Epilogue
“Cinder, where is your mistress?” Darcy patted the massive dog’s head. “Elizabeth, are you up there, darling?”
Darcy stood upon the lawn and looked up at the tree house. He heard a slight movement, and then Elizabeth appeared above the half wall.
“Come down, darling, and walk with me.”
She turned away, gathered her things, and then descended the stairs. He watched her closely.
“Did your mother become too much to bear?”
Elizabeth let out a weary sigh. “She has been here only one week. I do not know how I shall live through the next four.”
“Has your father no control over her?”
“He does, when he is near her, but he is so enamored with your library, sir, that he is rarely in her presence.”
“What has she done now?”
“She is in the kitchens, supervising the baking.” Elizabeth closed her eyes and pressed her fingers into her left temple.
“You are in pain, darling?”
“I have a pounding headache. Perhaps a walk will ease it. Have you time to walk to the castle?”
“Yes. Give me your book, and I shall carry it for you.” He studied her face with concern. “Could this headache be a symptom of your delicate condition?”
“You are kind to say so, sir, but my headache is caused solely by my mother. She will not listen to anything I say. I am certain cook and the other servants will quit before the holiday is over and Mamma returns home.”
Darcy walked on in thoughtful silence. “Perhaps we can distract her.”
“How?”
“I shall inquire when the next assembly will be held in Kimpton. You may insist that your mother take your unmarried sisters shopping for gowns. That alone will occupy several days, with the drive to Kimpton and the long hours of shopping, the selection of patterns, the fittings, and all the rest, followed by the drive back.” He pressed his head against hers for a fleeting moment.
“Tell her that I insist on purchasing each daughter a gown especially for the occasion. Perhaps they will make it an event and extend their shopping over several days.”
Elizabeth leaned into him as they walked. “Nothing occupies her more fully than preparing her daughters for a dance. She believes Mr. and Mrs. Collins will not cast her out when Papa meets his eternal reward, so long as she has married off all her daughters.”
“Lydia is still rather young to marry, is she not?”
“Not in Mamma’s eyes. She dragged my dear Jane to assemblies at fifteen. Fitzwilliam, I care not how far we must drive to attend an assembly. Only find one that is planned within the next two or three weeks, so that my mother may be wholly distracted from poor cook and her staff.”
That afternoon, Elizabeth stood upon the gravel drive waiting for Jane to be handed down from the carriage. Darcy clapped Bingley on the shoulder while Elizabeth embraced her sister firmly.
“Oh, Jane, I am happy to see you. Mamma has been here for one week already. She insisted Papa bring her early, so that she could ‘help’ me prepare the house and menu for my guests. I am going mad, and I fear my servants will revolt.”
Jane placed a gentle hand beneath Elizabeth’s chin and studied her face. “They will do no such thing. They know how fortunate they are to be working for Mr. Darcy. It will be better now, for I shall help you with Mamma.”
Elizabeth glanced down at Jane’s abdomen. “I can hardly tell that you are an expectant mother, my dear. You look very well.”
Jane ran her hands down her belly affectionately. “I am four months along.” She touched Elizabeth’s abdomen. “You are showing too, Lizzy. You look further along than three months. I hope you are not carrying twins.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Do not say so, Jane. William keeps me so occupied that I cannot imagine having two infants at the same time. We are already the talk of the neighborhood.” She ran her hands down her middle.
“I am not so large. None of our neighbors has remarked upon it. You only notice because you know me so well.”
She pressed her lips together. “They have noticed, however, that Fitzwilliam and I spend time with Wills. They say it is an excessive amount and attribute it to my coming from a lower circle, as though I do not understand how families of higher rank are expected to conduct themselves.”
She rested both hands upon the slight curve of her abdomen. “Yet my boy is growing so quickly that I cannot bring myself to leave him so entirely to another’s care, and I intend to spend as much time as I can with this little one as well.”
“We have done the same. Little Charles is so sweet, I love to hold him, though he is too busy these days to cuddle with his mamma.”
They walked on in companionable silence before Jane asked, “Have Uncle Gardiner and Aunt Maddie arrived yet?”
“No. They were to stop at the Allens’ to collect Kitty. I believe the elder son may have set his eye upon our sister. If he shows his face here within the next four weeks, we shall know how matters stand in that quarter.”
“And Mary?”
