Chapter 6
Elizabeth felt her excitement growing as the carriage traversed the town of Meryton.
She recognised nothing, but each turn of the carriage’s wheel brought her closer to the place where she had been born.
Uncle Thomas had explained that the house was nothing like when she had lived there; it had been rebuilt and enlarged a few times over what it had been then, but it was still the place where she entered the world, and she could not wait to see it.
Georgiana and Anne were seated on either side of her, Andrew and Marie opposite. Her mother was riding with the Darcys on the last leg of the short trip from town. Marie was knitting and Andrew looked like he was sleeping. True, his eyes were closed, but he was very much awake.
He was missing his late father, especially today of all days as he would have loved to have seen where his beloved daughter had begun her life.
He thought back to the afternoon before they were informed of Mr Bingley’s death when he and Marie, along with Perry and Lady Rose, had met with the De Melvilles and Ashbys.
Once he had disclosed the true relationship to the Bennets, no one had been overly surprised.
When they read the notice, both had suspected that there was more to it than the ‘long-lost relatives’ mentioned in the announcement.
Lady Rose suggested that she be authorised to disclose the truth of the connections to her cousins. After discussing the pros and cons, Andrew and Marie had given their permission, agreeing that the Queen would be unhappy to hear this news from the papers or a third-party source.
The decision had proved to be the correct one.
The following day while everyone was condoling with the Bingleys, Lady Rose had met with her cousin at Buckingham House.
The Queen had expressed her full-throated support if and when needed and had been most appreciative that she had been informed before it became general knowledge.
The Queen had also sent a note to the Bennets congratulating them on the betrothal of their one daughter to her cousin Perry and for being reunited with their daughter, Lady Elizabeth.
Lady Rose had reported that the Queen had been most impressed with the way that Mr Bennet had approached the situation, particularly his unwillingness to uproot his daughter’s life a second time.
Andrew’s reverie was broken as the vehicle came to a halt under the portico of a large and new looking manor house.
From the servant’s carriage came a series of indignant ‘woofs’ from Aggie who thought she should be included in everything that her mistress did.
Thankfully, the Bennets had no problem with Aggie accompanying the family into Longbourn and had given permission for her to sleep in her normal place, on the mat next to Elizabeth’s bed.
James and Tom were vastly pleased that Aggie was at Longbourn as they had already fallen in love with their cousin’s enormous hound.
Elizabeth felt her heart quicken as the Bennets all stood to welcome her to her birth home. The coach with her mother and the remaining four Darcys was right behind them, so by the time Andrew handed her out, they had all alighted from their conveyance.
“Welcome to Longbourn siste…er…I mean Cousin Lizzy,” Kitty welcomed her, first though stumbling over the relationship.
“Thank you, Kitty,” Elizabeth took her hands, “I know this is all very confusing, but the salient point is that we are family.”
“Hear hear,” Bennet seconded his second daughter’s sentiment.
“I welcome all of you to our home. Let us go inside; I am sure everyone would like to refresh themselves after travelling.” There was a chorus of agreement and Tammy led the guests into the house while one of the footmen took Aggie for a walk to stretch her legs.
As they gained the entrance hall, there was a gasp off to the side.
“Oh, she is so beautiful. She is the very image of your mother, Master,” blurted out a tearful Mrs Hill, and her husband stood next to her, his eyes suspiciously moist.
“Everyone, this is Mrs Hill our housekeeper who has been at her post since before Jane was born,” Tammy made the introduction. “Next to her is Mr Hill, our butler.”
“Please pardon me, Lady Elizabeth,” Mrs Hill’s embarrassment at her outburst was obvious.
Before she could complete what it was she wanted to say, the beauty who looked as if she had jumped out of the portrait in the gallery, ruby-encrusted cross and all, approached the housekeeper and took her hands.
“Nothing to pardon, Mrs Hill. I am just as excited to see Longbourn and everyone here, likely even more so. It is exceptionally good to meet someone else who knew me as a babe.” Elizabeth put the nervous woman at ease.
“Master, Miss Browning requested that she be allowed to meet Lady Elizabeth, if possible,” Mrs Hill requested. At Elizabeth’s questioning look, her birth father explained.
