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Charlotte, Jane, and Elizabeth were seated on a bench below an oak in the park. It was the Thursday before Easter, and a relatively warm March day. They were being entertained watching their husbands playing with the many children running about the park, some toddling on the grass. The nurses and maids were close by in case they were needed. The two eldest Bennet sisters were both with child again.
If He allowed the child Jane carried to be born, it would be her fourth. She already had two sons and a daughter. The girl was the youngest of the three children with which Jane and Hilldale had been blessed.
For Elizabeth, who seemed to be more fecund than her sisters, it would be number six. That was because after Ben there had been identical twin daughters who were, much to their father’s delight, very much like their mother in looks and character. Since the twins, there had been two more boys. Elizabeth was hoping for a girl to even out the numbers, although, as long as the babe was healthy, she would be happy.
Charlotte had birthed three; her first had been a daughter, who, of course, had been named Anne. In quick succession within three years of Anne, two sons had been born. Although they would have been happy with more children, and even though they had not been blessed again after their third child, Charlotte and Richard were more than happy with those they had been granted.
The three sisters looked to one side of the park where Mary and Johnny Bennet—who were the mistress and master of Longbourn since Thomas and Fanny Bennet had retired to the dower house at Pemberley—were walking with their daughter and son. Mary was with child again. Near them wereGigi and Jamey. The latter was holding their son, who recently celebrated his first birthday.
Kate already had two sons, while Lydia had birthed a daughter, but she suspected she was with child again. As her husband’s estate was not entailed to the male line, Bingley cared not if Lydia bore him a string of daughters.
Seeing her youngest son crying, Charlotte excused herself to go see to him. Even with the nurses and maids present, she, like her sisters, preferred to know what was going on with her children. None in the family followed the opinion of many in theTonthat children were to be seen—briefly—and not heard.
The proud grandparents, which included the Earls and Countesses of Matlock and Holder, Sir William and Lady Lucas, the Bennets, the Gardiners, and the Phillipses—the last two couples counted as honorary grandparents to the offspring of the Bennet sisters—sat on the veranda sipping tea and watching the tableau before them.
“Jane, back in early 1812 when you were pining for Charles, and I was all confused about William, could you imagine all of this?” Elizabeth extended her hand and swept it from one side of the park to the other. “You tried to deny it when I said this the day we married our wonderful husbands, but if you had not had a change of your personal philosophy, very little, if any of this, would have occurred. Look at the lives all of us lead now; it is thanks to you.”
As it was a discussion they had had a few times over the years, Jane had learnt that there was no industry in arguing. “If you say so, Lizzy,” she said with a smile.
“I do!” Elizabeth exclaimed, which led to the sisters laughing.
~~~The End~~~
