Darcy & Caroline

Prompt: What if Darcy would have married Caroline Bingley?

Fitzwilliam Darcy had always prided himself on his measured approach to life. Marriage, he believed, should be an arrangement of sense rather than sentiment, a union of status and compatibility rather than unpredictable passion. And so, after a season of deliberation, he had made the sensible choice: he had married Miss Caroline Bingley.

Miss Bingley; now Mrs. Darcy; was everything a man of his standing should desire in a wife. She was accomplished, well connected, and keenly aware of the responsibilities required of a mistress of Pemberley. She understood, as few women did, the weight of prestige and propriety, and she carried herself with the air of one who had at last attained the position she had long coveted. Yet, though she had secured the marriage she so desperately wished for, happiness remained elusive.

Their early days at Pemberley were marked by careful civility. Caroline worked tirelessly to establish herself as the lady of the house, ensuring every ball, dinner, and engagement was executed flawlessly. She filled Pemberley’s grand halls with the most fashionable guests, determined to make their society the envy of Derbyshire. And yet, despite all her efforts, she could not warm her husband’s cool and distant demeanor.

Darcy, for his part, did his duty. He provided Caroline with everything she required; a household of distinction, a steady presence at her side, and the respectability of being the mistress of Pemberley. But he could not offer her what he did not feel: love. His heart remained untouched, locked away in memories of wit, warmth, and the playful impertinence of a woman who had once challenged him as no other ever had. A woman who had refused him. A woman he had, perhaps, foolishly let go.

Caroline sensed it. She sensed it in the way his gaze sometimes drifted over the Derbyshire countryside, as if searching for something...or someone. She sensed it in the way he avoided conversation about certain Hertfordshire connections, in the way his formal politeness never gave way to affection. He was, at all times, a perfect gentleman. But he was never a devoted husband.

As the years passed, they settled into a polite but empty routine. Pemberley flourished under their careful management, and in the eyes of society, their marriage was a triumph. Yet, when Caroline retired to her grand chambers alone, and Darcy walked the halls in restless solitude, both knew that something essential had been lost in the making of their perfect match.

In another life, perhaps, Darcy would have chosen differently. In another life, he might have allowed himself to believe that love could be more than a youthful fancy. But in this life, he had made the practical choice.

And in doing so, he had ensured a lifetime of quiet, well mannered regret.