Excentryke's Musings

Title: Finding Him a Wife
Author: ExcentrykeMuse
Fandoms: Pride & Prejudice / Twilight Saga
Pairing(s): Bella/Owestry, (past) Darcy/Elizabeth
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1k—just a tiny bit of fun
Warnings: time travel? gambling?—who knows?
Summary: Bella and Darcy arrive at Pemberley to find Eliza Bennet touring it with her family.

Finding Him a Wife

Bella spurred her horse across the lawn and laughed when she outstripped Darcy.  He had wanted to choose her a gentle mare for their ride from Matlock, but she had insisted on a spirited horse.  Darcy was too fastidious by halves.  This whole love affair with a girl from Hertfordshire had practically ruined him from what she understood from Owestry.

She came upon a pond and reared her horse, letting it settle as she took in the great splendor before her.

Pemberley was indeed a fine house, finer than Matlock even. 

This lady from Hertfordshire, whoever she was, was certainly a simpleton.

Sliding from the horse, she let her steed wander off into the grasses.  Bella stood, taking in the splendor, waiting for Darcy to catch up with her.  Owestry and Annabelle were arriving by carriage and were a good several miles behind them, but were expected by dinner.

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, Owestry’s dashing younger brother, was still upset by the sudden marriage.  He had expected Owestry to never marry again, never sire an heir, and for the title to pass to him and his heirs.  Now he was nursing his disappointment.  As Fitzwilliam was the product of an affair himself and not of Matlock blood, Bella thought that his wounded ego was of little importance.

“I do beg your pardon.”  A figure had approached from the gardens and Bella turned to see a young lady in inferior muslins.  She seemed embarrassed to have found Bella with her hair flying behind her, her riding hat discarded on the banks of the lake.

Bella shaded her eyes to get a better look at her.

“Are you touring the house?” she inquired.

The young lady curtseyed.  She was prettyish, in a common sort of way, with honey blonde curls and deep blue eyes.  “Mrs. Reynolds told us the family was not expected.”  She was staring at Bella’s protruding belly in what could only be described as a state of horror.

Odd.  Most people in Regency England found pregnancy to be a blessing.

“Your name,” Bella demanded, not bothering to look at the girl but instead looking back out over the pond.

“Elizabeth—Eliza Bennet,” she gasped.

Ah, that certainly explained it.  It had only been three months since Darcy proposed and Bella was heavily pregnant—though not by Darcy.

Bella knew of the entire affair.  Darcy had been overly curious about how Bella and Owestry had met if it had not been in society, and Bella had wheedled out of him the reason for his curiosity.  It turned out that he was searching for his own felicity in marriage given his disastrous proposal to Eliza Bennet.  Darcy had been surprised that they had met in a glacier after Annabelle had refused to go to Sunday services one morning.

The sound of hooves met Bella’s ears, and she turned to see Darcy approaching.  She smiled at him.

“There you are!” she called.  “I think I won!”

“I believe you did,” he agreed as he came to a halt beside both women.  “I confess myself outmatched.—Miss Bennet.”  He was clearly startled.  “How come you to be at Pemberley?”

“I was curious for that answer myself,” Bella agreed, holding the reins of Darcy’s horse while he dismounted.  “She was just about to tell me.”

Eliza looked desperately between the two.  “I never meant to disturb.”

“You have disturbed a perfectly pleasant afternoon,” Bella told her.  “Darcy was going to show me the house.”  She turned to him.  “There appear to be tourists inside.”

“You have not seen the house,” Eliza repeated, clearly distressed. 

Darcy looked at her strangely.

“I shall go,” Eliza announced, stepping away.  “I wish you every future happiness.”  She then turned and quickly rushed toward the gardens.

Darcy seemed perplexed.  He turned to Bella.

“No,” she told him firmly.

“I did not say a word.”

“The answer is still, ‘no.’”  She reached down and picked up her riding hat.  “I am even more certain now than I was this morning that Miss Bennet is unsuitable for Pemberley.”

“You convinced me quite certainly of that,” Darcy agreed, taking the reins of his horse and waiting for Bella to go fetch hers.  “I am only curious as to why she was wishing me happiness.”

“She wasn’t,” Bella informed him.  “She was wishing me and the baby every future happiness.  I am with child, Darcy.  Women respond to that.”  She moved toward him with her horse and they walked in the direction of the house.

Darcy appeared thoughtful.  “It is most unusual that she is here.”

“Not unusual,” Bella told him.  “When I first refused Owestry, I became most curious about him and Matlock.”

“You did not refuse Owestry,” Darcy asserted.

“Not to his face,” Bella agreed.  “I was in love with him.  I was afraid of becoming a Viscountess, however, so had made up my mind against him and avoided him for nigh on a fortnight.  That is when I became curious.  My mind could not give him up.”

“Owestry is the luckiest of men.”

Bella looked at him carefully.  “I will do all in my power to make you just as lucky, Cousin.  We may not be able to find you a lady in the glacier, but we shall do our best.”

When they walked up the driveway, Bella could see Miss Bennet’s carriage was still there.  It seemed like she was dallying.  Bella sighed.

Darcy called for their horses to be taken and then Bella gave him her hand so he could escort her up the stairs.

Yes, Bella would certainly find him a wife.  She knew most of White’s and the rest, well, she could be introduced in a ballroom.  Those men had sisters, daughters, even.  Yes, Bella thought, Eliza Bennet would soon be forgotten.

The End.