Christmas at Pemberley

Part 23

A/N - Well, this is supposed to be a Christmas story and now it's officially the Eve...I feel duty-bound to hurry up and wrap things up, both literally and figuratively ;) Warning, incoming chapters...now!

...and Happy, Happy Christmas! xxx

Georgiana arrived early at the church for the Christmas Eve concert, dressed in her favourite red dress. She had taken special care over her appearance that morning, which she had argued was on account of being on display with the children in the choir. In truth, buried so deep she could scarcely admit it to herself, she had dressed with care and attention because she knew she would be seeing Daniel again. This dress was one of her favourites and was such a festive shade of red she could think of nothing more perfect to wear that day.

"Miss Darcy!" One of the little girls from the choir broke hold of her mother's hand and scurried over to Georgiana as soon as she arrived at the church, throwing her arms around Georgiana's knees before apparently thinking better of so familiar a greeting and back-tracking as quickly as her little legs would carry her.

"Good afternoon, Sally!" Georgiana cried, bending down to straighten a bow in the little girl's hair. "You look very pretty today! Are you ready to do some singing?"

Sally blushed a shade of red that matched Georgiana's dress and nodded, her eyes wide with a sudden burst of shyness.

"Go on then, find your place with all the others!" Georgiana said, patting her on the shoulder and pointing towards the group of children who were being ordered into three straight lines by a patient army of mothers and older sisters.

"You too, George." Mrs Gardiner had entered the church shortly after Georgiana and bent to put Mary's feet on the floor, just in time for George to scurry away, completely abandoning his little sister in favour of Alexander, who he had just caught sight of. Mrs Gardiner let out a weary sigh as she straightened, patting her hair into place with a look of resignation.

"He seems excited to be here," Georgiana said.

"He has talked of nothing else all day!" Mrs Gardiner chuckled. "I trust you did not hear how he has modified the words to more than one of the songs they shall be singing this afternoon? I told him on pain of punishment not to think of substituting them in church." She bit back a smile. "I may have exaggerated how important this concert was to Mr Lambert, and how very naughty indeed it was to disobey a curate! I hope he won't mind me using him, but he is still an unknown quantity to George and thus the only one of us who might still pose any kind of a threat."

Georgiana laughed, wondering how anyone could find anything even vaguely threatening in the kind-hearted curate. She forced her memory back to their first meeting, when she had thought him grumpy and bad-tempered - but never a disciplinarian.

"Speaking of Mr Lambert! How well he looks this afternoon. I wonder who that is with him...perhaps some parishioners we have yet to meet, although they do look very well-acquainted with one another."

Georgiana turned, unable to hide her curiosity, and noticed two figures. One, a gentleman a year or two older than Daniel, leaned heavily on a cane and looked pale and anxious, his expression darting around the church nervously. The other was an older woman and realisation soon dawned on Georgiana that this must be Daniel's family. His mother and the brother he had mentioned only the previous day! Her heart went out to him on account of his infirmity and before she was fully conscious of moving she had begun to make her way closer to the trio, stopping only when Daniel looked up, catching her eye. She smiled, but instead of smiling back, as she had expected, his expression clouded over and he averted his gaze, turning back to speak to his mother. Georgiana paused in her progress, feeling slighted without really knowing why. She adjusted her path at the last moment, turning towards the children and deciding she would be better served by addressing her attention to the chaotic choir she was at least nominally responsible for, rather than inserting herself into a family group to which she could make no claim.

Perhaps he did not see me, a generous voice suggested to her, as she tried to wrangle her thoughts to focus on the task at hand. Or perhaps he did and wished he hadn't! Almost unconsciously, Georgiana reached a hand up to her curls, wishing that she had taken Lizzy up on her off of assistance. She was the expert in dressing hair as lovely as Georgiana's, she claimed, for she had spent most of her life managing her sister Jane's, and Georgiana's was, if it were possible, an even more lovely shade of gold. Georgiana, determined not to confess her attention to her appearance and risk Lizzy speculating over the reason for it, had refused, and wondered, now, if that had been an error. But, no. She did not think Daniel so fickle as to change his opinion of her on account of her hair.

The last minutes of preparation passed in a blur to Georgiana and almost before she was aware of it, the chatter of voices dropped to a low hum. When she glanced out over the church she was surprised to see every pew filled and realised, with a pinch of nervous anticipation, that the whole village had turned out to hear the concert. It makes sense, she reasoned. Everyone here has some connection to a child in the choir. It is their children they come to see! Even so, she felt a strange ripple of pleasure that her idea had been so well received. Her eyes strayed to the Darcy pew and she saw her brother and Elizabeth sitting comfortably together, ready to enjoy the performance. Mr and Mrs Gardiner were beside them, the latter looking a little nervous, as she scarcely dared to take her eyes off the mischievous George, who, to his credit, was behaving himself as the choir readied themselves to begin. Georgiana took a step forward, addressing her charges in a quiet whisper.

"Now, you need none of you feel nervous," she said, with a gentle smile at the youngest children in the front row, who were staring, wide-eyed at the crowd before them. "These are all your family and friends, and they just want to see you enjoying yourselves. So, big smiles!" She stretched her own lips wide in an exaggerated version and prompted a ripple of laughter. "And let's begin..."