π’πππππΎπΆππΆ ππΆππΈπ (georgiadarcy) wrote in sanditon,
Georgiana was living in constant anticipation of her brother's arrival (and little did she suspect how much Caroline, too, seemed eager of this precise change in their party's makeup and numbers). Her brother's dispatch, its contents conveyed with as many words and as much precision of thought as was to be expected, she still could not help but notice had been dashed off by a hasty hand. It was all too easy to imagine Fitzwillian writing with an arm already halfway into his great coat and a horse jingling impatiently in its tack outside the window. When he declared himself to be in haste, he most assuredly did not exaggerate.
But as she counted the days, and petitioned Mrs. Hurst often for evidence of a further correspondence, Georgiana's anticipation gave way to anxiety. She felt every expectation of being required to explain the contents of her letter, and lived in agony of what her brother might say or do. Surely it was only by chance that their carriage in particular had been beset on the road to Sanditon, rendering it an uncommon enough occurrence? And surely she could not have behaved outside her purview in so extraordinary a circumstance?
What Georgiana could not bring herself to think of telling Fitzwilliam, nor even Caroline, was of her excursion to the construction site after her brother had penned so clear a warning to stay away. It had not been her intention to defy him, of course, though that somehow seemed an inadequate excuse given that she had, indeed, found herself there, and had not been hasty in her attempts to quit it again for more sanctioned parts of town. This reluctance to tell anyone of where she had been came as her first true act of deception, surely, because even her arrangement with George Wickham had ultimately ended in its unhappy divulgence to her brother. Were she to now inform Fitzwilliam of where she had been, then his next inquiry would be into who she had met with. Georgiana could not help but conjure the tall, pleasing countenance of Sanditon's gentle foreman. The thought of Mr. Stringer's reputation meeting with any injury or suspicion on her account was enough to assure her she must remain silent on their encounter.
All of this weighed on the young Miss Darcy's shoulders heavily until she quite feared she would snap beneath the load like a twig. But when she arrived back at the townhouse that afternoon it was as if she sensed the new current in the air, the changes it heralded, before the maid could so much as part her lips to deliver the news. "Fitzwilliam!" was Georgiana's breathless exclamationβ
βand it was as if the pall fell away in an instant, as the girl's powerful sisterly affection asserted true dominion over her heart once more. She did not even pause to take in the curious portrait of his circumstance as she flew, fast as a swift, into the room, not even waiting for him to stand and meet her as a gentleman would. She knew exactly how to adhere herself to him; she was becoming too tall a woman to seemingly achieve such an improbable embrace, but she managed it with a will, dress dragging halfway on the floor as she dove with the complete confidence of being received, and wrapped her arms around his middle.
"Brother! You've come to us at last! Oh, I was so worried!" Georgiana, smiling, was almost tearful in her relief, and the torment of the past days seemed to melt away as the reality of their reunion set in.