“At the last overnight, Jane felt uncomfortable as she is so large and asked Perry if they could go right home. Poor girl, her feet are so swollen that she had had to beg off standing up with Lizzy,” his mother informed Andrew.
“So, who will have the honour of standing up with you, Sprite?” Andrew asked.
“Gigi,” Elizabeth announced.
“William, I heard that you have taken orders and graduated near the top of your year at Cambridge; congratulations, brother,” Andrew offered to the newly minted clergyman.
“It almost slipped my mind, Andrew,” Elizabeth asked her brother,“when you meet with Mr Beckmannext, will you please ask if William would be allowed to perform our marriage ceremony?”
“There should be no objection, but I will not foist the decision on him,” Andrew nodded once.“He knows Mr Perkins at Pemberley intimately, and if he has agreed to take William on as a curate, that should be good enough for him.”
“Thank you for your kind wishes, Andrew, and for agreeing to ask your rector if I may perform the marriage rites,” William said as he took his time to admire the new Fitzwilliam.
Not long after, those who would be staying at Pemberley departed for the just over one-hour carriage ride to the Darcy estate. It was hard to part with Will, but Elizabeth consoled herself that she would see him on the morrow when Richard would take her to Pemberley. From there, a group of them would travel to Rivington and return the following day so that the new master and very soon-to-be mistress could look over the estate and meet the senior staff, servants, and some of the tenants. From her memory of the last time that she had been there, Lady Anne did not think that there was much lacking regarding décor, but as she told Elizabeth, their tastes may be vastly different.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The following day before they departed for Pemberley, Elizabeth and Richard visited with Marie after she had fed Tiffany.“Soon, you will be an old married woman just like me, Lizzy,” Marie teased her sister-in-law.
“I am looking forward to that day with impatience, Marie. I am glad that you look so well less than three days after you gave us our Tiffany,” Elizabeth answered.“She is so pretty.”
“As her mother, I am bound to agree, but it will be hard to tell for many months how she will look,” Marie pointed out.“And you, Richard, finally proposing to Retta. I believe that you two will do very well together. Andrew tells me you will go to Brookfield from Rivington?”
“That is my plan. I want to make sure that all is in order before Loretta sees her future home. Lizzy will be well looked after with Uncle George, the rest of the family, and Mrs Annesley,” Richard replied.
“Did Aunt Anne agree to take on Mrs Annesley to be Georgie’s companion after your wedding, Lizzy?” Marie asked.
“She did. Gigi already knows and likes Mrs Annesley very well,” Elizabeth stated.
Not long after, Richard and Elizabeth were on their horses on the way to Pemberley with their expected escorts.
Chapter 12
Richard, Elizabeth, and Will rode their horses from Pemberley while the Darcy parents and Thomas and Tammy Bennet rode in one of the two carriages, with Aggie ensconced in the second carriage accompanied by the servants. Elizabeth’s mother had remained at Snowhaven to be with Marie. The trip to Rivington was just a little over two hours. The estate was in a valley at the base of the Cloud Peak, close to the intersection of the borders of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire. Even though it was so close to the Peak District, there was a fair amount of flat land which the estate claimed.
The River Wheelock ran through the valley and was a tributary of the River Dane, itself a tributary of the River Weaver. The river was fed by water draining from the peaks, so there was never a water shortage at Rivington. From the gates, there was a two-mile ride to the floor of the valley, across a stone bridge over the River Wheelock, and then the drive rose until it reached a plateau where the manor house was situated.
The house, built in the Tudor style, was three stories tall and seemed to be about the same size as Longbourn. The senior staff was waiting to meet the estate's new owners as the carriages and horses were brought to a stop. Will introduced Elizabeth to the steward, Mr Hector Belle, the housekeeper, Mrs Beatrice Ralston, and the butler, Mr Hubert Ellison. All three were long-serving staff at the estate and for the Darcys.
The rest of the servants were lined up in the entrance hall, where each one received a few words from the new mistress-to-be. Mrs Ralston showed those at the estate for the first time to their suites. The Bennets, Richard, and Elizabeth were on the guest floor while the Darcys were on the family floor. After washing and changing, everyone except Aggie met back in the entrance hall, where the housekeeper commenced the tour. The dog decided on some much-needed sleep, so she stayed lying on the soft rug in her mistress’chambers.
The house was very well maintained. The Darcys used to be in residence for a few weeks a year, but the master and his son still visited a minimum of once a quarter to ensure their tenants’needs were addressed and to handle anything that might have come up. After they toured the public rooms on the ground floor, including the formal and family dining parlours, Elizabeth turned to Mother Anne.“I do not see anything that I desire to change. Like the décor at Pemberley, I find what you have done here much to my tastes.”
“I could not agree with Lizzy more, Anne,” Tammy added.“Just like Pemberley, everything is comfortable and inviting; I would call it understated elegance.”
“It pleases me that you both feel that way; I think that you and Will shall do well here, Lizzy,” Anne responded.
The mistress' and master’s studies were on the first floor. A small storage area separated them, but the master’s study was a huge space.“What say you, Lizzy, if we move your desk into this room, so we share the space and are not parted when we work at our desks? The study has enough size that we would be able to place your desk next to mine, and we would still have room between the desks and the walls to reach our seats comfortably,” Will suggested.
“That is a good idea; I will enjoy working alongside you, Will,” Elizabeth responded.
“That is more than enough, you two,” Richard teased.
“Just you wait, Itch, soon Retta will be here, and then let us see who walks around like a besotted puppy,” Elizabeth scoffed with a smile.
Also on the first floor was a rather well-stocked library, which, as Bennet pointed out, was no comparison to Pemberley’s, but still more than enough to tempt him. The family sitting room and the school rooms were also on the first floor, the latter rooms connected with a door to the east side of the library.
The second floor was the family floor that had ten suites, in addition to the master suite. The nursery was next to the mistress' chambers with a connecting door on one side. On the other was a private sitting room, and beyond that was the master’s suite.
