Page 45 of Wedding at Pemberley

“No, Uncle, please stop!” Elizabeth cried in despair. “It is not as you think! Mr Darcy told me from the beginning about his difficulties with Lady Catherine. Many years after his mother’s death, she produced a codicil to Lady Anne’s will, requiring him to marry Miss Anne de Bourgh.”

“Good heavens!” Mrs Gardiner exclaimed. “It seems one misfortune follows another.”

“And so you decided to marry in haste…” Mr Gardiner said, looking reproachfully at Darcy.

“Yes, sir! My uncle conveyed the solicitor’s advice in the presence of my cousins.”

Elizabeth regained her composure. “Your family thought it an excellent solution, provided the bride was not me!”

An uncomfortable silence followed. Darcy broke it, rose, and approached Elizabeth. “I shall marry you, whatever difficulties we face.” She extended her hand and smiled at him; she had complete faith in him. “No one will decide whom I marry, neither my family nor my mother. Forgive what may seem disobedience, but I still cannot believe my mother imposed such a burden upon me, one I should have to bear all my life. Mama was an independent woman who married for love, though it meant marrying beneath her station. My father was wealthy and of good family, but he was not a peer like my grandfather.”

“But if your mother signed that document, what weight does it carry in law?” Mr Gardiner asked, once again showing how quickly he understood the heart of a matter.

“I spoke to my solicitor, who told me something of interest. The only possible action against me would be for breach of promise.”

“Please explain,” Mr Gardiner urged. “We do not know what such a claim would involve.”

Darcy looked at Elizabeth; he longed to be alone with her, to comfort her and assure her once more that nothing could prevent their marriage. But he was grateful for the Gardiners’ concern for his future wife.

“A promise to marry may be treated as a binding agreement. If a man makes such a promise and then changes his mind, the lady may bring an action against him for damages.”

“But he cannot be made to marry her!” Elizabeth exclaimed, hope returning to her eyes.

“No,” Darcy agreed, looking at her with admiration. “And there must have been an actual promise of marriage for such a claim to succeed.”

“But that codicil records your mother’s wishes, not your promise!”

“Indeed. The law cannot compel me to marry my cousin, yet…”

And that “yet” brought back all her despair.

“My aunt or uncle might ask the clergyman at Pemberley or the one at Meryton not to marry us until I have settled the matter and shown that Anne does not wish to marry me!”

Elizabeth’s sigh made Darcy long to take her into his arms. Turning towards her, he declared, “My love, nobody shall keep me from you! I want to marry you at Pemberley, in a happy double wedding with Jane and Charles. But unless this matter is settled within a few days, we shall go to Gretna Green and marry there.”

They loved each other so deeply and wished so ardently to be together that Mr Gardiner, at last satisfied with Darcy’s intentions, took his wife’s hand and left the room, leaving the couple alone.

“There are too many obstacles to their happiness already. We should at least allow them the comfort of being together,” Mr Gardiner remarked, and his wife’s expression showed her agreement.

∞∞∞

It was good, indeed, to find themselves finally alone.

“I must apologise for Arthur Fitzwilliam’s conduct,” Darcy said with deep regret. “I miss my dear parents, who would have known how to welcome you into our family. They would have silenced anyone who spoke against you. My parents were remarkable people, unlike the haughty people you have met among my relations and in London society.”

Their lips met in a tender kiss, and they both laughed. “Are you certain you will come to Scotland with me and marry there?” he asked.

“Yes, without a doubt. I am even prepared to live with you at Pemberley until these difficulties are settled, and marry afterwards,” she declared firmly.

He looked at her in astonishment, then asked playfully, “And…?”

“Yes, my lord, I am quite determined to be with you before we are married!”

“Good heavens! How daring you can be! Are you certain you understand what you are saying?” Darcy teased, smiling.

Though her cheeks burned, she met his gaze and replied, “I shall be yours…and I shall…have you!”

“When, Elizabeth?” he whispered in her ear.