Beginning, Section II
Jump to new as of September 28, 2002
Jump to new as of October 5, 2002
Jump to new as of October 8, 2002
Sunlight streamed through rather sheer curtains into the room at the Twin Oaks Inn, and it woke Lizzie with a start.
"Dad! Ugh!" Her head throbbed with pain and she quickly closed her eyes and lay back down on her pillow. There was a knock at her door, and then someone came in with a tray without waiting for permission to enter.
"Will said you would wake right about now," Georgie said cheerfully, ignoring Lizzie's moans. "It's a beautiful day! More snow!" She whipped aside the curtains, and the sun hit Lizzie in the eyes with full force.
"Aaaaaack!"
"I brought you breakfast!" Georgie continued, oblivious to the comfort of her guest. "Soft-boiled eggs, sausage and waffles, hot off the grill and dripping with real butter! I hope you like chocolate milk!"
"Urrrrrp! Excuse me," Lizzie whispered and beat a hasty retreat to the bathroom. She managed not to toss her cookies and drag herself back to bed, and asked Georgie to take that tray of cholesterol away and bring her some tea and dry toast.
"Oh! No problem! Must have been that sedative Will gave you. I'll be back!"
No one, thought Lizzie miserably, should be allowed to be so darn cheerful first thing in the morning. She looked at the bedside clock and gasped. It was 10:30.
As if on cue, the phone rang. It was Will.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!" William's voice was just as bright as his sister's. That settled it - the Darcy siblings were gonna have to die.
"Dad?"
"In stable condition. Broken leg, internal bleeding and several stitches on his forehead. I'm on my way now with clothes, and then I will take you to the hospital," he told her in his direct way.
"The twins?"
"At my house. My housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, is thrilled. I thought of Jane and Charles, but... I'll see you in a few minutes."
Lizzie put down the receiver just as Georgie returned with the requested breakfast items. "Richard chewed me out for my previous choices," the innkeeper admitted. "But you look as if you could do with some fattening up."
"That bad, huh?" Lizzie squelched a sudden urge to run to the mirror.
"Just skinny," Georgie replied in a matter-of-fact tone. A car turned into the parking lot, and she ran to the window. "And here is Will with a suitcase. Be right back!"
She was, too, and Lizzie wondered if she had run both ways. Georgie then left her to shower and dress, adding that there were plenty of complimentary toiletries in the bathroom. "Call me if you need me," she continued, and pulled a face. "I'll be right next door stripping a bed."
It didn't take long for Lizzie to join William downstairs, suitcase in hand, and her thanks to Georgie and Richard were brief, but profuse.
"Come back anytime," Richard told her, kissing her hand instead of giving it a shake, earning a frown from his cousin Will. Georgie gave her a hug and asked her to bring her brother and sister with her next time.
"We love kids!"
Lizzie was pleased to see her father doing so well, despite being in intensive care with a leg in traction and tubes running every which way. His doctor assured her that he was responding well to the surgery, and there did not seem to be any more bleeding.
Dr. Darcy, however, would only let her remain for a half hour or so before reminding her it was time to see to the twins.
"I wish to talk seriously with you for a moment, Elizabeth," he told her once they had returned to the car. They still sat in the hospital parking lot, and he turned and looked her in the eye.
"Your stepmother was at the house last night when I retrieved the twins. She was happy to let them go, as you, of all people, can well imagine, and she fired the nanny on the spot. She informed me that the house was her half of the divorce settlement, and that neither you, the children nor your father were ever welcome there again."
"She said that in front of the children?" Lizzie was appalled. "What are we going to do now?" To her consternation, she began to cry. She had learned long ago that tears were never profitable, and they made her look ghastly, so she never cried. And yet here she was, sobbing uncontrollably, when Dr. Darcy pulled her across the seat and laid her head on her chest.
"Go ahead," he soothed in his deep, rumbly voice. "Let it all out."
Lizzie didn't know how long she cried, or when she stopped, all she heard was the doctor's voice, telling her calmly that she was allowed a good cry now and then, and that everything was going to be all right.
"I don't know why I did that," she finally apologized, still curled up on the doctor's chest. Truthfully, she did not want to move from such a safe haven. "I never cry."
"Perhaps that is part of the problem." Suddenly, the doctor became all business, and Lizzie supposed his quick release and offer of tissues was to cover any uncomfortableness on his part.
"I have made my decision," Lizzie told him as she slid over to her side of the seat and fastened her belt, "and wish to take you up on your offer of marriage." She saw the look on his face, as if he were a last resort, and hastily continued. "It's not because of dad, or the twins, either. Well, almost. I could get a job and rent an apartment for myself and the kids. But I have decided not to."
"Thank you."
