Chapter 9
Drawing Room
Longbourn
The air was spicy with the scents of rosemary and bay and fir, and a pile of greenery, with red holly berries peeking out here and there, sat on the table.
Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, and Lydia flitted back and forth between table and mantel and doorway and windows, choosing sprigs of green and tying them into bundles with twine before going to pin them up in decorative locations.
Mrs. Bennet supervised it all from her seat at the fire.
“The Christmas tree at Netherfield Park is very beautiful, Mamma,” Lydia remarked as she carefully arranged a fir branch on the mantle. “I daresay it is not possible this year to put one up here at Longbourn, but perhaps we could do so next year?”
“It sounds very odd,” Mrs. Bennet said. “Why would one bring an entire tree into the house? There must be needles everywhere, and we have enough of a mess with the rosemary and holly and fir festooning our home.”
“The tree did shed needles,” Kitty remarked, “but Lydia is right. The tree was so beautiful, especially with the candles … oh, oh! It is the carriage! The Gardiners are here!”
Lydia dropped her branch and turned bright eyes on her mother. “May Kitty and I greet them, Mamma? Please say we may!”
“Of course you may,” Mrs. Bennet said indulgently.
“Indeed, I would be pleased if you would take the children upstairs and settle them in the nursery. I dearly love my sister Gardiner, but I find it odd that she allows her children into the drawing room so often. We have so many breakable objects here, and your cousins are very young!”
“We will take them upstairs,” Kitty said eagerly, and within a minute, the youngest Misses Bennet had rushed out of the room.
“Do you wish to greet the Gardiners as well, Mary?” Elizabeth asked her next younger sister.
Mary shook her head and smiled. “No, I will wait until the children are settled before going up to see them. After a trip from London in the carriage, they are bound to be full of energy. I suspect Lydia and Kitty will take them outside soon, and I would far rather wait here in the warmth.”
“That is reasonable,” Elizabeth said and turned back to her work in decorating the room with greenery.
She loved and admired her Gardiner relations, but the truth was that for the younger three Bennet daughters, the Gardiners had acted more like parents than aunt and uncle during their critical early years.
Carrying and delivering Lydia had been difficult for Mrs. Bennet, and when she had turned out to be yet another daughter instead of the desperately hoped-for son, Mrs. Bennet’s recovery had been slow.
Nearly bed-bound and unable to care for her small children or her household, Mrs. Bennet had tearfully sent her youngest three daughters, including her newborn, along with a wet nurse, to London to her brother and his wife.
The Gardiners had cared for the young Bennets as their own, even as their own tiny Gardiners began arriving.
Funds and gifts had made regular journeys from Longbourn to Cheapside, but it had not been until some several years later that Mrs. Bennet had been sufficiently recovered to send for her children to come home.
Blessedly, it had not taken the three youngest Bennet daughters long to assimilate back into the household, but their closeness to the Gardiners was unbroken.
Kitty and Lydia especially took every opportunity to spend time and play with their younger cousins whenever they could.
Elizabeth, too, loved the children, but she was old enough that she enjoyed the company of her aunt and uncle more.
She heaved out a sigh of satisfaction as she stretched up on her tiptoes to tuck a sprig of ivy into one of the panes of the window. The upcoming week would be wonderful, with the celebration of the birth of Christ and the joy of family and dear friends.
***
Meryton
Church
Christmas Day
Some Sundays the congregational assembly was solemn, and on others it was glad, but never did it feel so filled with holy wonder and joy as on Christmas morning.
The Bennet family sat in their usual pew, all in a neat line from eldest to youngest, with their parents to the left of Jane.
Every pew in the church was full this blessed morning, with all the usual attendees, the newcomers to Netherfield, several red-coated and white-sashed officers, and enlisted men alongside tenants and servants.
Across the aisle sat the Lucases, with old Mrs. Long and her nieces behind them.
Elizabeth smiled at the sight of her neighbors and friends and returned her attention to the pulpit.
“O God,” Mr. Allen solemnly intoned, “you have caused this holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light. Grant that we, who have known the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy Him perfectly in heaven; where with You and the Holy Spirit, He lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting.”
“Amen,” the congregation said in unison.
“O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son, Jesus Christ…”
Elizabeth leaned back against her seat, thankful for the warmth of her elder and next younger sister beside her.
The church was cold but beautiful, with bright red ribbons securing bundles of holly and rosemary and bay to the pulpit and altar.
