Mr Darcy's Legacy, page 7
It was her brother conducting her, but he was so impatient to arrive in the hall that he nearly abandoned her… in Fitz’s arms.
“Where you there that night?” Georgiana asked.
“I was not, but Anne told this story so many times that now, even after all these years, I have the feeling I was.”
“And what happened?” It was Elizabeth asking but the question was on their lips.
Elizabeth was living Anne’s story with the highest tension because, strangely, she still feared that her marriage to Darcy was in danger. It was illogical because they had could easily marry as soon as they wanted to, and yet she had decided to wait. Maybe it was a mistake. Hearing that long-ago story she realised that there are obstacles in front of each marriage. The anguish overwhelmed her with the power of a hurricane; she was frightened but also felt selfish because it was not her story and Anne had the right to be the heroine of the day. So she turned to Darcy, hoping he would tell her that he loved her and nothing could separate them.
Darcy was standing near the bow window, slightly leaning against a panel, he was very aware of the portraits and the story Lady Edwina was unfolding. But his attention was directed to Elizabeth. He wondered what he was ready to do if any obstacles should stand in front of his love. What happened to Anne and the Duke to renounce their future together?
He asked the question in haste, but he knew the answer long before Lady Edwina responded.
“They prohibited Anne and Fitz to marry.”
“They?” Darcy asked. “Who might these ‘they’ be?”
But Lady Edwina did not respond. With the key still in her hand, she stood up, and without a word, she headed to Anne’s bedroom.
The emotion in the chamber was as thick as a foggy day over London; Georgiana sensed she could not breathe, so she wanted to open a window, but her brother took her by the shoulder and all three followed Lady Edwina. It had been ten years since she had entered that room; she hesitated not because she did not remember where the secret drawer was but because she was not sure it was the right thing to be done.
“Lady Edwina, please,” Darcy said, “we decided to find what mama left us, regardless of what this drawer may contain.”
Edwina turned to them and whispered, “I am only afraid this drawer’s contents could change the way you remember your mother.”
“Lady Edwina, nothing can change our memories, as I am utterly confident that she did nothing wrong, that she was a victim of the circumstances, therefore we will love her more and be compassionate for the love she lost. It was a disturbing revelation to admit that she did not love our father, but in the end, she lived with him for 19 years and not even once did we suspect that she was not happy with him.”
“Anne was a generous person; she did not love your father in the way she loved Fitz, but she fully enjoyed the life they had as a couple and she loved you. Motherhood was a gift she heartedly embraced and never complained about not being content and fulfilled. She was kind and understanding with your father and he was happy with what he had.”
Lady Edwina opened the drawer that was in sight yet still well hidden in the cabinet and returned with a pile of letters and a box.
At first, they were all disappointed, as the expectation was so intense they imagined they would be in possession of the secret as soon as the drawer was opened. But then they all knew the secret and the letters could only provide them in depth about the story. It was a tale of love and separation, one of the oldest plots in human history. Holding the letters, Darcy fathomed that the real secret could be hidden in the motives behind their separation. Probably the letters would reveal why two worthy young people were forbidden the right to live their love, together.
Chapter 9
They silently returned to the parlour from the ground floor. The presence of the two portraits was too intimate to be bared for too long. It was like they were watching a couple in their most private moments, in a continuous consummation of their love.
They expected Darcy to be the first to touch those objects. It was still his decision to open the letters and to reveal the contents of the box.
“Dear Mama” Georgiana said, “she liked boxes; she had a full collection and each box was full of little objects.”
The box on the table had exquisite woodwork with mother of pearl incrustations and gold; when Darcy took it into his hands they saw on one side the blazon. Instinctively Darcy gave the box to Lady Edwina.
“I assume it is Lord FitzRoy’s coat of arms, it is not difficult to find out as the picture from above had to contain the blazon. But I am sure it is his. My Goodness, this box was a commitment, no one would give a box with the blazon unless he had a serious intention. Come, Darcy, open it!”
Her tone was at the edge; it looked impossible to discover new elements in a story she was so sure to know.
The box had a golden handle in the form of a snake; like the box itself, it was a masterpiece of craftsmanship. Tied with a ribbon around the handle, there was the key. Georgiana laughed again at her memories with her mother’s boxes and keys and the mysteries that a little girl of only a few years old wanted to find out. Her wish came true as she was about to discover her mother’s most intimate secrets that, it seems, not even Edwina knew.
She stood up and went near Darcy as he opened the box. The box held a ring, nothing else but a ring, in a very intricate velvet support. They looked in disbelief at the ring in the shape of the griffon they had already seen on the blazon from the box; covered in precious stones the same colours as the blazon. The ring had an elaborate gold mounting fitted for a young girl’s slender hand. The Duke did not give her one of his rings but made a ring, especially for her, with his family’s arms.
