Epilogue Chapter 2 #2
Phoebe Gardiner, thirteen years of age, immediately began chasing after the youngest Gardiner child, a sturdy child of four, who was indeed rushing toward the small pond in the middle of the park.
Both Jane and her husband, Richard, watched tensely until Phoebe captured the boy and then relaxed.
“Phoebe! Simon!” a young voice cried out from the east end of the pond. “Look, frogs!”
Older sister and small brother joined another Gardiner sibling, eight-year-old Thomas, and Jane smiled ruefully and said, “My dear Richard, I had thought our little trip to the park would be peaceful and calm, but I should have remembered that the youngest Gardiners are exceptionally lively.”
Richard patted her hand and said, “In two years, our Sophia will be equally energetic.”
Jane’s mind flitted back to the Gardiner’s house on Gracechurch Street, where little Sophia, age fourteen months, was currently sleeping in a crib under the watchful eye of a nursemaid.
“She is already quite busy,” she remarked. “It will not be long before she runs instead of walks.”
“Indeed,” her husband said.
They had, by now, arrived at a stone bench which was placed but ten feet away from the edge of the water, and the Gardiner children, who were inspecting frogs with interest. Phoebe, a very sensible girl, was holding two frogs in her hands and making sure that her younger siblings did the amphibians no harm.
Confident that her little cousins were safe, Jane turned to her husband and said, “I think we ought to take the Scottish estate.”
Richard stared at her intently. “You are certain?”
Jane clasped her hands together and nodded. “I know that Whitecroft is a very long way north, but the Darcys want a family to live there, and it would save us a substantial sum of money to live there instead of leasing an estate farther south.”
Richard heaved a sigh of relief and said, “It will, and I would like to learn more about overseeing an estate. I have read about it and talked to my father and Darcy extensively, but I daresay it is different to actually be in charge and be faced with myriad decisions.”
Jane nodded. Whitecroft was a small estate in Scotland that was owned by the Darcys, and the house had been empty, save for a skeleton staff of servants, for many years.
The Darcys had offered to rent the estate to the Fitzwilliams for a nominal fee, and Richard and Jane would receive all the income from the estate.
“If you dislike it, we can always return to London next spring,” Richard assured her.
Jane smiled up at him and said simply, “My longing for gaiety and frequent parties is in the past. All I want is to be with you and our child and to build a good life together.”
Richard grinned at her and leaned down to kiss her.
“I love you, Jane.”
“I love you with all my heart, Richard.”
***
Nursery
Pemberley
“Would you please open the curtains wide, Lois?” Elizabeth requested.
The nursemaid obediently did so, and Elizabeth smiled her thanks and turned her attention on the letter in her right hand, filled with words in her mother’s familiar script.
6th July 1817
Longbourn
Dear Elizabeth,
I am grateful to hear that you will be able to come to Hertfordshire next month for Lydia’s wedding. I am well aware that traveling with three small children is not easy, and it is kind of you and Darcy to make the effort.
Sir Gregory Talbot will, I expect, be Lydia’s perfect match. He is rather quiet, especially compared to Lydia, but I think that solemnity, that calm, will stand Lydia in good stead.
I have exciting news about Charles and Kitty, too; Kitty is with child again! Charles is over the moon with excitement. I am not even certain if he cares all that much about whether he has a son or another daughter. I suppose he would prefer a son, but he certainly adores his little Annamaria.
It is hard not to think in wonder at all that has come to pass since Mr. Bingley leased Netherfield Hall six years ago. I was so anxious about my girls. I wanted you all to marry for love and respect, not for money and connections. And God has granted my greatest desire.
In looking back, I think that Kitty was always a better match for Charles Bingley than Jane. At the time she and Bingley first met, Kitty was too young for marriage, certainly, and I am thankful that Bingley was at peace with waiting until she turned nineteen.
You asked about Mr. Bennet; he has largely recovered from his latest battle with gout, though he still limps a little when he is very tired. He has been very brave about it, as I know gout is most painful.
By the by…
A soft snort drew Elizabeth’s attention, and she looked down on her infant daughter, Clarice, who had finished suckling and was now fast asleep, her tiny hands fisted. She put down her letter on a nearby table and then ran a hand over her little daughter’s downy head.
Her first two children had been sons, which was good for the stability of Pemberley, but oh, how happy she was to be granted the gift of a daughter.
“Do you wish for me to put Clarice in her crib?” Lois asked.
Elizabeth suppressed a sigh. She loved sitting here holding her precious little one in her arms, but she had to meet with Mrs. Reynolds to discuss some details pertaining to the running of the household.
“Yes, please,” she said, and Lois carefully lifted the sleeping child and carried her toward the little room in the northeastern corner of the nursery where a crib waited.
Elizabeth finished reading her mother’s letter in haste and then tucked it in her sleeve and walked to the stairway which led to the main floor.
This took her first through a large, airy room where her sons slept and played, and while her second child, Peter, was fast asleep in his cot, his older brother, James, who was solemnly stacking wooden blocks with the help of his devoted nursemaid, leaped up with a shriek and rushed over to clasp her around the knees.
“Mamma!” the boy exclaimed. “I build blocks!”
“You do, my darling,” Elizabeth agreed, though she could not help but cast a worried look at Peter, fearing that all this noise would wake him up.
But no, the toddler slumbered on with determination, and she turned her attention back to her eldest son, the heir to Pemberley.
“You are doing a wonderful job, sweetheart,” she said. “I see the tower is quite high!”
James tugged her over toward the blocks, and she followed with alacrity. Yes, she needed to speak with Mrs. Reynolds, but she also treasured spending time with her children.
Fifteen minutes passed happily enough, and then the door to the corridor opened, and she looked up.
“Fat’er!” James cried out, jumping up and running over, whereupon Fitzwilliam Darcy lifted the boy up and spun him around for several seconds, which produced shrieks of joy.
This, in turn, woke up Peter, who rose grumpily from his cot and then yelped with excitement at the sight of his parents, and for another fifteen minutes, the nursery was full of vim and vigor and glee.
Finally, the Darcys handed their now extremely excited children over to the nursemaids and made their way, arm in arm, out of the nursery and to the stairs.
“By the by, Georgiana and her husband arrived half an hour ago,” Fitzwilliam said as the pair reached the first floor.
Elizabeth’s hand tightened on her husband’s arm, and she said, “Oh, why did you not tell me? I would have come down immediately!”
“Georgiana was not feeling well,” Darcy said carefully, “and told me that she and Sir Patrick would retire to their rooms for two hours before coming down again.”
Elizabeth continued walking down the stairs, her eyes fixed on her husband’s face. “Are you saying…?”
“She is with child,” he said with a broad grin.
They had reached the bottom of the stairs now, and in spite of the presence of a maid sweeping, she could not help but stand on her tiptoes and kiss him on the mouth.
“Oh, Fitzwilliam, I am so happy for them both!” she exclaimed.
Georgiana Darcy had married Sir Patrick Dawes three years ago, after falling in love with the baronet during her first Season in London. The man was almost a decade older than his bride, but the pair had a great deal in common and were well-suited.
The only sorrow had been that Georgiana had not conceived for almost three years, but now…
“Oh, how happy I am,” she said again.
Her husband looked down on her adoringly. “So am I, darling. So am I.”