Page 2 of Twice Chosen

She looked at him sidelong. "Arrogant."

"Accurate."

This time he did smile.

They remained quiet for several minutes. Silence had long ago ceased to require filling between them. Elizabeth could remember being twenty and believing silence meant awkwardness, displeasure, or boredom. Fifty years of marriage had taught her that sometimes silence was simply another way of being together.

Eventually she asked, "Do you ever think about that first assembly?"

Darcy gave her a suspicious look. "No."

"Liar."

"Frequently," he admitted after a moment, though he sounded as though the concession pained him. "Mostly I remain grateful Bingley did not strike me."

Elizabeth laughed softly. "He should have."

"Charles Bingley had never struck anyone in his life."

"He considered Wickham."

"Everyone considered striking Wickham. That hardly counts."

Even after all these years, Darcy's mouth tightened at the name. Elizabeth squeezed his fingers before he could wander too far into old anger. "Do you remember how proud we were?"

Darcy looked down at her hand in his. "You were prejudiced."

"You were insufferable."

"So you informed me."

"Repeatedly."

"For more than half a century."

Elizabeth smiled. "Someone had to undertake your education."

His eyes lifted to hers, warm now despite the sadness beneath them. "And you considered yourself qualified?"

"Entirely."

"Of course you did."

Something about the look he gave her caused the humor to leave her. Elizabeth stared toward the fire. "I would do some things differently, you know."

Darcy's thumb stopped moving over her hand. "Us?"

She turned back immediately. Beneath his calm expression she saw the question he had not truly meant to ask. "No. Never us."

The tension left his face so slightly another person might have missed it. Elizabeth did not. Darcy lifted her hand and pressed his lips against her fingers. "What, then?"

"Mary, for one. Sometimes I was kind to her. Other times I laughed."

"Mary frequently invited laughter."

Elizabeth gave him a look.

Darcy sighed. "That was unkind of me."