That afternoon, Elizabeth stood upon the gravel drive waiting for Jane to be handed down from the carriage. Darcy clapped Bingley on the shoulder while Elizabeth embraced her sister firmly.
“Oh, Jane, I am happy to see you. Mamma has been here for one week already. She insisted Papa bring her early, so that she could ‘help’ me prepare the house and menu for my guests. I am going mad, and I fear my servants will revolt.”
Jane placed a gentle hand beneath Elizabeth’s chin and studied her face. “They will do no such thing. They know how fortunate they are to be working for Mr. Darcy. It will be better now, for I shall help you with Mamma.”
Elizabeth glanced down at Jane’s abdomen. “I can hardly tell that you are an expectant mother, my dear. You look very well.”
Jane ran her hands down her belly affectionately. “I am four months along.” She touched Elizabeth’s abdomen. “You are showing too, Lizzy. You look further along than three months. I hope you are not carrying twins.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Do not say so, Jane. William keeps me so occupied that I cannot imagine having two infants at the same time. We are already the talk of the neighborhood.” She ran her hands down her middle. “I am not so large. None of our neighbors has remarked upon it. You only notice because you know me so well.”
She pressed her lips together. “They have noticed, however, that Fitzwilliam and I spend time with Wills. They say it is an excessive amount and attribute it to my coming from a lowercircle, as though I do not understand how families of higher rank are expected to conduct themselves.”
She rested both hands upon the slight curve of her abdomen. “Yet my boy is growing so quickly that I cannot bring myself to leave him so entirely to another’s care, and I intend to spend as much time as I can with this little one as well.”
“We have done the same. Little Charles is so sweet, I love to hold him, though he is too busy these days to cuddle with his mamma.”
They walked on in companionable silence before Jane asked, “Have Uncle Gardiner and Aunt Maddie arrived yet?”
“No. They were to stop at the Allens’ to collect Kitty. I believe the elder son may have set his eye upon our sister. If he shows his face here within the next four weeks, we shall know how matters stand in that quarter.”
“And Mary?”
“Little James has had the croup, and Mr. Lewis will not travel until he is better. Mary writes that we may expect them on Monday next.”
Jane lifted a brow. “His early behavior misled me, Lizzy. He had been such an ogre when we first met him. I expected Mary would lead a miserable life.”
Elizabeth took Jane’s arm as they entered the house. “He treats her better than our husbands treat us, and that is saying something.”
Jane laughed. “Lizzy, you say the most unexpected things.”
Elizabeth sobered. “Did Papa write that Mary Collins is having complications?”
Jane stopped walking. “She is already six months along. I believed she would carry this one to term since she did not lose it in the first three months.”
“So did we all. Papa says her mother suffered the same and was warned to stop trying for a son, or she might lose her life. The condition was called abruptio placentae. It is the same condition Fitzwilliam’s mother died of.”
Jane paled. “This is grave indeed. Is Mrs. Talbot with them now?”
“Yes. Papa made the arrangements for a post chaise before he and mamma traveled here.”
Elizabeth led her into her private parlor and closed the door behind them. Once seated, she continued thoughtfully.
“Did you know Papa and Mrs. Talbot were interested in one another when they were young?”
Jane stared. “No.”
“I found Papa in the library in tears, and in a rare moment of intimacy, he shared his grief. Papa and Mrs. Talbot have known each other since they were children, and he was sweet on her for most of their growing-up years. He says everyone believed they would one day marry.”
“What happened? Why did they not marry?”
“Grandfather Gardiner purchased the law offices and brought his family to Meryton. When Papa saw our mother, he was felled by her beauty and vivacity, and he married her two months later. He says that he and Mrs. Talbot had been perfectly matched and would have been very happy, but he married Mamma instead.”
Jane listened in astonished silence.
“She married Mr. Talbot a year later, and after several years of hoping, they finally had a child, Mary’s mother, who died the same day she gave birth to Mary. Papa is fearful that the same will happen to Mrs. Collins. He has spent all his waking hours brooding in the library, too anxious to be in company. He is feeling this greatly on behalf of both Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Talbot.”
“Lizzy,” Jane whispered, “Is Mary King our half-sister?”
