Chapter 16
When Elizabeth came to, she saw the anxious faces looking down at her, none more worried looking than her—she remembered—her betrothed. William had proposed and she had accepted. Then why was she lying here? She remembered Mr. Philips making a frantic dash up the drive and then he said…
“Mr. Philips, did you say they are alive?” she asked, hoping she had not dreamt that part.
“It is true, Lizzy; they are all alive and will be here about a fortnight,” Marie informed her cousin, tears of happiness flowing unchecked down her cheeks. “We all wish you and William well, but, as I am sure you agree, this news is what we have wished for beyond all else!”
Elizabeth took the letter her betrothed proffered as she sat up on the settee. She slowly broke the seal and let her hand run over the script she was starting to think she would never see again: Jane’s!
March 4, 1809
Nassau, Bahamas.
My dearest Lizzy,
How long have I desired to write that! Two days after we departed Jamaica to return home…
Jane wrote of the shipwreck, how they survived, and their life on ‘New England,’ the name they gave their island.
She told of their longing to be rescued, and how, until their rescuer was sighted, they had seen a handful of pirate vessels and a Royal Navy ship chasing one of the pirate ships. Then Jane continued:
Jamey and I were falling in love in Jamaica, and I believe even before then, but after we had been on the island for more than a year, we decided we could wait no longer so we became betrothed.
After we were rescued, we married the very next day on board HMS Charger, a frigate, by a clergyman from the Church of England.
I pray you and Papa understand we could not wait any longer after being betrothed for more than eighteen months!
“Poor Janey!” Elizabeth exclaimed, “how sad she will be when she learns Papa is no more.” The Duke squeezed her hand in support. She continued reading:
You will not believe how tall Tommy is, Lizzy, he looks like a man; he is boy no longer!
I am sure he will dwarf Papa! Phillip has grown so much as well, although he is not as tall as his new brother.
Tommy looks like a younger version of our dearest Papa.
Tommy and our aunt and uncle have also written to you and Papa.
I cannot wait to see you two. For so long I have dreamt about seeing and hugging you and Papa, Lizzy. From the time you receive this missive, you will not have long to wait, my dear sister, until I see you both, and I cannot wait!
We will depart two or three days after this letter. I must cut my writing short as the packet boat is readying for sea. I will tell you about the rest in person when I see both of you.
Please kiss Papa for me as I asked him to do the same to you from me,
Jane
“Marie, you are my sister! I have four more brothers! William, when we marry, you will be Richard and Andrew’s brother!
Tommy is coming home to claim his inheritance; I will go distracted,” Elizabeth babbled.
Then maudlin thoughts invaded her happiness.
She remembered she was going to have to tell Jane and Tommy about their father dying.
When she looked up at William, she saw she was not alone, and his compassion proved he understood the direction her thoughts had taken.
She would never be alone again. Elizabeth and Marie sat in one another’s arms for some time crying tears of joy, although for Elizabeth they were mixed with tears of sorrow as she was reminded of the loss of her father.
As happy as she was that Jane and Tommy were alive and on their way home, Elizabeth was struck that had this same news arrived before that fateful day her father rode his stallion while foxed, he might still be alive.
As if he were somehow responsible for her father’s death when the stallion was, in fact, innocent, she had refused to ride Orion. Once the woman and her evil stepsister were evicted from Longbourn, and Mr. Jones cleared her to ride again, she would ride him.
Elizabeth realised if she focused on the would-haves, the could-haves, or should-haves of the past, she would court insanity.
She remembered her father’s voice: ‘Only think about the past as that remembrance which gives you pleasure.’ Jane and Tommy were alive, as were all her cousins; that was the most profound and important fact.
She would be able to give Jane over three years’ worth of letters she had written, thinking they would never be read by her dearest sister.
“Lizzy,” Richard said, grinning from ear to ear. “I have had a brilliant idea!”
