“It seems that you are besotted with Jane.” Andrew grinned.
“And you are not with Emily?” David shot back. “As Father is with Mother, and Uncle is with Aunt Elaine.”
“Yes, well, you have me there,” Andrew admitted.
“I envy our cousins who remained at Longbourn,” David sighed. “Do you think the ladies are ready to return now?”
Notwithstanding his claim that he was not in love with Jane yet, the men in the study with David gave one another knowing looks. David may not be ready to admit it to himself, but he was in love with Jane Bennet.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Fanny, would you object if Elaine, Emily, and I planned an engagement ball at Netherfield Park?” Cilla asked once the ladies were seated in the drawing room.
Aside from Fanny and Maddie, Jane and Lizzy were present with the four ladies who were residents at Netherfield Park. Giana and Mary had been joined by Lydia and Henry in the music room, the latters’ lessons completed for the day. The men had returned as well, and other than a short greeting to Jane, David had repaired to the library with the rest of the men.
“Mrs Wendell, I appreciate that you would like to, but there is no need,” Jane demurred with a blush.
“Jane dear, you call Fanny, Mama, do you not?” Cilla enquired.
“I do,” Jane replied.
In that case, please call me Mother. You may address my sister as Aunt Elaine, her sister as Aunt Catherine, and with Emily, please use her given name,” Cilla allowed. As she spoke their names, each lady nodded her agreement.
“Ellie already addresses me as Aunt Catherine, so I would like to extend that to all of your sisters and brothers,” Lady Catherine added.
The other ladies permitted the same.
“Jane dear, although the ball will celebrate your engagement, it is also our way of thanking everyone in the neighbourhood for the way they opened their hearts to Ellie. All they knew was that she was a foundling who could have been the daughter of a servant as much as she was gently born, and yet, from what we have heard so far, Ellie was accepted without any reservations,” Cilla explained.
She had not wanted her new family to go to so much trouble. However, when Mother clarified the other reason behind the desire to have a ball, Jane knew that any further opposition would be missish. “In that case, I thank you. I am sure David will join me in that,” she accepted.
“I spoke to Mrs Nichols before we departed, and she told me that Cook can have enough white soup made in a little more than a sennight,” Lady Catherine informed the other ladies inthe drawing room.
Fanny walked over to the escritoire and picked up the calendar. “What say you to the eighteenth day of October for the ball? It is a Friday and a little over a fortnight from now. That should give us enough time to prepare all that is needed. I assume that will allow enough time if you wish to invite any friends you desire to from London,” she suggested.
Before she replied, Cilla stood and walked to the sofa where Ellie was seated with Jane and Madeline Gardiner. “Ellie dear, would you object if at the ball we announce that unlike most in society believe, you are very much alive, and we have discovered you? We would also make an announcement in the papers. If you think it is too soon, we will say not a word,” she asked her daughter gently.
Elizabeth cogitated for some moments. She came to the conclusion that if she refused, although her mother and father would not complain, it would be selfish. She still had some anxieties about the future, but all of her major concerns had been laid to rest. “No, Mother, I do not object,” she replied.
As soon as she heard Ellie address her as mother, tears began to flow, and there was nothing Cilla could do to stop them. She understood that to Ellie, Fanny was Mama, but to be called a name which designated her one of Ellie’s parents once again, after not hearing her do so for well over seventeen years, lifted the final weight off her heart. Cilla sat down on the sofa and pulled Ellie into a tight embrace. She saw that her daughter was concerned she had said the wrong thing. “Be not concerned, Ellie, my darling girl. These are tears of joy.”
At that moment, it hit Elizabeth that Mother’s reaction was because she had used the moniker Mother. As she looked around the room, she saw that all of the ladies, Jane included, had moist eyes. Given the many years during which they were separated, Elizabeth understood her mother’s reaction. Madeline moved to take the seat where Cilla had been sitting, making room for the latter to sit next to her daughter.
“Now, Fanny, I think it is time to hear more about how Ellie was as a child and how she was growing up,” Lady Matlock prompted.
Cilla turned to Ellie as she took the hand closest to her in one of her hands. “Now that you know we enjoyed you hiding away, I hope you will take pleasure in that once again, even if you are alittleolder now than you were then,” she said with a twinkle in her emerald-green eyes.
“You said that Barney will arrive on the morrow or the day following, did you not?” Elizabeth asked. Her mother allowed it was true. Elizabeth turned to her other mother. “Mama, has Papa called James home?”
Fanny nodded that it was so. “We expect him before Friday,” she replied.
“In that case, whenallmy brothers and sisters are present, we will play a long-overdue game of hide and go seek. It is time,” Elizabeth said.
Both Cilla and Fanny had wide smiles on their faces. That Elizabeth was willing to hide away again, something she had steadfastly refused to do ever since she had been discovered in the carriage, was a clear sign of her recovery.
Jane felt lighter of spirit than ever. Even though Lizzy never spoke of the past any longer, she knew it had weighed on her. As much as Jane would have liked to alleviate Lizzy’s concerns, she had been powerless to do so, especially when the nightmares would strike her younger sister.
This was all occurring at a perfect time before Jane was married in January. She was sure that with so many questions being answered for Lizzy, she would no longer need the kind of support she had since coming to Longbourn. Jane was confident her younger sister would no longer rely on her as a constant calming force in her life or someone to keep close to at night.
