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"I think we should wait until we at least have a venue before we tell anyone. Particularly my mother."
Lizzie can almost hear Darcy smiling over the phone. "I don't believe that couples usually start planning the wedding before the news has even broken of their engagement."
"Once she stops wailing about us having the wedding in San Francisco and not at home, my mother is going to want to fly out here as soon as possible and start looking at venues. And who knows how long that will take."
There's a pause. "Perhaps we should save her the stress and plan in advance."
"Sure, let's tell everyone it's my mother's stress we're concerned about." The small crackle of laughter over the car's phone speakers made her smile. "Maybe the public library?"
"Gigi has already suggested a list of possible reception venues. The Conservatory, city hall, the art museum."
"Hm. All beautiful. Lots of marble. Ridiculously expensive."
Darcy hummed in response. "I suppose I could sell a kidney on the black market. I have two, after all."
She laughed loudly, pulling her car in front of her apartment block. It's rather old and a bit cramped, but was far too close to work to risk letting it go. "Or I guess I could stop whining about our financial discrepancy and not make you get married in a Walmart."
"You run a highly successful start-up company. You exaggerate any discrepancies between us."
Lizzie can picture him in his office, leaning back just slightly in his chair, the normally-impeccably knotted tie loosened just slightly. "So if Gigi's got a list of fancy reception places, where does she want us to get married? Renting the Eiffel Tower? Buying out the Leaning Tower of Pisa?"
He didn't laugh this time. "I...thought, perhaps, if it was agreeable to you, that I might send you several photos of a nearby church for you to view. To see what you think."
"A church? That surprises me. We're not really church-y people, Darce."
"I am aware that it would be a rather uncharacteristic location, and if you are opposed to the idea entirely I will of course concede. But it is well located in the city. And could accommodate a large number of guests should the need arise. My parents had nearly three-hundred guests at their own wedding, and this particular church fit them all relatively comfortably, from what I have heard."
"Will?"
"...Yes, Lizzie?"
"If your parents got married there, I don't need to see it. I'm in."
She hears a slight exhale, a minute gesture that for William Darcy meant an intense relaxation. He had been nervous to ask her. Not only nervous to ask but afraid that she would say no. "Thank you, Lizzie."
"You could have just told me about your parents, Will. That's all the convincing I needed."
Another audible sigh. "I did not want you to feel obligated to say yes because of its personal significance to me."
"It's our wedding. It's all about personal significance."
"I know such an event is an important day and I do not mean to dismiss it, but I must confess I am looking forward to what proceeds the wedding to a far greater degree than I am the wedding itself."
She stopped outside her apartment door, pinning the phone between her ear and shoulder as she struggled to turn the key. The stupid thing always stuck three quarters of the way through the turn. Why she even bothered with the place anymore was beyond her, she was practically living with Darcy anyways, had been for two years. At least having her own place made her feel independent and not like a kept woman. "Why, because then my parents will be safely out of San Francisco and you'll have at least a whole week before Mom starts pushing for grandkids?"
"Because I can call you my wife."
Lizzie couldn't help but smile. "You're right. And when my mother drives me up the wall with wedding-planning, keep reminding me that when it's all over, I get to be married to you. It's the only thing that will keep me sane."
"I will be more than happy to."
"Are you sure Charlotte must be included in this specific role? We can give her a little basket, she can be the flower girl."
She nudged his shoulder at the joke, careful not to spill either of their wine glasses. "Charlotte is the maid of honour, I'm not choosing between my sisters for that role. And if I can't choose between them for that, I'm not going to choose one of them to not be in the wedding party. You're just going to have to choose another groomsman."
They sat on the sofa in his apartment, her legs draped across his lap, each with a glass of wine and a laptop to scroll through wedding internet pages. When he'd suggested just hiring someone to plan the whole thing, she'd scoffed. What was this, a royal wedding? If they could handle the complexities and juggling-act of running two successful companies, they could plan a fancy party. Lizzie hadn't quite reached the stress level where she would have to sheepishly rescind the sarcastic royal-wedding comments she'd made to Darcy and agree to a planner, but it was certainly getting there.
"Why must we have three of each? Surely the numbers aren't required to be equal. Fitz and Bing are the only friends I would consider close enough to stand up with me on such an important occasion."
"Will," she replied, wiggling her toes against his thigh. "I think the solution is pretty obvious. Ask Gigi."
"Gigi," he repeated, evidently surprised at the suggestion. "Is it not tradition to have men stand up with the groom and women with the bride?"
"It's also tradition to wait to sleep together until the wedding and for my parents to give you a couple of goats and a cow in exchange for me, so I'm thinking we can buck tradition for this, too. If Gigi was your brother, you wouldn't have thought twice about about it. She could wear a dress the same colour as your suits and stand up on your side, it would be perfect."