The light streamed in through the windows depicting the Nativity, their position carefully chosen at the building of the little church to catch the most sunlight on this most appropriate of days.
Elizabeth’s heart stirred with excitement as she looked at the greenery, abruptly reminded of the decked halls of Longbourn.
Soon the house would be filled with guests, jollity and laughter as they all partook of the feast prepared in Longbourn’s kitchen.
Mrs. Bennet enjoyed entertaining and, as usual, had invited all of her nearest neighbors to come share in the bounty.
Elizabeth always relished the Christmas fellowship, and this year promised to be especially wonderful.
But that was later. Now, it was time to remember and to honor and adore the Christ Child, Who had come into the world all those many centuries ago, come to save all people from their sins. He was the focus of the day, and of all the celebrations that came after, and He must be the focus now.
“Radiant Morning Star,” Mr. Allen intoned solemnly, “you are both guidance and mystery. Visit our rest with dreams, and our journeys with strange companions. Grace us with the hospitality to open our hearts and homes to visitors filled with unfamiliar wisdom bearing profound and unusual gifts.”
“Amen,” Elizabeth murmured with everyone else. “Amen.”
***
Drawing Room
Longbourn
Later
Christmas Day
“Mrs. Bingley, Miss Bingley, Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, and Colonel Fitzwilliam,” the Bennets’ butler announced.
Elizabeth, who was speaking with Charlotte Lucas, made her friend a quick apology and hurried over to greet the newest arrivals to Longbourn.
She had to wend her way through a veritable crowd of guests as Longbourn already seemed to be bursting at the seams. Everything was glitter and gaiety, and everyone was in their fine Sunday best. The officers were in their cheerful red coats with polished boots, and the scents of the greenery on every mantel and banister and tabletop complemented the aromas of a bounteous dinner.
The Lucases had arrived concurrently with the Longs, and Mrs. Bennet was already ensconced comfortably in a corner speaking with two of her favorite cronies.
A chair was ready for Mrs. Phillips and another for Mrs. Gardiner when they were ready to join the party, but the Phillipses had yet to arrive and the Gardiners were in the nursery with their children for the time being.
Jane was conversing with old Mrs. Goldson, so Elizabeth had taken it upon herself to act as hostess and greet all the new arrivals.
“Happy Christmas to you all,” she said, “and thank you for coming.”
“It is wonderful to be here,” Caroline Bingley said cheerfully. “We are honored to be included in your family’s feast.”
“My mother adores a full house, and we are very pleased to have you here,” Elizabeth said in response, and then, looking around, she continued, “We will be serving dinner in an hour or so, and until then, feel free to mingle or sit down as you wish. I am not certain whether you have met everyone here, but if you have not, I would be glad to introduce you.”
“Thank you,” Caroline said in return, and the married Bingleys wandered off in one direction, and Colonel Fitzwilliam made his way toward Jane, while Mr. Darcy and Caroline stayed where they were.
“I do not see your sister and mother,” Elizabeth remarked. “How is Mrs. Hurst doing?”
“She is having a difficult day,” Caroline explained with an expressive grimace, “and our mother decided to stay back at Netherfield to help look after her.”
“I am sorry,” Elizabeth said sympathetically.
“The child is worth it, of course, but my sister has had a challenging time of it. But enough of that. Your gown is lovely, dear friend.”
“Oh, thank you,” Elizabeth replied, glancing down at her green skirt. This was one of her favorite dresses, along with being thick enough to keep her warm so long as she had a shawl around her shoulders. “You look very well yourself.”
“Thank you,” Caroline said and turned to her betrothed, who was standing a few feet away with his eyes fixed on Elizabeth’s face. “Darcy, I know you have no particular interest in discussions of finery. Feel free to go find Mr. Bennet and discuss books, if you like.”
Darcy looked startled and then grinned and said, “I would enjoy that. Miss Elizabeth, where might I find your father?”
She looked around and gestured toward an adjacent sitting room, which was visible through doors that had been flung wide for the party. “I believe Mr. Bennet is speaking with Sir William Lucas in the Blue Room and would doubtless relish an interruption by a fellow lover of books.”
“I will courteously interrupt them then,” Darcy replied with a bow and a smile and then walked off.
Elizabeth found her eyes following his tall, strong figure as he walked away, and when she turned back to Caroline, she did not miss the significant look on the lady’s face. She blushed and was relieved when Caroline said, “Might we speak with Miss Lucas? I would enjoy getting to know her better.”
“Of course,” Elizabeth said. “Please come this way.”