The Pemberley bound party was invited to take some refreshment before the less than ten-mile ride to Pemberley. Darcy impressed Elizabeth by politely declining as he did not want to impose on the staff, as they were busy settling the family. Another tick on the side of pros; the con side all but empty now.
Lizzy hugged her three sisters, Georgie, and Tiffany goodbye and said a reluctant goodbye to Darcy. She wished Helen well as she was to have riding lessons while at Pemberley. When she was a young girl of eight, she had ridden only an old pony at Janet’s Well that plodded along no faster than a slow walk. She would have a mare waiting for her in Hertfordshire when she returned home.
It was with regret that Elizabeth would not see Darcy until the Pemberley party joined them for dinner three days hence, along with the Kympton Pastor and his young daughter. Darcy had demurred when the invitation was proffered and explained that his friend and widowered clergyman was to dine at Pemberley that day, so the invitation was extended to include the man and his young daughter. Lizzy watched the Darcy carriages roll down the drive until they were out of sight. ‘He is the best of men. I cannot wait to see him at Pemberley. I believe that with his love for his home, he will be most at ease there and will enjoy proposing to me at the estate that he loves so dearly. Now that I know that I love Fitzwilliam Darcy, it aches more every time that we separate. Soon my love, I promise you, very soon,’ Lizzy lamented to herself. She was counting the days in the fortnight until she and Charlotte would join her sisters at Pemberley.
Elizabeth was assigned a room in a suite that shared a sitting room with Charlotte. Having recently turned thirteen, Lily was in the suite next to them. She missed her siblings but after how much she had grown while spending so much time with her older cousins, she would have felt out of place going backward. Now she felt like she was continuing on her path to maturation being given her own bed chamber. She was very happy Cousin Lizzy, whom she adored and looked up to, was to be their guest. She did not know Mrs Collins well, but had come to like her during the ride to the estate.
The family wing was on the first floor and the guest wing was on the next level. The top floor housed the nursery, and school rooms that were partitioned from the female servants’ quarters served by the servant’s stairs at the rear of the house. The new master and mistress had the facilities completely refurbished making the quarters some of the most comfortable that any servants had ever seen.
After a rest, the three older Gardiner children were surprised with a gift of a pony each. They thanked their parents effusively and little Peter shed some tears that he did not also receive one. He was somewhat mollified when his parents promised him that when he turned five in about six months, he too would have a pony waiting for him.
After notifying her aunt and uncle and with Biggs following them, the second Bennet daughter took herself and her friend on a walk to explore some of the paths in the forested area to the left of the house beyond the formal gardens that she had spied on their arrival.
Chapter 28
After almost a week of seclusion, the newlywed Fitzwilliams took their first ride into Brighton to walk along the pier and to see the Pavilion. The ride was less than an hour. They had decided against using the carriage in order to exercise their horses and had allowed the horses their head over a nice flat stretch of land. They were accompanied by two armed outriders acting as bodyguards. Once they were close to the pier, they dismounted. One outrider walked behind them, not close enough to be obtrusive, yet close enough if he was needed. The other took charge of the horses to make sure that they rested and were watered once they cooled down.
They promenaded along the pier, taking in the myriad sights and sounds to the backdrop of the sound of waves and the cawing of gulls overhead. They stopped to purchase some hard sweets from a shop and then made the relatively short walk to the Royal Pavilion. As they looked at the ostentatious and somewhat gaudy structure, Jane had asked how one could tell that the Regent was in residence.
“Do you see the Royal standard is flying?” Richard pointed out the flag flying above the domed roof to his beloved wife. She nodded her head. “That means that Prinny and perhaps some of his siblings are in residence. If you like, we can let them know we are here and we would be invited to a lavish dinner or one of the decadent parties that are thrown here.”
Jane smiled but declined after only a short consideration, “No Richard, possibly another time. We only have another fortnight before we travel to Brookfield where we will both be busy with our roles as master and mistress of the estate. Call me selfish if you like, but I want to spend as much time with just you as possible.” Richard kissed his wife on her cheek, just catching himself as he was about to claim her lips but at the last moment diverted after remembering just in time that they were in public.
