Page 117 of A Most Beloved Sister
Her heart swelled as she looked up into his face. “Yes,” she said quietly.
“Yes?” He bent his head down closer to hers, his voice with a tinge of disbelief.
“Yes,” she said again. Standing up onto her toes, she brought her face up to press her lips gently against his. “Yes,” she repeated before kissing him a second time.
This time, he did not remain motionless. Dropping her hands, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him, deepening the kiss. She moaned softly, and it was all he could do to keep from sweeping her off her feet and carrying her away to somewhere they could be alone.
Aware of the time—and the fact that they weren’t actually married—Darcy slowly softened the kiss until he was simply holding Elizabeth in his arms in a comfortable embrace.
“It’s probably best if we return to Netherfield,” he said. “You are to stand up with Kitty, are you not?”
“Oh, heavens, the time!”
∞∞∞
Kitty’s wedding was everything lovely. Elizabeth was pleased to stand up with her sister, and she shared that honor with Colonel Forster, who was acting as groomsman for his friend. While sorry that Darcy was not the one Wickham chose, Elizabeth understood the reasoning.
The enjoyment of the wedding ceremony was in no small part due to the fact that Lydia was not present. Elizabeth was quite surprised to arrive and see her parents in attendance without their youngest daughter.
Having come in the carriage with Bingley—who was attending for Jane; Hurst, who was attending for Louisa; and the Darcys—Elizabeth hadn’t heard anything about Lydia since the debacle in Jane’s bedroom the day before. While she had hoped for some measure of discipline—not that she had anticipated it, if the past was any indication—she didn’t think that the girl would be entirely excluded from the day’s events.
“I was ready to tell Mama that if she wouldn’t leave Lydia at home, I wouldn’t allow her to come to the wedding either,” Kittywhispered to Elizabeth while they waited for the ceremony to begin.
“But you didn’t need to?”
Kitty shook her head. “I’ve never seen Mama like that before. Not with Lydia, in any case. She actually threw out all of Lydia’s gowns! Every single one! Then she told her that since she was going to act like a selfish child, she would be treated like a child and be put back in the schoolroom.”
Elizabeth gasped. “No, she didn’t!”
Nodding, Kitty said, “Lydia is locked upstairs. I told Papa that it was easy to escape out the window, so he had the gardener tear down all the ivy supports! Hill has the only key, and Lydia is allowed only porridge, plain toast, and water until she stops screaming.”
Mr. Bennet came to tell them it was time to begin, so Elizabeth only had time to respond with a raise of her eyebrows. She went to the front where Dr. Fields stood, and her father escorted Kitty down the aisle towards Wickham.
The wording of the ceremony was nearly identical to that of Jane’s and Mary’s weddings, but this time, the vows held special meaning for Elizabeth. She listened carefully to each sacred promise, asking herself if she truly thought she could agree to them with regards to Darcy.
“’Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony… which is an honorable estate… and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly… but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained…
“’Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity…
“’Wilt thou have this Man to thy wedded Husband, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?’...”
“I, Catherine, take thee, George, to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth…”
Different prayers and blessings were offered, including the singing of several of the Psalms. Many ministers preferred to simply read them aloud, but Dr. Fields had a strong baritone voice that carried beautifully throughout the chapel, adding a sense of reverence and peace to the wedding ceremony. He then concluded the service by reading aloud from Colossians chapter three and 1 Peter chapter three, where Paul and Peter counseled on the behavior of both husbands and wives in their duties towards one another.
Listening closely, Elizabeth felt a powerful conviction surge within her chest and radiate throughout her entire body. Despite her dislike for the word “obey,” she realized that with Darcy, she could indeed embrace those vows wholeheartedly. The thought of standing by his side, making promises of eternal love and fidelity, no longer seemed daunting but rather a future she yearned for.
When the ceremony came to its conclusion, Kitty and Wickham were taken over to the registry. They signed their names; then Elizabeth and Colonel Forster signed as well as the witnesses. Kitty Bennet was no longer; in her place was Catherine Wickham, and the eighteen-year-old girl looked every inch the blushing bride.
As all were invited to a wedding breakfast at Longbourn, the crowd departed the church quickly to make their way to the Bennet estate. Elizabeth kept looking over at her mother, awaiting the customary flutter of nerves and panicked effusions that typically accompanied this sort of event, but—to her great surprise—Mrs. Bennet’s enthusiasm was nothing to be ashamed of.
Her behavior continued to stay within the bounds of propriety—or only stray just above it—for the entirety of the wedding breakfast. The only time Elizabeth had cause to blush was when Mrs. Bennet discovered that the Hursts had offered the Wickhams use of their townhouse in London for their wedding trip. Her expressions of gratitude were quite loud, but she soon moderated her tone after only a minute or two.
Elizabeth stared at her mother in awe, causing Mr. Bennet to chuckle as he joined her in a corner of the room with a glass of punch. “I daresay it’s quite an improvement, is it not?”
“She honestly seems like a different woman,” Elizabeth replied.
“To me, it seems like she’s the same woman I first married.”
