Once he had placed Franny in her cradle, he instructed the on-duty nursemaid to have each of their children’s names written on a card and placed on the relevant cradle. He returned to find his wife fast asleep, so he called the nurse back in, gently kissed his wife’s forehead, then retired to his chambers.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
When Elizabeth awoke, she knew it was late due to the angle of the sun. She shook her head to banish the sleepiness and looked around. She saw Jacqui sitting and chatting with the day nurse, then she saw her beloved husband and her mother talking quietly. Darcy sensed his Lizzy was awake and was at her bedside in an instant, followed only a little more sedately by her mother.
“Oh, Lizzy, I love the names of all four of your babies. If I am not careful, I will again start crying at the thought of them.” Her mother held her hand tight.
“I dare any of my sisters to do it better,” Elizabeth stated, smiling as she won her mother’s laugh.
“Oh dear, I will not tell them they are in competition or there will be many a late-night planning session.” She kissed her daughter’s forehead as Darcy chuckled, agreeing the men would be up many a night were they issued such a challenge.
After she was examined by Sir Frederick and pronounced out of danger, Elizabeth ate a light breakfast then her husband asked everyone to give them some privacy. Before she left, he whispered an instruction to Lizzy’s maid who nodded and headed for the servant’s stairs.
Soon there was a soft knock on the door and Mrs. Reynolds entered. Now the mistress was informed about her daughter who had gone to God, Darcy told the housekeeper to see to the arrangement for Lydia to be buried between her Darcy grandparents on the morrow in the morning.
The mood lightened as the family all took turns visiting Elizabeth when she was awake. After being notified her friend was well on the way to recovery, Charlotte Elliot visited, along with Grace and her husband.
Grace was fascinated by the three new Darcys, proclaiming she would be a goodolderfriend to them. Now the three new Darcys were named, notifications were sent to friends and family as was a notification to the papers.
Invariably when awake, all three of the babes were in the mistress’s chambers being admired by grandparents, great aunt and uncle, or their newly minted aunts and uncles. Tom and James after completing their first year at Trinity College, were staying at the estate of a friend from university and would travel to Derbyshire a few weeks after Jane’s lying in.
News of the birth of an heir of Pemberley, as well as his brother and sister, spread like wildfire through the staff and out to the surrounding community. The news brought great joy and relief, the continuity of the Darcy line being secured, and with it the livelihood of so many that depended on Pemberley for their economic prosperity, was the news anxiously anticipated from the day a Darcy was betrothed.
The one sad note was the day their tiny Lydia was laid to rest between her paternal grandparents. The service was conducted by Mr. Elliot and attended by all of the men residing at Pemberley, along with the senior male staff.
The women and Charlotte Elliot sat with Elizabeth to give her strength during her daughter’s funeral. The sadness was not allowed to overshadow the joy of three healthy babes now resident in the nursery at Pemberley.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Life settled into a comfortable pattern of time spent with the children and visits with the family and the Elliots. A sennight after the birth, Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy felt strong enough to get out of her bed and walk the halls of the floor their chambers were on.
After her walk, Sir Frederick examined Mrs. Darcy one more time and announced her perfectly healthy, and proclaimed she could return to her normal level of activity, including walking and riding, as soon as she felt able to. The accoucheur and his two nurses departed Pemberley the next morning to return to Town with many thanks from the family and a substantial amount of money for services rendered.
Now that his wife was out of bed, Darcy asked his friend Patrick Elliot to conduct the christening on the following day. Even though they could not travel, Richard and Mary Fitzwilliam were named godparents of the heir, Bennet Alexander Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane and Charles Bingley were asked to be godparents of George Thomas Fitzwilliam Darcy, while Francine Anne Elizabeth Darcy gained Charlotte and Patrick Elliot as godparents.
After the christening, the Bennets and the Bingleys departed for Longfield Meadows to prepare for the final stages of Jane’s confinement, while all of the Fitzwilliams headed south toward Netherfield Park to prepare for Mary’s lying in.
The new and very proud aunts, Georgiana and Kitty, remained at Pemberley. Now that the family had departed and the house was a lot quieter, the Elliots were often in their company. Charlotte and Grace would come and visit two or three times each week, and Elliot joined them, when not too busy with pastoral duties, to spend time with his good friend and patron.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Six weeks after the Darcy three were born, Jane Bingley entered her lying in. After a six-hour labour, a daughter who was named Maureen Fanny Bennet Bingley entered the world. She had been named for her late grandmother and her living one, with the Bennet name honoured as it was with the Darcys’ children.
Little Maureen was as serene as her mother, with the same colouring, tufts of blond hair, and deep blue eyes. In addition to Jane’s parents and Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, from Charles’s side Louisa and Harold had arrived days before the birth with their daughter Maryanne Shirley Hurst, who was then strong enough for travel. The Hursts were very honoured when they were asked to be the godparents of little Maureen Bingley and heartily accepted the honour.
At Pemberley, there was much joy expressed at Jane’s safe delivery and relatively quick recovery. Pemberley’s midwife had attended Jane and practised her usual standards of cleanliness, not a wide practice at the time, which she believed accounted for the fact she had never lost a mother to child bed fever. Once the name was chosen, like the Darcys before them, the Bingleys sent notification to all friends and family.
Two weeks after the birth of young Miss Bingley, Tom and James Bennet arrived at the Meadows looking very handsome. They had both shot up in their first year at Cambridge and now sported stubble in the evenings where none had been visible not six months before.
Georgiana, who had come with Kitty to see their new niece Maureen, was struck anew by how handsome the twins were. She was somewhat embarrassed to have thoughts about young men, especially Tom Bennet who were after all her sister’s brothers.
She had always been close to him as a friend, but the new thoughts filling her mind were not just of friendship.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Four days after they received the express announcing Miss Bingley’s joining of the world, Mary Fitzwilliam entered her lying in at Netherfield Park with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to help her while the Earl and Viscount kept her husband calm.
After a short, less than three-hour labour, kicking and crying indignantly a very large and robust son entered the world. His paternal grandmother stated except for having his mother’s colouring, he looked just like his father had as a babe. After Mary was cleaned and changed, she was joined by her loving and proud husband, who thanked her profusely for the gift that she had given him.
