Chapter 4 The Miracles of Marriage

Within an hour of leaving the last inn, the surrounding countryside inspired a wave of nostalgia to overtake Elizabeth Darcy. A result from their temporary truce, she enjoyed her husband’s comfort while the carriage returned her to Hertfordshire for the first time as a married woman. Thinking of home, she errantly worried that the carriage might not go past Longbourn if the driver chose the longer route to Netherfield Park through Meryton. Frantically, she asked her husband if he had spoken to the driver.

“I do not wish to avoid seeing it, Fitzwilliam. Did you speak to the driver before we left?” she asked.

Darcy hesitated. He did not need to ask his wife for clarification as he had anticipated her distress. But he stood on such fragile footing about making decisions without consulting her, that he did not wish to confess. He had indeed instructed the driver not to pass by the burnt remains of her childhood home. Mr. Darcy did not abide falsehoods, though any such deceit would also be imprudent as he could not conceal any lie when the carriage turned on the main road through Meryton in a few miles. 

Her husband’s delay in response revealed the truth to Elizabeth. “You told him, didn’t you? Stop him! Do something!” Elizabeth’s voice cracked from her panic. 

Mr. Darcy considered gently refusing his wife’s wishes. But something in the far reaches of his mind warned him that if anything, his wife was more than capable explaining her limits and telling him where they ended. If Elizabeth Darcy said she wanted her carriage to take a certain route, then by right of her status as one of the wealthiest women in England, her carriage would take that route.

Darcy banged enthusiastically on the roof of the carriage with his walking stick and slowly their carriage came to a crawl, and then to a complete stop. With so many conveyances traveling in a line, the multiple drivers were well-trained in keeping a tight grouping for safety purposes. But such a formation also made any kind of last-minute maneuvers rather difficult.

The door swung open as a coachman helped his employer, and Mr. Darcy stepped out upon the step to speak to the driver directly. 

“There’s been a change of plans and we will take the old road through Winslow Woods.”

“But sir, that will go right by–”

“Yes, we are aware, but these are the wishes of your mistress. Would you care to tell Mrs. Darcy that we cannot make the turn?” Mr. Darcy challenged the driver, Holbein, good-naturedly as there was no question of the man’s loyalty. Elizabeth had been instrumental in saving a close relative of the Darcy driver, so he quickly nodded and a young coachman was dispatched to explain the change to the other carriages.

Mr. Darcy took a moment to brush off some of the dust from the road that had clung to his coat sleeve from stepping out of the carriage too soon after the stop. He rejoined Elizabeth in the carriage with gusto.

As he dared to glance at Elizabeth’s face, she smiled brightly at him as tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

“Thank you, Fitzwilliam. Thank you ever so much. And in the future –”

“In the future, yes, I should consult you before protecting your sensibilities. Though I would point out, Mrs. Darcy, you are crying. This is the very reaction I was hoping to avoid.” Mr. Darcy dutifully handed his wife a handkerchief and she dabbed at the dampness on her cheeks.

“Oh, but this could not have been avoided! I should very much like to have my first reaction in privacy. My entire family has seen what remains and I did not think I could bear hearing an account of the devastation without seeing it for myself.” 

Her explanation made Mr. Darcy feel a slight twinge of self-recrimination. He knew his wife to be a woman of good sense, caring of others. He privately resolved a personal conviction to respect her good qualities more in the future, for both of their sakes.

Shortly after the carriage train began its journey once more, the lead carriage took a left turn at the fork. Elizabeth practically held her breath as she knew it would be less than a quarter hour before they would reach the edge of her father’s lands. Jane’s letter regarding the fire had been most vague about the blaze, and Elizabeth’s imagination took a flight of fancy of wondering if the trees had burned, or perhaps the surrounding fields? There were so many questions, and she twisted Fitzwilliam’s handkerchief between her fingers in nervous anticipation.

“I was remiss in pointing out the very spot where we met,” her husband said and Elizabeth’s shoulders twitched as her emotions conflicted. She was equally amused and upset, so she merely pressed her lips into a thin line.

“Indeed, one year ago I stumbled across the most delightful creature. . .” Mr. Darcy turned and nuzzled his nose along Elizabeth’s hairline, further stirring her emotions. When he kissed the delicate spot below her ear, he reminded his wife of how much he loved her. Elizabeth rested her head on his shoulder, keeping a watch out the window while her husband held her.

When at last the trees cleared, the caravan of Darcy carriages passed by an empty gate and took the long winding drive up to the proper manor house of the small Longhorn estate. Elizabeth curiously looked out the window feeling very confused, but reasoned if her family was not in residence, perhaps no one guarded the gatehouse. Yet, the first tenant homes they passed showed no signs of activity whatsoever. At the fourth one, the occupants paused in the act of packing up a wagon to show a small amount of respect for the wealthy carriage passing by the property.

“I don’t understand. These families have been with us for generations. Why are they leaving, Fitzwilliam?” Elizabeth knew it’d been more than a month since the fire, but the loss of the tenants surprised her so the shock grew even worse.

Mr. Darcy uncomfortably cleared his throat. It would pain him to explain the full scope of the situation, much of what he was able to guess from his own experiences. Bingley had also listed a few pieces of information in his letter that Jane had left out.

