“Other than some mild morning illness, I do not feel very different yet,” Elizabeth averred. “Well,” she blushed, “my breasts have been tender.”
“Have you felt the quickening yet?”
“Not yet. Mrs. Medford, the midwife you met, says I should feel it in early to the middle of May.”
“You do not know how long your husband will allow you to remain in Derbyshire in peace, do you?”
Elizabeth shook her head and decided to change the subject. “Janey, you recognise some of the young men, three of them do you not?” Elizabeth asked after they had thrown themselves onto the enormous four-poster bed.
“How would you know that?” Jane wondered.
Elizabeth related her meeting the three cousins at Castlemere. Jane began to giggle when she came to the part about Master Darcy’s insulting words. “He told me he made some wild accusations against you when they were not minding where they walked,” Elizabeth recalled.
“Yes, he did, although he was quick to apologise. But Lizzy, that does not explain your question.”
“What do you think of the Viscount?” Elizabeth asked a seemingly incongruous question.
“I hardly know him Lizzy, however…” Jane’s voice faded.
“Yes?”
“You will think me a romantic fool.”
“Janey, I think you romantic, but a fool? Never! Is it possible you felt a connection to him?” Jane nodded. “He has been seeking you out because he felt something similar for you.”
Jane sat upright. Her mouth opened and closed a few times and no sound came forth, but she did blush deeply. “But I am the daughter of an insignificant country squire who lives with her uncle who is in trade.”
“You are also the sister of a duchess and marchioness. Keep in mind that after I birth a son, you will be in possession of a large dowry.” Elizabeth sat up as well and took Jane’s hands in her own. “If he or any other man only sees your connections, fortune, and beauty at the exclusion of your character, then he, or they, do not deserve you. I have not been much in Lord Hilldale’s company, but I do not believe he is such a man.”
“I do not want to court expectations which may come to nought. First, before we speak of anything like that, he and I need to get to know one another and see if we suit. Before that, I want to spend time with my younger sister, not with a duchess orhiswife.”
Soon they were joined by the other three Bennet sisters. No one in the house thought them rude that they spent the next two hours talking among themselves before they joined the rest of the residents in the largest drawing room, where among other treats served with tea, was some of the pineapple Elizabeth had sent home with Anna.
Chapter 24
As planned, the Portnoy and Barrington families arrived at Pemberley on Wednesday afternoon past. To say they were surprised at the number of guests in residence was an understatement, and then to learn one of them was the Duchess of Hertfordshire had flabbergasted them.
Once the shock had worn off, everyone mixed well with new connections made and friendships begun. Missing was the one Portnoy daughter who had married and resigned that family name some four months previously. The other female cousin missing was Retta on the Barrington side, she had been married for over a year and was increasing, causing her and her husband to choose to remain at their estate in Devonshire.
As her eldest daughter would only enter her lying-in in two to three months, Darcy’s younger sister, Leticia, had joined her husband, son, and youngest daughter in travelling to her brother’s estate for Easter.
It was the Saturday before Easter and, as they had each day since the day after they arrived at Pemberley, Jane, Elizabeth, and Charlotte were taking a stroll around the manmade lake in front of the manor house.
Since she had been openly reunited with her family and friends, practically other than when she slept, Elizabeth was in the company of one or more of them. As they walked, Elizabethkept a reasonable pace knowing that neither Charlotte nor Jane walked as fast as was her wont. As always, they were followed at a distance by John and Brian.
Whathehad almost done that day when he stopped himself from striking her was not amusing, but Elizabeth could not but smile at Uncle Edward’s reaction when she had shared that detail with him the evening they arrived. He had been ready to charge back to London to find the deplorable old man and thrash him. Failing that, he wanted to go to Longbourn to punish Mr. Bennet for not protecting his daughters as he should have. However, between herself and Aunt Maddie, they had sufficiently calmed Uncle Edward by assuring him that the man had never actually struck her and since then, had not threatened to do so.
Once his equanimity had been restored, Elizabeth had explained how she had begged Aunt Maddie not to share that with him until he was far away from London.
“What makes you smile like that, Eliza?” Charlotte asked.
“I was thinking of Uncle Edward’s reaction when he was told about the day of my presentation,” Elizabeth revealed.
“He would not have been alone in returning to London had that man actually physically harmed you,” Charlotte surmised. “In fact, I think he would have been joined by most of the men here.”
“Unfortunately while he still lives, I am considered his property so he would say he is allowed to do what he will with something which belongs to him,” Elizabeth mused. “Enough about him. Is it my imagination or is Lawrence Portnoy interested in you Charlotte?”
Charlotte blushed and looked away. “Come Charlotte, do not be coy, it has only been a few days, but he always seeks you out,” Jane observed.