Lizzie was surprised. He sounded almost relieved, and he could hardly be pleased he was getting not only herself, but two eight-year-olds and an invalid. What if he had regretted his proposal as soon as he heard about her father? She shook her head at the thought, unaware the doctor was watching her every thought flicker across her face.
"If you had not accepted me, Elizabeth, I would have asked you again."
"Oh!" He was doing it again, she thought annoyingly. Reading her mind. Would that she could return the favor, but he only regarded her blandly from beneath hooded lids as he reached over and started the car.
"Shall we be married Christmas Day? At Jane and Charles' house? They have invited us for dinner, to make up for Thanksgiving, I suppose."
"But that's only two weeks away!" Lizzie gasped. "How can we possibly...?"
"Georgie has a friend who is a notary public, and I gather with your father in the hospital, you would not want a large church wedding anyway. It would be good for the twins if they are settled before returning to school in the new year. I'll make all the arrangements, shall I?"
"Is there something I can do to help?" she asked sarcastically.
"Of course - you need a dress, and the twins will need clothes, as well. I did not have much time to collect their belongings last night, and they are rather thin in the wardrobe department. Let's go home, have lunch with the children, and take them shopping. You could stand a few additions, yourself. The twins can also show us what they want for Christmas."
"But the money!"
"We'll worry about that later, shall we?"
Lizzie worried about it now, though, all the way to Dr. Darcy's house. She forgot her troubles, however, when the car pulled into a gated drive marked Pemberley Farms. The private road wound its way past several fenced areas, filled now with only snow, but she suspected they held horses or cows in other seasons. A long, low stable off to one side gave evidence to the horses, and there were several other outbuildings, all branching off from a large Colonial farmhouse, white with green shutters, gabled windows on the second floor, and a deep porch with several rocking chairs.
"Welcome to your new home," the doctor said in a amused tone. Lizzie could only sit there with her mouth hanging down to her knees. Then the twins burst forward from the front door, laughing and calling her name. She flew from the car and pulled them both into a bear hug.
"I've missed you so much!"
"Lizzie, wait till you see our rooms! And there are video games!" Kit cried.
"I beat Kit at Super Mario Brothers!" Meredith shouted. Lizzie was so happy to see the kids, she practically carried them into the house, where she was introduced by the twins to Mrs. Reynolds and her husband, the doctor's housekeeper and horse trainer.
"Thank you so much for looking after my brother and sister."
"It was our pleasure!" Mrs. Reynolds told the children to go into the family room and warm up by the fire, after pelting out of the house without coats, and added that lunch would be ready in fifteen minutes. "And your cat is making himself at home, Miss Bennet," she said.
"Collins is here? But he's really not mine..."
"Jane, er, is not fond of cats," the doctor admitted. "So I brought him here."
"Took to us right away," Mrs. Reynolds assured Lizzie. "And he sleeps with Miss Merry, if that is all right with you, miss."
"Of course," Lizzie said absently, her mind boggling at the thought of Dr. Darcy handling the logistics of moving herself and the twins into his home. In less than twenty-four hours! And she was going to marry this man? Lord help her, but she was!
"Do you think they even realize the depth of their regard for each other?" Georgie asked Jane. The three ladies were having a late lunch at the Twin Oaks, ostensibly to formulate plans for the wedding, and Georgie had waited for Lizzie to retreat to the ladies' room before pumping Jane for personal information.
"Hmmm?" Jane's attention had been wandering. She was thinking how beautiful her living room would look decorated in Christmas cacti.
"I said, do they even know how much in love they both are?" Georgie's voice carried, and even Richard, who was clearing tables at the other end of the room, looked up.
"Those two? Not hardly. A more unlover-like pair you'd be hard-pressed to find." Jane snorted. "But take at look at them sometime. They watch each other constantly when they think no one, even each other, is looking. I want to knock their heads together and tell them to find a room."
"So you don't think this marriage is a good idea?"
"It's the perfect solution! Put those two in the same house, and whoosh! They are gonna go up in flames." The two women snickered, and were still at it when Lizzie returned to the table.
"What's so funny?"
"Richard is," Georgie improvised. "He has been clearing that same table for ten minutes, trying to overhear the conversation."
"Oh."
"But now we need him anyway. Richard!" Georgie bellowed. "Get over here! Time for the menu, and then the guest list," she brightly added.
"Then we go shopping," Jane reminded her.
"Right!"
In addition to the Bingleys and the Twin Oaks two, the guest list included the twins, Anne de Bourgh ("Yes, Jane, I'm sorry, but she is my cousin"), Caroline Bingley ("Family is family" Jane told a groaning Georgie) and George Wickham, who was related to an old friend of the family. "His parents, may they rest in peace, would be insulted if he weren't invited," Georgie apologized.
