Page 32

Mr. Darcy brought her with him to visit the Great House at Stoke. Elizabeth accompanied Mrs. Bennet as she proudly showed the girl all the renovations her brother had made for them. It was clear Miss Darcy was completely overwhelmed until they made a stop by the music room where they found Mary practicing “I know that my Redeemer liveth” from Handel’s Messiah.

When Mrs. Bennet started to interrupt her daughter in order to introduce her to Miss Darcy, Georgiana did the most forward thing she had done in a long time. Lightly touching Mrs. Bennet’s arm, she asked her to wait until the end of the air.

Mary was surprised to find she had gained an audience.

“You play that so earnestly,” Georgiana said reverently. “Has it long been a favorite?”

“I have always enjoyed all of the Messiah, but I have found myself playing this air more and more since Papa passed away,” Mary answered. After a slight pause where no one seemed to know what to say next, Mary then asked, “Do you enjoy Handel’s works?”

“I do,” Georgiana replied. “Though my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, always requests that I play Handel’s ‘See, the Conqu’ring Hero Comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus, instead of anything from the Messiah.”

For the first time in months, Mary laughed.

“If he is casting himself as the returning hero, have you ever placed a crown of flowers on his head to welcome him home?”

“Not yet,” Georgiana laughed in return.

An amazed Mrs. Bennet left them there.

When she returned to the drawing room with Elizabeth, she told Mr. Darcy that his sister was a dear, sweet girl, and let him know that she would be welcome to stay with them any time.

Six months and a day after the death of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth woke with a stomach full of butterflies. Her life was about to change again.

Mrs. Bennet had spent much of the previous fortnight frantically preparing for the wedding. Not only did they need to be settled into the house, but they needed to prepare the wedding breakfast. Mrs. Collins had offered to host the wedding breakfast at Longbourn, but Mrs. Bennet was determined to have it in her new home.

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner arrived a few days before the wedding, as did Mr. Darcy’s aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Matlock. They welcomed Elizabeth so warmly into the family she almost cried.

Mr. Gardiner had offered to walk Elizabeth down the aisle in the absence of her father. That morning, Mrs. Bennet was unusually quiet as she stood by her brother’s side watching Elizabeth descend the stairs.

“You look beautiful,” Mrs. Bennet said, wistfully. “I wish your father were here today.”

“I am sure he is here in spirit,” Mr. Gardiner said. “He would not want to miss the wedding of one of his daughters.”

Elizabeth nodded in reply. She was thankful that her uncle would be there to walk her down the aisle, though she had purposefully not thought about the absence of her father on her wedding day. Although the Bennet ladies knew they were happy, they were subdued as Mr. Gardiner handed them into the carriage in order to travel to the church.

As Elizabeth took her uncle’s arm, ready to walk through the church door, she hesitated. Her feelings for Mr. Darcy had changed drastically over the past six months. She wished that they had been able to come together without the loss of her father. She worried about what it meant that she was only able to come to love him through tragedy.

“Am I doing the right thing?” she softly asked Mr. Gardiner.

“Do you trust him?” Mr. Gardiner asked in reply.

“Yes.”

“Then you need not worry,” Mr. Gardiner assured her.

“Thank you,” Elizabeth replied as they took a step towards the church.

As the door opened, Elizabeth felt a breeze playing across her face. It carried with it a slightly musty smell, similar to Mr. Bennet’s study. She took comfort, hoping her father was with them, after all.

Fitzwilliam Darcy did not fidget. He had never fidgeted a day in his life. As he stood at the front of the church waiting for the appearance of his bride, he most certainly was not fidgeting. He also was not squirming, twitching or wriggling. He was just making sure everything was in place, so that there would be no interruptions when Elizabeth arrived.

Mrs. Bennet and her three youngest daughters entered the church and took a seat. He pretended not to notice when Lydia giggled as he adjusted his cravat and checked to make sure both of his cufflinks were in place. He started to worry that it was taking too long for Elizabeth to enter. His cravat needed adjustment again. He needed to brush out a wrinkle from his waistcoat.

He breathed a sigh of relief as Elizabeth walked through the door on the arm of her uncle. The rest of the room disappeared. He had eyes only for Elizabeth. He did not even notice when Jane took her place at her sister’s side in order to stand up with her.

The wedding ceremony went by in a blur. Suddenly, Elizabeth found herself signing her maiden name for the last time. From this day forward, she would be known as Elizabeth Darcy. She looked into the eyes of her new husband and found that she was rather excited about the idea.

Darcy and Elizabeth had debated where to spend their wedding night. Neither of them wanted to stay at the Great House at Stoke. Elizabeth did not want to spend it in an inn. Darcy did not want to be in the home of his friend. In the end, they decided to travel to London in order to spend it at Darcy House. That decision would require them to travel back through Hertfordshire on their way to Pemberley, but they thought the privacy afforded by that decision would be well worth the inconvenience.