The Means of Uniting Them, page 7
For Jane’s part, she was glad for Bingley’s absence when the Bennet family received word of Lydia’s elopement with Mr. Wickham. She did not trust herself not to send him away and thus spare him such a connection.
By the time of Bingley’s return, news had arrived from London that Lydia and Wickham were to be married. Bingley needed not to know anything at all about the reason for young Lydia’s marriage, other than it was put together rather hastily owing to the lovers’ severe need to be together.
Keeping Bingley in the dark about the true nature of the affair had not been entirely Jane’s fault. The business of Mrs. Bennet’s life being to marry off her five daughters, she did not dare chance that Mr. Bingley’s inconstancy might once again rear its head, causing him to abscond in the face of such familial frailty.
There would be time enough for the truth to unfold after Jane had succeeded in garnering a marriage proposal was her mother’s conviction. Sure enough, as fate would have it, there was to be a wedding at Netherfield Park just three months to the day of her dear, dear Mrs. Lydia Wickham’s.
While Jane’s pending marriage was really something, it paled in comparison to Lizzy’s conquest, as Mrs. Bennet was wont to boast. How her second eldest daughter had traveled to the North with the Gardiners and subsequently to London with them to be of service to young Lydia and still somehow managed to secure the hand of the proud Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Bennet could not fathom.
All she needed to know, indeed, cared to know, was her daughter had done it, and now she was rich beyond all of their wildest dreams. Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy. Married by special license with a house in town, many fine dresses and fine carriages, and expensive jewels. What pin money her second eldest daughter had. Of all these things, Mrs. Bennet boasted aloud about to anyone who would listen. She knew her second eldest daughter could not be so clever for nothing.
How Elizabeth Bennet had managed to do in a matter of days, it seemed, that which she had been unable to carry out in years, vexed Miss Bingley exceedingly. However, a complete capitulation of her favorite dream of one day being the next mistress of Pemberley was not in the young lady’s nature.
Retaining her rights of visitation surely would not be possible unless she got along with Elizabeth, and thus she pretended to put her whole heart into it, thinking it was just the thing to do when Mr. Darcy finally came to his senses and realized the woman whom he really loved had been right there beside him all along.
Elizabeth had not spent nearly so much time getting to know Miss Darcy as she would have preferred owing to her hasty departure from Derbyshire in the wake of the youngest Bennet daughter’s scandal. All that was destined to change, for Georgiana had decided to make Pemberley her home. The newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Darcy could not have been more pleased with the arrangement: the former because he always wanted a loving and caring sister in Georgiana’s life, and the latter because Miss Darcy, despite her brief lapse in judgment regarding George Wickham, was everything a young lady ought to be. What an exceptional example she would set for Elizabeth’s two younger sisters, Mary and Kitty, as well as a delightful female companion for Elizabeth herself.
As for the Gardiners, what did Mr. and Mrs. Darcy not owe them? Had they not brought Elizabeth to Derbyshire, the chance encounter between her and Mr. Darcy at Pemberley certainly would never have occurred. Furthermore, had it not been for Mrs. Gardiner’s tacit approval of the match and her subtle approach in helping Elizabeth see what was in her heart from the start, the young lovers would never have reached such a prompt understanding.
Mr. Gardiner also had a part to play in hastening the understanding between the young lovers, even if unknowingly done. Indeed, both Mr. and Mrs. Darcy were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner who, by bringing Elizabeth into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth were enjoying their first days and nights at Pemberley as man and wife much too much to be bothered about leaving their adjoining suites. However, some tasks beyond amorous ministrations must be attended, one of them being reading their mounting piles of correspondence.
That particular morning, one letter especially captured Mr. Darcy’s attention. It was from his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who had been positively incensed upon learning of her nephew’s engagement. She had gone so far as to travel to Hertfordshire to confront Elizabeth but to no avail.