The corners of his mouth tugged upwards. "I cannot believe it never crossed my mind. It would mean a great deal for me to have her included."
"I'm sure it would mean a lot to her, too," Lizzie assured. "Besides, she's practically my sister. Legally, after the wedding. It would just seem wrong for her to not to be up there with us when my other sisters are bridesmaids."
He set down his glass of wine and pushed aside the laptop, letting her do the same before pulling her in for a soft kiss. His hands skimmed her sides, sliding around her back to bring her closer while she entwined her fingers at the back of his neck. They broke apart after a moment, Darcy wrapping an arm around her shoulders, lips pressed against her forehead.
"This is exhausting. I say we pack Gigi and your sisters in a car and elope."
"Oo my mom would kill you," she teased, voice slipping easily into the familiar southern accent as she draped her arms around his neck. "Her pathetic middle child, finally picked up by a wealthy, single man, only to be kidnapped and taken to Gretna Green! What good is a wedding if it can't be used as bragging rights over all her friends?"
"I'm sure she merely wants to be present on an important day in your life."
She sighed. "You're right. I shouldn't be so...ungenerous. I really am trying to work on that."
"Considering the impression I first made and how far we have come since, I should say you've been very generous with me. You and your family."
"You are my family." She leaned in for another kiss. "You and Gigi. You're basically honorary Bennets by now. Gigi taking home all of that turkey soup last Christmas? We almost kissed her."
"Did you? Then I should increase my efforts to ensure that I remain your favourite Darcy sibling."
She grinned, running a finger down the length of his tie. "As long as I'm your favourite Bennet sister."
"I'm not certain. Lydia got me a bowtie with a binary code pattern for my birthday. What have you done?"
"Hey!" she cried, rising up on the sofa in an attempt to loom over him, though he managed to grab her wrists and keep her at bay until the pair of them end up in a tangle on the sofa. "You've been spending way too much time with the Bennets, you're getting downright snarky. What happened to the uptight man I knew and intensely disliked?"
He dragged her wrist to his lips, pressing a kiss there. "I think I prefer this to your intense dislike of me."
"Well, I am fresh out of binary code bowties, but I might be able to win your favour with other methods of bribery. Bedroom?"
Gigi cleared her throat, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. Charlotte had just finished a both touching and hilarious maid-of-honour speech which had Lizzie at times tearing up and then burying her face in her hands in embarrassment. A tough act to follow. Despite her love of people and general gregariousness, Gigi really wasn't much for public speaking. Her palms were already sweating, and she nervously adjusted her grip on the champagne glass, afraid to have it slip through her wet palms or hold it too tightly and snap the stem.
"Um, hello," she began, wincing at the way her voice rang throughout the space. "I'm Gigi Darcy, William's little sister and the, uh, best man of sorts." Thank God for Lizzie and William's choice for a moderate fifty-three person guest list, despite Mrs. Bennet's wishes. A big wedding might have made her faint.
"I guess I should start. Um, I was born when William was seven, and was instantly a let-down when I wasn't the little brother that he wanted." A ripple of laughter. "But, I never got that little sister that I wanted growing up, either, so. Luckily, we were able to get over that initial disappointment with each other. He was too nice to say anything, of course, but I'm pretty sure I used to drive him crazy, following him around and always wanting to be involved with whatever his friends were doing. Which, when he was thirteen and wanted to go biking with his fellow middle-schoolers, would be pretty annoying, as you can imagine. He was always patient with me, though, more patient than I probably deserved, as an irritating little sister."
Gigi let out a small laugh, starting to feel the nervousness subside. William and Lizzie were looking at her with warm eyes, his arm around her shoulders, her head tilted towards his, the sleeve of her wedding gown a sharp contrast against his suit. Navy and white lace.
"William has always been nicer to me than I deserved, actually. An ideal older brother. And I'm not just talking about sharing his ice cream with me and patiently trying and failing to teach me to play piano, even though he did that, too. I was eleven when our dad died. William was eighteen. It was pretty unexpected. He was supposed to move into residence at Harvard the next week. And I was going to go live with...relatives." Given Aunt Catherine's presence in the audience, it seemed best to say less rather than more. "William made the decision that losing my father, moving to a new place, and having my brother move away in the same week was too much, and he cancelled his residence application. Two days after the funeral we were moving into an apartment in Boston close to my new school and the Harvard campus. He took an extra year to complete his degree because he rearranged his entire course schedule around my school hours. While all of his friends were out getting drunk and enjoying their college nights, he was cooking my dinner and helping me with my math homework. He never missed a single tennis match or choir recital. I think that's why he and Bing ended up such good friends: Bing was the only guy that was too nice to brush William off for not being social enough."