“You will hear no complaint from me, my love,” he murmured in her ear. “The more time we spend with each other, the happier I am. Let us return to Seaview, I would like to show you just how much I enjoy being alone with my wife!” Jane turned red, then crimson before returning to a pink blush.
“Lead the way husband,” she retorted, as she felt the excitement and her body readied for all he insinuated and more.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The day that the rest of the Ashbys returned to their estate, Anne de Bourgh returned with them. Originally, she was to return to Rosings Park and her betrothed would have returned to Hunsford to be hosted at the parsonage by the new vicar. Because Ashby was hosting Granville at Sherwood Park, he had notified Harrison that he would not be returning for now. Rather than be separated from his betrothed, he had his mother extend the invitation for Anne to join the family at Ashbury. His brother and sister-in-law were at Amberleigh for the summer, giving his parents time to get to know Anne. Ashby knew they would love her when he first met her, but it was nice to see it happen before his eyes.
The informal courtship had so far been very gratifying for both Granville and Lady Sarah. The Tatler had heralded the news that the elusive and enigmatic Earl of Granville was seen at a play, the opera, and a museum with the same lady, one Lady Sarah Ashby. The few members of theTonstill in town had a lot to say about the lady who seemed to have captured the reluctant bachelor. Those mamas with daughters who had tried and failed to capture his notice were particularly envious.
The more that LordHarold Smythe got to know Sarah Ashby, the more he liked her. He had never thought himself a romantic, but was certainly being so now and knew that he was falling in love. What he did not know was if the lady felt the same about him.
Until the gathering hosted by the Bennets, she had never met a man that respected her as Granville did, especially since she was reluctant to play the games of theTon. He was the only man she had met that treated her as an intelligent being, not a member of the supposedly weaker and inferior sex.
Lady Ashbury could clearly see what was happening, even if neither member of the couple could see it for themselves yet.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
That same day in Hertfordshire, Mrs Chandler, the groom, and footman had just managed to catch up to Lord Hugh Rhys-Davies and Lady Mary Bennet who had given the mares they were riding their head for a nice long gallop. They had arrived in an area of wildflowers with a brook running through it. Handing their horses to the groom, the couple indicated that they would be taking a short walk but would remain within sight of Mary’s companion and the two men at all times. It was a little over a week since the wedding and the couple that was already in love were completely and irrevocably besotted. If he was less of a gentleman and she less of a lady, they would have done a lot more than kissing already.
Mary became weak-kneed when he looked at her with the dark, smouldering look of desire and love she had lately been allowed to glimpse. She had never felt any attraction to a man before Hugh, never mind the animal magnetism that she felt with him. At some level she had worried that she may be a wanton, but she trusted the man that she loved and knew that he trusted her. However, the love they shared would be unique to them. They found an old tree trunk that had the top levelled by someone to act as a bench and sat down in full view of the chaperones but well out of earshot. Hugh took her hands gently in his own and made little circles on her wrists with his thumbs.
“Mary, my love, you know you are my love, my other half. There has never been, nor will there ever be another,” he said lovingly all the while watching her intently.
“I feel the same about you, Hugh,” she answered with a soft sigh. “Each day that we have to be parted is torture for me. I love you more than I ever thought that one could love another.”
“If it were not for the time imposed by your father…Mary,” he looked into her dark eyes as he formulated his question. “If we were allowed to become betrothed, would you still need more time?”
“No, I would not!” she stated with vehemence that surprised him. “However, I will do nothing to go against Papa’s authority.”
“I would never suggest such a thing.” he reassured her. “I am asking if you would support me were I to apply to your father to give us a reprieve and allow me to pay my addresses now. It is surely what I want to do, as surely as the sun will set in the west and rise in the east. Do you see a reason to delay if your father agrees?”
“Yes, Hugh. I will stand by you if you make that request, as it too would be the answer my heart’s desire to hear you speak for us. I need to be yours, only yours. I have gone as far as Mary Bennet can walk this path in her childhood home. I ache to travel forward with you, to be your wife, to make our home, to have our children, to be yours as God surely has intended. In all ways He intended,” she stated, blushing because he knew that as much as he wanted her, she ached for him, needed him, and he was desperate to give into her in all ways she wished.
“In that case love,” he stood and helped pull her up, “I think that we should return to go see our parents.”
