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“Ha! I would think not.” Her laughter rendered her more perfect – however impossible such an act may be. “One matchmaker in the family is quite enough, I would say.”

  “Yes, I suppose.” His smile was easy, happy and content.

  “Though if I ever were to be one – I would ensure that I pair individuals as they suit, not as they request.”

  “And disrespect your clients' propositions?”

  “If they are foolish propositions – then yes. I'm fairly certain I know better.”

  “If they have you as their matchmaker, love, then they would be very blessed couples indeed.”

  • • •

  Dinner, Elizabeth had come to discover throughout the course of her life, was as elaborate and as simple of a meal as one wished it to be. From ornate settings and menus to comforting three courses – one may choose to host such a meal with a sense of elegance or a sense of home.

  With these dinner parties being as frequent as they were of late, she often gravitated towards the latter.

  “Do you believe you –” She gasped excitedly at her sister when Jane's hand stroked her abdomen gently. “Oh Jane!”

  “Hush, Elizabeth.” Jane's skin was radiant – her smile beautiful yet serene. “I wish to be certain – before telling Charles.”

  “Yes, of course.” Elizabeth smiled. She knew she harbored similar secrets of her own. Her courses had tarried recently, and – with their bedroom unions happening as often as they did – she was fairly certain regarding the cause.

  But there were things she would wait to tell her husband first, before sharing them with her sister.

  As roles changed, confidantes did as well.

  “You would make a wonderful mother, Jane dear.” She grasped her sister's hands. The men lingered in the study, and this sitting room was entirely the ladies' court. At the piano behind them, Georgiana practiced a duet with Caroline. The younger girl's constant company, it seemed, was beginning to affect the older's for the better. It had been a month since Caroline's last insult – and another month more since Georgiana had sat through a meal without speaking.

  Heaven had its ways to sharpen iron against iron.

  “Did you ever think, Elizabeth, that we could be so happy?” Jane, ever sweet, seemed to brim particularly of sentiment tonight.

  “I thought I was fairly certain, when we first embarked upon that journey to Derbyshire, that marriage would render us utterly miserable.” Elizabeth laughed. Her eyes roamed the furnishings she had added to Lady Anne's original touches. “But now Derbyshire is home – who would have reckoned?”

  “I think the boys did.” Jane smiled.

  “I doubt they truly understood.” It was Elizabeth's turn to feel deep emotion. “And we were miserable for a time – weren't we? Those six weeks in the bleak wilderness – oh Jane, how could we ever forget?”

  Mrs. Bingley's hand clasped Mrs. Darcy's gently. “We don't forget, Elizabeth. We let our happiness render it irrelevant.”

  • • •

  “Fancy us, Darce – two married men nursing our port while the women laugh but a hallway away. We've aged quite quickly, one may say.” Bingley leaned against the high back of his chair. “I'd considered us old before – two dour, lonely men meeting each week. I dare say we act even older now.”

  Darcy's smile, like his person, was deep and thoughtful. He sipped from his cup, a man of moderation. “The silence is appreciated, I suppose.”

  “Jane is quiet, yes –” Bingley mused, mind already with his wife. He looked down at his glass for a moment. “It is my sister I avoid, sometimes, I must admit.”

  Darcy laughed in a low, hearty chuckle. “Your life is a mirror to mine.”

  Bingley paused before smiling himself. He supposed their wives and sisters had always been rather different.

  “Do you like marriage, Darce?”

  “This form of it – yes.” The master of Pemberley took his longest sip yet tonight. “I am glad we asked to be paired.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Whether we should have requested to be paired together – I sometimes reconsider.”

  “But then we wouldn't have met sisters, would we, man? We would not have been brothers. God forbid Caroline actually managed to convince a matchmaker to pair you with her.”

  “God forbid indeed. I doubt I could –”

  “She's my sister,” Bingley reminded, realizing rather belatedly that he may have opened a can of worms. He smirked slightly. “I wouldn't trade it, Darce. I wouldn't trade the heartache for anything.”

  Darcy looked straight at him, almost as if he – young Charles Bingley – knew something the wise Darcy did not.

  “I love Jane,” Bingley stated the simple, constant truth. “It proves to me more that we ought to be together when even the fates could not part us.”

  Darcy narrowed his eyes, his usual expression of thought.

  Bingley finished his glass.

  “I love Elizabeth,” concluded Darcy, his own glass empty now. The man, so austere before, smiled. “I shall have things no other way.”

  I hope you enjoyed this book. If you have a moment, please leave a review!

  Other works by Iris Lim:

  – Mothers Know Best

  – Real

  – Oh Brother

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