Richard excused himself from the shopping expedition after a menu for Christmas Day dinner had been decided on, and the three women set out for Jane's favorite boutique.
"Much too expensive," Lizzie murmured as they pulled into a parking space in front of the store.
"Nonsense!" Georgie exclaimed. "Will is loaded, didn't you know?"
"No," Lizzie admitted. "I mean, doctors live comfortably, and the farm is nice, but..."
"Ignore Georgie," Jane replied. "But Will is good for it, so let us see what we can find. Toinette's is perfect for simple but elegant."
And it was. Lizzie found a winter-white wool suit that fit perfectly, and Georgie added an ice-blue silk blouse to match her eyes. Jane, not to be outdone, insisted on buying a white lacy bra and matching panties, and threw in a garter belt in pale blue to hold up a pair of silky white stockings.
"This is a family affair," Georgie playfully admonished, waving the blue garter belt under Lizzie's nose. "No taking this off in front of the children."
"Where are you going on a honeymoon?" Jane wondered as they waited for a saleslady to ring up the purchases.
"Or hasn't Will told you yet?" Georgie asked.
"Will doesn't tell me squat," Lizzie grumbled.
"Jane, finish this, will you? I'm going to walk Lizzie down the street to the coffee shop. I'll order you a latte..." And Georgie winked at Jane and whisked Lizzie out of the shop before she could even protest.
"Has anyone ever told you the story about Will and Jane's sister-in-law, Caroline Bingley?" The two walked at a sedate pace.
"No..."
"Well, a couple of years ago, the two went out on a date. Will must have been desperate, but, then, there is no accounting for some tastes. Anyway, they went to dinner and then out dancing, and that was that. Will took her home afterward, said she was OK, but not really his type. Somehow, though, Caroline went off her noggin about him and became a real pain. She started calling Will day and night, and she would show up at his office for no reason and insist on seeing him. When she started telling everyone they were engaged, he finally had to tell Charles about it. Charles took care of Caroline, and she backed off, but ever since, he has been a hermit, never going anywhere, never asking women out. He's been so close-mouthed, too, going his merry way, making arrangements as he sees fit, and then just expecting everyone to do what he says. I tell you, if Caroline weren't Charles' sister, she would not be at your wedding."
Lizzie nodded. "So some of his high-handed ways are a habit he developed after being stalked by Caroline?"
"Exactly. Now, I'm not saying that is a good thing. I can be bossy myself, I know, but Will has raised it to an art form! And he never dates anymore. You could have knocked me over with a feather the night he brought you for dinner at the inn! He went to a country club dance for the first time in years recently, and even then he went alone. When I asked him why he went at all, he wouldn't say. Oh, and he thought you might be happier married by a clergyman, so the notary public idea is out."
Lizzie smiled. Despite the December weather, she felt a warm glow inside that had nothing to do with the thought of hot coffee.
The glow had abated somewhat by Christmas Eve. She and Will had gone shopping for the twins, and for their friends, and all the presents were under the Bingleys' tree. They were spending the night at the Bingley home, along with the children, Georgie and Richard. All the preparations had been made for the wedding, and the children were excited. Presents from the family were to be opened at midnight, with Santa's presents to arrive before morning.
"I'd rather clean up two smaller piles of gift wrap, than one large one in the morning, with a wedding to follow!" Jane had insisted.
Now, with the children nestled, all snug in their beds, their little arms wrapped around treasured gifts from the midnight present-fest, the adults were making their way upstairs.
"Lizzie, one moment, please," Will requested. He propelled her into the living room. "I won't be able to see you in the morning until the ceremony, and I wanted to give you your Christmas present before then." He handed her a black jeweler's box and she gasped as she opened it. Inside were a pair of diamond earrings and a fine gold chain holding a diamond and pearl pendant.
"Something new," he whispered as he shut the box and pulled her into his arms. "And you, Miss Bennet, are under the mistletoe." He kissed her soundly, and then, as if he were embarrassed, tucked one of her arms in his, and took her upstairs to the room she was to share that night with Georgie.
"Sweet dreams," he said, giving her a swift kiss on the forehead.
Lizzie walked into the bedroom in a daze, only to find Georgie and Jane bouncing on the bed in anticipation.
"Bachelorette party!" Georgie squealed. "Well, kinda."
"More presents!" Jane added. "What's that in your hand?"
"Ohhhh, jewelry! Let's see! Must be from Will." Georgie took the black box from Lizzie's hand, but Lizzie ignored her and sat down on the bed, her head still in the clouds from that mistletoe kiss. Surely he felt something for her! Her warm glow returned, and all doubts about marrying Dr. Darcy had flown.
"Looks like she got something else from Will," Jane said slyly, nudging Georgie with her elbow.
