Page 51 of Saved By Mr. Darcy
“Hmm? Yes, yes. Take your sister.”
“Very well. Thank you, Papa.”
Jane, as it turned out, had been listening at the door. She burst through at once, a broad smile upon her face.
“Shall we go to the gardens, Lizzy?” she asked as she took the handles of the chair and began to push her away from their father. “I saw Mr Darcy leave not five minutes ago. I am sure we shall find him.”
The pair did indeed find Mr Darcy in the gardens. He was sitting on a bench, his hands clasped tightly in his lap and his gaze straight ahead. At the sound of her wheels crunching against the gravel, he rose at once from his seat. He rushed over to them, politely relieving Jane of her task. Jane walked a little ahead, the customary role of an older sister.
“Are you happy, Mr Darcy?”
“Are you?”
“Very,” Lizzy smiled, reaching out a hand behind her as they moved slowly along the path. “I am so glad to have you returned to us. I missed you very much.”
“Every moment away was a torment. I am sorry I did not write. What you must have thought, to wake and find me gone. I did not tell Mrs Reynolds why I left, only that I must. I should have left word for you, but I was not thinking clearly.”
“Georgiana knew all along that you would have travelled to help my family. Some small part of me doubted you. I thought that you had run from me; I thought you had changed your mind. My behaviour…”
“You speak of your behaviour? Miss Elizabeth, I…I am little better than that man I have married to your sister.”
“You are ten times the man he could ever hope to be.”
“I took a liberty I had no right to. I allowed my body to overrule my mind, and I put you at terrible risk. If we had been discovered, your reputation would have been terribly compromised. You would have been forced to marry me with no question of choice.”
“I wanted you to stay. I do not regret a moment of that night.”
“Truly?”
“I have thought about it often in your absence. How I have missed you!”
“I am sorry I left without saying goodbye. What you must have thought of me!”
“I did not know what to think! I slept far better than I had in weeks. When I woke, it was almost midday! I was told that youhad been gone for some hours. Then, I read the letter I knew you had opened before me and dared to hope that you had gone to aid my family, but I did not know for sure. It was a gesture far too grand, for you have made little secret of the disdain you held for my younger sisters.”
“Is that what you think of me? That I would not help a girl lead astray by a man I know to be a rogue, simply because I saw fault in her behaviour?”
“No. I know you to be a man who helps others in the way he thinks best. And I must thank you for what you have done, sincerely. I meant no slight.”
“I know,” he said. “Your uncle wrote to me himself to ask for my help. Miss Bennet told him all that she knew; I must ask, Lizzy : does she know of Georgiana’s…”
“No, she does not,” Lizzy interrupted at once. “I did not breathe a word of that secret you confided in me. I am the only person besides you who knows of the contents of that letter, and the only one who ever shall.”
“Thank you.”
“Let us speak of happier things. My father has given his blessing for the marriage.”
She came to an abrupt halt as Mr Darcy stopped walking. She turned to look at him, finding his eyes closed and his shoulders sagged with relief. She turned, covering his hand with hers. His eyes opened, and he looked upon her with the tiniest smile. She returned his smile tenfold.
“I thank him for it. He interrogated me thoroughly in Hertfordshire. I thought for sure he would refuse me.”
“Good,” Lizzy smiled. “For he did the same to me.”
“I took a liberty,” Darcy said softly. “When I was in London, I not only secured a special licence for Mr Wickham - but myself.”
“Oh?”
“We cannot travel to your parish to be wed, as is tradition. I thought, perhaps, a summer wedding at Pemberley would do quite well.”