Darcy usually would have shielded his dear wife from such vitriol as her ladyship was wont to spew, but one passage, in particular, struck him as being ironic.
“Listen to what my aunt has to say and tell me that it is not uncanny, my love.” He then read enough of what his aunt wrote in her letter to pique his wife’s curiosity.
Elizabeth placed the letter she was reading aside. “Did she really say that?”
Darcy handed her the missive. “Here it is. Read it for yourself.”
Elizabeth did. Indeed, she read the part that Darcy pointed out to her, mainly in silence.
The next line read at first in silence, bore repeating out loud. “Alas, the shades of Pemberley are thus polluted.”
Elizabeth immediately recalled the words she had spoken to him that day at the station.
She swallowed. “I would never have dreamed that your aunt and I could share a similar vein of thought.”
As Elizabeth preferred to remember the past only as it brought her pleasure, she shrugged.
Her spirits rising to playfulness, she half smiled. Handing the letter back to her husband, she said, “It goes to show how utterly ridiculous my thinking was at that time.”
Darcy laid the letter aside and drew Elizabeth into his arms. “I am eternally grateful you were able to banish such thoughts from your mind and give our love a chance to prevail against all odds, else I would never have known such wonderfully satisfying pleasures as this.”
Elizabeth cuddled closer. “Are you suggesting, sir, that those liberties that we enjoyed the night of our moonlight stroll when I first traveled to Derbyshire were insufficient?”
Darcy nibbled on his wife’s ear. “There are liberties, my love, and then there are liberties.”
“Are not all liberties the same?”
Mr. Darcy assumed the perfect attitude to assure Elizabeth that he was completely in her power. “Can there be any doubt, my love?”
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The End
Featured Book Excerpt
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Chapter 1
London, England - December 1811
Fitzwilliam Darcy’s friend Charles Bingley paced the floor, pleading his case. His own sentiments a mixture of consternation and concern, the former watched in silence. And waited.
Contrary to Darcy’s expectation, time and distance away from Miss Jane Bennet of Longbourn in Hertfordshire had done nothing to lessen his friend’s fascination with the angelic creature.
What a disappointment, for as much as Bingley may have fancied himself in love, Darcy had seen no such evidence of the lady’s mutual esteem. In fact, he had gone out of his way to persuade himself that he was mistaken about Miss Bennet’s regard for his friend the last time they were all in company—the evening of the Netherfield ball.
True enough, the young lady had bestowed an abundance of lovely smiles upon his friend. Indeed, she listened to Bingley most attentively and nodded and spoke at all the right moments, but it was nothing that Darcy had not seen before. Charles was an amiable young man who made friends easily wherever he went.
What young woman in want of a husband would not behave as Miss Bennet had done when she found herself the recipient of the unabashed adoration of a single young man with a large fortune?
Having ceased his pacing in front of the blazing fireplace, Bingley ran his fingers through his untidy hair. “I know you contend that Miss Bennet does not care for me as I care for her,” said Bingley, interrupting Darcy’s musings. “I do not believe it, but even if it were true, it does not matter. Nothing would bring me more joy than to be close to the woman I love at Christmastime—to bask in her warm smiles as she is wont to bestow.”
“At the risk of sounding hard-hearted, Charles, might I remind you that I have heard you speak similarly of other young ladies before?”
The younger man shook his head. “This time is different. I long for her. I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I ought to return to Netherfield just as I promised her that I would do once my business in town was concluded. I fear I shall never forgive myself if I do not keep my word. Can you not see how much this means to me?”
Darcy shrugged. “I am not sure what you want me to say. What would you have me do?”
“I want you to come with me—that is if you are not previously engaged. Then, you might see for yourself how mistaken you are about Miss Bennet’s affections for me. She and I are designed for each other. I know it. Return with me to Netherfield Park, and you will know it too.”