"Ahhh, look at these, Janie!" Georgie had opened the jeweler's box. "What did I tell you the other day, Liz - Will's loaded!"
"Uh, huh..."
"Oh, she's not listening, Georgie. Get the gifts!"
"Yeah, these'll wake her up!" Three large boxes were thrust into Lizzie's lap.
"Now, this first one is from Janie, and Charles, although I don't suppose he ever got to see what they look like."
"Sure did!" Jane insisted. "I bought a second set for myself, in hot pink, and modeled them personally."
Lizzie was glad she had missed that fashion show - nestled in tissue in the box were a baby-doll nightie in pearly pink, trimmed in rosebuds, and matching panties. Both were just little scraps of silk, and she blushed bright red.
"Naughty, but nice," Georgie decided. "And this is from Meredith and Maddy," she added, patting the next box. "I took them shopping last week, and the precocious little darlings picked this out by themselves. I think Merry threw the saleslady for a loop when she said it was for her sister. The lady told her it wasn't appropriate for someone her age." Everyone laughed when Lizzie pulled out a short lavender gown with a plunging neckline. "I think they liked the color. And this one is from me."
The last box contained a long black gown, so sheer it was transparent. There was a matching robe in the same material, edged in maribou, and little maribou-trimmed mules, also in black.
"They are all so beautiful!" Lizzie exclaimed. "But I..."
"OK," Georgie announced. "Time for a quick glass of champagne, compliments of the Twin Oaks wine cellar, and then off to bed. You don't really need the beauty sleep, Cinderella," she told Lizzie, "But I have a wedding to cater."
It was another hour before the women went to bed, because Jane insisted, after two glasses of champagne, that Lizzie model the lingerie.
"You look like you could use some more rest," Richard told his cousin the next morning as they put on their tuxedos.
"Jane needs to get thicker walls," Will grumbled as he tried getting his tie right for the fifth time. "Those three were up half the night, giggling and what-have-you..."
"I thought the children were in the nurseries down the hall. Now they were noisy this morning, when they opened their gifts from Santa."
"I wasn't talking about the children!" Will didn't add that he could hear most of their conversation, and that it had centered around lingerie. The thought of Lizzie in something black and slinky had done everything for his imagination, not to mention his libido, and nothing at all for a good night's sleep.
"I slept like a baby and didn't hear a thing!" Richard fixed Will's tie, grabbed his own jacket and headed off downstairs. "It's my job to answer the door and keep the extra guests entertained until we start."
Will didn't know why. It was Christmas, and there was going to be a wedding, and they were adult enough, he hoped, to entertain themselves.
"Let me look at you!" Georgie entered the room unannounced, and there were tears in her eyes as she looked at her brother. "I can't believe you're getting married! Mom and dad would have been so proud of you today! I know Richard and I are!" Will told Georgie she looked lovely in her crepe dress of soft green, and earned a quick hug from his sister. "Oh, Will. I forgot to tell you. Anne, Caroline and George, who brought some tart with him for a date, don't know there is to be a wedding today."
"No? Why not?"
Georgie's grin was smug as she breezed back out of the room. "Because I didn't tell them!"
"Visit with Richard, dear," she was told. "We're waiting for a few more people." The doorbell rang, and Georgie ran from the room.
"Doesn't she ever do anything in a sedate manner?" Anne complained.
"Georgie? No, not really. Ah, George," he greeted the newcomers, "and..."
"Lydia Bennet," the blonde bimbo on George's arm simpered. "And you are..."
"Richard Fitzwilliam. Pleased to make your acquaintance. This is my cousin, Anne de Bourgh."
"Bennet...Bennet..." Anne mused. "Do you have a sister named Elizabeth?"
"I -"
"Excuse us, Anne. I want to show Miss Bennet around the house. We'll be back." Richard smoothly escorted Lydia elsewhere, and Anne seethed quietly, ignoring George Wickham, whom she detested. Where was Jane? Why hadn't Will come to see her? She had finished her first glass of champagne and needed another drink.
As if on cue, Georgie came in with a tray of champagne. "George, you look as if you could use a drink," she said brightly. "You, too, Anne. It's Christmas!" She disappeared again, and Anne hoped it was for a long while. But she was back again, soon enough, with a strange man carrying a Bible; Richard, escorting Miss Bennet and Caroline Bingley, was hot on his heels. They were given glasses of champagne and seated on the sofas around the room.
Then Will arrived, looking elegant in a tux. Anne almost swooned, and in that she was not alone. Georgie had tears in her eyes, and Caroline Bingley was trying to grab his coat as he walked to the front of the fireplace to stand next to the stranger.