Gigi tried to subtly wipe a tear away, but the last joke at least managed to keep her from getting too weepy. "Anyways, I don't think I realized how much William really gave up until I went to college myself and actually got to enjoy myself. By then, my brother was already done grad school and taking over Pemberly Digital. All of his twenties had been spent shouldering responsibility that even an experienced adult would struggle with. And as much as I appreciated how much he'd done for me, that didn't mean we got along every second. Having to deal with so much going on at once, William was used to having a plan and sticking to it to get things done. And I didn't always agree that his plans were what was best for me. Yeah, I know. What a brat, right, after all the stuff he did for me?" She couldn't manage to look at him this time, instead staring into her audience and trying to keep her tone light and breezy. That had been Fitz's advice. Light and breezy. "So maybe, given my little rebellious phase, it shouldn't have come as such a shock to me when someone else was not a big fan of The Plan."
More audience laughter, and Gigi let herself laugh with them. "As far as I knew, girls had never been part of The Plan. I mean, I vaguely knew that William eventually wanted to get married and have a family, but I'd never really seen him actually make any moves towards achieving that particular goal. So when he suddenly couldn't stop talking about this girl named Lizzie, I was pretty astonished. Not only was there a girl, but a girl who did not think my big brother was wonderful and generous and kind and all of the amazing qualities I have come to associate with him. I was pretty offended on his behalf at first, but then stories about their actual first interactions made their way to me. And, like Charlotte described in her speech, it was suddenly pretty clear to me. He'd never admit it, but I was pretty sure William was regretting attending all of those tennis matches instead of socializing with people his own age.
"The only good thing about this pretty unfortunate first impression was it finally gave me an opportunity to help out William after he'd spent so many years sacrificing everything for me. Fitz was more than willing to help be his hype-man," she paused for an air high-five with Fitz, "and I could orchestrate a few very subtle, low-key interventions such as locking them in rooms together and suddenly remembering that I had work meetings after making plans with the two of them. There were codenames and everything, it was very sophisticated. So even though in reality I know it had nothing to do with me and two people as wonderful as Lizzie and William were pretty much destined to get together in the end, I do like to take just a little bit of credit."
Gigi again ran her finger along the hair behind her ear, a nervous habit even when the hair there hadn't become untucked. "So safe to say, I was thrilled when they finally got together. But I also knew it would be hard to lose my brother, too. It had been the two of us for so long, and now there was someone else to consider. I mean, of course it was worth it to see him so happy and to finally have the sister I always wanted, but knowing that things were changing was a bit daunting. We'd started going skiing, for example, for the first few years after dad to avoid being surrounded by the traditional family Christmas thing. It turned into something of a tradition in and of itself. William still said he was going to spend Christmas with me that first year, of course he would, he's always put me first, but I knew he would want to spend the holidays with Lizzie. I insisted he go. I expected that we'd bicker about it, and we did. I mean, a real family Christmas. How long had it been since either of us had been able to have that?"
She cleared her throat, straightening her note cards in her still-shaky hands. "What I didn't expect was for Lizzie to demand that we both go to Aspen before Christmas and then invite not only William but me as well to Christmas dinner at the Bennet household. I was reluctant to go, not because I didn't want to but because I didn't want them to feel obligated and awkward with me there. But Lizzie wouldn't take no for an answer. And so I ended up bunking with Lizzie's sister Lydia and having Christmas dinner with the Bennets. And the next year Mrs. Bennet included me in the annual tradition of giving her daughters matching pajamas for Christmas morning. And the year after that I came back to see a postcard that I had sent them from Sanditon up on their fridge next to a picture of William and Lizzie, Lydia's graduation portrait, and Jane and Bing's engagement photo. So, um...I know I'm supposed to be giving a toast to the bride and groom, and I am, but I also wanted to take a moment to thank not only Lizzie but her family. Before we even met, I knew she would be perfect for him and that he would win them all over and be part of the family, because how could they not love him? But what I didn't expect was for them to be so wonderful and generous with me. To take me in and make me feel like part of the family, too. They had no obligation to include me. But they did. They took us both in and gave us both a family, and we haven't had a real one in a long time.
"So, um, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am so, so lucky. Not only do I have the most incredible big brother that anyone could ask for, but he somehow just gave me the sister that I always wanted. And not only that, but her parents and sisters have taken us in like their own and given us the family that we haven't had in a long time. The first time he actually does something to make himself happy instead of just focusing on everyone else and he still manages to give me everything I could want. Pretty incredible, that. I am just...so, so honored that they asked me to speak today, and it's been incredibly difficult trying to come up with the words to express how much the people in this room mean to me. So I'm toasting not only these two incredible people but their parents, as well. My parents, for raising the kind of man who would give up his whole life to take care of the people he loves, and the Bennets for raising the only woman I've ever met that I can honestly say deserves my brother."
