Mr Darcy and Mr Collins's Widow by Timothy Underwood

Author:Timothy Underwood [Underwood, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: alternative, jane austen, pride and prejudice, elizabeth bennet, pemberley, fitzwilliam, fanfiction, variation, elizabeth and darcy, meryton
Publisher: Timothy Underwood
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Darcy hoped for an opportunity to speak with Elizabeth privately the next day when he called at Longbourn with Bingley. However, the day opened very wet and continued such well into the afternoon. The rain was too heavy and the roads too muddy for Bingley to risk the carriage. Darcy impatiently paced the sitting room, glancing out the window every minute or so.

Bingley noted his mood, and with a knowing manner said, “Why, you’re almost acting as though it is you who is the suitor.”

Late in the afternoon the rain stopped, and while the sky remained overcast Darcy chose to risk a trip to Longbourn. He knew he ought not delay his return to Pemberley, but if necessary he would.

Pulled between anticipation and anxiety the brief ride to Longbourn seemed to take far longer than it did. The sun would not set for another hour, but the clouds made it dark. Brownie occasionally sunk into the soft ground, and when she escaped splashed mud onto his legs. Though he wished to appear his best, Darcy knew he did not. He rode into the well-maintained fields around Longbourn, and leapt off Brownie in front of the house. As he stood in the entry and scraped the mud off his boots, Darcy found himself more nervous than he ever had been in his life.

His heart’s rapid beat pattered uncomfortably through him, and he nearly clawed at his snuggly tied white cravat to loosen it. His arms felt odd, almost as though they did not belong to him.

Darcy followed Mrs. Hill down the hallway to Elizabeth’s study in a dizzy haze, and registered nothing until he entered the room. Then he saw a large account book, an ink pot with a goose feather quill, and Elizabeth’s smile. She stood and briskly greeted him, “I am very pleased to see you, indeed, I would have been extremely disappointed if I missed you before you returned to Pemberley. I planned to wake early tomorrow so I could call upon you at Netherfield before you left.”

Darcy nodded stiffly, and forced out of his tight throat, “I have something to speak to you about.”

Elizabeth nodded, her face serious in response to his tone, but for the first time in his life Darcy was completely speechless. When he opened his mouth he could feel the words in his mind, but no sound came. In a near panic he paced between the fireplace and the window in agitation as he tried to get his dry mouth to work. The portrait of her father stared down at him.

He had never felt like this.

Finally Darcy turned to the wide eyed Elizabeth who tightly gripped the back of a chair. “Elizabeth — dearest Elizabeth, I must tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” The grip on the back of her chair tightened further, and Darcy could see her white knuckles, where the strength of her grip had forced the blood from her fingers, and she stared with complete intensity at Darcy.

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