Then Jane and Charles and their children entered, and Jane turned on a CD of the wedding march. The significance of the music, however, did not register in Anne's head until Elizabeth Bennet, flanked by her younger siblings in a black tux and pink organza, entered the room. They reached Will, and the twins answered the minister when he asked "who giveth this woman to this man?"
"No!" she whispered. Then the minister asked who present objected to the union, and Caroline Bingley stood up, her champagne splashing, and shouted.
"I OBJECT!"
"Sit down and shut up," Charles told his sister.
"No! William took me out once and he never called again, but I know he loves me! We were engaged, Will..." she whined. "I've known you forever!"
"Caroline!" Charles grabbed his sister by the wrist and escorted her from the room.
Anne was bewildered. Will and Caroline had been engaged? Why that two-timing... she was about to stand when the minister interrupted.
"Now, if we might continue? If there are no objections..."
"But I object!" Lydia stood and pointed a finger at Lizzie. "You don't deserve to be married! You abandoned your family just when we needed you most, and she'll abandon you, too, Dr. Darcy, you just wait and see! Come, children! Lizzie is evil and you deserve to be home with your mother, who loves you!"
Anne leaned back in her seat, relaxed once more. Why should she object now, when this little tramp was doing her dirty work for her? Will was leaving Lizzie at the fireplace, and had turned to...
"I suggest, Miss Bennet, that you collect your coat, and leave." Will was standing in front of Lydia, and even Anne knew he was furious. "If I ever see you approach either Elizabeth or the twins again, I will have you arrested for assault, whether you lay a hand on any of them or not. Do I make myself clear?" Lydia nodded, and ran from the room. George Wickham quickly followed.
To Anne's surprise, Will turned to her next. "Well?" he drawled. "Don't you want to add something to the festivities?"
"No."
"Good. I hope you will stay, even though I think a little talk with the wedding coordinators is in order." He glared at Jane and Georgie, who had the grace to look ashamed. "Apparently, someone forgot to put wedding on the invitations."
Anne sat silently as the minister finished the ceremony, and when she saw her "cousin" heartily kiss the bride, not once, but several times before he let her go, she got up and quietly walked from the room. She did not stay for dinner.
Unfortunately for Lizzie, Caroline did not leave. Before the meal, when everyone had lined up to congratulate the bride and groom, she clung to one of Will's sleeves, as if she were the bride. Lizzie was finding it difficult to feel part of a happy couple. It was more like a bizarre trio.
Caroline put herself on William's right side when Jane had the couple sit at the head of the table for dinner, and she was right down in front, later, when Lizzie threw the bouquet.
Little Maddy, however, jumped in front of her Aunt Caroline at the last minute, and grabbed the spray of red roses and white lilies, and a fight ensued while the two tussled for the flowers. Maddy won, however, when Jane "accidentally" stepped on her sister-in-law's toes. Caroline tried to cajole the bouquet away from her niece, but Maddy told her she was ugly, and to go home. Caroline finally took the hint and left, leaving everyone else to sigh in relief. The minister left moments later, and Georgie and Richard soon excused themselves, looking like secretive little elves.
But Lizzie was too distracted by the thought of Will, in his tux, and possibly out of his tux, to pay much attention. She supposed it was thought of the day coming to an end that had put her nerves on edge, and she was slightly surprised when Will asked her if she wished to visit his Aunt Catherine before they went home. She nervously agreed, but the visit was short, because Mrs. de Bourgh was not feeling well. The Darcys left with the promise to visit again. Likewise, they paid a quick visit to Mr. Bennet in the hospital, but he was busy with plans to move to a rehab facility the next morning, and after congratulations, and admiration for his beautiful daughter, they left there, too.
"But this is not the way home," Lizzie protested later as they drove through a different part of town. "This is the way to..."
"The Twin Oaks Inn. Georgie and Richard are giving it to us this evening. They have no other guests, and they are spending the night back at Jane's."
"Oh."
"It was Georgie's idea."
"I see. So that's where they were headed earlier."
They were silent after that, and it was the uncomfortable silence of two people who are very aware of each other, and not sure what to do about it. Quietly, they followed a trail of rose petals, left by the irrepressible Georgie, no doubt, upstairs to the large suite at the top of the house. Just as a noiselessly, they went back downstairs to where a simple supper had been laid out.
It wasn't until a half hour later, when they had adjourned to the warm fire in the sitting room, that either spoke.
"I know we have not had time to discuss this, Elizabeth," the doctor began. "I just want you to know that the physical side of marriage is a big step. One that I want you to be ready for. Until then, I am prepared to wait..."
Lizzie had not been surprised or alarmed at William's words. She had more or less expected them, despite her own anticipation of a wedding night. However, if she didn't gather her courage and declare herself tonight, it could be days before she told him, finally, how she felt.
