After four days on the road, the carriages halted in front of the house. Georgie was confused as to why they took four days rather than the normal two and one half, but she surmised that her brother was just being overprotective of his wife so she did not question his reasoning. The housekeeper and butler welcomed them home as the footmen swarmed over the conveyances to unload the trunks. Lady Pemberley noticed the quizzical way that her housekeeper was looking at her girth so she walked over and leaned close to her ear so only she would hear.
“Do not be alarmed, Mrs Reynolds. I saw an accoucheur in London and he suspects that I am carrying twins, at thevery least!My rapid increasing concerned me too. He calmed both his Lordship and me when he explained that it is how things go when one is carrying twins or more,” Lizzy offered quietly.
“Twins, your ladyship, and perhapsmore? Good Lord above!” said a startled housekeeper softly, “we will all be here to help you as you need it, Mistress.” At the same time, she thought to herself, ‘How mortified do I feel now, suspecting that the mistress was further along than the wedding would account for? How could I think that of the master and the mistress? Hannah Reynolds your Master William would have never!’ she silently berated herself.
Lizzy was looking forward to seeing the Elliots again. She had missed Charlotte while they had been away. After everyone had refreshed themselves and changed out of their travelling attire, they all met in the private family sitting room. Once everyone was seated, explanations for the four-day trip were given and the plans for the Darcys to remain at Longbourn until the birth were canvassed without reference to the possibility of more than two babes.
The Fitzwilliams were scheduled to arrive on the morrow except for those at Brookfield, who would arrive the day after. Elizabeth rang the bell and asked Mrs Reynolds to have the butler and herself meet with the master and mistress in the master’s study in fifteen minutes.
The senior staff members were informed about the plans not to return to Pemberley until after the birth of their children. Once the meeting was completed, they were replaced by the steward, Mr Stilton, who was given instructions for the spring planting and other issues that would need to be attended while the master and mistress were from the home.
The Earl of Pemberley would not leave his wife for any reason other than a life or death disaster at the estate. To facilitate communication during the planned absence, there would be three couriers at Stilton’s disposal to send and receive messages as needed. With the meetings over, the Darcys were able to relax with their family.
Charlotte Elliot was a very happy woman and had shared four blissful months of matrimony with her husband. The parsonage on Pemberley’s grounds was a nice sized house, which was two to three times larger than the previous parsonage of which she had been mistress. The house attached to the church at Kympton was even larger, but the Elliots decided that what they had at Pemberley was more than sufficient for their family’s needs at this time.
The house was secondary; she was married to a man she loved and who loved her in return and she had the sweetest daughter. To her supreme relief, her husband was appreciated by his parishioners in all three parishes as he put their interests first.
What made Charlotte the happiest is that she had just missed her courses and now she was waiting with bated breath to see if she would miss them again next month. They had received a note from the great house informing them that the Darcys were in residence along with the Bennets and Jacobsons with the rest of their family arriving soon. In the note they had been invited to dinner two days hence when Jane and Richard Fitzwilliam would join their family at Pemberley.
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The Christmas season flew by and was enjoyed by all. Lord Thomas Bennet kept his word—for the most part—and did not spend the bulk of his time in the most magnificent library that he had ever seen. William Darcy was now his favourite son-in-law. Do not be fooled dear reader, Bennet found a good amount of time to while away in the room he most loved at Pemberley.
Even though they had requested that Lord and Lady Longbourn not share their news, there was no hiding Elizabeth’s rapidly increasing state leading to the whole family being apprised of the true reason for the plans for a long sojourn at Longbourn. As Jane Fitzwilliam was due a month or two before her younger sister, Ladies Matlock and Hilldale planned to remain with her but the Rhys-Davies, Gardiners, and the De Melvilles would be hosted at Longbourn to arrive a week or two before the expected date for Lady Pemberley’s confinement. The Ashbys would return to Surrey as Anne too was with child. The Ashby’s babe was estimated to enter the world in late July or early August of the coming year.