“It was more than she let me know!” Edwina exclaimed, equally astonished and sad to find her beloved friend had kept such secrets from her for such a long time. She tried to remember every circumstance of the thirty years old story, but nothing was said between them to induce Lady Edwina to conclude there was more than some chaperoned meetings, dances, and holding hands.
“It was not a simple love story between two young people, as she let me believe,” Lady Edwina said with a trace of reproach. “He gave her a ring, it was a promise, maybe he even proposed to her.”
“You were not aware that he asked her to marry him?” Darcy could hardly take his eyes from the ring that he gave to Georgiana, who, in an instinctive gesture put it on her finger. It fit her perfectly. She hurried to take it off but Darcy tenderly indicated for her to keep it. There was a new bond, a new understanding growing between the siblings, now that they were together in such extraordinary circumstances. For many years, Darcy had been not only the elder brother but also the father figure for Georgiana. But in the presence of past secrets, a new relationship was flourishing between them, brother and sister. Georgiana was thrilled and Elizabeth could see that Darcy also enjoyed the situation.
“I never knew about any marriage plan between them,” Lady Edwina finally said. “I will tell you all that I knew and maybe with all the letters she left you we could decipher the secret, but first of all, I need a drink.”
They all laughed at her words, the tension began to dissipate, for it was not such a dramatic secret the ring revealed. They wanted to know more but had the impression they had already guessed most of it.
Lady Edwina wiped her tears with a gesture of both hands and then she held up a glass, inviting Darcy to pour her orange wine, her favourite drink. Edwina came from a different society; at Pemberley or in Hertfordshire a lady never drank before dinner and even then generally only the married ladies could have a sip of wine, but in London, where Lady Edwina had been born and lived most of the time there were totally different manners. Over the past days, since they were together Georgina and Elizabeth had discussed this difference; it seemed that in London, a woman of their world could have privileges inconceivable for women in the countryside. Elizabeth just moistened her lips into the wine and smiled. Lady Edwina brought with her a different air, not only in the stories she shared but also in the way she lived.
“That night at the Duke’s palace they fell in love the moment they saw each other. In those times at a ball a girl like Anne had all the dances promised, but that night only a few men could approach her. Anne told me that…” Edwina hesitated, it was so strange to be in front of her children, who were by then grownups, and narrate the passionate love story between their mother and a stranger.
“Come, Lady Edwina,” Darcy said, “we have already overcome any concerns. We know a part of the truth and we want to know more, everything you remember. And then we will see the letters. It is too late to step back. We have decided we want to know our mother, the real woman.”
“She was real, in everything she felt or did for you!”
“I know, I just wanted to say we need to have a fuller picture of her.”
“Please Edwina,” Georgina continued pleading their cause, “we know her as a mother and from time to time as a wife and mistress of the house, but it is so special for us to come to know her as a woman in love.”
“Well, my dears, I am not at all sure children should be told such details about their mother’s life”.
Elizabeth was reluctant to enter their discussion, but at one point, she wanted to be a part, as she had the privilege of being invited into Anne’s heritage, by Anne herself. The codicil regarding her was in the same package as the letter for Darcy.
“I think, if you allow me to intervene, that it is Lady Anne who took the final decision on this problem, neither her children nor you, Lady Edwina, but she when she decided to write that letter to Darcy and leave behind those portraits after her death. It was her decision to let you know about her love, and to give you more details than even her closest friend knew.”
Darcy was looking at her with genuine appreciation and a hint of pride.
“Yes! I totally agree with Elizabeth; the reticence we have, now, springs from our own feelings and not from her will. She wanted us to know as much as she offered in the documents she left behind. So Edwina, please tell us all you know!”
Chapter 10
Lady Edwina was still reluctant, but in the end it was a 30 years old story that could not affect the present. The Duke’s benevolence towards Darcy was a sign of reverence towards Anne, and that could come only from a dear memory he still cherished. There was nothing dangerous in the past that could affect the two young Darcys, in the present.
“A love like theirs only rarely exists,” Lady Edwina said and all three smiled. “I know I have already told you this but it is the only image that can translate their love into words. When they looked at each other, there were bolts of lightning around. It was impossible not to see, yet nobody did, or at least not that mass of gossipers that usually shredded news among the Ton. I think that around that time there was a considerable scandal around a royal figure, and nobody had eyes for two young people in love. I have forgotten much from that time but not the morning she entered my bedroom and cried ‘I am in love, I am in love’. Anne and her whole family were staying at my parents’ place; your grandfather and my father were great friends, imagine we met when we were toddlers and never separated from that moment on. I was ill, I had terrible flu, but they suspected something more serious; I could not leave the house, and my only enjoyment was Anne’s story. We were not allowed to stay too close; I remember her sitting on a chair next to the door but only for a moment as she kept rising up and sitting, on and on as she told me about Will.”
“Will?” Darcy asked in disbelief.
