An Unequalled Affection

Part 6

Jane stared upwards into the darkness, wondering just how many nights she would spend, sleeplessly considering her future. Even when I had the prospect of nobody at all to marry I slept more comfortably than this! She had always secretly agreed with Lydia's assertion that for a lady to be truly happy she needed a great number of charming beaux. Now she understood the folly of such a hope.

I ought to abide by my decision and be happy, she told herself. How could she not be? Colonel Fitzwilliam was the same as he ever was and she knew that to even consider ending their engagement would break the heart that was entirely her own. She ought to be happy. She had been happy until Charles Bingley returned home. She recalled the note he had left, committed to memory by sheer virtue of her reading it and wished he had thought to send such a letter before now.

If I had known he still cared...if I had had reason to hope...

She screwed her eyes closed, wishing to put the consideration by. It is too late. I will marry Colonel Fitzwilliam and we will be happy. This, then, was the future she must embrace, the one she had already chosen to embark upon.

With a sigh, she slid out from beneath her bedcovers and glided silently towards the window. The early morning light was thin and grey and she eased back her thick curtains to peer outside. If I cannot sleep I may as well dress and go downstairs, she told herself, wondering if any of her sisters were yet awake. Turning, she was about to let go of her hold on the drapes when a slight movement caught her eye. She frowned, leaning closer just in time to make out the twin shadows of Elizabeth and Mary creeping out from the house and into the fields.

What are they doing going for a walk at this hour? she wondered, letting go of the blinds and hurrying into her clothes. Something about their urgency concerned her, and she was padding lightly downstairs almost before she was aware of it, pausing at the foot of the stairs to slip on a pair of shoes and rummaging for her hat and wrap. She must hurry if she wished even a hope of closing the distance between them and she bolted out of doors before the servants could question her. Her walk was almost a run in the vague direction she recalled them going in before she caught sight of them and slowed a little, strangely eager not to be discovered following them until she could determine just where they were going.

To Netherfield? But, no. Why would Elizabeth - and Mary! - wish to walk as far as Netherfield so early? Her heart stung at being excluded from the adventure. Ordinarily, it would be she Lizzy pressed into service if there was some errand to be run, she to whom Lizzy would confide her secrets and inveigle into mischief. Why had Mary all of a sudden become her sister's preferred companion?

It will be this way forever now, she thought, hitching up her skirts and picking up her pace enough that her sisters would not slip altogether from view. Once I am married.

Unless Lizzy is also married. Her lips drew together in a grim smile. If Lizzy married Mr Darcy - which sentence she could not believe she now considered likely, when before it had seemed so uniquely improbable - then she would be Jane's close companion ever after. He and Colonel Fitzwilliam are cousins! There is no way we shall be kept from seeing each other. Jane's heart fell. Lately, though, it seemed that being cousins was not enough to keep the two men on friendly terms. At least it seemed as if Darcy's choice was to spend time with Mr Bingley, and Jane wondered if by marrying Darcy's cousin and not his friend she would be putting untold distance between herself and her sister.

I refuse to let Lizzy determine who I shall marry! Jane smarted at the notion that her proximity to her sister ought even to be a consideration. Yet, I would be only too eager to use it as a further proof that my future is entwined with Colonel Fitzwilliam's, she realised, glumly, if that was truly what I wished for.

She stumbled on a tree root, catching herself at the last moment before tumbling to the ground and held onto the nearby trunk to steady herself, waiting for her breathing to return to normal. Whatever mischief Lizzy and Mary were engaged upon it would serve her ill to burst in on them red-faced and panting. When she could be sure that her appearance would not betray her hurry she continued, pulling her wrap tighter around her shoulders and feeling rather grateful for the warmth her morning rush had prompted against the early morning cold.

Stepping lightly forward, she slowed as she heard voices, letting sound rather than sight direct her and at last, she came upon a clearing wherein she beheld Mary and Elizabeth - but they were not alone. Jane's breath caught and she remained in the shadows, eager to observe without being seen. There were her sisters, yes, and also four gentlemen - five! She counted a fifth she did not know. Jane squinted. He clutched a doctor's bag.

Her heart in her throat, she stumbled forward just in time to hear Lizzy's shrill cry.

"To win Jane's heart with a duel is a foolish proposition! She would never approve of this. And you!" Elizabeth whipped her head around to glare at Mr Darcy. "You might have prevented this - I thought you would!"

"I tried," Mr Darcy began.

"Not hard enough!" Lizzy dismissed him with a sniff. "Colonel Fitzwilliam!" She implored. "Mr Bingley, please! You cannot mean to come to blows. What if one of you is hurt - or worse? No injury to one's pride can be worth that!"

"It is not about pride, Miss Elizabeth," Colonel Fitzwilliam said, his voice gravelly and low. "But love."

"Love!" Mr Bingley crowed. "As if you know the meaning of the word! Love. I loved Jane long before you even knew of her existence -"

"And yet you happily left her behind with no word or promise of your return. Now you come back thinking you might claim her, and -"

"Claim me?" Jane's voice trembled bleakly in the early morning silence. She had stumbled forward almost without realising and every head swivelled to look at her. Colour drained from three of the five men's faces and both Mary and Elizabeth paled to see her.

"Jane..." Lizzy began, taking a step towards her.

"What is all this?" Jane's voice hardened into a demand. "Lizzy? What is going on?"