Page 77 of To Love And To Cherish
“No. She’s elected to remain here. If you and Jane wish to stay at Pemberley while completing your purchase and beginning the renovations, I would consider it a favor. She’s asked whether Kitty might stay as well.”
“That would be exceedingly convenient,” Bingley said at once. “Now that Caroline is otherwise occupied, Jane and I may finally begin our marriage in peace. It will be much easier to conduct the business of the estate from here, only eight miles away, than from Netherfield.”
Darcy stood and extended his hand. “The ladies are in the drawing room. Shall we inform them?”
They walked down to the drawing room together. Darcy shared the news of his planned journey and confirmed that Georgiana would remain at Pemberley under the care of her friends. The announcement was received with good cheer.
Later, he met with his valet to begin packing. There were papers to gather, ledgers to prepare, and a respectable excuse to rehearse, one that involved acreage, not affection.
And yet as he looked out the window that evening, watching the fading light settle over the emerald green hills, he allowed himself the smallest flicker of hope.
He was going to Scotland to sell an estate.
But if fortune were kind, he would return with something far more precious.
Darcy sat at his writing desk, sealing a letter to his cousin Richard. He enclosed it, along with those addressed to his solicitor and to Mr. Bennet, and handed the packet to his most trusted groom with instructions to ride for London without delay.
“You are to deliver this packet to Darcy House and place it in Hodgkins’s hands,” he said firmly. “Remain there until the sales contract is prepared and bring it back to me. I must take it with me to Scotland.”
The groom bowed and departed. Darcy sat for a moment longer, fingers steepled, staring at the dying fire.
It was done.
He rose and spent the better part of the morning in meetings with his steward and Mrs. Reynolds, reviewing every detail regarding estate management that might require attention during his absence, and most importantly, the comfort and protection of his sister and their guests.
“I do not know how long I shall be gone,” he said quietly. “It will depend on… circumstances.”
Mrs. Reynolds nodded with her usual efficiency, but he caught the glance she exchanged with the steward. No doubt they assumed the sale of Ellan House would take longer than expected. That suited him well enough.
For in truth, he did not know when he would return.
That would depend on Elizabeth.
He harbored no illusions about the difficulty of the task before him. His chest tightened as he paced the length of his study, each step weighted with uncertainty. He had given her no cause to believe he admired her. He had never walked with her, never sought her company. What little familiarity they had shared six years ago at her relatives’ home in London had been all but erased when he delivered that public set-down at the Meryton assembly.
He pressed his lips together. She would be justified in holding him in contempt. And now she was in the company of a man who had shown her nothing but warmth and respect. A man who knew how to laugh, how to be gentle, how to be present.
And what had he done?
He had stood in corners. He had judged her family. He had admired her from a distance and never once made his regard plain.
Darcy exhaled slowly and rested a hand on the mantel.
Still… six years was no small acquaintance. Their paths had crossed again at Hertfordshire. He had been received at Longbourn. There had been words spoken, not romantic ones, but honest ones. She had once confided in him her worry for Jane. She had spoken of Helen of Troy, of fate and choice and consequence. There had been glances, however fleeting. And during her visit to Netherfield, they had shared quiet moments, small but not insignificant.
He did not know how he would win her affection, but he knew that he must try. With Adam Frazier already in her company, with time and distance working against him, he could not delay.
If she refused him, he would accept it like a man and leave her in peace.
But if there was even a flicker of hope… he would not let it die untended.
Darcy turned back to the desk and began to draft the list of items he would need for travel. As he wrote, he began to relax.
The journey would take seven to nine days by private coach. The winter roads would be long, the cold unrelenting, and the outcome uncertain.
But he was going to Scotland, not for Ellan House.
For Elizabeth