“Yes, his name is FitzRoy William. Everybody called him FitzRoy after his ancestor; only for her, he had been Will from the beginning, from that first night at the ball.”
“She called you Will!” Georgiana exclaimed.
“Yes!” Darcy said. “She called me Will and I had always thought it came from Fitzwilliam.”
“Well, the name was a coincidence, in old times Fitz meant son; exactly as FitzRoy is the son of the king, Fitzwilliam is the son of William, in your ancestry there probably was an important William, but the name comes from your father’s side. He decided how to name you and I think Anne was amused by this coincidence. She told me once that her destiny was to live with Will and even after they were separated, she continued to think that way.”
It was past noon, but they did not feel tired, it was important to continue and they decided to stay on, to retire only for refreshment before dinner, so Edwina continued the story but this time she was completely enveloped in memories; she no longer told a story but she was living it exactly how it was once.
“Lord FitzRoy had just turned 21, he was so young that nobody expected him to marry at that age. In those days, men married around 30, it was more than usual for a young heir to have more than one adventure before his marriage.”
Elizabeth looked to Darcy wondering if that had also happened to her future husband but the little smile in the corner of his mouth told her it had. He promised her a discussion that would take place soon, but this day was entirely for Lady Anne.
“I think you understand that there were, and I am sure still are, different kinds of young girls; some of them lived all their lives deeply attached to the Ton, like myself. In those times, we stayed in London all year long. Most of my friends left London only in summer; the young ladies made their entrance in society at 16, most of us did, but I must say we had not the best examples in our mothers, aunts, grandmothers around us. Women lived separated from the men, meeting only for breakfast or dinner, rarely interested in the other, discussing important things only when asked. They were, I am sorry to say, rather far away from an ideal that still existed in the countryside. Anne was another species if you ask me. She was exactly how a young girl of 18 years old must be: pure, innocent full of dreams and ideals. I am sure that Lord FitzRoy was conquered not only by her beauty but also by her nature, so different from the girls and young women around him. Probably he proposed they get away from the ballroom and met in vast gardens; as he and others did so many times, but once together he discovered the truth about her. She was not a girl for an adventure but one for life. They knew each other for two hours but already there was a sense of belonging between them. Anne told me that she could not remember very well what happened, so intense their feelings were as if they were living a dream.”
In that atmosphere full of love, Darcy took advantage of the little pause Lady Edwina asked for and while she and Georgina were absent, he took Elizabeth in his arms. He wanted to feel her body next to his, and she searched for his lips; for the very first time in their relationship it was not he initiating the tender gesture, but her. So he captured her lips and gently taught them how to mingle and give up to his desire; so what Elizabeth thought to be only a kiss became passion and lust. Edwina entered just moments after they parted but her experienced eye could see the passion in their bodies. She wondered for a moment if Elizabeth had accepted him yet but then decided that she had not. The girl was much too affected after a kiss, as it was evident that they had been kissing in her absence. A woman would have been more composed after a little kiss, and she congratulated – in her mind - the young girl for being so decided as to wait for her wedding night to be with Darcy. She was sure Darcy also appreciated this attitude that defined his beloved. Elizabeth was in many ways similar to Anne but, fortunately, 30 years had passed since the times when Anne could not marry her beloved because someone decided otherwise.
“She never told me about the ring or their intention to marry; it was more a girls’ discussion, and she confessed her hope to marry him, but there were no plans, no proposal, at least this is what I knew, what she had told me. It is so strange that she concealed such an important matter from me. Their whole story lasted two months. The old Duke had a huge party every year on March 25. All the Ton was present; anyone who did not receive an invitation could be considered cut from society at least for a season. You must understand that the old Duke had an important influence at the court. George III was the first king from the Hanover family who was born in England and spoke native English. All the relatives around had a horrible accent and often they spoke German. It was decided for the young prince to be surrounded only by English children and, later, young gentlemen. The old Duke, who was only a few years older than the young George, became his best friend. They studied together, travelled together, played together. He had, till his death, a huge influence in the Ton. I think the king appreciated that the Duke was not interested in politics, it was not that kind of favour he wanted. It turned out that the Duke wanted to marry FitzRoy into royalty - that was his dream. He failed with the king’s daughters, but the king offered him, in compensation, the hand of a Hanover Princess. The marriage was decided between the parents and…”
“And this love of theirs could ruin the Duke’s plans,” said Darcy with a sad voice. “I begin now to understand the sadness that appeared so often in mama’s eyes.”
“If they intended to marry, as the ring shows, I understand why she kept the secret even from me. The Duke was powerful and vengeful; he could destroy lives as he pleased. Anne kept her secret even after they were separated to protect her new family. She left London and the Ton and went to live at Pemberley never to meet Fitz again.”
“But how? And why? Asked Georgiana, her questions almost incoherent but so well understood by the party around the little table.
