Page 139 of Ashes and Understanding
Today, they would be married.
Today, they would leave the past—the ruins of Longbourn, the terror of smoke and fire—and step into the future.
Elizabeth looked up at Jane and whispered, half in wonder, “Can you believe it?”
Jane’s blue eyes shone. “I can. You deserve it all, Lizzy. Happiness, love, a true home.”
Her throat tightened. “And so do you.”
They sat for a moment longer, wrapped in the quiet, breathless magic of the morning.
Then a loud, impatient knock sounded at the door.
“Come along, girls!” called Mrs. Bennet’s voice, bustling and imperious. “We have not a moment to lose if you wish to be beautiful brides!”
Elizabeth and Jane laughed, springing to their feet. The room soon became a flurry of cheerful activity as Mrs. Gardiner anda pair of maids came in, bustling about with ribbons, pins, and flower sprays. Elizabeth allowed herself to be led to the dressing table, where Jane was already seated.
Mrs. Gardiner helped brush out Elizabeth’s hair, smoothing the dark curls with a loving hand. “I never thought someone I knew would marry the master of Pemberley,” Mrs. Gardiner said, her eyes misting. “You will be greatly missed, my dear.”
Elizabeth smiled warmly at her aunt in the mirror. “You have always been like a mother to me. I will miss you, too.”
“No, once you get your first look at the beautiful grounds at Pemberley, you will forget all of us entirely!”
The room filled with giggles as the maids began weaving fresh winter roses and myrtle into their hair. Once their coiffures were completed, Elizabeth and Jane stepped into their dresses, and the maids stood back in admiration.
“You look like angels,” Mrs. Gardiner said, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.
There was a knock at the door. Mr. Bennet’s voice, dry and affectionate, drifted in.
“Are my daughters ready to ruin two perfectly good gentlemen’s lives?”
Elizabeth laughed and hurried to open the door. Mr. Bennet stood there, looking rather fine himself in his best coat, though his cravat was slightly askew. His eyes softened as he looked at her.
“You are beautiful, Lizzy,” he said quietly, his voice rough with emotion. “Darcy is a lucky man indeed.”
She blinked back tears and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Papa.”
He offered his arms to his daughters. “Shall we?”
Arm in arm, they made their way down the sweeping staircase to the front hall, where the carriages waited to take them to the little church just down the road.
As Elizabeth stepped outside into the crisp December air, snowflakes began to fall lightly around them, dusting the ground in a soft, sparkling white.
Jane laughed in delight. “A Christmas snow! What could be more perfect?”
Elizabeth lifted her face to the sky, letting a few flakes land on her cheeks. A new beginning. A new life.
In the carriage, she and Jane clutched each other’s hands, whispering last-minute reassurances.
“I am not nervous,” Jane said with a laugh that belied her trembling fingers.
Elizabeth squeezed her hand. “Neither am I.”
But her heart was pounding so hard she was sure the others could hear it.
When they arrived at the little stone church, it was already filled with family and friends. Mrs. Bennet was crying loudly into her handkerchief, flanked by Mrs. Gardiner and Mrs. Hurst. Lydia and Kitty sat giggling in the back pews, while Mary sat primly beside them with a prayer book clutched in her hands.
Colonel Fitzwilliam, resplendent in his dress uniform, stood with Darcy and Bingley at the front. Wickham sat nearby with the militia officers, looking rather proud of himself.
