane’s improvements was the next best thing to being there.

  Some mention of Mr. Coble ought to be made, if only for the peace of mind which settled over Meryton with the gentleman’s leave-taking. He was said to have been bound for the Americas. What was more, there had been some talk of a shipwreck. Whatever was the truth, nobody could be bothered to find out.

  In choosing to defy Lady Catherine de Bourgh, by marrying the third Bennet daughter, Mr. Collins was forever to be a stranger to the grand lady. Her ladyship had promised to extend the same courtesy, or rather lack thereof, to her own nephew Darcy. His marriage was the source of extreme anger and resentment, and she told him as much in her reply to the letter which announced its arrangement. She sent him language so abusive, especially of Elizabeth, that for some time all intercourse was at an end.

  Alas, it was not to last. Instead, her ladyship proclaimed that life was too short to dwell on that which would never be - a resolve that brought her to Pemberley more often than Elizabeth would have otherwise preferred.

  She could not help but suspect that Lady Catherine’s real purpose in coming was driven by her motive to prove that which she desired most - that Mr. Darcy would rue the day he chose such a lowly woman to be the mistress of his home.

  What did Elizabeth care? Defying the wishes of Lady Catherine de Bourgh was, after all, precisely what Elizabeth had always set out to do.

  Much had been mentioned about Miss Georgiana Darcy. It must be said that one of the brightest parts of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s season of courtship was the former’s meeting the young lady. The occasion was just as formidable for one as it was for the other. Elizabeth could not be sure that had she and Mr. Darcy met under different circumstances, she would not have believed him ca
pable of the same haughtiness so evident in his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh. With what pleasure did Elizabeth see that Georgiana was nothing at all like her aunt. There was sense and good humor in the younger woman’s face, and her manners were perfectly unassuming and gentle.

  For Darcy’s part, the attachment of the sisters was exactly what he had hoped to see. Adding to his pleasure was the mutual decision between all the parties involved that Pemberley was also to be Georgiana’s home. The frequent presence of Elizabeth’s younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia, would surely have posed a great trial on Darcy’s forbearance, were it not for the strict supervision of Mrs. Annesley, the lady in charge of his sister, especially whenever the youngest was around.

  Elizabeth’s frequent presence in town during the courtship period also allowed her to make up for not spending time with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, when she was otherwise engaged in securing the future of Longbourn for her family. The span of an hour spent in the company of the engaged couple was more than enough to persuade them that Mr. Darcy was overflowing with admiration for their niece. And it was with a warm heart that Elizabeth embraced her aunt’s commendation of her intended.

  “There is something pleasing about his mouth when he speaks,” Mrs. Gardiner had declared. “And there is something of dignity in his countenance that would not give one an unfavorable idea of his heart.”

  Having won Mr. Darcy’s heart long before even she knew it, Elizabeth could not agree more.

  Elizabeth’s first sighting of Pemberley had taken her breath away, and the thought of what it must be like to be mistress of such a place could not help but occupy her mind. Were it not for the fact that she was cradled in Mr. Darcy’s arms, she no doubt would have been perched on the edge of her seat. From her vantage point inside the luxurious carriage, every twist and turn in the lane leading to the manor house promised endless possibilities for exploration.