On the final day they were at Snowhaven—the Lucases and Barney had departed the previous morning—the residents were all in the dining parlour when the butler announced a coach was arriving.
“I wager that is mylittlebrother arriving back from Granville,” Andrew opined.
“Let us hope that Melody wanted to see him. After whatI heard of her first marriage, I could understand her never wanting to go near another man,” Lady Matlock worried.
About ten minutes later, Richard appeared at the drawing room door looking rather forlorn. “I did call at Granville, but unfortunately Melody…”
“Oh, Richard, I am so very sad for you. You have loved her for so long and to be turned away like that. I was worried her previous marriage had convinced her never to marry again,” Lady Matlock lamented.
“As I was about to say, Mother. Melody was overjoyed to see me, and we are engaged.” Richard turned, reached his hand out and he and a beaming Lady Melody entered the drawing room hand in hand. “My betrothed decided to end her mourning at six months. Her former father-in-law is not well pleased, but the Earl of Sainsbury’s bluster does not concern us.”
There was a cacophony of wishes for a felicitous future, and many hugs welcoming Melody to the family. Between the exclamations of joy, Lady Melody was introduced to Elizabeth and the Bennets.
Lady Melody Ranger—she refused to allow anyone to use that last name when referring to her—was about the same height as Jane. She too had blue eyes, but she was a strawberry blonde with a little bit of a wave in her hair. Seeing the way she lit up whenever she and Richard looked at one another left no doubt of the love between them.
Having been received with great warmth by her soon to be parents-in-law, Lady Melody stopped in front of Elizabeth as soon as she was able to step away from them.
“If I remember the brief introductions between wishes for our future felicity, you must be Ellie. Richard told me all about how you were discovered. If I did not know that he does not dissemble, I would have thought it was all imagined. However, seeing you before me and how closely you look likeyour mother and the Countess would have told me who you are, even before Richard told me all. It is so good that you were found,” Melody stated.
“Thank you for the welcome, Lady Melody.” Elizabeth curtsied.
“We are soon to be cousins, none of this Lady nonsense. Please call me Melody, may I address you as Ellie, or do you prefer Lizzy like the family who raised you call you?”
“Yes, Melody, I would be happy for you to call me by my familiar name,” Elizabeth allowed. “As to the names, I answer to both. Seeing that you will be Richard’s wife, and he calls me Ellie, it will be less confusing if you use that name as well.”
“Have you and Richard decided on a date you will marry?” Jane enquired. “David and I will marry in January. And please address me as Jane.”
“Richard did tell me about David Wendell’s engagement to you, Jane,” Lady Melody responded. “As we have waited for some years longer than either of us desired, we will marry on the final Saturday of November, the final day of the month.”
“Will you marry from your brother’s estate?” Elizabeth queried.
“Indeed, Harry and Marie arrived back at Granville two days previously, and agreed that Granville is where I should marry,” Lady Melody reported. “Even though as a woman of age, and a widow beside, I did not require my brother’s permission, there was no question about Harry giving his permission and blessing for Richard and me to marry.”
By Marie she meant Lady Marie Smythe née Russell—the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford—was the Countess of Granville and Lady Melody’s sister-in-law.
“I understand my brother and sister met you at the ball in Hertfordshire?” Lady Melody continued.
“Yes, we did meet there. He told us you wanted to attend but you were in mourning for your late husband,” Elizabethresponded. “It seems that is no longer the case. I offer you my sympathy for the loss…”
“Do not. Please know that it was a relief,” Lady Melody insisted. “I honoured my father and accepted his choice, and against my better judgement, spoke my vows. However, I regretted the union every day and can only be thankful that in His wisdom, He did not allow any children to be born to not only a loveless marriage, but a marriage based on mutual disdain. My former father-in-law is very angry that his line will end with him, but it is as it should be.”
“Will you join us when we travel south on the morrow? Or are you for Granville?” Elizabeth asked.
“Granville for me. Richard will be there by mid-November, and then hopefully, the rest of you a sennight or so later so you may attend our wedding,” Lady Melody invited. “Formal invitations will arrive in a few days.”
“It is not hard to see what attracted Richard to you, Melody. You will do very well together,” Elizabeth opined.
A few days later, after Richard had returned Melody—who had become very close to all—and her maid to Granville, the extended family began their journey back to Longbourn and Netherfield Park.
Chapter 26
He heard talk that the Bennets, and more importantly the lost Ellie Wendell, had returned to Longbourn. He knew he needed to be very careful because one slip would see him swing at the end of a hangman’s rope.
As far as he knew, no one was seeking him, but he could not take a chance that it would remain so.
It would be best if he could keep his hands clean, like he had intended all those years ago, but there were two impediments to his employing someone to do the deed. He had not enough coin—such men wanted their price before they would act—and in the weeks he had been in Meryton, he had not discovered a single person who would be willing to take on such a charge. No, local help was definitely not something he could chance. The Bennets, and the little brat in particular, were too well liked for him to find a sympathetic ear in this backwater.
He smiled as he thought back to that fateful night. He had used ‘little one’ as he had heard others call her, and it had worked. Any mistrust or dislike she may have had towards him had evaporated when he had called her that. He had been debating how to get her to follow him without raising the alarm when she had provided him the perfect opening in speaking of her desire to see faeries and pixies. Magic potion indeed! It had been an inspiration to tell her that.