Gigi finally looked back at William and Lizzie, both a little teary-eyed and leaning heavily against one another. "So, um. That's all, I guess. I'm a graphic designer, we're not exactly known for our public speaking skills, so I'm going to bow out before things take a turn for the worse. To the bride and groom!" She lifted her champagne glass and takes two big gulps of it, grateful for the alcohol if she's going to be totally honest.
"I totally get what Lizzie meant, now, I'm already feeling awkward."
"Stop."
Gigi giggled at William's expression. He was a terrible liar, and far too happy to properly feign offence. The whole father-daughter, mother-son dance didn't work too well when their mother had been gone for more than two decades, and so Gigi's best man duties extended into dancing with her brother as, a few feet away, Mr. Bennet and Lizzie swayed to the music.
"The speech you gave, Gigi. It was lovely. Really. We cannot thank you enough. I cannot thank you enough."
"I was happy to do it," she assured. "After all of the grief I've caused you, it was literally the least I could do."
He huffed. "I am grateful for you every day, Georgiana. I think of Bing, whose own sister tried to sabotage his relationship with Jane. However good our intentions, we were all so caught up in the beginning thinking about what was 'best' for one another and ourselves, romantically, financially, individually... You were only ever concerned with my happiness. However good my intentions have been towards you, I am not sure if I can say without doubt that I have always acted with equally noble intentions."
"Well, maybe I just have a lot of making up to do." The song came to an end, and Gigi pushed herself onto her toes, even taller than her high heels, to throw her arms around William's shoulders. "Shoving Lizzie into your path at every opportunity is a pretty good start, though, right?"
They both glance over at Lizzie, head bent forward as Mr. Bennet kissed her forehead. Once alone, she turned to catch their eyes, smiling warmly from across the dance floor.
"It's more a good start, Gigi. Much more."
Lizzie was dead on her feet. Dead tired, obviously, not some sort of zombie situation. After spotting Darcy in his fancy suit and Lizzie in her wedding dress tiredly shuffling into the lobby of the apartment building, the doorman had offered his congratulations. As the two men began to chat, Lizzie had squeezed Will's hand and released him, nodding with her head towards the elevator to signal that she would go on ahead.
Except she'd only gotten as far as unlocking their apartment door before a cry of "Lizzie!" stopped her in her tracks. Will, despite the ridiculously late hour (or early, now) was half-jogging down the hallway to catch up with her.
"Everything okay?"
"Everything is wonderful," he replied, slightly panting. "I merely had to ensure that our marriage did not start off on a bad stroke." He took her firmly by the waist before sweeping her under the knees, pulling her up into his arms. The train of her gown made him stumble, but they were laughing too hard to notice the awkwardness of it.
"Since when are you superstitious?"
"After all of the difficulty I had in winning you over, I am not willing to take chances." They stumbled over the threshold of the apartment, drunk on champagne and exhaustion, before Will set her down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
The next morning, she would wonder if they should have been tearing at each other's clothes like wild animals. That's what couples normally did on their wedding nights, right? It wasn't as though she and Will hadn't had their lust-filled moments. But now, right now she was more than happy to sit quietly with her new husband, letting him undo the buttons along the back of her dress. He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder, helping her step out of her dress. His own jacket and tie were shed, and Lizzie stood to help with the buttons of his shirt.
"Are you happy?" Will asked quietly, pulling his suspenders from his shoulders as she finished with his shirt.
"People have been asking me that all night," she replied with a small smile.
"Forgive me, I know it's a ridiculous question to-"
"No," Lizzie interrupted, "I promise it's not. I was thinking about it during Gigi's speech, really. I'm happy. But not any happier than I was yesterday, I don't think. I'm glad we got married, it is something I've wanted, but...it doesn't make me feel any more happy or secure than I was before. I'm all in, Will. I've been all in for a long time. Being able to make it legal doesn't change the fact that I was committed to you before we threw a party. But the party was a lot of fun."
That earned her a smile. "It was," he murmured, tilting his chin down to press a soft kiss against her lips. "I don't know what I would do without you, Lizzie Bennet. I've completely forgotten what it's like to be alone."
"Well, you'll never have to find out. I would be far more worried about trying to figure out what you're going to do with me now that you're stuck with me, that'll be far more difficult."
"On that particular challenge, I think I may have a few strategies. Shall I show you?"
"I've been your wife for a whole twelve hours now, I think it's about time."