Chapter 1
Jane breathed the slightest sigh of relief as the carriage turned off the road at Pemberley’s wide, gated entrance and her husband exuberantly waved out the window at the gatekeeper.
She looked away from his silliness with a vague feeling of discontentment.
It bothered her that she felt such a negative feeling at all.
After all, she had long been lauded as the most serene and kind sort of woman and there was no reason that she could think of that she should not be the happiest of brides.
At the sound of a lusty sigh, she fought the desire to cringe and looked to her husband’s youngest sister, Caroline, who sat in the forward-facing seat beside her brother.
“You shall never believe the grandness of Pemberley! You are lucky, dear Jane, to have been included in our
annual invitation,” Caroline smiled sweetly.
“I assure you that I feel it just as strongly as you could wish,” Jane replied softly. “I am so very pleased to be seeing Lizzy again. It feels like ages since our wedding.”
Bingley leaned forward to take her hand and placed a lingering kiss on the back of it. “The very best day of my entire life thus far!”
Jane returned his smile affectionately and blushed at his forwardness in front of Caroline, though the older woman was smiling at their intertwined fingers.
There was another stab of— something. It told her that her sister-in-law was not as pleased as her smile suggested.
Perhaps it was the hardness of her eyes, or possibly the clenching of her jaw which spoke of perhaps the grinding of her teeth?
She was not entirely sure. She looked to her husband to see if he noticed anything, but he had already begun to reminisce on their previous visits and his anticipation of their current visit.
“Please remember, my love. Elizabeth is quite close to her confinement.” Jane blushed to mention it. “She may not have much planned as it will just be a family visit, and not a house party.”
“Should entertaining be beyond Eliza’s skills,” Caroline smirked. “I should be more than happy to act as hostess on her behalf.”
Jane murmured noncommittally and returned her attention to her husband. “I am certain that the fishing will be just as you hope and I look forward to some fresh fish once more. London is wonderful for many things but fresh fish is not one of them.”
“I shall ask Louisa to introduce you to her suppliers,” Caroline asserted. “For I assure you that Hurst House has never suffered from inferior supplies. Perhaps we ought to speak with your servants, unused as you are to managing a household.”
Jane opened her mouth to assure her that she was well trained to manage a household but was cut off by her husband’s gratitude.
“That is very good of you, Caroline. I am sure that Jane would be very grateful for the assistance. I know that she was thankful for your organization of Netherfield.”
Jane looked between the siblings with absolute shock.
She had spent the last eleven months undoing all of Caroline’s poor management.
In fact, it was only in the last four months that she had been able to convince the servants that they need not worry over Caroline’s outrage when they would check with the mistress before carrying out the other woman’s orders, not that Jane would have acknowledged such a thing.
Caroline nodded her head regally in acceptance of her brother’s words and gave her sister-in-law another of her dead-eyed smiles.
Jane returned it sweetly and replied the only way she could. “I have certainly been pleased to have both you and my mother so invested in my success.”
Caroline’s lips pursed and she released a low grunt before changing the subject back to her favorite topic.
“We shall be able to see the house from the top of the next rise. I stop, just as my dear Darcy does, and spend a moment greeting the most beautiful estate in all of England. I quite feel as if I am being welcomed home.”
“Oh, Caroline, must we stop? I should like to arrive and clean this dust from my coat,” Bingley grumbled, brushing at his sleeve.
They began to bicker until Jane soothed them both by agreeing to stop for just a moment so that Caroline could show her the view but that they would not leave the carriage, allowing them to continue on with all speed.
The view, she admitted, was very fine, though she privately thought that the true beauty of the estate was not in the admittedly enormous house built of local stone, but in the gorgeous woods and hills and gardens that had been tended with obvious care for many generations.
They sat back once more and Bingley knocked for the coach to continue down the track which circled down to the valley floor and then along the lovely shell drive which traversed about the large lake which stood before the house.
When the carriage stopped before the large double doors beneath the portico, Jane checked her gloves for smudges.
Immediately, the carriage was swarmed by a great number of footmen, opening the doors, emptying the boot, and unstrapping the many, many trunks which Caroline had insisted were necessary.
