jitters? Take Romulus and Remus with you. Your foxhounds have been underfoot almost as much as you and would surely benefit from the exercise. I believe Mr. Bingley, Ellis, James, and Richard are playing cricket on the back lawn. Please join your friends and cousins. Please.”
“But what if the Bennets should arrive while I am not here?”
Georgiana was more than happy to provide the answer. “Elizabeth would certainly never forgive such a blatant transgression. You would subsequently be forsaken by her, left at the altar, ridiculed by society, and forced to live out the rest of your miserable existence as a lonely recluse.”
“Leave your poor brother alone, Georgiana. He is beside himself. My dear son, you shall not be jilted; and I do believe your father, your youngest sister, this dear, sweet, sarcastic young lady here, and I can all manage the Herculean task of welcoming the royal family to Pemberley without your invaluable assistance. Go. Physical activity will provide a respite from nervous tension.”
Darcy obediently called for his hounds and made his way outside but not before he heard Lady Anne mutter, “Your being outdoors will provide a much needed respite for the rest of us, and we shall endeavour to somehow muddle through without your precious guidance.”
“I heard that, Mother!”
Darcy and his canine companions took a stroll along the meandering stream, but the young man remained attuned for the sound of carriage wheels descending the hill or sight of the Bennet equipage crossing the bridge. With no sign of Elizabeth’s imminent arrival, he decided to spare a few minutes to check on the backyard cricket players. Regrettably, Darcy and his dogs were about as welcome at the game as they had been inside the house, for Romulus took great delight in fetching the leather-seamed ball, thus ending the closely scored match.
When his beloved bride-to-be finally appeared through Pemberley’s front door, roughly forty-seven and a half minutes late, Fitzwilliam Darcy became overwhelmed by her very presence at his ancestral home; and he then drove himself to distraction with unbridled thoughts of connubial bliss. Unhappily for him, Elizabeth was almost instantly whisked away from his side; and he began to wonder why he had not considered whisking her away to Gretna Green.
Our journey to Northumberland would have been much shorter from Scotland than from Derbyshire, and I would have been spared hearing any further descriptions of lace and finery from all the females gathered above stairs.
Darcy was subsequently besieged by rampant visions of Elizabeth in satin and lace and deluged with pleasurable fantasies of further wedding-night conjugal delight.
Upon arrival, Elizabeth had been immediately caught up in a whirlwind of welcome, introduction to servants, and an inordinate amount of fussing from Georgiana, Anna, Lady Anne, and Anne de Bourgh. She was swept away to her sumptuous chambers and presented with her newly appointed abigail, Ann Cillary.
Although her opulent rooms were spacious, the bedchamber, sitting room, and dressing areas were inundated with a flurry of activity as her trunks were unpacked and refreshments served. Mrs. Reynolds and a bevy of maids saw to her every comfort; and Lizzy suspected her perfectionist fiancé was behind all the fluster, fuss, and foofaraw.
The Bennet children thought Pemberley was almost as fine a place as Longbourn, and Lydia and Robert enthusiastically met the numerous Darcy pets with squeals of glee that sent the poor creatures running for cover. When he was denied access to his fiancée, Fitzwilliam Darcy invited the two youngest Bennets to the barn to show them the tabby kittens that had been born in the summer, several weeks before their sisters’ first fateful visit to the estate. Darcy cherished time spent with the siblings of his beloved Elizabeth especially Robert, who was adorable, and Lydia, who was a younger version of Lizzy.
The youngsters already loved their sister’s tall, handsome fiancé like a brother; and as they walked, Darcy held their tiny hands and envisioned having his own family.
The dark-haired little girl looked up and said, “Mr. Darcy, your family certainly has quite a maginary of animals.”
“Miss Lydia, I believe you mean we have a
“Good grief, sir. Sometimes I cannot easily make sense of all your wordy words. I may not be able to say maginary min … whatever you said, yet I can spell it.”
“Really? Very well, spell it for me.”
“I - T.”
“Yeth, Mither Darthy.” The wee tot walked along in silence for a few moments, with his thumb in his mouth, and then said, “Do you hafta kith Libazeth on your marrying day?”
“But why? It hurts to kith on the lips!”
Lydia quickly answered, “Oh, I know what he means, sir. That day we caught you kissing Lizzy behind the bookshelves you were moaning and groaning and said ‘
“Enough! This is exceedingly inappropriate!” Darcy dropped their hands in order to run his own through his hair but stopped short of pulling it out.
Lydia happily skipped behind the gentleman’s back to reach her brother’s side. While Darcy hastily strode on toward sanctuary in the barn, Lydia whispered to Robert, “See! I told you it would work.”
Darcy and Elizabeth had not been granted a private moment since her arrival, and they both suffered a bereft afternoon of longing for the other’s company. Lizzy, agitated and confused, rather
