Chapter 34

W ith the lessons in horse riding Andrew had been teaching Mary, combined with his calm manner, and the complete trust she had in her fiancé, by the time the day before the wedding arrived, Mary was comfortable atop the beasts she had once been afraid to approach any closer to, than sitting in a conveyance.

For the last sennight or so, whenever there was a riding party, Mary had been one of their number. The compliments of her two older sisters, who had both been riding horses for many years, only added to her pleasure in the activity. Andrew had told her together they would find her a horse in Hilldale's stables which fit for her, and if one of the existing stock was not suitable, then he would purchase one for his Mary.

The Gardiners had arrived on the Wednesday before the wedding—Gardiner had not been able to get away from his business sooner—so Longbourn was as full as possible with the nursery and all guest chambers occupied.

None of the residents of Longbourn had seen hide nor hair of the master of the estate for some time now. It had been some weeks now that Bennet had taken to sleeping in his study. He took every meal within as well, and sad to say, his family did not miss his absence at all.

Bennet could not understand why Lizzy had not come and begged him to reinstate her allowance, or crave his forgiveness for her unconscionable words to him. Also, he could not fathom why his wife had made no demands of him, not even for funds to purchase Mary's trousseau. He was sure she had had to purchase one no matter how austerely she liked to dress as she would be a viscountess soon. As none of his ploys to pull Lizzy back in had succeeded, Bennet's answer was to drink even more, to the point that he would pass out from imbibing far too much, and miss most of his meals.

Although Gardiner did not feel like seeing his brother-in-law, he had to do so. On the morrow, at the very least Bennet would be required to walk Mary up the aisle. He steeled himself and knocked on the study's door. There was no coherent response; no more than a grunt or some such. Gardiner pushed the heavy door open and almost staggered back as the smell of unwashed man and the stink of stale, spilled port assailed his sense of smell.

The man he saw sprawled out on the settee was almost unrecognisable as Bennet. He was haggard, unshaved, unwashed, and his clothing was filthy. To Gardiner it looked like Bennet had lost much of his weight based on the way his soiled clothing was hanging off him. Seeing what was left of the man as he was, there was only one decision Gardiner could take. He stepped back out of the hellhole, which was now Bennet's study, and pulled the door firmly closed behind him.

Thankfully, it being the evening before the wedding there were no guests or fiancés present, so Gardiner felt like he could speak freely. It was a boon that the two youngest Bennets were upstairs amusing his children. He entered the drawing room and pushed the door closed.

"Bennet is in no state to do his duty and walk Mary to her groom on the morrow…" Gardiner related what he had observed in the study and his opinions of Bennet's health. "I will do the duty and if people ask where the father of the bride is, we will tell the truth and say he is indisposed. What I saw, I am sorry to say, is a man who is not very long for this world. I am no doctor, but I would be surprised if he is alive for many more months."

"I know this is the point I should wail and gnash my teeth that I will be a widow, but with the cruelty and total disdain my husband has displayed towards me and his daughters, I find I am not able to," Fanny stated stoically.

"As much as I would not wish this end on Mr Bennet, or any other for that matter, I think it will be a relief," Elizabeth opined. "He has never taken any pleasure from the life God granted him, rather frittering it away to take his amusement by showing contempt for those in the world around him. All I can do is praise Him for opening my eyes to the truth. Had He not, I would not be engaged to the best of men." Elizabeth saw Mary was about to disclaim her assertion that William was the best man. "Peace Mary, I mean William is the best, and only, man for me."

"As Andrew is for me, and Charles is for Jane," Mary stated. "I agree with Lizzy and sadly I will not miss my father as the one to walk me up the aisle on the morrow." She looked at her uncle lovingly. "You, Uncle Edward have been far more of a father to us than the man wasting away in his study, has ever been."

With that decided, talk turned to the double wedding on the morrow.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Anyone who had ever called Charlotte Lucas plain—which to her shame, included Fanny Bennet—had to eat their words when she entered the nave of the church on the arm of a beaming and proud Sir William. They were following a few steps behind Mary on the arm of her uncle.

That it was not Mr Bennet walking his daughter towards her groom raised a few eyebrows, but no one in the community cared enough about the man who had always derided them, to ask why he was absent.

