Chances Come by Ney Mitch (most important books to read TXT) 📕

see. While I believed you to be artless until now, it was not until I heard you speaking with Miss Bingley that I fully became aware of all that you felt. So, you are in love with my brother?”

“Yes,” I confessed, “I am utterly in love with him.”

“How long have you been in love with him?”

“That is the perplexing thing of it all,” I admitted. “I cannot fix on the moment, the hour, or the day. My feelings had been coming on so gradually that I had not even known I had begun until I was already in the middle. It has been months since I have been in love with him, but as for the precise action that made me realize that I loved him, I cannot tell you. It just happened.”

“That is good,” she replied, reassured, “for if you love him in general, it is better than loving him for a specific reason. Loving anyone for a specific thing they do is dangerous, because people change, and so do the specifics on them. Yet, if you love them in a general manner, for who they are overall, then that is healthier.”

I blinked, surprised at her wisdom.

“That is a very wise deduction to make,” I added. “You could only know such a thing from experience.”

“When I was in love once, I loved the man for specific reasons. Those specifics turned out to be false. Afterwards, my love looked empty because the specifics that I fixed on were never real.”

“I can understand of what you speak, for I have been in such a predicament myself.”

“You have?” She asked, awed.

“Yes, I have. Miss Darcy, there is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Thank you.”

I did not think it right to mention Mr. Wickham’s name, for I did not believe that it was right for me to admit to knowing her history yet. Therefore, I simply continued with our discussion.

“Miss Darcy, what do you feel about my feelings for your brother? Can you see me as worthy of him? I admit, whether you do or not will not influence my own feelings. No matter what, I will always love him. Yet, I still wish to know if I have your blessing at all.”

Georgiana’s body shuddered and her expression changed.

“Miss Elizabeth, did my silence on the matter frighten you? I did not mean for it to be so!” Hastily she sat down beside me. “No, I am glad of it. You are the precise sort of woman that I would want my brother to marry,”

I laughed at her declaration.

“Miss Elizabeth, this really is the best sort of news!”

“I am happy that you approve, for I would have not been amenable to the idea of the sister of my first love to despise me so!”

She was utterly beaming. “You both shall be very happy together.”

“Well, if he does not propose, then you and I will both be very disappointed.”

“That is another thing for which I wished to speak with you about. Miss Elizabeth, my brother is a strong man, and I know that he shall propose to you one day. Yet, is there some way that you can display your feelings more towards him? I know that you do a great deal already, but—and forgive me for saying this—but find a way to spend time alone with him. This will give him the opportunity to possibly offer a proposal.” She placed her hand over her mouth. “Dear me, do I sound artful?”

I chuckled at that. “No more than my mother often does, but it is of no matter. Your logic is sound.”

We embraced, relieved that we were of the same mind.

Chapter 17 The Proposal

When I left Georgiana in the music room, for she had wished to practice, I began to make my way to my own room. However, I felt my courage rising inside me once more. It was the courage that often never left me in peace. Cold prudence was not made for my sort. For so long, the way that I made my way through life was by action, as opposed to inaction. Proactivity as opposed to reactivity. I never was meant to sit still and do nothing. Therefore, by returning to my room, what was I doing but waiting for an action that I would react to?

I had Georgiana’s blessing!

I had Jane’s and Aunt Gardiner’s encouragement.

I had Kitty’s confirmation that he loved me as well.

All that I did not have was the confession of love from the man himself. Still with the letters in my hand, I decided to act.

For could all of us truly have been wrong?

I wished for it to not be so.

All of us could not be in error.

Therefore, deciding to act, to live, and to rush to a future that I hoped would envelop me, I turned around and rushed down the steps. In doing so, I came upon a servant named James.

“James,” I requested, “can you please tell me where your master is?”

“He is in his study.”

“Thank you.”

We parted ways, and I went to the study. Once reaching the door, I raised my hand and was about to knock, but then I halted.

Surely, we had not seen the situation all wrong! But what if we had? What if Georgiana, Jane, Kitty, Aunt Gardiner, and I had translated Mr. Darcy’s actions wrong this entire time? Perhaps he was just doing everything out of general kindness. Or perhaps because of the pity he felt from us losing our father. Ah, pity! That was the one thing that I wanted no one to ever feel for me. I did not want to be pitied. I simply wanted to be loved.

Or perhaps, he did all of this out of the guilt he felt for separating Jane and Mr. Bingley.

Yet, surely, we could not all be this mistaken! And Georgiana especially. She was his sister. She knew his heart and soul better than anyone. Therefore, she, of all of us, would understand his inclinations better than anyone. She