Before Mr. and Mrs. Darcy knew it, they were preparing for the trip to Rosings Park for Easter with a two day stop at Longbourn.
There was no more question about Elizabeth Darcy carrying twins, the Accoucheur had made a visit to Pemberley a month earlier to examine her and confirmed he could hear two distinct heartbeats with the listening device he had acquired from a physician friend in France.
When asked about the trip south, he advised them as long as Mrs. Darcy felt comfortable enough, and they took the trip slowly, all should be well. To make sure there would be no strain on his wife, the master of Pemberley planned a five-day trip to Hertfordshire rather than the normal three days to ensure there were long periods of rest in between times of travelling.
In addition, he commissioned the coachworks in Lambton to fabricate a section to join the rear and forward-facing benches on one side of the coach so a mattress and pillows could be placed allowing his wife to recline whenever she chose to. They still had half the length of each bench to sit on when that was desired.
After checking for the tenth time that his wife felt well enough to travel, the caravan with the biggest and most comfortable Darcy coach in the lead started the journey toward Longbourn.
There were two additional carriages, one for the personal servants and one spare, and a wagon with their trunks, all of which was accompanied by eight outriders including the two giant footmen that had moved to Pemberley with Mrs. Darcy.
On the fifth day, just after the final stop and rest for lunch, the caravan lumbered through Meryton, and a mile later came to a stop at Longbourn. Mr and Mrs Bennet and the twins, who were on a term break from Cambridge, met them in front of the house. An enormous Elizabeth Darcy was assisted from the conveyance by her very solicitous husband.
“My darling girl, you are even larger than I was two months before my lying in with Tom and James. How are you, my Lizzy? Was it wise to make this long trip?” Fanny rushed over to check on her second born.
“All is good, Mama. Our accoucheur came to examine me at Pemberley four weeks ago. He confirmed we are having twins, said I was very healthy, and as long as I felt well and did not overexert myself, I could make this trip. That is the reason William planned for us to take five days to get here. We never rode for more than one or two hours without a break.” Lizzy held her mother’s arm for support. After being seated for some time, she was a little unsteady on her feet.
“I am happy to see you are still living up to your pledge to me to always care for her wellbeing, son,” Bennet welcomed Darcy.
“That is my life’s work, Bennet. She is the most precious thing in the world to me.” He smiled, lost in the vision of his wife.
After greeting the twins, the party proceeded indoors where the Hills, who had known theirlittle Miss Lizzysince birth, were treated to hello hugs and were amazed at the size of the normally petite second Bennet daughter.
The Darcys slowly made their way up to their suite, where their personal servants had baths ready for them. When they entered the orange drawing room, Richard and Mary had joined the party. It was easy to see Mary was with child, but she was nowhere near the size her sister Elizabeth had been at the same stage.
“Good to see my brother and sister looking so well. Lizzy, you are almost as wide as you are tall,” Richard teased as he hugged each.
“Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Richard. I am happy to see you and my sister as well. How are you doing with your pregnancy, Mary?” Lizzy shifted her focus to her beloved sister.
“It is much better now, Lizzy. For more than three weeks I have not been sick in the mornings, and I am able to eat normally again. I am sure I am carrying Richard’s son as he kicks me all day and night,” Mary huffed at her husband playfully.
“That is what it was like for me with Lizzy. I too thought she was a boy, but as you can see, I was wrong.” Fanny smiled at Bennet.
“I remember, my dear. Lizzy hardly allowed you to rest, and we were both convinced that she was a boy.” Bennet looked at his wife lovingly.
“Did we kick you a lot, Mama?” James asked, certain he needed to apologise if they did.
“No James, you and Tom were very calm and only kicked me occasionally. That is why we never suspected I was carrying twins and what above all convinced me the babe was another girl. We were so sure we had already picked out the name Lydia.”
“Well, I for one am glad you did not name either of us Lydia! James or I would have been teased mercilessly with a girl’s name,” Tom announced, bowing in appreciation to his mother.
“As soon as we knew we had sons, it was but the work of a moment to choose your names instead. It is only just now I am glad your mother and I decided Lydia was not a name for a boy.” Bennet winked at his sons, who were now quite a bit taller and larger than he was. As they approached their seventeenth year, he was looking at young men, not boys any longer.
“William, have you and Lizzy thought of names yet?” Fanny asked.
“Other than the first name for our first son, no Mother Bennet we have not. We want to wait until the babes are birthed and we know what they are, and then we will choose the names together. The tradition in the Darcy family has been to name the first-born son with the mother’s former family name, so our first son’s first name will be Bennet.” Darcy nodded at Mrs. Bennet in deference.
“William and I have spoken about it, and we will call him Ben for short, not Benny, Ben!” Lizzy warned all present.
“Yes, I can see how Benny Darcy would not sound well; maybe that is what I will call him...” Richard mused.
“Richard! No, you will not!” Was the retort from his wife as she playfully slapped his shoulder, “Stop teasing your brother and sister!” Mary sighed with feigned exasperation.
“Yes, my liege,” Richard capitulated with a big grin on his face. “We forgot to ask you Lizzy and William, on the return from Rosings we know you will break here for some days, so Mary and I would like to invite you to stay at Netherfield. I am sure Mother Bennet and Bennet will not be put out as you are being hosted here now.”
After looking at her husband and getting a nod, Lizzy accepted on their behalf.
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