Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Berdoll Linda

Author:Berdoll, Linda [Berdoll, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781402234859
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2004-05-01T07:00:00+00:00

44

The baby was to be buried in the private cemetery next to the Pemberley Chapel used but for baptisms, funerals, and silent reflection. Thither came Elizabeth’s family. Unrehearsed in the rituals of sorrow as they were, the entire Bennet clan was uncharacteristically subdued. Obtuse as she sometimes could be, even Mrs. Bennet knew not to impose her position of grieving grandmother and solicitous mother upon those about her. Indeed, her lawn handkerchief remained unfluttered and consigned to her dress sleeve (except upon the occasions it was used to dab at the corner of her eyes).

The dolorous climate of the house was unrelenting. Elizabeth was yet unconscious, and her husband stood tenacious watch over her. Other than to offer the briefest condolences, no one but Jane ventured conversation with him. It was only Jane who dared to embrace that impenetrable man. It was she alone who was admitted.

The cemetery had rested the Darcy family members for centuries. But until that cold morning, few would have described its tree-canopied, vine-entwined location as desolate. When the baby’s tiny coffin was laid to rest there, however, that was the single description that came to those who sought to characterise it. The ritual was brief, but not just because of the chill. Words were spoken, prayers offered, the more ostentatious accoutrements of death having been eschewed by Mr. Darcy. Just a single death knell sounded. Nevertheless, it echoed an interminably long time.

When the service concluded, all but Mr. Bennet and Darcy returned to the house. They paused at the lych-gate. The baby had been named Bennet Fitzwilliam Darcy and it was not lost upon Mr. Bennet that his daughter’s condition required such a decision to have been consigned to her husband. Mr. Bennet’s usual detachment abandoned, they stood silently for a time alone, the wind causing a chill far beyond what it should.

In time, Elizabeth’s father spoke, but could not bring himself to look upon his son-in-law as he did, “I trust you to do whatever my Lizzy requires of you.”

Mr. Bennet’s shoulders betrayed a strong intake of breath, then he continued, stammering, “Elizabeth is a singular young woman…she loves you dearly.”

Upon recollecting what Elizabeth had said to him when he questioned whether a man of such unpleasant temperament was a suitable husband for her, Mr. Bennet issued a brief smile.

Turning to Darcy, he explained his unexpected humour, “She assured me once I came to know you as she did, I should find you perfectly amiable. I dare say she was right.” It was barely audible when he turned his gaze back to the small barrow and said, “Lizzy is always right.”

Darcy felt a particular bond with Mr. Bennet, one beyond their shared love of his daughter. For he was certain that the aloofness so ingrained in Mr. Bennet’s character was a defence to buffer himself from the intemperate doings of certain members of his family. Detachment and restraint as a defence was something of which Darcy had intimate acquaintance.

Mr. Bennet personified the man he might have become had he married injudiciously.

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