Jane nudged her sister’s shoulder when she saw the direction of Lizzy’s eyes. “I miss Jamey too,” Jane shared. She sat next to her sister, but as she spoke, her eyes were fixed on her husband, who was attending Andrew. Jane was the only one Lizzy had told that she was in the family way. Although she had not entered that state herself yet, Jane felt no envy, only joy for Lizzy and William. She was sure that when He decided it was her time, she would becomeenceinte.
Andrew Fitzwilliam, Lord Hilldale, had requested a courtship from Mary a week after Elizabeth and Darcy wed in September 1812. As Mary was not quite twenty yet—she would be in November of that year—when Bennet was approached, it was the first time he was able to bestow consent and his blessing for a daughter to be courted. When Hilldale proposed on the eighteenth day of November 1812, the day Mary turned twenty, and she accepted him, Bennet had the pleasure of giving his approval for the engagement of a daughter. Knowing that, regardless of the more than twelve years between them, Mary and Hilldale were completely compatible, it was easy for Bennet to give his permission and blessing. Add to that, he knew that they loved and respected one another.
Charlotte Collins, née Lucas, had ended her deep mourning for her late husband at a little more than two months. She had gone into half mourning for a month. As soon as that month was complete, Richard Fitzwilliam had dropped to oneknee in front of Charlotte and proposed. She had happily accepted him. The same Charlotte who had once called herself ‘not romantic’ was deeply in love with her betrothed as he was with her. As she was both of age and a widow, Sir William’s consent was not needed, although he was more than happy to give his blessing to the union. As happy as Lady Sarah Lucas was for her daughter, she was secretly overjoyed to be gaining some of the same connections Fanny Bennet had, even if that lady never once boasted about them.
Hence the idea of the double wedding had been born, not because of sisters marrying, but due to the grooms being brothers. The fact that Charlotte would become a sister to her best friends was an added bonus. When Mary had suggested the twelfth day of March to make sure her mother would be able to attend, there had been no objections.
Once the two were married, they would be settled close to Jane and Lizzy. Hadlock was barely ten miles from Pemberley—which Elizabeth had fallen in love with from the first time she saw it six weeks before her wedding—Castlemere shared a boundary with the Darcy estate, and the farthest away was Hilldale in Staffordshire, which was no more than five and twenty miles from Pemberley. The sisters and brothers—a mixture of by blood and by marriage—would be able to see one another whenever they chose.
When Mr Pierce—who would retire at the end of May—signalled for the congregation to stand, Elizabeth turned to the rear of the nave where the double inner vestibule doors had been opened. A beaming Sir William entered with a glowing Charlotte on his arm, Maria, her maid of honour, following. Once they were halfway up the aisle, Papa, with Mary on his arm, began the walk towards the altar. They were followed by Kitty, who was attending Mary.
Once Bennet had done his duty and handed Mary to her viscount, Bennet took his place on the aisle of the first pewnext to his wife, who was dabbing her eyes. Lydia was next to her mother with the Phillipses and Gardiners beyond her. Lizzy, Jane, and the Fitzwilliam parents sat in the next pew while the Lucases filled the first pew across the aisle.
Mr Pierce gave the signal for the congregation to be seated. “Dearly beloved…”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Pemberley, the summer of 1820
“A toast to our late king and queen,” Darcy proposed as many of the adults of their large family sat on the veranda watching children and grandchildren frolicking on the grass between the house and the lake.
Queen Charlotte had gone to her final reward in November 1818, while His Majesty had finally succumbed to his maladies in January of the current year. Prinny was now King George IV, while his long-suffering wife, whom he treated with unkindness and sometimes cruelty, became Queen Caroline.
Those on the veranda raised their glasses of lemonade and cups of tea to honour the late monarchs.
“Well, I for one hope that, when the presentations resume after the court’s mourning for the king, there will no longer be a need to wear those hooped monstrosities,” Elizabeth said. “I know it is still fourteen years away, but could you imagine Eloise in one of those monstrous dresses?”
There were laughs from the family members. Eloise Darcy, called Elli unless she was in trouble, who had been named to honour her two great-great-grandmothers, was a smaller version of her mother in colouring and character. The only small thing Darcy regretted was that his daughter, who recently turned four, had his blue eye colour and not her mother’s very fine emerald-green eyes. The Darcys’ firstborn, Bennet, called Ben, who was soon to be seven, looked like asmaller version of his father, except he had his mother’s eye colour. The two youngest Darcy sons, one a little more than two and the other a few months old, were in the nursery.
“I think Tommy is commanding hisniecesandnephewsto listen to what he says,” Jane pointed out laughingly as her hands rested on her rather swollen belly.
Bennet grinned. His son was a rambunctious, miracle boy. He had believed there would never be another child for Fanny and him, and then He had blessed them with Tommy. His son was the reason Bennet was determined to leave him a thriving estate one day. Hence, when he was at Longbourn, Bennet’s energies were focused on his estate regardless of the fact he had a very competent steward. Thanks to the excellent steward at Rosings Park, he had not needed to spend as much time there, but he had always been involved in the management of his second estate.
As much as Bennet loved the library at Pemberley—it had taken his breath away the first time he had entered it—he did not hide from his family in that room. When there were activities to enjoy as a family, he was with them and not on his own. He only spent time in the library when he had nothing else to do.
“My Tommy is a good boy,” Fanny said defensively.
“No one is saying otherwise,” Hadlock interjected. “Jane was pointing out that her brother enjoys his position as uncle to our children.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
After beginning to despair she would never become with child, Jane began to increase at the same time Lizzy was enceinte with Eloise. By then, Mary had given Andrew a son, and Charlotte and Richard had a daughter. After that, Mary had been blessed with another son before she had a daughter,who was only three months old. As the distance between Hilldale and Pemberley was not too much, Mary, Andrew, and their children had arrived a few days previously. Mary was busy feeding her daughter at that moment.
A month after the Darcys’ daughter was born, Jane had delivered twin boys. A year ago, she and Jamey had been blessed with a daughter. Lady Edith, who was ecstatic to at last be a grandmamma, had confided that there were twins in her family, a generation before her. Jane would have been happy with one, regardless of the sex, just so she was a mother. Six months past, Charlotte had delivered a son, much to Richard’s delight.
Charlotte, Richard, and their two children were absent. They had travelled to visit the Lucases in Meryton so their children would have some time with their Lucas grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“William, when will your friend Bingley and his family arrive?” Lady Elaine enquired.
“In two days,” Darcy replied.
It had taken Bingley two years to grow to the point that he felt he was his own man in all ways. During that time, he had realised that he had no desire to become part of the landed gentry. To that end, Bingley had joined his uncle, John Bingley, in running the shipbuilding business Bingley’s late father had founded.
When Bingley re-established contact with Darcy, he had told him of his decision to take an active role in trade. There had been no condemnation from Darcy, and the two had enjoyed a friendship of equals from that point on. A year later, Bingley had met the daughter of a very well-to-do brewer of ale. They had married six months later, and the Darcys, includinga young Ben, had attended the wedding. To date, the Bingleys had a son and daughter.
Since Hurst had inherited some six years past, the relationship with Bingley had improved greatly. The Hursts no longer looked for anyone else to pay for their lives. They had two sons.