The rector of St Alfred's had magnanimously agreed Mr Pierce would conduct the ceremony for Miss Mary and her groom, while Mr Chambers would do the same for Miss Lucas and her Colonel. Once Gardiner and then Sir William handed the respective brides to their grooms, Mary and Andrew stood before Mr Pierce. Jane stood behind Mary as her matron of honour and Darcy was standing up for his older cousin. When the first ceremony was completed, he would repeat the duty and stand with the now former Colonel while Miss Maria, soon-to-be Miss Lucas was her sister's maid of honour.

Even with two couples to be married by two vicars, it was not long before St Alfred's clergyman intoned the final blessings and announced Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam as man and wife. For the second time a cheer went up in the congregation while Lord and Lady Hilldale stood off to the side watching indulgently. All that remained was a quick visit to the registry where both couples and the three witnesses signed, one of them signing for both couple.

The invited guests who were not family members had filed out of the church and departed for Netherfield Park as soon as the second ceremony had been completed. The three families of the newlyweds, now one large extended one, all waited to add their personal wishes for felicity until the two couples exited the registry. Included in the family was Anne de Bourgh, who looked as healthy as she ever had, and had become a great friend to her soon-to-be cousins. She had thought how, if she was able to marry and bear children, she would have liked to have found someone who loved her like she saw the love between the two newly-married couples, or Lizzy and William. She saw no less love and felicity between her hosts, Mr and Mrs Bingley.

Lord and Lady Matlock, who had not been sure either of their sons would ever find a woman who captured their interest, felt an inordinate amount of pleasure at both of their sons being married. Now they could look forward to William and Lizzy's wedding early in March. Neither objected that Becca was two years from coming out, and hopefully more than that before she accepted a man as a suitor. There had been talk about delaying her coming out by a year so she could be presented with Gigi. The Earl and Countess had no opposition to that possibility.

Similar to what Jane and Bingley had done at their wedding breakfast, the two sets of Fitzwilliams circulated and thanked all of the guests, the local ones as well as some of the leading members of the Ton , like the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, and Earl and Countess of Jersey and their families. The newly married couples, of course, spent time sitting with their families and even managed to eat some of the bountiful comestibles being served to celebrate their nuptials.

About two hours after arriving at Netherfield Park, as cold as it was, their family members were standing on the veranda waving to the two couples as their coaches pulled away.

"What a capital day, capital indeed," Sir William summed up the feelings of all.

Depending on one's point of view, either sadly or expectedly, not a person asked where the father of the one bride was and why he had been missing.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Longbourn 1 March 1813

Elizabeth sat on her favourite boulder atop of Oakham Mount which allowed her to look to the rising sun in the east. She was wearing a green day dress, her bonnet was on the rock next to her, and her hair was loose, being pushed to one side by the soft breeze. There were clouds, but they were not the heavy grey ones which portended rain, and they reflected the reds, golds, and silvers of the rising sun.

She was happy to see the oak tree with the benches beneath it was fully verdant once again, as all the leaves which had begun to bud towards the end of February, were now proudly open. As if it knew she needed it for her wedding, spring had sprung a little earlier than normal that year thanks to abnormally warm temperatures in February. The leaves looked golden to her as the sun began to rise above the distant horizon. All of the familiar fields were laid out before her, which would soon be full of the crops which had been planted.

Spring planting brought her thoughts to her beloved William—he was never far from her consciousness. He had departed for Pemberley in early February, to plan for the coming year's crops with his steward, leaving Gigi, who was being hosted at Longbourn. How she missed him, but she knew he was a man of duty and he would not forsake what he needed to do to make sure his estate's and the tenants' welfare was taken care of as it should be. It was one of the many things she loved about him. In her opinion, he was the best landlord and master. Thankfully, quite the opposite of Mr Bennet; she refused to waste her time thinking about that man any longer.

The last time Elizabeth saw her father was months ago, the day of her older sister's wedding. While she knew from what the Hills reported that he was wasting away, she had no intention of entering the study until the day of her birthday, another four days hence. Regardless of his ability to hear or understand her, she intended her last words to him to be those telling him how all of his plans for her had been for nought.

As she had that thought, she sensed a presence near her and without having to see him, she knew who it was. She stood, turned, and there William was, standing next to the boulder. For once they were the same height, so she launched herself into her fiancé's arms, almost knocking him over.

Their lips hungrily searched and found what they were seeking as kiss after kiss was given and received. The weather was no longer so cold as to shorten their time of pleasure, as it had been when they became engaged. Elizabeth's arms were wound tightly around Darcy's shoulders as her half-booted feet hung at least a foot above the ground. Eventually, before their passions passed the point of no return, they separated and Darcy lowered his fiancée gently to the ground .