“Loretta Browning was the other nursemaid who was looking after you alongside Tammy when that…, eh hm, she too was drugged the night you were taken. She now works for our parson Mr Pierce and his wife Miss Charlotte Lucas as was. They have a daughter Emma, born in May of this year. As we have no more little ones, when Charlotte was looking for a nursemaid, we suggested Miss Browning,” Bennet explained.
“I will be happy to meet her,” Elizabeth informed the housekeeper who smiled in pleasure at the confirmation.
Tammy showed her guests to their chambers rather than giving that task to Mrs Hill.
There had been a debate whether to place the guests in the family wing or the guest wing.
In the end, Tammy and her husband had decided on the guest wing as they did not want to push too hard.
It was important that the pace Lizzy determined would be the pace they would follow.
Soon after everyone had been shown to their rooms everyone met in the largest drawing room.
On the way down Elizabeth had stopped in the gallery with her family and they had all marvelled at how much she resembled her Grandma Elizabeth, who was called Beth, Bennet.
Her Uncle Thomas had previously explained that he had named her after his late mother.
At the time, he had gone into depth about that women’s mania and how she had wanted Lizzy placed with a tenant family, but thankfully her presence had long been excised from Longbourn.
During that discussion, she had learned that even her new Uncle Edward and Aunt Hattie spoke as if they were the only Gardiner children.
Once everyone was comfortable, Tammy rang for tea which was accompanied by freshly baked pastries and slices of chocolate cake.
Bennet did not miss how Lizzy was eyeing the chocolate cake and chuckled as he nodded at the marvel of how some things never change.
“It was your favourite; you almost made yourself sick demanding a second slice on your first birthday,” he remembered fondly.
“That never changed,” Elaine recounted. “Every birthday cake since she came to us had to be chocolate, the bigger the better, and she has had two slices each and every year!”
“And never got sick,” Andrew added with a grin.
“It was not only birthdays; for any family celebration at Matlock House or Snowhaven, the bakers knew that no matter what else was ordered that there would have to be a chocolate cake,” Elaine smiled widely.
“Mama! You are making it sound like I indulge in gluttony!” a scandalised Elizabeth responded.
“Kitty and I must take after you, Lizzy,” Tom grinned, “we both love chocolate cake and would have it for every meal if Mama would allow it, but,” he affected a fake pout, “she will not.”
“We all like chocolate cake,” William spoke up, “just not as much as Tom and Kitty!” Kitty stuck out her tongue at her oldest brother.
“Nothing remains from the house that I was born in, is that correct, Uncle Thomas?” Elizabeth asked.
“That is a fact,” Bennet agreed. “It was not just the bad memories; over the years my ancestors had added to the house in a hodgepodge manner. Rather than perpetuate the same mistake I had the house torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Tammy will tell you that I considered a renovation, but we saw the folly of it and chose the harder route which was really no hardship as we had another residence nearby.”
“We do have your bed, and the clothing which was left after you were stolen from us,” Tammy informed Elizabeth.
“Would you like to see them?” Elizabeth nodded, blinking rapidly to either allow the tears in her eyes to fall or fade.
Tammy led Elizabeth and the Fitzwilliam and Darcy women up to the nursery.
It was large with a number of doors that led to nice sized chambers for the servants that worked with the children, and there was one door that was kept closed until today.
Tammy opened it to reveal a small bed, that of a toddler’s, a blanket folded neatly at the foot of the bed, and two shelves with tiny outfits on it.
Elizabeth slowly walked to the little bed and sat on it, caressing the blanket that laid protective over it.
She lifted each little outfit and admired her clothing from so many years ago, and there was not a dry eye among the women watching her.
Even with her memory, she could not summon any which included the items in the room.
She folded each item neatly and replaced them where she had found them.
Although she did not remember them, she felt that a piece of her life that she had forever lost was regained; taking another long look at the items then she turned to Tammy.
“May I take the blanket?” Elizabeth requested softly.
“Of course, you may, dear girl,” Tammy enfolded her in her arms and Elizabeth experienced a feeling of familiarity. “Everything that you see in here is yours, so you may take whatever you choose to, Lizzy.”