"But I..."
William's pager went off and he turned white as Anne's cell phone number appeared on the small screen.
"This had better be an emergency," he muttered, walking quickly to the front desk and dialing his cousin's number.
"What? OK, OK. I'm sorry, Anne, I really am. I'll call Georgie. Thank you for letting me know right away."
Lizzie had wandered into the front hall behind him, and now she touched William's sleeve, even as he put down the receiver and began dialing again.
"What's wrong?"
"Aunt Catherine has died."
Sunlight streamed through rather sheer curtains into the room at the Twin Oaks Inn, and it woke Lizzie with a start.
"Mrs. de Bourgh! Ugh!" Her head throbbed with pain and she quickly closed her eyes and lay back down on her pillow. There was a knock at her door, and then someone came in with a tray without waiting for permission to enter.
"Will said you would wake right about now," Georgie said cheerfully, ignoring Lizzie's moans. "It's a beautiful day! More snow!" She whipped aside the curtains, and the sun hit Lizzie in the eyes with full force.
"Aaaaaakkkkkkk!
Deja vu. Thank goodness it ended right there.
It was bad enough that she drank an entire bottle of champagne by herself, in the suite at the top of the inn, after William learned of the death of his aunt. Georgie had come back to spend the night with her, so she wouldn't be alone, and had understood completely when Lizzie admitted she was going to get drunk and forget it was supposed to be her wedding night.
"I brought you dry toast and tea. I've had my share of benders, ya know."
"Despite the fact that you are much too cheery in the morning," Lizzie admitted, "you are the best of sisters!"
Georgie was all smiles. "Richard is making breakfast for the kids downstairs. He brought them over with him this morning. I hope you don't mind?"
"Mind? The twins adore Richard! And you, too," she added. "Are there any plans yet for the funeral?"
Georgie shrugged. "Will called from Pemberley this morning, said he and Mrs. R. spent half the night getting Anne calmed down. For some reason, she was hysterical. I really don't know why. She never had ten minutes for the old besome while she was alive, and now she's upset about something. Probably not her mother's death."
Lizzie nodded. Georgie's assessment of her cousin fit with what she knew about Miss de Bourgh. The thought that William and Anne had spent the night at Pemberley did not sit well, when he could have as easily brought his cousin, if she was indeed his cousin, to the inn. At least Mrs. Reynolds had been there, too.
"Anyway," Georgie continued, "Visitation is tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. and the funeral will be Tuesday morning in Meryton. Well, I'm off to the kitchen. I've got lots of cooking to do, if we're to have the wake here after the burial. Will you check with Will when he gets here? He's moving Anne over this morning. She's going to stay here, and you and the twins are going back to Pemberley."
With some relief, Lizzie nodded. "Let me get dressed. I feel silly sitting here in an unappreciated negligee. I can at least come down and help sweep up rose petals." She gave Georgie a quick hug. "It was a nice touch."
"Hmmmpf! Just like Aunt Catherine to spoil what should have been a humdinger of a wedding night..."
"Georgie!"
"Well, you can't honestly tell me you don't love the man, can you?"
Lizzie hung her head. "No."
"Then do something about it! Sometimes that brother of mine can be remarkably dense and needs a swift kick in the rear. See that you administer it sometime soon, OK?"
"Gotcha."
The funeral came and went, and everyone gathered back at the inn for lunch, where Georgie kept Lizzie so busy, she didn't have time to watch Anne play the grieving daughter who desperately needed her "cousin" by her side. George Wickham, as a friend of the family, had come for the funeral, sans Lydia, and Lizzie was grateful. Caroline Bingley was also mercifully absent.
Over the next month, the new Darcy family had settled into a routine. Lizzie woke every morning in time to have breakfast with the doctor and the twins, and then William drove the kids to school on his way to the office. She and Mrs. Reynolds would then take care of the household chores, and if there were any errands, Lizzie would run them in William's Land Rover.
Afternoons were spent reading the mail, of which there was a great deal, and making phone calls, and when the twins came home from school, the three would spend time in the snow, or in the stables. Then the kids would do their homework, and the three would have supper together. Later, when William came home, Lizzie would sit with him while he ate, and if it was still early, the four of them would have a family evening in the living room.
But Lizzie was not content.
It was as if William were avoiding her. They were never privately alone, and Lizzie did not feel comfortable making the first move.
Then, a month after Mrs. de Bourgh's death, a week before Mr. Bennet was slated to come home from the rehab hospital, Lizzie found herself alone once again, reading a magazine in the living room.
"Lizzie!" Meredith hollered from upstairs. "Kit won't share!"
