Page 136 of What Change Entails

Never before had he approached the meadow wondering whether Elizabeth Bennet would like it.

That realization alone should have warned him he had become absurd.

Children spotted the carriages first.

They came running across the grass in a loose shouting cluster before the wheels stopped. Bingley waved back enthusiastically through the carriage window. Lydia waved harder. Georgiana was startled, then pleased.

Miss Bingley leaned farther into the corner seat.

When Darcy stepped down, old Mr. Wilcox approached almost immediately, hat already in hand.

“Fine weather for it this year, sir.”

“Far finer than last August,” Darcy agreed.

“Aye. Lost half the cakes to rain then.”

“That tragedy has not been forgotten.”

A chuckle escaped Mr. Wilcox.

Beyond him tables had already been arranged beneath striped cloths while servants unpacked baskets onto long boards balanced over barrels. Children chased one another between blankets spread beneath the trees. Several tenant wives had brought flowers in jars and pitchers despite Lydia insisting loudly to Georgiana that flowers at outdoor gatherings were unnecessary because “the outdoors already possesses them.”

Elizabeth descended from the carriage just then.

Darcy forgot the remainder of Mr. Wilcox’s sentence.

She paused a moment upon the grass, one hand resting lightly against the carriage door while her attention swept across the meadow. Delight moved openly across her face before restraint reclaimed it.

Too late. Darcy had seen. And because he had seen, satisfaction spread through him with humiliating force.

“She likes it,” Bingley said beside him.

Darcy answered too quickly. “Naturally.”

Bingley acted amused.

Darcy ignored him.

The gathering dissolved into movement. Mrs. Gardiner joined several tenant women examining preserves upon one of the tables. Mr. Gardiner disappeared toward the river with two farmers arguing over fishing rights. Lydia attached herself to a cluster of village children within minutes and somehow acquired a flower crown despite claiming crowns were “the occupation of fainting heroines.”

Georgiana followed more slowly.

Darcy watched his sister hesitate near the edge of the crowd.

Then Elizabeth appeared beside her.

He could not hear what passed between them. Elizabeth merely spoke a few words while adjusting her gloves, and Georgiana’s uncertainty vanished almost instantly. Together they crossed toward the tables where several tenant girls stood arranging cups.

No ceremony or awkwardness. No visible effort.

Elizabeth moved through Pemberley’s people as though she belonged among them already.

That thought struck him so hard he had to turn away.

“Mr. Darcy!”

A little girl collided directly into his legs.