Chapter 9

Nine

Poor Anne! Her heart raced and her breath came in shallow gasps as she stumbled into the alcove, her vision blurred by unshed tears. The soft scent of the garden barely registered as she accepted the colonel's warm embrace, his strong arms instantly wrapping around her trembling body.

"Oh! Richard, my love," Anne cried, resting her head against his broad chest. "I just had a most unpleasant encounter with my mother."

"What has happened?"

Surrendering his arms, she said, "It has to do with our cousin. Richard, she knows! My mother knows that Cousin Fitzwilliam believes he and I are engaged, and she is insisting that we seize this opportunity to marry."

She drew a deep breath. "I declare, I was on the verge of telling her about the two of us—that we are in love ... that we are destined to be together as one. But, fortunately, I stopped myself. Heaven knows where our argument would have led if she knew."

"My Dearest Anne, I cannot say that I am disappointed you did not share our hopes and plans for the future with your mother because I want to be by your side when that happens."

Anne shrugged. "Except now, I do not know that I have the courage to tell my mother at all. I feel like such a coward in the face of her formidable presence. Truth be told, I have always depended on our cousin to shield myself from being the one to disappoint my mother."

Wringing her hands, she continued, "My mother has always had this view of me as being of a sickly constitution—as though she depends upon it to give her own life purpose and meaning. I have done little to dispel the myth.

"I have every reason to believe once Cousin Fitzwilliam remembers his past, he will be the one to set Mother straight. My greatest fear is we may be running out of time."

The colonel agreed. "That is all the more reason I am determined to remain close to our cousin through this ordeal—to prevent him from doing something he does not want to do and later have cause for regret. I am certain Lady Catherine will not abide my presence here in Kent if she suspects I am the reason for thwarting her favorite wish."

"As we both know, nothing can be further from the truth. You have always been the object of my heart's greatest desire, and it is only a matter of time before the entire world knows it," Anne said.

The colonel, a man of sense and education and knowledge of the world, had known his fair share of women but none of them—regardless of beauty, wealth, or status, held a candle to his Anne. Having endured years of hearing the ridiculous notion that Anne and Darcy were destined to marry, he knew better.

For one, he knew his cousin Darcy, who always looked at Anne as though she were a sister. The colonel was the only one whom Anne showed her true self to—not so sickly and meek, but caring, compassionate, and even passionate when it was just the two of them.

Taking Anne into his arms once more, holding her tightly—close enough to feel her heartbeat—he brushed a kiss against her chin. He spoke tenderly in her ear, "I do not know what I ever did to deserve you."

Lady Catherine was incensed by her daughter! When did she become so obstinate—so headstrong? Her ladyship hoped the Bennet girl was not the reason for Anne's stubbornness . If only my own health had not taken a turn for the worse when my nephew was involved in the riding accident.

I should never have allowed a friendship between my daughter and someone like Miss Elizabeth Bennet to unfold, what with her family's low connections rooted in trade, their lack of fortune, one of five young ladies with no formal education to speak of and no governess!

It was as though Lady Catherine's role as chief decider of all things at Rosings Park had been usurped!

This is not to be borne!

It was bad enough that her ladyship had not been the first to know of her nephew's riding accident. She was not pleased to have learned about her nephew's improved health from a servant. But to only now be informed that Darcy had suffered such a dramatic change in heart about his engagement to her Anne. And then to discover that Anne knew all along and had chosen not to confide in her.

She began to wonder what else was being kept from her and thus resolved to find out all she did not yet know once and for all, starting with summoning Darcy's physician, Dr. Hamilton, for a private audience.

Upon sitting with the gentleman and listening to his current assessment of her nephew's ongoing recovery, her immediate thought of spiriting the young couple off to meet the archbishop in order to obtain a special license slowly faded away.

Lady Catherine appreciated the physician's prognosis that the situation with Darcy's memory might correct itself in time—be it hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. The one thing preventing her from taking matters into her own hands on a swifter basis was the young man's physical health. He was in no condition to travel, according to his physician. His body needed time to heal from its injuries and even a trip to London by carriage in a luxury barouche was not deemed wise.

"When do you think it will be safe for me to carry out my plan to have my nephew and my daughter married?" Lady Catherine demanded.

As Hamilton was Mr. Darcy's personal physician from London to whom her ladyship was speaking, the gentleman was not as easily cowered as a local physician from the neighboring village might have been. It was easy enough for him to appease her ladyship or rather ignore her and go on with attending affairs in the manner he believed most appropriate. In addition, he had the colonel acting as his defense, shielding him from Lady Catherine's officious manner while he went on about the business of caring for his patient.

By then, Colonel Fitzwilliam had explained all the nuances of Mr. Darcy's predicament to Dr. Hamilton, making it clear to the other man that Mr. Darcy was indeed confused in thinking that he was engaged to marry his cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh. Indeed, the colonel gave the strongest hints of an attachment between his cousin Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet despite the former claiming to have no recognition of the latter.

The physician would not speculate on why Mr. Darcy's mind had blocked out the part of his past involving Miss Bennet. He owned that the onset of trauma-induced amnesia was a difficult matter to pin down. Indeed, he posited it might have its roots in something completely unrelated to his relationship with Miss Bennet, but whatever it was, it was something too difficult for his mind to comprehend, and thus his mind had elected to avoid dealing with it altogether.

While her ladyship was by now privy to the fact that Darcy had no memory of having met Miss Bennet, she surely did not suppose it was cause for concern. What difference did it make that her nephew had no recollection of having met someone so far beneath him in consequence as to be laughable? Was that not exactly the way it was meant to be for people of their ilk?

On the other hand, selective amnesia in and of itself was indeed a cause for concern, especially as it pertained to her daughter's future felicity as well as her own.

"It is one thing to block out memories of certain events or people from one's past," Lady Catherine began, "but why would one's mind fabricate things that have yet to come to pass? Which, in this case, is my nephew's stance on his engagement to my daughter, Anne. That ought to tell you something, should it not?"

"Indeed, it should, but it is an answer buried deep in the farthest recesses of Mr. Darcy's mind. Only he holds the key."

Her ladyship shrugged. "Well, I say it has everything to do with the fact that, deep within his mind, my nephew knows exactly what is expected of him, and this is providence's way of reminding him what he is truly about.

"And it is for that reason that I insist we seize this opportunity while we have the chance. The answer to one's most ardent prayers does not always come in the manner in which we expect it. This I have always said. I know better than to question a blessing when I see one."