After enjoying Christmas, New Years and Twelfth Night at Pemberley, everyone except the Elliots decamped for the trip back to London. It was agreed by all to travel at the pace that the Darcys needed to so they would all arrive in London together. On the second day of the journey, Lady Elizabeth Darcy, Countess of Pemberley felt the quickening.
Chapter 41
At the end of their second week in town, Lord and Lady Pemberley were ushered into his study after Elizabeth was examined by Sir Frederick. Once they were settled, the couple was very impatient to hear what the accoucheur had to report to them.
“Everything seems to be progressing as I would expect,” the physician offered in his professional way.
“We appreciate hearing that information,” said a frustrated mother to be, “but what about the babes? Could you hear the heartbeats and if so, how many?”
“I am sorry to disappoint you your Lordship and Ladyship I could not hear them yet…” He was cut off by Darcy before he could complete his thought.
“Did you not say that you would be able to hear them after the quickening?” The Earl enquired with not a little bite to his words.
“I understand your concern, but if you remember I said that it waspossiblethat I would be able to hear a heartbeat,” he held up his hand to waylay either from speaking. “According to what you told me, you felt the quickening a little more than a fortnight ago, is that so Lady Pemberley?”
“Yes, Sir Frederick, that is correct,” she said with some asperity.
“Then based on my estimation that you may have more than two, I am not very surprised that I was not able to hear the hearts. With the possibility that there may be three gifts from God that you are carrying, your Ladyship, at this stage they would be very small, much smaller than if there was only one babe. That said, it could be another month before I am able to discern the sounds of the hearts.
“If there were a device that made listening to the heartbeats easier, then it is possible that I would hear them now, but all I have is what is available. Unfortunately, the conical device that I use, is not very effective,” Sir Frederick explained gently.
“Will we need to come to you in a month here in Town? I would prefer that my lady wife not have to travel anymore once we travel to Hertfordshire in another ten days,” Darcy stated, still frustrated. What the accoucheur had told them made perfect sense and getting upset with him would not change the outcome.
“No, your Lordship, I will come to you. It is but a short ride in a carriage to Lord Longbourn’s estate so it is not a hardship for me to make the trip. I will bring a nurse with me who will stay with her Ladyship until I return to wait for the birth. When I do come in early March, I will be accompanied by two more nurses,” he informed them calmly.
The Darcys thanked Sir Frederick for his time and care, and after leaving his gratuity, returned to Darcy House. Darcy sent notes to the family to notify them what Sir Frederick had imparted to them. Lizzy was sad that she would not be able to attend the upcoming coming out ball for Kitty, Tiffany, and Loretta, but was consoled by being able to be at Georgie and Helen’s the following year. Unless she was increasing again, which she hoped would not be the case so soon after her first.
The final week in Town was spent attending only a few social events. At the two balls that the Darcys attended, husband and wife danced the first and then sat out until their early departure soon after the meal. There were visits to the modiste, cobbler, milliner, Gunter’s and Hatchards. More than one visit was made to Gunter’s as Elizabeth found that her state had gifted her with quite a sweet tooth. She had always liked sweet things, but now she craved them.
Helen and Lydia were still at school but Kitty had completed her programme before the Christmas break. Helen would complete her schooling with the end of the current term in May. Lydia would return to the Greenlake School for Young Ladies for one more year starting in August. Lydia would not be alone at the school for her final year, as she would be joined by Georgiana Darcy for one term of finishing school and Lily Gardiner, who would just be commencing her formal schooling.
The night before the short trip into Hertfordshire, the Darcys hosted the whole family at Darcy House. It was at the dinner that Marie informed the family that she was again with child—an open secret with all of the pregnancy detecting matriarchs—increasing for her third time. Four-year-old David stated with the surety of a young child that Mama would give him a brother while his almost two-year-old sister Gillian demanded a sister. Toasts were drunk to the multitude of children expected over the next number of months, which would significantly increase the size of the already large family. At that same dinner, Jane informed the sister she was closest to that rather than return to Brookfield, she and Richard would be leaving town in a sennight for Bennet Fields.
