The Power of Refusal: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Mary Alice Alexander

Author:Mary Alice Alexander [Alexander, Mary Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Sequels
ISBN: 9798988472971
Google: JNwO0QEACAAJ
Goodreads: 223144478
Publisher: Humble Blessing Press, Division of Delaford Publishing
Published: 2024-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

One morning at breakfast, Charles set down his newspaper and looked across the table with a queer expression. When Jane looked up, she asked after his concern.

“Darcy has married,” he said.

Elizabeth’s head swam. Pinpricks of light flashed in blackness before her, and she grasped the edge of the table for support. Her breakfast was leaden in her stomach. She forced herself to breathe.

Jane asked Charles for particulars. Elizabeth was torn between the need to run away as far and as fast as she could from the news and the desperate need to know.

“Lady Harriet Halliday. I think I may have met her. Miss Darcy married her brother a few months ago.”

“Are there any details?” Jane asked.

Elizabeth could not even form a thought. Mr Darcy had married. He had married. He was lost to her. Completely.

“Not a one. The bare minimum of information. I am not surprised Darcy did not feel the need to rattle on about it.”

“I wish them has every happiness,” Jane said. She looked over at Elizabeth, expecting her to repeat the sentiment. Instead, Elizabeth could not speak. Her body felt numb. She leant against the table as if she were about to collapse.

“Lizzy, what is it? Are you ill?” Jane leapt up to go to her sister. Elizabeth forced herself to take a deep breath and attempt a smile.

“I feel a little lightheaded. I think I need some air,” she said. She managed, she knew not how to rise, place her serviette on the table, and walk unsteadily from the room.

Mr Darcy had married.

Not only had he married, but he had married the daughter of an earl, who no doubt had the rank and fortune she so thoroughly lacked. He need not “rejoice in his bride’s inferior connections.” Elizabeth’s imagination conjured a scheming Miss Bingley with a title, latching on to the brother of her own brother’s bride. Thrown together by the marriage of their siblings, the situation would provide ample opportunity for a grasping sister to entice Darcy. Or compromise him. He would be honour bound to offer for the lady since his sister had married into the family.

Elizabeth stopped her racing thoughts. She was grasping for a reason for the marriage, besides the obvious one. Mr Darcy had fallen in love with another. He had forgotten her, as any sensible man would do. He rightfully resented her foolish rejection. It had been years since then. Surely she was no longer of any consequence to him.

Elizabeth walked a great distance from the house, not turning until her tears had stopped. She could do nothing. As much as her mind wished to find a way that this did not mean she was no longer loved, there was none. As she trudged back to Lockwood, she resolved she would serve her sister, and, with providence, assist with a child who ought, if there was any good thing left in the world, arrive in six months. Her path forward was as a respectable spinster, caring for the children of others.

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