"How I missed you, William!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"No less than I you," Darcy responded as he kissed her pert nose. He could not help himself. Not many days more, and she would never leave his side. "My dearest, loveliest, impertinent Lizzy, it was too hard being away from you. Praise be we marry in five days." Darcy paused, as much as he did not want to raise a distasteful subject, he felt he must. "Are you still determined to say to Mr Bennet what you desire to on Friday?"

"Yes, William, I most certainly do."

"Then, unless you object, I would like to join you. I have a few choice words I would like to impart to the man."

"William, you must know I could never frown upon your company in anything. Seeing that if Mr Bennet had succeeded in his plans, the chances are great you and I would not be engaged and about to marry, I would not suspend any pleasure of yours."

"It is not exactly a pleasure, but I feel I must say what I will, just like you need to do. On a much more pleasant subject, Uncle Reggie received the special license. Now there is nothing to stop our wedding on Saturday."

"Wait, if you are here now, which pleases me more than I have words to express, when did you arrive in Hertfordshire?" Elizabeth enquired

"Late yester-night. I was determined to arrive before March began," Darcy averred.

With the fingers of one hand each intertwined, the lovers made the walk down the path to where Penny and Zeus awaited them.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

On the morning of the fifth day of March, Elizabeth and her William entered the study in which the man who had been her father lived his strange half-life. Thanks to Mrs Hill and some of her maids' diligent work, the smell in the room was not as bad as it could have been. The stink of the man's unwashed body and clothes, was still rather overpowering.

Being early in the morning, even though he knew not what day, time, or date it was, Bennet was as aware of his surroundings as he ever was since taking up permanent residence in his study. His eyes were dulled, his beard wild and long, but there was almost a spark in his tired eyes when he saw his second daughter enter the room. He did not see the man holding her hand.

"I knew you would come back to me if I were patient…" It was then Bennet noticed the man standing far too close to Lizzy, and worse he was holding her hand. "How dare you stand in such a way next to my daughter?" Bennet croaked out.

"This man is my fiancée, Mr Bennet, and we will marry on the morrow. All of your despicable plans have come to nothing. No matter what you willed, I love my Mama and know how intelligent and what an estimable lady she is. You failed Mr Bennet, failed in everything, especially at being a father, which you have never been to me or to my sisters."

"I deny my permission!" Bennet cackled.

"As today is the fifth day of March, I do not need your consent. As far as your blessing goes, I neither desire nor require it," Elizabeth returned firmly.

Bennet lay on his settee without the energy required to stand. He just gaped at his daughter as her words penetrated the fog around his brain.

"You attempted to poison her against me, but in that you failed as well," Darcy spat out. "Unfortunately for you, this magnificent woman went on a journey of self-discovery, and then adjusted her behaviour as required. You were unsuccessful in everything you tried, especially encouraging her to refuse to hear my apology for an insult I wrongly made. Tomorrow, by the Grace of God, we marry, and there is nought you can do to stop it."

Not waiting to hear whatever vitriol Bennet could summon, Elizabeth and Darcy exited the study with their heads held high.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The next morning, with loving family and friends as witnesses, Miss Elizabeth Rose Bennet became Mrs Fitzwilliam Alexander Darcy.

What none at the wedding and subsequent wedding breakfast at Netherfield Park were aware of, was that Thomas Bennet had breathed his last that morning. Hill had known, but he would not allow the late master's selfishness to spoil Miss Lizzy's wedding.

A few hours later, the new Mr and Mrs Darcy were in a travelling coach on the way to London where they would spend the night before making for Seaview House, a Darcy property on a bluff overlooking Brighton, where they would spend a month complete.

"Mr Darcy," Elizabeth sighed as the coachman guided his team of four out of Netherfield Park's gates.

"Mrs Darcy," Darcy responded as he captured her lips hungrily. "This evening it will not be Elizabeth's self-discovery, but it will be my turn to discover everything about you and your body, as you will mine," Darcy growled. "I can never get enough of your sweet lips my Lizzy."

The sounds of his wife's tinkling laugh, a sound he loved, was heard before Darcy silenced her by engaging her lips with his own once again.

"Oh William…"

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Three days after the wedding, Thomas Bennet was buried in the Longbourn cemetery near his parents. Other than Mr Pierce who conducted the graveside service, no one else attended .

Not a soul censured Fanny for choosing to go into half mourning for a sennight only.