Letting out a great sigh, Lizzie went upstairs to help settle the dispute. She missed William, who came in the front door and went straight to his study, which had a door to the living room. He looked in there for Elizabeth, and not seeing her around, left the door ajar and settled in to read the mail she had left on top of his desk.
The twins settled once more, Lizzie came back downstairs just as the doorbell rang. It was Caroline Bingley.
"Lizzie! Darling!"
"Won't you come in?" Lizzie said reluctantly.
"Of course. Is Will home?"
"No."
"I didn't come to see Will, really," Caroline said expansively, stretching out on a sofa like a great cat. "In fact, he's at the office, and then he's coming to my house tonight. We've been seeing each other for weeks, you know. I just came by to tell you to give it up."
Lizzie sat calmly through Caroline's drivel.
"I'm not stupid, Caroline. I remember what a scene you made at our wedding. I even remember you plotting to snare William the night of the country club dance."
"Oh, yes!" Caroline's laugh was brittle. "Lydia put me up to that, after she watched the doctor watch you at the table all evening. How droll."
"Droll or not, I think it was time you left."
"You can't make me!"
"Want to make a bet? And after you leave, I'm going to call your brother and suggest he have you committed for awhile. Drugs can do wonders for delusional people, you know," Lizzie said sweetly.
"I'm going, I'm going," Caroline complained. "I don't need any drugs, either."
"Whatever you say. But Caroline," Lizzie warned her right before she slammed the door on her face. "If I see you near my husband again, I will tell Charles and you will be committed - understand?"
Caroline Bingley was tiresome, but harmless - for the moment, anyway, she decided as she went back into the living room and picked up her magazine, oblivious to her husband's presence in the next room.
Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang again. It was Anne de Bourgh.
"I want to speak to you, Elizabeth!" she said without preamble as she swept into the living room. "I want you to divorce Will!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Come off it, honey. I know you only married him for the security. Now you're set. You get a divorce, and half his goods, and I get the other half. They're mine, anyway. Mine! Mother left half of her estate to him , to be shared with Georgiana, and the rest to me. But if I marry him, I get everything that's due me - everything, do you hear?"
"If it's money you want, Anne, I believe we can accommodate you. If it's William you want, sorry. He's mine."
"What? You don't want him, I do! Give him back!"
"No. I do want him. He's mine, end of story. Go away and leave me alone. I don't like you, and I don't want you here. You're just as crazy as Caroline Bingley, do you know that? I'll suggest to William that we sign over everything that's coming to you, but you will not get my husband. We don't need money that badly. We do, however, need each other. Get out!"
Anne left without another word, and Lizzie was surprised to find herself shaking. She was still wobbly ten minutes later, after a good stiff drink, when the doorbell rang once again.
It was Lydia.
"Lizzie, oh, Lizzie, I need your help!" she wailed.
"What have you gone and done now?"
"You could be a little kinder to a pregnant woman!"
"Oh?"
"Lizzie, you have to help me! George took me for everything, and I'm on the verge of bankruptcy, and I don't know who to turn to!"
"Why me? Why now?"
"Come on, Lizzie, everyone knows you married money! I need some, and I need it now!" In the blink of an eye, Lydia had turned from a crying, pleading mess to a hard-nosed negotiator. "You don't want to have to give the children back to Frances, do you? That's what is going to happen if you deny me this!"
"I think I remember my husband threatening you at our wedding... I wonder if I can recall his exact words? Oh, yes, 'come anywhere near Elizabeth or the twins again, and I will have you arrested for assault, whether you lay a hand on any of them or not.' Sounds fairly clear to me. You are not the first person I have thrown out of this house today, Lydia, but you are darn well going to be the last!"
"Well! We'll see you in court!"
"Fine! You know, Lydia," she told her as she escorted her bodily to the door, "You have never given me one thing I needed. Not just money or clothes - I'm talking about the important things, here: Kindness, friendship and loyalty! Your mother never gave me that, either. In fact," and her voice got louder and louder, until the doctor went to stand at the study door to hear every word, and the twins came to the top of the stairs to listen. "In fact, the only people who ever gave me any of those things, unconditionally, are in this house or in the hospital! Now GET OUT!"
Lizzie slammed the door and headed upstairs without a backward glance. The twins had to scramble to remain unseen, and the doctor reflectively sat back down in his desk chair, his mail completely forgotten.
Calmly, with no tears, Lizzie went to Meredith's room and gently asked her sister if she could have the doctor's pager number. That quickly memorized, she walked to her own bedroom and sat down at the phone on her nightstand and dialed the number.
The doctor called back almost immediately.
"I need you," was all she said.
"I'll be right there."
Two seconds later, Lizzie could hear him pounding up the stairs, but she quickly recovered from the shock long enough to open the bedroom door and throw herself in her husband's arms.