“Little James has had the croup, and Mr. Lewis will not travel until he is better. Mary writes that we may expect them on Monday next.”
Jane lifted a brow. “His early behavior misled me, Lizzy. He had been such an ogre when we first met him. I expected Mary would lead a miserable life.”
Elizabeth took Jane’s arm as they entered the house. “He treats her better than our husbands treat us, and that is saying something.”
Jane laughed. “Lizzy, you say the most unexpected things.”
Elizabeth sobered. “Did Papa write that Mary Collins is having complications?”
Jane stopped walking. “She is already six months along. I believed she would carry this one to term since she did not lose it in the first three months.”
“So did we all. Papa says her mother suffered the same and was warned to stop trying for a son, or she might lose her life. The condition was called abruptio placentae. It is the same condition Fitzwilliam’s mother died of.”
Jane paled. “This is grave indeed. Is Mrs. Talbot with them now?”
“Yes. Papa made the arrangements for a post chaise before he and mamma traveled here.”
Elizabeth led her into her private parlor and closed the door behind them. Once seated, she continued thoughtfully.
“Did you know Papa and Mrs. Talbot were interested in one another when they were young?”
Jane stared. “No.”
“I found Papa in the library in tears, and in a rare moment of intimacy, he shared his grief. Papa and Mrs. Talbot have known each other since they were children, and he was sweet on her for most of their growing-up years. He says everyone believed they would one day marry.”
“What happened? Why did they not marry?”
“Grandfather Gardiner purchased the law offices and brought his family to Meryton. When Papa saw our mother, he was felled by her beauty and vivacity, and he married her two months later. He says that he and Mrs. Talbot had been perfectly matched and would have been very happy, but he married Mamma instead.”
Jane listened in astonished silence.
“She married Mr. Talbot a year later, and after several years of hoping, they finally had a child, Mary’s mother, who died the same day she gave birth to Mary.
Papa is fearful that the same will happen to Mrs. Collins.
He has spent all his waking hours brooding in the library, too anxious to be in company.
He is feeling this greatly on behalf of both Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Talbot. ”
“Lizzy,” Jane whispered, “Is Mary King our half-sister?”
“I wondered the same and asked him. He said no. The sentiment he feels for Mary is on her grandmother's behalf. He has never stopped loving Mrs. Talbot. Now he fears that she will lose her closest living relative and that she will be devastated, with no one to comfort her.”
“Then he should go to Hunsford to support his heir, and while he is there, he may also support Mrs. Talbot without drawing attention.” Jane dabbed at a tear with her little finger. “Since he opened up to you, you must tell him, Lizzy. Go at once, for there is no time to lose.”
“I will go now.” Elizabeth rose and hurried to the library. She entered hesitantly and found her father in a far corner, wiping his eyes. She sat beside him.
“Papa, this is a grave time for our cousin. Should you not be at his side? He is your heir, your only living heir. He may lose his unborn child, and he may lose his wife. I believe you should go to him and support him through this.”
Bennet lowered his hand and looked at his daughter.
“But what of your mother? She hates Hettie.”
“You go for the sake of your heir. No one, not even Mamma, can condemn you for that.”
He remained still, considering her words, and finally stood with determination written in every line. “I shall go to him today, and perhaps Mary will be well.”
Elizabeth also stood. “I shall ask Walters to call for your carriage.”
He embraced her, then departed the room without looking back.
Elizabeth did take her mother and two unmarried sisters to Kimpton several times, at first to find fabric and patterns, and then for fittings, and at last for accessories.
They were to attend an assembly in Kimpton two days hence, and Mrs. Bennet was as excited as her two youngest daughters.
Between purchasing gowns for the dance and spending time in Jane’s company, Frances Bennet was no longer tormenting the servants.
At Jane’s insistence, all the women spent time with the children each morning, and as Elizabeth expected, Mrs. Bennet pronounced Jane’s son the brightest, the handsomest, and the most loved of all her grandchildren
“Miss Catherine, may I have this dance?”
Kitty’s cheeks flushed pink as she raised her eyes to the tall young man who stood before her, bowing gracefully over her hand.
“It would be my pleasure, sir.”
Kitty moved away with Mr. Allen, a young man of about four and twenty. Jane and Elizabeth exchanged a glance and smiled.
“Perhaps Kitty has met her match,” Elizabeth murmured.
“The Allens are a respectable family,” Darcy observed. “The young man will inherit a fine estate.”