Bingley jumped from the carriage and then turned and put his hand in to assist the ladies.
Jane began to reach for his hand but was pushed aside by Caroline, who had apparently not taken notice of her movements.
Caroline drug her brother toward the door where the Darcys were waiting out of the way of the hustle and bustle. Bingley exclaimed over Elizabeth and pumped Darcy’s hand with abandon. Jane watched from the shadows of the carriage, that feeling once again tickling at the edge of her consciousness.
“Ma’am?”
Jane jerked to attention and blushed softly at the footman’s lowered gaze. “I apologize. I was woolgathering.”
She accepted his assistance and stepped from the carriage, smoothing her skirts and looking about at the surroundings. She was certain that her sister spent most of her free time out of doors and she could not blame her with such inducements as she could see even from here.
“Jane!” Elizabeth cried, using her husband’s arm to support her ungainly dash in her favorite sister’s direction.
Jane smiled to see the look of surprise on her own husband’s face as if they had left him mid-sentence. Caroline was fighting a losing battle with a sour look about her mouth.
“Lizzy!” she replied, nearly bowled over from her sister’s affectionate embrace. “I have missed you so much! You look quite ready to burst! I cannot wait to meet my first sweet niece.”
“Do not tease, Jane,” Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes and laughing. “I am quite decided that this one is the heir of Pemberley. He is entirely too large to be anything else.”
“It can hardly be surprising with your giant of a husband,” Bingley cried, slapping Darcy on the back as he joined them and laughed at his own joke.
Darcy raised his eyes to the heavens and the ladies blushed. “Mrs. Bingley, it is very good to see you. You are lovely as always.”
“Yes, dear Jane,” Caroline sighed. “I quite forgot that you were here in my excitement to greet our friend. Welcome to Pemberley.”
Elizabeth stared at the other woman until Caroline looked away with a blush. “I was quite surprised that you decided to join my brother and sister in their invitation, Miss Bingley. I was under the impression that you were to go to York with the Hursts.”
Caroline wrinkled her nose at the very thought. “You must not be aware that we spend every summer at Pemberley, Miss Eliza.”
“I do hate to disagree with you, Miss Bingley, but I invited your brother to join me for fishing a few times in the past,” Mr. Darcy declared, earning a pleased smile from his wife. “It was hardly every year, and you were never included in the invitation.”
“But we have always been welcomed happily by yourself and your sister!” Caroline gasped.
“You mistake politeness for pleasure, Miss Bingley.”
“I shall have to have Mrs. Reynolds find a room for you,” Elizabeth smirked at the other woman’s floundering.
“I am sure that my usual room shall do fine,” Miss Bingley declared airily, fighting for equanimity.
“As my wife is mistress here,” Darcy barked, his former glower on full display. “Civility requires that you accept where she places you.”
“I am sure that Elizabeth knows what she is about,” Jane intervened softly. “Is Georgiana at home or have you sent her to Matlock already?”
Elizabeth sent her a private smile and allowed the change of subject. “She is with her piano master for one last lesson. She is for Matlock tomorrow. She did not wish to leave me alone and was determined to wait for your arrival. Shall we go in?”
Jane linked her arm with Elizabeth’s and with Darcy on the other side, they led the group into the house. Caroline took her brother’s arm with little grace and stomped after them. They were greeted inside the door by Mrs. Reynolds and several maids.
“You were correct, Mrs. Reynolds, as you see. Your percipience knows no bounds.” Elizabeth teased the older woman. “If Agnus will show Miss Bingley to the Rose Room, I will allow you to take Jane and Charles to their suite in the family wing.”
“Where did you put Caroline?” Jane asked quietly as Caroline stomped up the stairs after the maid.
“She is in the furthest reaches of the visitor’s floor and not because I dislike her with an intensity rivaling your feelings for snakes. As I shall be making Heaven knows what noises, and though she may not appreciate it, I am saving her dignity.”
“Of course, you would act in her best interest despite her showing up uninvited. I cannot apologize enough, but she did insist and Charles would not dissuade her and she would not listen to me at all.”