Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

T his announcement was met by shocked gasps from all the ladies. Mrs. Bennet scanned the two strangers standing in her drawing room and quickly concluded that Elizabeth must have married well, if she was indeed married. Too late, she recognised the value of holding her tongue and remained silent.

The other girls were equally surprised and could not speak. Lydia, knowing her mother's plans for the daughter she had cast aside, furrowed her brow, wondering what would happen now and which of her sisters would be forced to marry that man. Kitty was merely shocked at what had transpired in their drawing room.

Jane was shocked that her sister had married before her and to such a handsome husband. She suddenly regretted not treating Elizabeth better.

Before the couple could leave, Mr. Bennet entered the room. "So, you have finally come; have you, Lizzy? Well, your mother has decided you are to marry, and your intended is to arrive shortly. You have a little more than a month to begin learning all you need to so you might one day take over as mistress to this great estate." He spoke with not a little irony and the trademark sardonic wit Elizabeth recalled.

"I have no interest in becoming the mistress of this estate. You have not wanted me in nearly a decade; it can be of no concern to you what I do now," Elizabeth retorted.

"That is no way to speak to your father, girl," Mr. Bennet's typical lackadaisical attitude fell away, replaced by a brief flash of anger.

"You are no longer my father, sir. Uncle Edward has acted as my father since the day you signed away all rights to me to him."

“Lizzy …” he began.

“I am not Lizzy; my name is Elizabeth Darcy, and you should address me by my married name. I have little interest in allowing you such informality with my name,” she stated, interrupting him.

“Elizabeth Bennet, you will stop this foolishness. You cannot be married; you are underage, and I have not given my permission for you to do so.”

“I assure you, sir; my marriage is perfectly legal and an unalterable fact.”

Mr. Bennet scowled and addressed Darcy. “How dare you take advantage of my daughter! I will have this travesty set aside since Lizzy is underage.”

Darcy laughed. “You are welcome to try. It will be my pleasure to know you are wasting your time and money doing so. You have absolutely no grounds on which to object to our marriage, sir. My wife’s uncle, with whom she has lived for nearly a decade, was authorised by you to be Mrs. Darcy’s guardian in your stead. Mr. Gardiner gave his permission to my suit and signed the marriage settlement. The rector at both my church and hers were advised of Mrs. Darcy’s guardianship, found no fault in proceeding with Mr. Gardiner’s consent, and the banns were read in each of our parish churches the requisite three times without objection.”

“Your marriage is invalid as you were already betrothed to the heir of Longbourn, Mr. Collins. You will be the mistress of this estate someday,” Mr. Bennet insisted.

"You are mistaken if you believe a prior engagement invalidates a legal marriage. Sadly for you, my marriage ends any nefarious plot you may have had to sell me to a man twice my age,” Elizabeth said, her tone frosty.

"What you say is impossible. You must marry Mr. Collins. If I do not give him my daughter in marriage, he will claim I have broken the contract and take Longbourn from me."

“You should not have signed such a contract naming a daughter over whom you no longer exercised authority,” Darcy replied unsympathetically.

“Where will we go?” Bennet cried. “What will I do about Mr. Collins?”

Neither Darcy was inclined to care. "That, sir, is your problem." They turned to depart but were startled by the loud voice of the matron of the house. "Lizzy Bennet, you will do as you are told. I do not know who this man you are wantonly accompanying might be, but I am certain he cannot be your husband. You will marry Mr. Collins. He agreed to allow me and my daughters to live here if we gave him a daughter as a wife. You were always my greatest disappointment and it is your duty to protect your family."

"I believe this is a madhouse," Elizabeth murmured to her husband before turning to face the irate woman. "Unfortunately, you will have to find someone else to do your bidding, Mrs. Bennet. I owe you and your family nothing. You are pathetic if you thought this scheme of yours would work even if I had not married. Had I been forced to marry this man, I would never have let you continue as mistress of this house. I would have thrown you into the hedgerows myself, that is if this Mr. Collins actually survives my father. I can assure you, this is an enormous joke to Mr. Bennet. He will laugh all the way to his grave at this convoluted mess you have created.”

Elizabeth began to leave again but then turned to face her mother one final time. “Let me be clear to ensure you have no continuing expectations of me. No one from your family will be permitted to enter my homes unless I have extended an invitation to visit in writing. If you show up uninvited you will be turned away. Any letters you or your husband send me will either be returned to you or discarded unread. Mrs. Bennet, do not promise your daughters that I will buy them anything, sponsor them in Town, give them a season, or provide them dowries because I will do nothing of the kind. They are your responsibility, not mine. And do not expect me to care for you after Mr. Bennet dies. I will not house you or give you funds, so, if you have not saved for that eventuality, you should start now. Finally, let me caution you and your family against trying to use a connection with me to your advantage or spreading tales about me or my family. If I learn that you have done so, I will ask my husband to sue you for defamation. You are dead to me, madam." Elizabeth smiled at Mrs. Bennet. "Have a good day." And with that, she turned on her heel and left, followed closely by her husband.