Having prided himself on always taking such prodigious care of his young friend, Darcy did not relish the thought of denying him this one request. What was more, the idea of spending the season alone held little appeal to Darcy, what with his sister visiting a friend and her family in Bath and his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh and his cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh visiting their Fitzwilliam relations at the Matlock estate in Derbyshire.
Of course, he had been invited to visit the Matlock estate too. But between Lady Catherine’s insistence he must marry Anne and his aunt Lady Ellen Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock, insisting he choose a bride from among the prominent families of the ton, being in Matlock was the last thing in the world he wanted.
On the other hand, Bingley’s family members were not to be counted among Darcy’s most desired companions for the Christmas season either, especially as he had recently spent the better part of autumn in company with them as Bingley’s guest in Hertfordshire.
Darcy said, “I understand that families ought to be together at Christmas, and it is for that reason I cannot even consider accompanying you to Hertfordshire. No doubt your family will join you.”
“You are in luck, my friend. My sister Louisa and her husband, Hurst, have other plans. Caroline will not consider returning to Netherfield without her—I dare say, even with the prospect of spending Christmas in company with you.”
Those particular words were inducement enough. Miss Bingley’s treatment of the Bennets was beyond the pale. In truth, his own behavior when in company with her left much to be desired. His role in any disparagement of the Bennet family was mainly in keeping with his attempt to ward off the lady’s relentless teasing about his admiration for the second eldest Bennet daughter’s fine eyes, yet that was no excuse.
Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
Darcy would be lying were he to pretend that he did not think of her just as much as his friend Bingley professed longing for Miss Jane Bennet—albeit for different reasons. While Bingley fancied himself in love with the young woman whom he had known less than a few months, Darcy’s preoccupation with Miss Elizabeth had nothing at all to do with love.
It has more to do with the bewildering effect the young woman has on my sensibilities.
Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. How else was he to explain the fact that he had singled her out to dance during the Netherfield ball?
He was not pleased with the way the two of them had left things that evening—arguing over George Wickham, of all people, and her spirited defense of the scoundrel as though she was utterly oblivious of the honor he had bestowed on her in singling her out for a dance at the ball.
On the other hand, my leave-taking has effectively left Miss Elizabeth vulnerable to that scoundrel. The least I might do is return to Hertfordshire to warn her of the perils that such a man of Wickham’s low character poses to her.
Thus resolved, Darcy said, “I shall happily accompany you to Netherfield, my friend.”
Bingley’s satisfaction with this response was all that might be expected and in no time at all the departure date was set.
Interestingly enough, Darcy suffered an odd sense of relief mixed with anticipation—as though a burden he did not even realize he had suffered had been lifted.
I do not think I would ever forgive myself were Miss Elizabeth to fall victim to Wickham’s charms.
* * *
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Acknowledgments
A thousand thanks to Miss Jane Austen for her timeless classic, Pride and Prejudice, which makes all this possible.
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What a joy it is imagining different paths to happily ever after for our beloved couple, Darcy and Elizabeth, and then sharing the stories with all of you.
Special thanks to Betty, Michele, and Deborah for all you do.
About the Author
P. O. Dixon is a writer as well as an entertainer. Historical England and its days of yore fascinate her. She, in particular, loves the Regency period with its strict mores and oh so proper decorum. Her ardent appreciation of Jane Austen’s timeless works set her on the writer’s journey.
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Impertinent Strangers
Bewitched, Body and Soul
To Refuse Such a Man
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Still a Young Man
Love Will Grow
Only a Heartbeat Away
As Good as a Lord
Matter of Trust
Almost Persuaded
A Darcy and Elizabeth Love Affair Series
A Lasting Love Affair
‘Tis the Season for Matchmaking
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What He Would Not Do
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So Far Away
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Also Available as Audiobooks
The Means of Uniting Them
A Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Variation
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Copyright © 2019 P. O. Dixon
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All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, in whole or in part, in any form whatsoever.
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This book is a work of fiction. The characters depicted in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P O Dixon, The Means of Uniting Them
