He walked to the door. “Mrs. Darcy, your sister has accepted my request to court her. She tells me I must meet her parents and ask her papa for his permission. We must write that we are coming to see them as soon as my beloved feels well enough to travel, for we want to be engaged. Would you ask for a pen and paper for me? I think Mary will help me with the words. Do you agree?”
“I do, indeed, Alex,” Elizabeth answered pleasantly. If you wish, Darcy and I will go with you. Our mother tends to be excitable. She calms a bit in Darcy’s presence.”
“I think she will like me. Most people do,” he answered.
“I think you are right.” Elizabeth laughed. “You may be one of the few people in the world who will understand her emotional outbursts and excitement.”
“Then I shall be as a son to her,” he said, smiling. “She had no sons, and I have been without a family for too long. Will she be happy to have another son?”
Elizabeth tilted her head and looked at him. “I think she shall be ecstatic. You may very likely be her favorite son-in-law. Shall we talk to my husband? As soon as Mary is well enough to travel, we shall go to Longbourn and give them the happy news.”
Landini suddenly stopped smiling. “But will Darcy accept me as a brother? He is a fine gentleman, while I am practically an orphan.”
Mary shook her head. “Mr. Darcy would never have brought you into his home, introduced you to me, and allowed you to teach me lessons if he did not approve of you, Ale,” she said quietly. “I think he chose you for me. I would have you know, though, that I have very little in the way of a dowry.”
Elizabeth chuckled. “I think you are right, Mary, and I highly doubt Alex will care about your lack of a dowry. I shall go find my husband and tell him his plan succeeded very well. We can set the date to travel to Hertfordshire, and he will write to Papa and Mama. Perhaps Mama will be calm if she receives a note from Darcy and has ample time to digest the news. Since Jane and Bingley are still at Netherfield, perhaps they can be there, too. Jane usually has a calming effect on Mama.”
And so it was, a week later, they were in Darcy’s spacious carriage on the road to Longbourn.
Chapter 8
There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison.
Mary had done her best to prepare Alessandro for the singular experience of meeting her Mama, but she still feared that he might change his mind concerning the upcoming marriage upon actually living through the jubilance which would surely be exuded by Mrs. Bennet upon meeting the man who would fulfill all her ambitions as a mother. The final one of Mrs. Bennet’s five daughters would be married at last!
Fortunately, Elizabeth’s hopes were fulfilled; Charles and Jane Bingley had made a point to be at Longbourn when the Darcy carriage pulled to the front entrance. They had chosen to spend Christmas at Netherfield Park, awaiting the birth of their first child.
Alessandro reached for Mary’s hand. “Do not trouble yourself, Maria. I think your Mama must be much like my mother and grandmother. The English are a bit quiet and staid, but Italians are very lively people who enjoy laughter. They would hug you and feed you. Whatever happens here, know that I will love your Mama and Papa, just as my family will adore you.”
“Thank you, Ale,” she replied, squeezing his fingers. I see my sister Jane and her husband Charles are here as well. See? They are with Mama and Papa on the steps.”
“She is lovely, as is Elizabeth,” he answered, “and I like your parents already. You have two more sisters? Will they be here?”
“No. Kitty is traveling with our aunt and uncle, and Lydia is with her husband. He is in the militia in the north.”
The conversation ended as they pulled up in front of Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet immediately went up to the carriage. “Come in! Come in! We have a late breakfast ready for you. You must be famished.”
After the party descended from the coach, the Bingleys and the Darcys exchanged greetings while Mary attempted to introduce her betrothed to her parents.
“Mama, Papa, this is –”
Before she could finish the sentence, Mrs. Bennett had embraced Landini. “Welcome, welcome. We are so happy to meet you!” She backed up a step and looked up at him, her face wreathed in smiles. “What shall I call you? Mr. Landini sounds much too stuffy for such a young, handsome man.”
He laughed. “What would you like to call me? My name is Alessandro, but my family calls me Ale, and friends call me Alex. What shall I call you?”
She laughed and patted his arm. “When you marry my daughter, you may call me Mama Bennet. My other sons-in-law call me Mrs. Bennet, but I think it sounds so stuffy when talking with family.”
Smiling, he replied, “I miss my family, and I am so happy to be joining yours, providing Mr. Bennet agrees. As soon as he does, you will be ‘Mama Bennet’ to me.”
Mary immediately relaxed. He likes my mother. I think Ale’s parents must be a bit like mine.
“Welcome to Longbourn, Mr. Landini,” said Mr. Bennet as he extended his hand to the young man. Then he turned to his daughter. “Mary, it is good to see you looking so well. I thought I might have to go to London, but good man that he is, Mr. Darcy handled everything so well that I could relax in my library without fear of losing a beloved daughter. Shall we go in? I should like to have my tea and toast before we talk a bit. Hill might even have some soft-boiled eggs for us this morning, and she put up some jams and jellies this past summer that are quite tasty.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” cried Mrs. Bennet, fluttering her hands. “Come into the house. It is much too cold out here for Jane in her delicate condition.”
Mr. Bennet rolled his eyes and offered his arm to his wife. “Shall we go to breakfast, then, my dear?”
After they entered the house, the maid collected their hats, bonnets, and coats, and they proceeded to the breakfast room.
Hill’s breakfast offerings did not disappoint.
The wedding took place a month later in the parish church, still decorated for the Christmas season though it had passed.
Mr. Bennet saw no reason to spend good money to apply for a special license and hasten the marriage, and that necessitated the reading of the banns.
Secretly, he wanted to know the man who would marry his daughter a bit better before they wed. With that in mind, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet visited the Darcys in London, attended one of his concerts, and ate dinner with him at Darcy House.
Much to his surprise, Mr. Bennet grew to truly like Landini, and he wholeheartedly approved of the match.
All their friends in Meryton attended the wedding and offered their congratulations to the happy couple, although a few tongues wagged about the Bennets connecting themselves in such a way to a foreigner.
Knowing the people as she did, Mary knew what they thought, but she cared not a whit. She married the one whom her heart chose. He was her soulmate, and she was his.
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IN WANT OF A WIFE
Laura Hile[2]
Chapter 1
Mrs. Bennet lowered her wine glass. “I simply must tell you, Colonel Fitzwilliam, how splendid you look in regimentals.”
Confound it, was Darcy’s mother-in-law fluttering her lashes like a schoolgirl? She couldn’t be flirting with his cousin. The woman was not only years too old for Fitz, but she was clad from head to toe in mourning.
2
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