With his knowledge of what the army needed in its horses, he tailored the stock to meet the military’s needs, andwithin four years of beginning the programme, he had nearly doubled the six thousand pounds per annum his estate was earning.
Mary gave birth to a daughter, Rebecca Beth, called Becky, in August 1813. She was not Becca and Thomas’s first granddaughter or grandchild born, but like all of them, she was treasured by her grandparents and great-grandparents. Two years later, Mary delivered a son and heir. Less than two years thereafter, a second son was born. He was followed by a daughter, the baby of their family, fourteen months after the younger son.
Like both sets of their parents, Mary and Richard came to love and appreciate each other more and more with each passing day of their marriage. They had occasional disagreements, but the resolving of said events was very enjoyable.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Becca, Thomas, Mama, and Mother were seated on a shaded veranda watching some of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren playing in the park. Mama and Mother were much more frail, as would be expected of ladies who had entered their eighth decade, but were still as sharp as ever, even if they needed to rest more, required more assistance, and moved slower than they used to.
Those in the park were under the watchful eyes of some nursemaids and the ever-vigilant John, Brian, and two more of their men.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When Elizabeth and Liam had approached her mother and Thomas about employing John and Brian, Becca and Bennet had agreed after ascertaining that the two wanted to be employed by Miss Lizzy and her husband. They did, and theyrecommended one of the other guards, who had been an officer, to take over command of the remaining Bennet footmen guards.
John Biggs and Brian Johns had travelled to Pemberley after the wedding trip. Elizabeth and Liam had no threats against them, but the latter felt much more secure knowing that one or both were with her when Elizabeth rode across Pemberley’s fields without him. Since the birth of their offspring, the two enormous men would protect the children fiercely, if the need ever arose. The Darcys, like the rest of the extended family, employed as many former officers and soldiers as they could.
Elizabeth gave birth to a son in December 1812, eleven months after her marriage. He was not the first, but rather the second grandchild for Becca and Bennet. Following the Darcy tradition which had given Liam the name Fitzwilliam, the Darcy heir was named Bennet Liam, Ben to friends and family. Three more sons followed Ben, about a year and a half between each one.
Lizzy and Liam despaired they would not have a daughter, but a little more than two years after the fourth son was born, the Darcys were gifted with a daughter. Liam was charmed by his daughter, who looked just like her mama, down to the emerald-green eyes.
Although their stubborn natures occasionally put them on opposite sides of an argument, those cases were few and far between. The Darcys had both wanted a partnership, and they had a true one, not just in name.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The first Bennet granddaughter, grandchild, to meet her grandparents and great-grandparents was born—in August 1812—to Jane and Andrew. Jane had conceived towards the end of their honeymoon, based on when Georgiana Constance, calledGigi, was born. A little more than a year later, a second daughter joined the family.
Jane had worried she would only bear daughters. Andrew had assured her that it mattered not because if Mary bore a son, then the earldom would continue with a by-blood Fitzwilliam as the future earl.
A little less than two years later Jane’s worries were proved to be groundless when she and Andrew were blessed with a son and heir. Over the next four years, two more sons joined their family.
Even though Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam was still alive and relatively spry, he and his wife had handed the running of Snowhaven and the rest of the properties over to Jane and Andrew. The Earl still attended the sessions in the Lords, but he and his beloved wife, when they were not spending time with their various grandchildren and surrogate ones—all of the Bennet offspring considered them to be grandparents to their children—they lived in the rather spacious dower house at Snowhaven.
Matlock had taken the death of his brother and best friend, the late Duke of Devonshire, very hard when the latter had succumbed to a problem with his heart some two years previously. That had been the impetus for his decision to step back and enjoy whatever remaining time God granted him on the mortal coil.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Becca looked at her mother sitting next to her. Mama had taken the death of her beloved William extremely hard, and at first, she had only wished to join him in heaven. It was Will, the new duke, Connie, and herself who had brought Mama out of her deep melancholy. They had reminded her that Papa would have been most distressed to see her like that. They assisted theirmother to see that her children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren were in need of her limitless love.
It had taken her a month or so, but eventually Becca’s mama had looked at her life with a renewed purpose. She had been determined to remain in deep mourning for a full year, and thereafter she would wear the muted colours of half mourning for the rest of her days, so she would never forget what she had lost.
Detecting some movement, Becca looked up and saw Henry and Maria approaching the group sitting on the veranda.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Even though for many years Henry had only seen Maria Lucas as the younger sister of his two eldest sisters’ good friend, by the time Maria was nineteen, Henry had fallen in love with her. They had courted, become engaged—much to Sir William’s approbation—and married in April of 1815 when Henry was four and twenty.
The two had begun their married life living in the large and completely rebuilt dower house at Longbourn. A little more than a year after the wedding, a son, Lucas Henry, was born. Lucas was followed by a brother in early 1818 and a sister in late 1819.
Due to Maria and Henry’s expanding family and their having no children at home, Becca and Bennet had insisted their son and daughter-in-law move into Longbourn, and they took the dower house.
Becca smiled as she saw her daughter rub the expanding bump in her belly. Maria was with child again, and the babe would arrive in June or July of the current year.
Thoughts of their children naturally led Becca to consider her two youngest.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In May of 1815, once Tommy completed his studies at Cambridge…Becca stopped her musings and corrected herself. The year he had entered the university, he had asked to be called Tom, no longer the more youthful appellation of Tommy. By the time Tom graduated, it had become obvious that her youngest son and Giana Darcy were very much in love. He was one and twenty, and she was almost twenty.