He held her tightly, and then he was kissing her wildly, and she was kissing him back until she couldn't breathe.
"You were downstairs," she gasped. "And you let me deal with those, those delusional women by myself!"
"There isn't anything you can't handle, my love," he told her in his great, rumbly voice.
"I couldn't handle telling you that I love you, until now," she admitted. "I didn't want to scare you away. An unskilled worker with no job, an invalid father and two young siblings is not, in my opinion, a very good catch."
"And in my opinion, the only catch. But you've been so unsure of yourself for so long, I didn't want to scare you away, either."
He walked her over to a rose-satin slipper chair, and settled her in his lap. Lizzie laughed.
"And since when did all this happen?"
"Since the moment you answered the door the night that woman turned her ankle. My god, Elizabeth - I wanted to tell her to go to the emergency room like everyone else. Then you opened the door and it was like I was hit with a sledgehammer. I saw how you were treated by that woman, and it made me even angrier. Then I saw you laughing at me from the top of the stairs when I left, and I knew I had to know more about you." He gave her a big hug and settled her curly head under his chin.
"I didn't care if you were the upstairs maid or the Queen of Sheba," he continued. "I did a little snooping after that and discovered you were 'Poor Elizabeth,' downtrodden Cinderella-like stepchild, and after that, it was so easy to play fairy godfather."
"No. Prince Charming!" That earned her a tighter squeeze.
"I knew what I felt for you from the start. I hoped that what you felt for me was more than just gratitude. Several times I thought you felt more than that for me. Now I wish you would grant me a wish."
"Me?"
"Sweet Elizabeth, I love you more than life itself. Will you..."
"Will! Will!" The twins were at the bedroom door, and if they were surprised to see Will and Lizzie in each other's arms, it didn't show.
"Will, Lizzie says I can go back to dance class. Mom wouldn't let me go once Lizzie left, but now I can!"
"Will, guess what?" Kit demanded, not to be outshone by his sister. "I got the top grade on my writing paper!"
"Is it always going to be like this?" Will whispered.
"Wait until we have some of our own..." Lizzie blushed, and Will kissed her hard before he stood up and set her down, herding the children back to their rooms with the promise that he would read them stories before bedtime.
"But now I need my supper," he told them. Lizzie had disappeared, but he wasn't worried. He went downstairs, whistling brightly, to find supper for two laid out on the table.
"You waited?"
"I was busy with several guests earlier," she said dryly. He laughed and talked about little nothings as they ate Mrs. Reynolds' pot roast, not liking the nervous smiles she kept darting his way. By the time they had finished their dried-fruit pie, though, she was at ease once more, and he offered to clear the table for Mrs. Reynolds while she went to check on the children.
"If I'm lucky," he said with a laugh, "they'll be asleep and I can take a rain check on the stories."
For once, however, the twins were still awake, and their demand for Will's stories gave Lizzie the chance to dig through her dresser for Georgie's wedding present.
She took a quick shower and put on the sheer black gown, and then sat down on the bed. No - that looked too eager. She jumped up and went to perch on the slipper chair in the corner. No - too shy.
Gathering up her courage, she opened the door between the two rooms and went exploring.
She liked the contrast between Will's room and the frilly, feminine touches in her own. His had a large sleigh bed in cherry, with a burgundy and cream striped comforter, a cherry dresser and two wing chairs, both in a burgundy, navy and dark green paisley. She dug her bare toes in the hunter green carpet and stared at the woodland scene over the fireplace, and wondered if she should start a fire.
The thick carpet muffled most of the doctor's tread as he entered the room, but Lizzie thought now she would recognize his presence blindfolded, and didn't start when he laid his large hands on her shoulders from behind.
"Are the kids asleep?" she asked, still staring at the mantle. A smile wreathed her face when he wrapped his arms around her and bent to nuzzle her neck.
"I certainly hope so, but I plan to lock all the doors, just in case. God, Lizzie, you've got me as nervous as a teenager!"
Lizzie turned around in his arms.
"If it's the gown, remind me to ask Georgie to buy me another one of these for my birthday."
"I'll buy you a box of them myself," he growled, "because I don't think this one is going to last one night."
Lizzie blushed, but she looked him in the eye.
"You'll go slow?" she whispered. "I've never done this before."
"Elizabeth, my love, I will take as long as you need. All night, if I have to. As long as you love me, we have the rest of our lives together."
Lizzie laughed nervously and unconsciously licked her lips.
"I don't think I can wait that long, Dr. William Darcy. I love you."
"I love you, too, dearest, darling Elizabeth."
And he spent the entire night, and the rest of his life, showing her just how much he really cared.
The end
I already know how lucky in love Georgie is going to be. Look for her story next, in "Learn to Love What Bugs You."