Mrs Darcy (Complete)

Chapter 6

Fitzwilliam and I walked together back to the house a long time after sunset, my left arm liked with his so to show the ring on my finger. I couldn't stop smiling as we got closer to the french doors I left through, but suddenly a feeling of worry popped into my head and made me stop in my tracks. "Eve?" Fitzwilliam questioned, still holding my arm in his. His eyes were wide as he looked into mine and gave me a look which suggested he knew what I was about to say.

"Don't make me go back to your aunt" I said.

"You don't have to see her if you don't want to" Fitzwilliam replied, placing his hand on top of my arm linked with his. "I shall do all the talking and explain my feelings for you" He was beginning to struggle with his words as a plan started, but failed to form in his head. "And that will make it all better in the end"

I pulled a smile for him and looked down at the ring on my finger. It glimmered in the sunlight and the small pearl reflected us standing together. "I have an idea" I told him, before removing the ring from my finger.

His expression became shocked as he watched me take the ring off and hold it in my palm. "What are you doing?" Fitzwilliam asked me. "Are you refusing my proposal?" He questioned.

"No, my darling" I smiled blissfully as the plan began formulating in my head. "What if you were to propose to me again, but in front of our families to prove we are serious?" I suggested with hope filling up in my face and voice.

Fitzwilliam's lips twisted at the edges and he gave me an uncertain look. "I don't think that would be a convincing thing to do because I've already proposed to you once and you said yes for that matter" He replied, turned his head briefly away and then back to me again. "What about we just run away and be married now?" He suggested and enthusiastically grabbed my hands. "We could find a new home to live and start a family of our own there" Fitzwilliam was serious. I could see it in his face and glanced down to his hands where my ring rested in between his thumb and finger.

"And leave my sister here alone?" I objected.

He interrupted me and made me stop. "I hear someone" He said then stepped closer to me and whispered in my ear. I listened for the sounds of Zombies in the distance making that terrible noise they always did, but instead I heard steady footsteps and my mother calling my name "Eve, we must act as though we had an argument" Fitzwilliam said then stepped back from me and left me to stand by myself. I suddenly felt naked without him.

I panicked and didn't know what I should have done in those few seconds while the footsteps grew louder and closer. "Eve, darling? Are you out here?" I heard my mother ask from the other side of the French windows, then emerged and stepped out into the twilight air. She saw us and her eyes widened for a second before shrinking back to their normal size. "Oh, Mr Darcy" She said. "I had no idea you and my daughter were talking. Your father is looking for you. He says there is an old friend he wishes you to present yourself to" Mother told Fitzwilliam.

"Right" He replied with a brief and uneasy glance in my direction.

"So, dear boy, wash you hands and face. You have dirt on your neck" Mother said.

Fitzwilliam nodded and cleared his throat. He gave me one final look as he hid the ring within his clasped fist behind his back. "Miss Baasch" He bowed to me like a gentleman and turned to face my mother. "Madam" He bowed his head to her as he passed her in the doorway and went back inside to find his father. I smiled to myself as he walked away, then noticed and dropped it, remembering to act as though we had just had an argument.

I was left to stand in the darkening air by myself and without the arm of my secret fiancée to hold onto. "Mother, how do you know which constellations are which? I cannot tell on some nights" I asked, faking a confused and thoughtful expression as I threw my head up skywards.

"That does not matter now, darling" Mother replied and reached out her hand for me. "The elder Mr Darcy has someone that he wants you and your sister to meet" She told me as I took her hand and stepped back inside with her. "You may even decided that he's handsome enough to marry" She said.

I felt like that was a punch in the stomach. The only person I wanted to marry had just walked away with my engagement ring.