Before they could speak more, Mary put her head into the study to inform Papa and her new uncle that the meal was ready in the breakfast parlour.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
After the meal, Edith excused herself, saying she had some correspondence to deal with which could not wait. Knowing that the express she had sent to Snowhaven would be arriving later that day, she had to write and tell them how everything had worked out so that the Darcys and Fitzwilliams would not be left without knowing that she and Paul were not losing their daughters.
Edith wanted the missive to be on the way with a Holder courier as soon as may be. She could imagine Elaine and Anne reading the anguished epistles Edith had sent them and wanting to leave for London and support her.
The three of them were sisters of the heart, so it was understandable that hurt felt by one was felt by all of them.
She wrote as fast as she was able, and as soon as the letter was ready, Edith rang for the butler and instructed him to have it handed to an available courier and that he should make all speed. With her task accomplished, she made her way to the drawing room. She sat down next to Paul. She could see the relief written on his countenance, and she felt exactly the same way.
Holder took his wife’s hand and turned to her. “Gardiner will sign his rights of guardianship over to me. That will be on top of the fact that we adopted the girls,” he revealed.
Was she smiling too much? Edith was worried her face would freeze like that. After all, always smiling was not such a bad thing.
“Edith, Jane was telling me that Lord and Lady Matlock and Mr and Lady Anne Darcy are their godparents,” Maddie stated. “I did not realise you were so close to them. I have not seen Snowhaven, but one time I rode with my father when he delivered books to Pemberley. What a beautiful estate it is.”
“Pemberley and Snowhaven are both pretty estates, but nothing to Holder Heights,” Elizabeth insisted. “There is part of a castle at Snowhaven, so it is unique but still not better than Papa’s estate.”
“It is an ongoing debate between the cousins,” Edith related. “If you are unaware, even though we are not related by blood or marriage, we are counted as aunt and uncle to the Fitzwilliam brothers, along with the Darcy brother and sister. The children of the two families who are related count our four as cousins. Little Anna Darcy, who will be four in March, loves our daughters, but she always wants to be with Lizzy when possible.”
“Anna is another of my sisters,” Elizabeth said.
Gardiner sat back and watched the former Bennet sisters. The decision to cede the guardianship to Holder was the right one. His nieces could not have been happier with the Carringtons had they been born to them. Holder had told him of the huge men who were employed to watch over his children. No harm would come to his nieces here. He lifted his eyes to the heavens. ‘Lord God on High, I thank You for allowing my nieces to be found by the Carringtons. I shudder to imagine what could have been. But I know, You protect the innocents, so You would not allow Jane, Lizzy, and Mary to suffer because of the sins of my sister. I thank You for softening Fanny’s heart and giving her a path to redemption. In Jesus’s name, amen.’ Although he was not always the most religious man, Gardiner saw the hand of God in the way his nieces were rescued so expeditiously in less than a day. Not only that, but he believed that Viscount Hadlock had been guided to the girls, which led to their discovery.
He was also certain that Bennet would have heartily approved of the Carringtons. That had nothing to do with their status or their wealth, but because they loved his daughters without reservation. It was just what Gardiner’s late brother-in-law had wanted for his girls—to be loved and cared for.
A little later, before the Gardiners departed Holder House, Holder and his wife asked the Gardiners if they would object to being added as godparents to their four children. The offer was gladly accepted.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
All trace of the daylight was already gone for almost two hours by the time the Carrington courier reached Snowhaven. Since leaving Holder House the previous morning, he had ridden hard, changing horses every two hours, barely sleeping at all, because the mistress had told him to reach the Matlock estate as speedily, yet safely, as possible.
He vaulted off the horse, the one he had been given at the last coaching inn he had stopped at an hour and a half earlier. He was warm from exertion so that the cold from the snow on the ground did not affect him yet. He knocked on the big double front doors. When the butler opened the one door, the courier handed him the letters telling him they were urgent from the Countess of Holder. Thankfully, the butler directed the man to the kitchens to get fed and drink in the warmth.
With the door closed, the butler took the epistles and placed them on a silver salver. He was aware the family were in the music room, as he could hear the sounds of Lady Anne on the pianoforte and Lady Matlock with the harp.
The butler waited for the song to end and the listeners to applaud before entering. He proffered the salver to the mistress first and then Lady Anne.
“Did these arrive now, Jensen?” Matlock enquired.
“Aye, your lordship, a Carrington courier arrived minutes ago,” Jensen replied. Seeing he was dismissed, the butler bowed to those in the room and departed.
Each of the sisters opened the letter addressed to herself. While their wives read, Matlock and Darcy waited. There was no missing the consternation on their wives’ faces as the more they read, the more upset they got.
Andrew and Richard Fitzwilliam and William Darcy were all very concerned at the changes in their respective mothers’ countenances as she read.
“Mother, is all well with the Carringtons?” William asked. He enjoyed spending time with Cousin Lizzy more than any of the other Carrington daughters, and he liked all of them very well. However, his feelings if something had happened with Lizzy would be nothing to the devastation Anna would feel. His sister, already in the nursery for the night, worshipped Lizzy.
Lady Elaine looked at her sister-in-law. They quickly exchanged letters to see if there were any fundamental differences; there were not. Seeing Anne nod, she took it upon herself to share the news. “Edith writes that they have almost certainly discovered Jane, Lizzy, and Mary’s by-blood family. It is Mr Gardiner,” she reported.
“Edith is devastated at the prospect of losing her daughters; we need to make for London to support her and Paul,” Lady Anne stated as she jumped up.
“Anne, I agree we need to go and offer whatever assistance we are able to give,” Darcy stated, “however, it is Saturday, and we will not travel on the sabbath, so I suggest that we depart on Monday.”
“Darcy has the right of it. On the way, we will return our sons to their schools a day or two earlier than we would have,” Matlock decided.
While wanting to fly to Edith’s side, her best friends knew they needed to wait.