Behind them, the room erupted. Elizabeth heard her mother exclaim: “Mr. Bennet, Mr. Bennet, If Lizzy cannot be made to marry Mr. Collins, whatever will we do?” She shook her head as she continued walking toward the door, her husband trailing behind. They stopped only when they were once again outside the house, when Darcy pulled Elizabeth to him and embraced her tightly just outside their carriage.

Their embrace was soon interrupted by a soft voice. “Elizabeth, I am glad you have returned, even if only for a moment. I am truly sorry that Mama and Papa sent for you like this. Had I known, had I any way to have done so, I would have warned you not to come. I have often wondered how you were, but I was wary of mentioning you to either of my parents. Suffice it to say, neither cared for the reminder of their second daughter.”

Elizabeth turned and was surprised to see her sister Mary behind them. Her next younger sister had always been a quiet girl, and too young to participate in the games she and Jane played. She had been a gentle presence in their home, occasionally joining in on the older girls' lessons with their father. "I understand, Mary. Even had you known, it would have been difficult for you to warn me of what they were planning. There was nothing you could have done to prevent this from occurring."

“It does not change the fact that I wish things could have been different. I was seven when you left, but I knew enough to realise our parents and Jane changed for the worse once you were gone. Do you … do you think I could write to you now? I am uncertain if Mama would allow me to receive letters, but perhaps we could find a way?”

Elizabeth reached out to clasp her sister’s hand, but before she could respond, Jane joined them. “Lizzy, it has been a long time,” she said, her tone icy.

"It is not as though I could have returned, Jane. Not when our parents cast me from the house and disowned me. I did write to you, for years. Long after you stopped writing back. And you were miserable to me during your one visit to London."

“Mama made things … difficult,” Jane said slowly.

"Yes, Mrs. Bennet is quite proficient at that," Elizabeth said, glancing at the front door and worrying who else might exit from it. She could still hear her mother screeching her displeasure, and did not want to encounter her or her father again that day. "We received an invitation tonight for dinner at the Lucases. I understand the entire neighbourhood was invited. Perhaps we will be able to speak more there. However, at the moment I think it is best that we depart. If we do not see you tonight, we will call on the Phillipses tomorrow morning. Good day."

Elizabeth curtsied in the direction of her sister and was helped into the carriage by her husband. As the carriage pulled away, she saw the front door open and heard Mrs. Bennet demand her daughters return to the house to attend to her.

“Are you well, my darling?” Darcy asked as the carriage pulled away.

Closing her eyes and sighing heavily, she opened them to see her husband's concerned eyes fixed on hers. "I will be. Foolishly, I did not expect a confrontation to occur as it did, but I suppose my showing up here after all these years and already married surprised them. Mrs. Bennet still has little use for me other than how my existence might benefit her. I should not have been surprised by this." She sighed and leaned into him as she spoke, and his arms immediately came up to surround her.

“Your hope for a restoration to your family is not foolish, dearest; some people are simply unable to see beyond themselves. We will pay the visits we had already planned, but then we can either return to London or simply remain holed up in our cottage until we are obligated to return for my aunt’s ball,” Darcy said, holding his wife tightly to his chest and pressing kisses to her forehead.

Elizabeth relaxed into him, and the two remained quiet the remainder of the way to their leased cottage. Upon reaching their lodgings, Darcy escorted his wife to their chambers, where they continued to speak. “What will you do about your sisters?”

She shrugged. “I do not know. If we see them again before we leave Meryton, I suppose we will have to judge them based on their reactions to seeing us. Jane seemed angry with me while Mary was … I do not know, regretful. She seems to have missed me, and I wonder if forming a relationship with her is possible . If any of my sisters were to write to me, I would be willing to correspond with them. However, if their letters are self-serving or demanding, I will be reluctant to continue the relationship. I realise they are not the ones who cast me aside, but I no longer know them as I might have had I grown up with them.”

Darcy nodded at this. “That is wise. Know that I will support you in whatever you decide, Elizabeth, and will be as encouraging as you would like me to be.”

“Thank you, William. I admit that I cannot imagine having anything to do with either Mr. or Mrs. Bennet at this point. I am uncertain if anything would make me want to have a relationship with either of them again.”

“I do not believe anyone could fault you feeling that way, Elizabeth. Your parents do not know what a treasure you are, and they do not deserve you. I cannot imagine what either of them were thinking, demanding you return to marry the heir to the estate.”

Elizabeth laughed scornfully. “Nor can I. I do not remember much, but I believe the heir is a distant relation of my father’s. It has been years since I heard him mentioned, but when I was a child, I recall him being spoken of as a contemporary of my father’s. Hill said he was older than me and had a son around my age.” She shuddered. “Even had I remained at home with my parents all these years, I cannot imagine willingly marrying a man more than twice my age. Of course, there is no telling what kind of person I would have been had I been subjected to the influence of the Bennets for all these years. I was taught by my father, but Mrs. Bennet always complained about the time I spent with him. Jane would have eventually listened to her and stopped reading, but I do not believe I would have. I wonder if we would have met had I remained at home.”

This thought made Darcy take his wife in his arms once again. “I cannot imagine ever not loving you, Elizabeth. Without you,” he visibly shuddered, “without you, I cannot imagine the man I would have been.” The two remained tightly embraced for some time following this, and nearly all conversation came to an end.