“The tenants did not begin to leave because of the fire,” Mr. Darcy said quietly.

Elizabeth looked to her husband for a better explanation and he reached out his hand to hold hers.

“Charles wrote to me, explaining the many misfortunes your family endured over the summer months. Two families received word from relatives of a better opportunity. With the scandal surrounding the Bennet name …” Mr. Darcy trailed off as it was the two of them directly responsible for the scandal. Elizabeth began to violently shake her head.

“No, sir, that does not fall upon us. We came back and offered my father the opportunity to make things right. We wished to wed here in Hertfordshire, if only he would’ve given his blessing.” Elizabeth bit her lower lip and looked away from her husband as the entire carriage train came to a stop. She’d been so busy talking about the tenants, that she had not caught the first glance of the charred remains of Longbourn. 

Now, the woman who had been so insistent upon taking so many carriages and servants to the relic of her family’s former glory, felt childish and insecure. She would have to leave the carriage and have her first glimpse the tragedy witnessed by so many in her husband’s employ. Elizabeth felt her blunder most terribly as Mrs. Darcy; a blunder her husband had attempted to save her from making.

Mr. Darcy rightly guessed his wife’s distress had renewed and gently pulled back the curtain on his side of the carriage so that Elizabeth could see the eastern wall of the home in privacy.

“I am grateful that you absolve us of responsibility,” he replied. “But I fear that some members of your family do not see the circumstances in the same light. Prior to the fire, there were whispers of your father being ill,” Mr. Darcy paused as Elizabeth nodded. He breathed a sigh of relief that at least some of the more distressing news was not new to Elizabeth.

“Longbourn has suffered a blow that many estates succumb to and it is not unique to a man of your father’s position. With no son, the future blood, Longbourn’s success was mired in mystery and speculation. Add to the fact that the circumstances of your visiting Kent were circulated to some degree, bringing about unhelpful gossip about Mr. Collins—”

“It was not gossip! The man is a brute!” Elizabeth interjected.

Mr. Darcy squeezed his wife’s hand. He nodded. “Yes, and no tenant wishes to work the land for such a brute. So I am afraid whether there had been a fire or not, Fate had conspired in many ways to bring great suffering to your family. But I swear to you that we will never leave them suffering.” Mr. Darcy gulped as Elizabeth had froze when she saw the charred wall knocked down and the empty hole where her father’s study had been. Her husband’s words seemed to snap her out of her stupor and Elizabeth turned her head so swiftly and glared so sharply at her husband, that he felt it necessary to repeat his pledge. 

“I swear to you.”

Elizabeth Darcy had held back her emotions for as long as she could manage. The romantic gesture of her husband to take on the burden of caring for her family was just too much. As she burst into tears, the Darcys embraced and Fitzwilliam held Elizabeth as she sobbed against his shoulder.

Mr. Darcy spied two coachmen standing near the door unsure of what to do. They had rightly supposed not to open the carriage door as Mr. Darcy had not given the signal that he did when he wished for his carriage to be open upon his arrival with his walking stick. So they stood sentry and waited for instructions.

As Elizabeth gathered her wits about her, she again used the much abused handkerchief her husband had gifted her, steeling herself for what must happen next.

With a determined sigh, Elizabeth set her jaw in a dignified line as she pushed her shoulders back into a tall and proper posture.

“Fitzwilliam?” She addressed her husband and waited for him to silently acknowledge that he heard her with a nod. “I’m ready. Please have them open the door.”

Mr. Darcy smiled at his wife and the choreography of the Darcy exit commenced. Mr. Darcy exited first, turned, and then gallantly assisted his wife down from the carriage. He noticed that Elizabeth was not wearing her usual slippers for travel, but a pair of high walking boots. In that moment, Mr. Darcy realized what Higgins and his wife had been giggling about and he marveled at his wife’s ability to set into motion exactly the outcome she wished. She reminded him of his Aunt Margaret, Countess of Matlock. 

“Patrick, please tell Mr. Holbein the carriages should continue on to Netherfield Park,” Elizabeth began to give orders to the coachman who was a burly seventeen stone of all muscle built up from a youth of loading and unloading trunks. Patrick nodded, but didn’t move his feet until Mr. Darcy could weigh in. 

“Mrs. Darcy?”

Elizabeth Darcy sighed and smoothed her skirts. She bravely began to walk towards the charred hull of Longbourn’s front entrance. “Well, Mr. Darcy, it is not even a three mile walk so it should do us good. I’m ever so sick of carriages. And I dearly love the exercise.” Elizabeth flashed her husband a smile to strengthen her resolve and he recognized the return of the mischievous miss he had fallen in love with a year ago.

Darcy quickly motioned for Patrick to stay with Mrs. Darcy in her service as he made arrangements with his staff for some refreshments to come with them and for his horse, Alexander, to be untethered. He intended to walk with Elizabeth all the way to Netherfield, but he would not be such a fool to go without precautions to care for his wife in her condition. Still, he knew better than to argue with Mrs. Darcy. When she asked for a walk, the woman needed such exercise. While he had made such a mistake before, he would not repeat it just because she carried his child.