Elizabeth and Mary retired to prepare for dinner with the family that evening. When they joined their parents in the courtyard before climbing in their coach, Bennet informed his daughters that the King had accepted his son’s recommendation, and the now ex-Lord would be on the first ship sailing to Botany Bay after the wedding.
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“Did that gambler, Hamstead, not notice the escorts?” Lord Holder asked. He shook his head at the man’s folly while the men sat enjoying their libations and cigars after dinner.
“He was desperate enough that he threw caution to the wind,” Richard reported. “I watched as he made his ill-advised charge—if one can call it that. It was barely above walking speed. The only question was who would stop him first. Unfortunately for Hamstead, he was closest to Johns, who had the hapless man flat on his back in an instant.”
“After today, the rectitude of our decision to allow Lizzy and William to marry now has proven to be for the best.” The Prince raised his glass of port to Bennet. “The man is lucky Johns took him down when he did. Had he gotten closer, the guards would not have hesitated to run him through.”
“There is nothing the man could have done that would have deterred me from marrying Lizzy in two days,” William stated definitively as he blew cigar smoke out.
“He is lucky he did not lay a finger on her, as then nothing would have saved him from the tower,” the Prince informed them.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“You know how happy your mother would have been if she were still with us to witness you marrying, Lizzy,” Darcy said wistfully as he looked to the heavens. “Your use of Seaview would have pleased her as well. It may not be warm enough for sea bathing yet, though.”
“It will be much warmer than when Jane and I were there during December and January after our wedding in ’07,” Andrew stated and then took a sip of his cognac.
“We will still have four children at home, but I suspect we will lose one more in the next two years,” Bennet stated as he looked towards Wes.
Wes had a faraway look on his face, which slowly transformed to a grin as he thought about Mary, with whom he was well on his way to falling in love. ‘Yes, Bennet, you have the right of it. If Mary and I have any say in the matter, she will be leaving your protection in about two years,’ Wes told himself with anticipation. He and Mary had made no verbal declarations to each other as yet, but they spent as much time together as propriety allowed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The ladies drank tea in the music room while Anne played softly in the background. Catherine, whose playing had improved somewhat under the tutelage ofSignoreda Funti, still marvelled at how well her daughter played the instrument. Thankfully, she had ceased berating herself about the past and was able to look to the present, and the future, rather than being caught up worrying about that which she could not change.
Lady Sarah was thankful every day that her children and granddaughter had accepted her back into their lives. For almost her full year of mourning, she had blamed herself for not finding a way to contact Priscilla. It took her son, daughter, and granddaughter some time to convince her none of them held her responsible for the actions of her late husband, and that she should leave the past where it belonged.
Because their circumstances were similar and coupled with the fact they were often in company with their shared family, Lady Sarah and Catherine had become good friends. The former found it helpful to talk to the latter about the changes she had made in her life. In addition, Lady Sarah forged an extremely close relationship with Priscilla’s daughter—her granddaughter. It was balm to her soul to be with Elizabeth; she saw Priscilla’s eyes looking back at her when they were together.
Fanny watched her second daughter as she sat with her sisters, Gigi, and Cassie. How she would miss Lizzy when she left home in two days! She knew she would see her daughter often during the year, but for Fanny it was as though she were losing Priscilla again.
Watching the gathering, Fanny thought about Lizzy’s generous spirit. Before they all departed for Town, Lizzy asked Uncle Phillips to draft a document which gifted Netherfield to the Bennets effective on her marriage, as the bequest from her mother would be hers when she and William married. Elizabeth also wanted to augment her sister’s dowries. She was told that, thanks to Uncle Gardiner’s management and because money had been added each year to the amount bequeathed by her birthmother, the amount had grown to more than thirty thousand pounds each. None of the younger Bennet girls lacked for a dowry.
“Are you ready to marry your William, Lizzy?” Jane asked, though she already knew the answer to her question.
“Yes. In fact, I have been ready for some time now. I believe William and I will be as happy in our marriage as you and Andrew, Anne and Jamey, and Cassie and Richard. It seems members of this family have chosen good life mates,” Elizabeth opined.
“It is because none of us have ignored our hearts,” Jane stated. “It looks like Mary has been listening to her heart, too, have you not, Sister?”
“It is still two years before I come out—well, a little less than—so it is premature to talk of my future.” Mary’s pleasurable blush belied her words, proving that her connubial future was something she thought about often.
“I am very happy I will be the last of my sisters to marry,” Lydia stated meaningfully. “Until I meet a man who excites a love in me like I see in my sisters, our parents, and our relatives, I have no interest in thinking about matrimony.”
“You are not fourteen yet, Lyddie, so it is only right you should think so. You have years to go before you come out,” Cassie pointed out.
“It is so exciting,” Georgiana enthused. “In less than two days we will all be sisters and brothers.” She looked to Tommy as she said the last.
Tommy no longer thought girls the strangest creatures in the world, but he still preferred the company of boys. He and Eddy Gardiner, almost eleven, were sitting in a corner of the room planning a game with their toy soldiers for the morrow.
The men joined the ladies and were served tea and coffee. A little over an hour later, the Bennets and the Prince departed for Buckingham House. The next time Elizabeth and William would see one another, she would be walking to him up the aisle at Westminster Abbey.
Chapter 34
Friday, the day before the wedding, Jane arrived at Buckingham House to be with her sister on her last day as an unmarried woman. They stood together looking at the wedding gown Elizabeth was to wear on the morrow. It was white satin, puffy sleeves slightly off the shoulder, with a gossamer overlay embellished with diamond chips. The long train would flow behind her as she walked up the aisle. Thankfully, Peter would be helping with her train as she walked.
Elizabeth would have preferred a simple dress like the one Jane wore at her wedding, but since hers was a royal wedding, that was not possible. Her trousseau had been ordered during a trip to Town before they arrived at Buckingham House. Being poked, prodded, and measured by London’s premier modiste, Madam Chambourg, was not her favourite thing to do. Madam Chambourg, who only accepted new clients occasionally—and then with a long waiting period—made an exception for the Queen’s granddaughter. Her shop had been closed to the public for a little more than a week to accommodate Princess Beth’s huge order. Elizabeth and others in the family had completed their final fittings since arriving at Buckingham House.
