The Darcy Cousins (45 page)

Gatley, relieved to realise that Darcy was joking, let out a deep sigh.

"I can see I will have nothing but trouble if I join this family."

Georgiana threw him a sharp glance. "It is too late now to regret it. You have already told your mother."

"We have told no-one in your family of our engagement yet. I can withdraw at any time."

"Well then," she said defiantly, "we'd like to announce that we have decided to marry. Now let me see how you can get out of it."

Warm congratulations followed. Clarissa dashed across the room to embrace Georgiana, her eyes dancing, and told her how glad she was that matters had worked out. "I had the hardest time keeping a serious face when you came in. But your brother insisted on his little joke."

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"You really ought not to have done that, Fitz," said Georgiana.

"I actually believed you were serious--for a few seconds at least."

Darcy smiled. "Blame Elizabeth if you must blame someone.

It was her idea. In any case, I am very happy for you. Gatley is as worthy a suitor as you could possibly have. I know him well, and I do not think you will come to regret it."

He turned to Gatley. "I am glad you have overcome your quarrel. I am quite tired of Georgiana's moping."

"And I am quite tired of her piano playing," said Elizabeth, kissing Georgiana on the cheek. "We have both been quite beside ourselves, trying to find a way to resolve the problem. Fortunately, Mrs Gatley was very helpful," she added in a half whisper.

As if the name itself had conjured her up, the door opened and Mrs Gatley entered. Everyone's attention turned to her. She was dressed in a splendid red net ball gown and was escorted by two liveried footmen. Their polished buttons glittered, as did the silver trays on which they carried the champagne bottles. The crystal flutes glinted and clinked as the footmen glided into the room.

Clarissa shot Georgiana a significant glance, and Georgiana hid a grin. Mrs Gatley had perfected the Grand Entrance.

Mrs Gatley's solemnity, however, soon reminded her that this was, indeed, a very serious occasion. Georgiana understood that her life was about to change irrevocably. She looked towards Darcy's and Elizabeth's familiar faces and for a moment felt terrified that she was about to lose them.

"To the happy couple," said Mrs Gatley, raising her glass in a toast.

The gloomy moment passed, and Georgiana put her fears behind her.

"Let us also toast the other happy couple," said Mrs Gatley. "It is not remarkable, that you should both be engaged on the same day?"

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Gatley looked around him in confusion. "Engaged? But who is it that is engaged?" He looked around, his eyes alighting on Clarissa.

"Do not look at me," said Clarissa. "I am not engaged."

"Then who on earth do you mean? Do enlighten me, Mother!"

"Why, Channing, of course."

Gatley, who had just taken a sip of champagne, choked as the bubbles went up his nose.

"Channing? Why on earth would he do such a thing? And without even consulting me?" He set down his glass. "Who knows what kind of a scrape he has fallen into! I really must go to see him immediately."

Georgiana began to laugh. "It will have to wait," she said. "You are in the middle of celebrating your engagement." Then, in a half whisper, she added, "I think it is time you let Mr Channing make his own decisions. After all, it would not do for your cousin to be under your thumb, would it?"

"How dare you throw my words back at me?" he said in a mock-rebuke. But he looked shamefaced.

"I am afraid you shall have to grow accustomed to it."

"If our newly engaged couple will deign to give us a moment of their time," said Mrs Gatley, "it is time to discuss the wedding. Since we are all assembled together under this roof, shall we take advantage of this opportunity and start to make plans? Where do you think we should hold the wedding? How many people shall we invite?"

"In my opinion," said Miss Darcy, with a sideways glance at Gatley, "we should not make it too complicated. I would by far prefer something simple."

A great deal of argument followed. Both Darcy and Mrs Gatley wanted large weddings in London with a great deal of pomp and ceremony.

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"I have only one sister," said Darcy. "The least I could do is celebrate her wedding in style."

But Georgiana was adamant. She wanted to be married in Hunsford, for this, after all, was where the two of them had met.

In the end, the argument that swayed everyone was Elizabeth's, who pointed out that surely, if they were to have the wedding here, Lady Catherine could be convinced to build at least a small bridge to overcome the quarrel between them.

The day of the wedding, which had seemed so far away when they had all spoken about it, came all too soon. For it is generally true that, the more preparations one has for an event, the more inconveniently fast the event will occur.

Georgiana stepped quietly into the church and looked down the long aisle, all the way to where Lady Catherine sat regally at her pew, her head crowned with a turban. So she had kept her promise at least not to make the schism between the families visible. Georgiana let out the breath she did not know she had been holding. Even Georgiana's uncle the Earl had honoured the ceremony with his presence.

Mr Collins stood in the front, fussing with his collar and throwing little sideways glances at Lady Catherine, who stared fixedly before her, quiet and pale.

Elizabeth sat next to Colonel Fitzwilliam. Robert and Caroline sat on the pew behind them, whispering to each other. On the other side, in the opposite pew, sat Mrs Gatley with Gatley's sister, Isabella, and her husband, and Gatley's brother Peter, who had returned to England now that the war with France was over.

She remembered that first time when she had seen Gatley sitting there. He was not sitting at that pew now, and for a moment a 413

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slight pang passed through her. But then she looked round and there he was, looking spectacularly handsome in his dark coat and his carefully knotted cravat. Next to him stood Channing, smiling in that playful way of his at Miss Moffet, who was in one of the front rows.

The door opened behind her, letting in the sunshine and a few yellow-brown oak leaves. Georgiana looked back. It was her cousin.

Clarissa stepped in with a smile and a wink, dropped the flowers she was carrying, and, stooping to retrieve them, let go of the door.

A gust of wind nudged it, just a little, and with a reluctant squeak, it slammed shut.

Everyone looked their way.

"It's your Grand Entrance," whispered Clarissa, and Georgiana swallowed down a sudden bout of nervous laughter.

Just then Darcy emerged from the shadows at the side of the aisle and put out his arm to her, and there was no more time to be an observer. Her brother was about to relinquish her. She would no longer be his little sister.

It was the last moment of her childhood. She held on tight to her brother's arm, dismayed to find tears filling the corners of her eyes.

Then from the front, Gatley smiled at her. Her heart reeled in response. She smiled back, brushing aside the tears. Her step quickened, and she started to pull Darcy along with her, impatient with his slow pace.

Her life as an adult stretched before her, and she walked forward to embrace it.

The End

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About the Author

As a literature professor, Monica Fairview enjoyed teaching students to love reading. But after years of postponing the urge, she finally realised what she really wanted was to write books herself.

She lived in Illinois, Los Angeles, Seattle, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, and Boston as a student and professor, and now lives in London.

Document Outline

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication