Page 16 of Losing Lizzy
Although Mr. Farrin hadmade the journey from Hertfordshire to London with all good speed, Darcy was not able to locate the directions for where Mr. Sheffield’s pension was delivered and be on his way again, for his household was at sixes and sevens when he arrived.
He let himself into the house with his key when no one answered his knock. He would be glad when Michaelmas arrived and Mr. Thacker could return to his position at Darcy House. Thacker’s present employer refused to release the man until the quarter day.
Darcy caught a maid by the arm to ask, “What is amiss?”
“It be Mrs. Fitzwilliam, sir. Her time for lying-in has come.”
Immediately, Darcy was storming the steps, attempting to reach Georgiana. He would have entered her quarters if Lady Matlock had not exited the room just as he reached for the latch.
Her ladyship shoved him backwards. “You cannot go in. This is woman’s work.”
He glared at the offending door keeping him from his sister’s side. “I just want Georgiana to know I am here.”
“Such is Fitzwilliam’s right, not yours,” she declared.
“Georgiana is still my sister,” he insisted. “I will still protect her.”
“And she is my son’s wife. The mother of my firstgrandchild.”
All Darcy’s frustrations of late could not be set aside any longer. “I do not appreciate how the Fitzwilliam family seems to think this house is theirs and my word means nothing,” he accused.
His aunt pulled herself up stiffly. “Georgiana is now a Fitzwilliam.”
“She would not have been so if not for the interference of your husband and his sister. Moreover, you know, as well as I, I do not speak of my sister when I speak of the ills the Fitzwilliams have brought to my door. My sister is equal Fitzwilliam and Darcy, as was her mother.”
“And the colonel?”
“Another exception,” he growled. “At least, your younger son did not set himself against me and mine. He did all he could to keep Georgiana safe, and for that, I will always be in his debt.”
His aunt did not respond to his declarations. Instead, she charged, “I understand you banished Matlock from this house and your life; yet, you still call foul when it comes to my family.”
“I pray you are ignorant of your husband’s maneuverings of late. I pray you were not part of those who set themselves as judge and jury for my life. If so, please know, after this day, you, too, will no longer be welcomed in my homes.”
“What has Matlock executed to set himself against you?” Her ladyship’s frown lines deepened.
“You should know, if you do not already have knowledge of the act, over the last four years I have attempted to determine who had me kidnapped. I know someone did, for I often heard those of the crew ofThe Lost Sparrowspeak of my abduction and the money paid to remove me from London. Since my return to England, I have begun to wonder how my uncle, your husband, was so quick to London to take over the running of my household and my business interests when he was supposedly in Derbyshire, such was the reason I was asked to look in upon the shipment from India only two days before my wedding. According to the note I received in Hertfordshire, you and he had been called homefor some sort of emergency and could not attend the wedding. His lordship begged me to oversee the shipment. Explain to me how the day I went missing, Lord Matlock was sitting behind my desk at Darcy House and ruling my household. How did word reach him so quickly?”
“None of what you say makes sense. I took ill with a heavy cough and fever before your wedding. Such was to be the note Matlock sent to you at Netherfield—a note to offer our excuses,” she said in what appeared to be true disbelief, but, Darcy’s frustrations would not abate long enough to allow her any innocence in this matter.
“Even now, after four years, the earl and his sister mean to keep me from reuniting with Miss Elizabeth, and I will not tolerate their interference,” he stated in no-nonsense tones.
“I do not understand,” Lady Matlock declared. “Although Matlock thought you could have made a more advantageous choice of brides, he was willing to accept Miss Elizabeth into the family.”
“On the subject of advantageous marriages, did you truly approve of Fitzwilliam taking Anne to wife? How could Anne de Bourgh have advanced his career? Even if we had all agreed to an alliance of the families, how could my Cousin Anne have served any of us: Fitzwilliam, me, or Lindale? She has been kept tethered to her mother’s side to the point she is incapable of making the slightest decision for herself. Anne would never be able to serve as mistress of an estate, and, God only knows, whether she could bear her husband an heir and survive or whether she could tend the child afterwards. Yet, as best as I can determine, you made no move to prevent the manipulations Matlock and Lady Catherine practiced in that matter. Fitzwilliam married Georgiana to prevent your husband from forcing my sister to marry Lindale. You know, perfectly well, if I had been here, I would not have entertained the slightest possibility of such an arrangement. Moreover, I would have executed all within my power to prevent Fitzwilliam from being coerced into marrying Anne. Your younger son deserved a better life than to be bulliedby Lady Catherine for another twenty years.”
Her ladyship appeared quite shaken by Darcy’s accusations; however, he had not finished his tirade. “I just returned from Hertfordshire where I learned both your husband and his elder sister have called upon Mr. Bennet and offered the man a great deal of money if the gentleman would share with them the location of where they might discover Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I ask myself why they have chosen to assist the Bennets, when neither, as you say, thought my proposal to the lady would provide an ‘advantageous match.’” He shook his head to clear his thinking. “Nor do I comprehend what they hope to achieve when they discovered her whereabouts. Do they plan to gloat at her reduced circumstances? Be certain she continues to suffer for the mistakes I made in trusting your family? However, there is one thing I do know for certain, if either of them places himself again between me and the lady, I will march over, not around them, to reach her.”
His aunt blanched white in obvious distress. “I shall speak to Matlock.”
“Warn him, not just speak to him,” he said in sad tones. “His lordship’s supposed ‘guidance’ has cost me a large portion of the Darcy fortune, but I will not permit him also to steal away my greatest treasure. Warn him I am George Darcy’s son, and I will come for his blood, if necessary, to protect those I love.”
* * *
It was another two days before his coach arrived in Brighton. “Ironic,” he whispered as anticipation rolled through him. It had been Lydia Bennet’s stay in Brighton that had precipitated his winning Elizabeth’s agreement to marry him. “Silly chit,” he murmured as he thought how he had tracked Elizabeth’s youngest sister and his former school chum, George Wickham, down in a seedy inn in London and forced Wickham to marry the girl, thus, earning Elizabeth’s undying affection.
“I pray her love is undying” he whispered.
When he had departed Darcy House, he had kissed his sister and his new nephew. As Fitzwilliam had predicted,Pemberley was safe. Georgiana’s son could inherit Pemberley and the Darcy fortune if Darcy chose not to marry; yet, he wanted his own son—a child whose surname was Darcy, not Fitzwilliam to inherit what his grandfather and his father had spent their lifetimes crafting so he might present it to his own son one day.