“You think all your ideas are brilliant,” Major Wickham intoned dryly, causing a round of laughter and a playful glower that said ‘just you wait’ from his friend.
“What are you thinking, Richard?” William asked.
“We should hold the masque ball! I would suggest toward the end of the month, when the travellers are here. Invite those two witches to the ball and then all, including your betrothal, will be announced. I suggest Thursday the five and twentieth, as you two plan to marry two days after,” Richard proposed.
“Receiving an invitation to your ball will send Mrs. Bennet and Caroline into raptures,” Louisa agreed.
“They will never expect that they will not be leaving the ball as free women. After what they did and tried to do to my sister, they deserve nothing less!” It irked Louisa that she had to act a part around them, but she did it to maintain the illusion that all was well.
“As long as our family will be here. If not, I am sorry, William, but our wedding will wait until they arrive. I do, however, like the idea of the masque ball. They will claim they have no money for dresses. I suppose that is their problem, is it not? Mayhap the mother can sell some of her useless baubles,” Elizabeth stated.
As much as she wanted to marry her William, she would wait for Jane, Tommy, and the rest of the Bennets to be present as witnesses.
Elizabeth had an idea. “If you agree, William, and if Jane agrees, the celebration after the ceremony will be for both couples.
I am sure they did not have much of a wedding breakfast on board a Royal Navy warship.
“But of course. On a grimmer note, when Lady Catherine arrives tomorrow you will need to keep out of sight Elizabeth,” William informed his betrothed.
“We do not want to take any chances she or Bingley will see you.” Elizabeth did not object; she had never met the lady and had no interest in doing so now.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Even though it was an ungodly hour to rise, Lady Catherine did so with glee on the appointed day. She had acquired a special license from Town. Once her daughter and nephew were betrothed, she would not allow her nephew to drag his heels.
She felt almost giddy. At long last she would humble a Darcy.
More importantly, her daughter would be a duchess, and Lady Catherine would use the Darcy coffers as her personal reticule.
She was already imagining all the things she would be able to buy that she was currently refused due to the restrictions her late husband had put on estate funds.
When she did not launch into society as well as she had expected she would, and after her failed compromise of the late duke, only a marquess at the time, her parents arranged a match for her with the much older Lewis de Bourgh.
Her parents had lectured her on the immorality of trying to gain what she felt she was due by forcing the man’s hand, but now she would triumph, getting what she wanted, regardless of the time it had taken her to do so.
Anne de Bourgh’s only interest now was to remove herself from under her mother’s thumb. She was about to turn five and twenty, and she was sure her mother was not aware that she knew the terms of her father’s true will—not the fabrication Lady Catherine had presented to Anne as his will.
As she was close to the birthday that would make her mistress of Rosings Park, her desire to marry her cousin, regardless of his rank, was nil. It had been a few years now since Anne realised the betrothal her mother went on and on about existed only in her mother’s mind.
As the carriage rumbled on, Anne smiled to herself.
Her mother’s mood was giddy, but she was amused that her mother believed the duke, well-guarded at all times, had allowed their bumbling, Peeping Tom of a parson anywhere near one of the things most precious to him in the world, his sister.
She imagined her mother was in for a very rude awakening.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bingley was seated in a private parlour at the Red Rooster Inn in Meryton. His patroness had questions she wanted answered before she made her way to Netherfield Park to force the Duke to do her bidding.
Lady Catherine swept into the parlour with Dryden an hour before they were expected at the Duke’s local estate, just after half past the hour of ten. “You have done very well, Mr. Bingley; I am impressed. I did not think you had it in you to seduce my niece,” Lady Catherine pronounced.
“What will you do, your Ladyship, if your nephew refuses to acquiesce to your demand that he marries Miss de Bourgh?” Bingley asked for the benefit of the Duke, Earl, Viscount, Colonel, and the magistrate who were all listening just behind the servants’ door as they stood huddled together in the servants’ passageway.