Page 46 of Saved By Mr. Darcy
“Of course.”
Georgiana removed her travelling coat and handed it to Mrs Annesley. Lizzy did the same, leaving her in the light summer dress that lay beneath. She felt better after she had removed it, no trace of the intended journey remaining. Georgiana began to push her away from the coach towards the gardens, and Lizzy sat back in her chair.
“Do you wish to talk about it?”
“It is nothing.”
“It has happened before, hasn’t it?” Georgiana asked gently. “These moments, where you are reminded of the accident.”
“It does not matter.”
“I am sorry that you feel such distress. It is only natural, after what you went through.”
“Really, we do not need to discuss it,” Lizzy said tightly, wiping at her eyes. “A broken body, a broken mind to go with it.”
“You are not broken!” Georgiana protested. “You are the bravest person I have ever met.”
“How can I be brave? My family need me, and I cannot go to them. I cannot bear it, Georgiana. I feel like I will die.”
“Maybe you cannot do it today, dear Lizzy, but that does not mean you will never be able to. We can try an uncovered carriage another day, perhaps. But I would urge you to reconsider until your leg is stronger. I will call for the doctor to examine you tomorrow, I think, so that he might advise us.”
Lizzy looked up at Georgiana through her tears, her breath coming in desperate heaves. She was thankful that Georgiana cared for her so much. She did not feel alone in this.
“You remind me very much of your brother, Miss Darcy.”
“Don’t say that!” Georgiana laughed. “I suppose we share the same nature in some aspects. I am only doing what I know he would wish me to in his absence.”
“Where do you think he has gone?”
“Does he know of your sister’s troubles? That Mr Wickham is involved?”
“Mrs Reynolds told me that he read the letter Jane sent to me. That is all I know.”
“My brother is a good man, Lizzy. The best of men. Mr Wickham is the very worst, and my brother has little tolerance for his behaviour. I do not doubt that Fitzwilliam will do everything he can to help your family.”
“He owes us nothing; he has no obligation to my family in any way.”
“Perhaps that is true, perhaps it is not. He cares for you a great deal, Lizzy. He would scold me for saying so, but it is my belief that he…”
Lizzy could not bear to hear Georgiana’s opinion of her brother’s sentiments. She would be right, of course, for Lizzy knew that he loved her. He had left her alone all the same.
“Stop! Stop, please! Let us speak no more of this, dearest Georgiana. May we walk in silence for a time?”
“Of course.”
They walked the length of the gardens in silence. Lizzy tried to listen to the bird song that filled the air, to focus on the flowers and the greenery, but she could think of nothing but her sister. She felt sick with worry, utterly powerless hundreds of miles away. What would she have done if she were in Hertfordshire? Whatcouldshe do? She knew nothing of where the pair may have gone; if there was any decency in Wickham, they would have travelled North at once, married at Gretna Green. Perhaps they were at this moment travelling home and…
She was being wistful, she knew. Expecting such honourable behaviour from a man who credit to his name was pointless. Her sister was ruined, and all of them along with her.
Georgiana returned her to the house sometime later. When Lizzy returned to the Blue Room, she found it had been returned to just how she left it; the hair brush and mirror provided to her by Mr Darcy sitting in their usual places, removed from the hastily packed valise. She sank back on the bed, her leg throbbing. She had exerted herself too much today. Her entire body felt heavy with exhaustion, her mind a cloud of emotions.
How she longed for home.
How she longed for the man she had come to consider home.
Chapter Thirteen
Dearest Jane,
