Of Expectations and Excellence: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by George Jae

Author:George, Jae
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

He pulled a fresh sheet of stationery from his desk drawer and began making his own list of good qualities.

He wrote at the top of the page:

The Good Qualities of Miss Jane Bennet:

Loyal, honest, kind, gentle, genteel, grateful, compassionate, perceptive, intelligent, and, I hope, forgiving, he listed.

Negatives – possibly too trusting.

He refolded and returned the letter to its envelope. Now I must find my wife and return the letter to her. Then later, I will share my list in a letter to Bingley.

Not finding Elizabeth in the music room or the conservatory, he sought out his housekeeper. “Mrs. Reynolds, would you happen to know the whereabouts of Mrs. Darcy?”

“I believe that she might be in the stillroom, sir,” she answered tentatively, hoping that her mistress would not now also be banned from this tiny remaining refuge at Pemberley.

“The stillroom?” Darcy knew that Pemberley had a stillroom but could not remember having ever been there. “Would you please lead me there?”

Following his housekeeper past the kitchen and down a dark hallway, he was led to a closed door. “Here we are, sir,” she waved her hand at the door, nodded, and left him there.

He opened the door without knocking to find Elizabeth wearing a dirt-stained apron and standing at a cluttered work table. “Mrs. Darcy, what are you doing here?” he began.

She whirled toward him, throwing down the towel she had been using. “You are completely ridiculous, sir. So now I am not even worthy to touch Pemberley’s weeds and seeds? Would you have me wear gardening gloves so that my unclean hands cannot taint the mortar and pestle?”

He was stunned by her vehemence. She had previously accepted his frequent chastisements without argument, but this angry Elizabeth was fascinating – and beautiful. He continued to stare in silence.

“You have stripped me of my every pleasure here, sir. Of every duty and every occupation of the estate’s mistress. But there is one crucial task that only I can provide for Pemberley, Mr. Darcy.”

He raised his brows in question. “Only I can give you a legitimate heir, sir.” He could no longer keep the smile from his face.

Incensed by his perceived dismissal of her ire, she began to remove her apron, planning to escape from the room as quickly as possible.

He put his hands on her shoulders, only then realizing that this was the most intimate contact they had ever shared. “You misunderstand me, Mrs. Darcy. I only sought you out to return your letter,” he said quietly, pulling the letter from his breast pocket. She reached out, accepted the missive, and tucked into her pocket. “And to tell you that if you don’t think Miss Bennet will mind, I will write to Mr. Bingley and tell him how mistaken I have been about her character.”

“Oh,” she whispered, her cheeks now stained a deep pink.

“I also came to apologize for just how ridiculous I have been, not just about your sister, but about you as well, Elizabeth.” He allowed his hands to slip from her shoulders to take her hands in his.

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