There was the clearing of a throat from the hall outside the small drawing room.
“Our time is up. Come Jane, let us go to your father together.” Fitzwilliam stood and offered his hands to Jane to assist her to stand. She did not need it, but another excuse to touch her ungloved hands would not go amiss.
When the couple exited the drawing room, Biggs and Johns tried to look stern, but seeing how happy Miss Jane looked made both of them almost smile fully.
On being bade to enter the study, the courting couple found both Carrington parents within. “Do not look surprised that I am here as well,” Edith sang. “You, Jane, know as well as anyone that your Papa and I are a team, and we do things together.”
“In that case, Aunt Edith and Holder, Jane has done me the honour of accepting my request to court her. We are here for your consent and blessings,” Fitzwilliam explained.
Edith schooled her features, but she felt a tug on her heartstrings as the first of her girls was on the path to leave their protection and shift that responsibility to Richard. At the same time, she knew that Jane could not have chosen a better and more honourable man than Richard. When they married, it would make the familial relationship between the Carringtons and Fitzwilliams a reality. A little voice reminded her that the same would be true with the Darcys. It also pointed out that there were a few years before that occurred.
Holder looked at Edith and they communicated silently. “You have both,” he stated, his voice somewhat gruffer than normal.
“Have you two spoken of how long of a courtship you want?” Edith queried.
Jane and Richard looked at one another, and the former nodded to her suitor.
“We did. We agreed to a three-to-four-month courtship, and if Jane accepts me…” Fitzwilliam stopped speaking when the woman he loved spoke.
“WhenJane accepts you,” Jane interpolated.
“In that case,whenJane and I become engaged, we agree that we will marry, with your approval of course, just before or after Jane’s next birthday,” Fitzwilliam concluded.
Again, Edith looked at her Paul as they assimilated what they had been told. It met with her approval, as she would have Jane with them for close to nine more months. It was not a long time in the scheme of things, but it was not in a few weeks or a month or two. She saw Paul nod. “That sounds like a wise plan to us,” she said.
“Come, we should inform your sisters of your good news,” Holder suggested. “When I return, I will send a note to Jamey.”
Said son was residing at Netherfield Park so he could be close to Charlotte Lucas and continue his courtship. Like all the other men in the family, he had been at Hadlock in Derbyshire for the harvest, except, given the differing climates, the harvest in the north was a month before the ones in Hertfordshire and Kent. The earlier harvest time had allowed Hilldale to go to his estate to supervise the harvest and then travel to Woburn Abbey—the primary estate of the Duke of Bedford—in Bedfordshire with weeks to spare before Marie and Andrew’s wedding.
They found Lizzy, Mary, and Anna in the main drawing room with Mrs Annesley watching over them.
“They felt too much anticipation of hearing Lady Jane’s news to continue in the music room,” Mrs Annesley shared when Lady Edith entered the drawing room. “Even Lady Mary was too distracted to concentrate on the instrument.”
Edith smiled widely as all three girls looked on questioningly.
“Jane has agreed to a courtship with Richard…” Holder did not get any further before there were three squeals of happiness, and said young ladies, in a most unladylike fashion, swarmed Jane and Richard.
Many hugs and best wishes for future felicity were exchanged.
“I think I will invite the Darcys and Fitzwilliams to join us for dinner so we may celebrate the courtship.” Edith turned to Richard. “Your parents are not aware of what is happening here today, are they?”
“No, I do not believe so,” Fitzwilliam replied. “Although you never know with Mother. She has an intelligence network the likes of which the army would be jealous.”
Leaving the younger set chattering in the drawing room, the Carrington parents retired to the study. Holder wrote to his son, and Edith wrote notes to her two best friends, inviting them and any family members at home to a celebratory dinner. She did not mention what was being celebrated.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Thanks to the conversation they had had some weeks past, combined with knowing Richard had returned to London, the reason for the celebration was not nearly as much of a surprise to anyone except for William.
The last time they had spoken about Richard and Jane, the former had reiterated his resolve to allow a full season to pass before declaring himself. While they were waiting for Mr Fenster to announce dinner, William managed to separate Richard from the rest in the drawing room. “What happened to ‘not before the end of her first season’?” William enquired.
Fitzwilliam gave his cousin a brief synopsis of the meeting with Holder and then the subsequent occurrences.
“You lucky dog!” William exclaimed. “Holder and Aunt Edith’s forbearance saved you more than six months of waiting and watching her dance with other potential suitors. I knew how it would be. It has been for some months now, even before Jane’s coming out, that I could see love in her eyes when she looks at you.”
“You mean like the way you look at Lizzy?” Fitzwilliam ribbed.
“I do not look at her that way; she is not out yet,” William protested half-heartedly.
