~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“At least, at eighteen Henry is too young to be thinking of a wife,” Elizabeth remarked just before they entered the drawing room.
“True, but it was not too young for Lyddie to be courted,” Cilla sang.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The aforementioned Henry had just completed his first year at Cambridge, and as had been intimated by his sister, there was nary a thought of a future wife in his head.Like James before him, he would take a grand tour once he graduated, and on his return, he would learn all there was to know about running Netherfield Park.
Lydia had come out at eighteen during the season of 1821. After telling one and all she wanted to experience a few seasons before accepting a suitor, that idea fell to the wayside when she danced with Lord Paul Carrington—the heir to the Earl of Holder—who had just reached his majority after graduating from Cambridge the previous year. She had thought her feelings for him were a girlish infatuation. However, when she saw him at her ball—she had not seen him for some years previously—and how he made her feel as they danced, she promptly fell in love with him, and it was no girlish infatuation.
Although Paul was past his majority, his parents and hers suggested they have a long courtship and longer engagement. If he proposed and if she accepted, he would be at least four and twenty before they married.
The two had agreed to the two sets of parents’ stipulations. They were both well pleased the year of courtship would be complete in June of the current year. When Paul proposed and Lydia accepted him, they would have a two year engagement prior to marrying.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On entering the drawing room, a heartwarming sight met them. Aunt Catherine was sitting in one corner, reading a story to some of the younger children. The lady who had thought she would never have any grandchildren of her own had been made an honorary grandmother to all of the children in the extended family.
As much as she loved seeing Aunt Catherine with the children, it reminded Elizabeth of the loss of Grandmama Beth. It had been some years that Mama and Papa had insisted Grandmama move back into the manor house. It wasin December 1819, not many days after Elizabeth had shared that she was with child once again, that Grandmama Beth had passed in her sleep at Longbourn.
Between four children from Jane and David, and two from herself and William, before Grandmama Beth had been called home to her final reward, she had met and been overjoyed with her six great-grandchildren.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Jane and David had been the mistress and master of Willowmere for the last seven years. When their second daughter had been born in September 1817, the first having joined the family in November 1815, Cilla and Wendell decided it was time to switch homes with their eldest son and his wife. At first, the younger Wendells had protested, but the older couple had been adamant.
They had argued that they were only two people living in the manor house, while after first Elizabeth Frances, called Eliza much to her Aunt Charlotte’s approbation, and next Catherine Jane, who before she was two, began to be called Kitty, thanks to her love of cats, were born, Jane and David were running out of room at the dower house. The younger Wendells soon saw the logic in the decision to switch homes, especially when Jane began to increase again.
So it was, in December 1819, that identical twin sons, Joseph Stephen and Thomas Reginald were born in Willowmere’s manor house’s birthing chamber. Little Joe, as he was called, would be another Joseph Wendell. He was older than his brother, Thomas, by a half hour.
Being only five miles from Pemberley meant that it was never a hardship to visit one estate or the other. Both Hilldale and Glenmeade were less than thirty miles from the estates in Derbyshire, and after all, what was thirty miles of good road? Visits between the extended family estates were numerous, and that included Granville in Nottinghamshire.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elizabeth and Darcy took seats near Charlotte and Barney. “I see your older two listening to Grandmama Catherine with rapt attention,” Elizabeth observed.
“No more so than Ben and little Eliza,” Charlotte replied.
“Ben, Prisci, Robby, and this one,” Elizabeth tapped her belly, “have no choice but to be bibliophiles given their parents and the library they have access to in this house. If they did not like the written word, I would think someone had substituted my children with others.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
It had been about three years after the wedding before Charlotte began to increase. She had presented Barney with a son and heir in November 1815. He was christened Stephen David for Barney’s great-uncle. Stephen’s brother, William Joseph named after his two grandfathers, had arrived in July 1817. The third child, a daughter who had been named Sarah Priscilla for her grandmothers, had joined the family at Glenmeade in February 1820.
As he had planned to do when Barney turned thirty in May 1815, Stephen Granger signed Glenmeade over to his nephew. Thanks to his hope being restored by Ellie’s discovery, rather than give up and wait for his death, Stephen lived a full life surrounded by his ever-growing number of great nieces and nephews.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“It is a pity Emily and Andrew will not be at Giana’s wedding, although the reason is a good one,” Elizabeth stated.
“I would say so,” Darcy responded, “Our cousin is soon to enter her lying in with her fifth child. Which explains why the Carringtons are not here, and why Aunt Elaine and Uncle Reggie will depart for Hilldale right after the ceremony, even before the wedding breakfast.”
“Richard and Melody will travel to Hilldale also, but after the celebratory meal. With Richard being one of Giana’s guardians, he could not countenance leaving early. You do know their four will remain here with us, do you not?” Elizabeth reminded William.
“Yes, I do know, as tiring as having the Fitzwilliam brothers and their rambunctious ways without Richard here to rein them in will be,” Darcy stated with a grin. It was no secret he enjoyed having Richard’s sons around him as much as any of the other offspring of the extended family.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
