Chapter 13 #2
“I am well, Lizzy, I was sick in the mornings for about a month, but thankfully that has ceased. Ian and Amy send their regards and are looking forward to seeing you. Amy is especially excited as this is her first ball where she will attend the whole as she comes out in November,” Anne informed Elizabeth.
“Now that I have greeted Anne and satisfied my curiosity, the floor is yours, brother,” Elizabeth stated playfully.
“I thank you for your condescension, Lady Elizabeth,” he replied sarcastically as Andrew gave her a put-on bow.
“These are for you to wear tonight, Lizzy.” Andrew removed a diamond and ruby necklace from a velvet case.
It was a piece that she had never seen before.
“These were part of Grandmama Fitzwilliam’s jewels that were divided between Mother and Aunt Anne.
Those that would have gone to her other daughter were held in trust and have been given to Anne.
This one was part of the set that was given to Aunt Anne, and, based on your dress tonight, she has consented for you to wear the set. ”
“They are perfect,” Elizabeth opined. “Thénardier, please assist me.” There was a brooch in the form of a flower with diamonds for petals and a ruby at the centre.
The tiara had many smaller diamonds with a large ruby at the apex.
The necklace also had diamonds of increasing size until the two sides were joined by the biggest ruby that Elizabeth had seen, even larger than the one that she had worn at her coming out.
The earbobs had four hanging diamonds with a ruby hanging a little below them.
Once her lady’s maid was satisfied, Elizabeth walked into her dressing room and stood before the full-length mirror. She liked her ensemble very much, and there was just now one thing missing, in her opinion; Fitzwilliam Darcy standing next to her.
When she was escorted to her betrothed, who was waiting in the hall outside her chambers, he was struck all over again at just how stunning Elizabeth was.
It was a long receiving line comprised of Darcys, Fitzwilliams, and Bennets, with the betrothed couple the last in the line before the guests entered the glistening ballroom.
After a little over an hour, the last of the guests had moved through the line, and the family, who had been standing and greeting one and all, moved into the ball room.
“I suppose my mother had the right of it, that it would not look right if I danced every set with you, Lizzy,” Will sighed forlornly.
“We are dancing the three most important dances, after all, so you have naught to repine. I expect to see you dancing with others tonight, Will,” Elizabeth returned.
“You know I do not like to dance with someone unless I am acquainted with them,” Will responded with put-on pique.
“And I suppose,” Elizabeth smiled as they used the words from an argument some years before, “that one is not able to be introduced at a ball. You know practically everyone here, so even if you were still that way, you would have no valid excuse tonight.”
“You remember I told you about the dance, the Waltz, that I learnt on my grand tour, do you not?” Will asked quietly, and Elizabeth nodded.
“It is a great pity that polite society refuses to countenance it here in England; how I would love to dance it with you tonight, my love.” Will dreamed of Elizabeth in his arms as he guided her around the room in the rise and fall of the forbidden dance.
“You scandalise me, Will Darcy! I could never see myself dancing such an intimate dance in public,” Elizabeth arched her eyebrow at Will while her eyes shone, imagining how good it would feel in his arms, in a dance, or any other reason for him holding her.
“I will teach it to you when we are alone after we marry. I swear that we will dance it on our wedding trip, Lizzy.” He had not lied to her; they would dance the Waltz, but not alone, with other couples on their wedding trip to the Italian peninsular.
Richard and Loretta also would have preferred more than three sets but resigned themselves to Aunt Anne’s rule that no more than three sets with one who was married or betrothed to the requester.
A little more than a month after Lizzy and Will married, they would be man and wife when none could gainsay them again.
All too soon, the ball ended. The younger girls and boy all enjoyed their allowed time at the dance and left after the set after supper without complaint. Georgiana particularly had enjoyed her supper very well that night, sitting with James Bennet.
The day after the ball, Elizabeth and her mother met with Lady Anne and Georgiana, and it was decided that with Mrs Annesley’s approval, she would make the move from Snowhaven to Pemberley the day of the wedding.
Elizabeth would be sad to see the lady depart, but she was happy that she would now be with Gigi.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Will had a ‘stag party’ of sorts the night before his wedding. All the younger men met in the billiards room while most of the ladies were at Snowhaven. Will missed not seeing his love that day, but he would never have to leave her side again in little more than twelve hours.
He and the rest of the men had the midday meal at Snowhaven after a rehearsal in the church in Matlock with William Bennet.
If one did not know that it was his first time performing the marriage rites, they would not have been able to tell from the confident way the new clergyman conducted the practice service.
After Will took his leave from Elizabeth, he and some of the men returned to Pemberley. He could not wait for the wedding to be over so he would not have to part from her again.
“Will!” Andrew snapped him out of his reverie.
“If it were anyone but you, I would be admonishing him about not hurting Lizzy, but I am sure that you would lay down your life so she would not experience any pain. Do you know that after his anger wore off when he thought that you had inappropriate thoughts about his little girl, my father predicted that you would be her choice of husband one day?”
“No, I was never informed of that, but it makes me feel even better to know that I would have had Uncle Reggie’s blessing,” Will replied.
“My father will be looking down on us tomorrow, and he will be as happy and proud as any father could be,” Andrew said, missing his father especially now before he was to give Elizabeth away.
“I look forward to being able to call you brother on the morrow, Will.” Andrew clapped his cousin on the back.
“If you and Lizzy are half as happy as Mandy and me, you will have the most felicitous of marriages, Darcy,” Bingley said as he sat down, a little in his cups. “Do you need any pointers, well you know—about the wedding night,” Bingley grinned as he asked his friend the question.
“Thank you, Bingley, but I am not an innocent, so I do not need any advice in that area. I think it is time for us to head for our bedchambers, for it would not do for you to be in your cups at my wedding in the morning.” As he had in the past, when he saw his friend in his cups, Will was amused at his antics in that state.
“Have no fear, brother-to-be,” Richard said as he and Will headed to their chambers, “I will make sure that you are at the church well ahead of the required time. It is an honour to stand up with you, Will.”
“The honour is mine, Richard; you have always been more of a brother than a cousin, and on the morrow, it will be official.
And I get to return the favour when it is your turn at the altar.
It is not like we will never see each other; with barely an hour by carriage between our estates, there will be ample opportunity for visits after your wedding trip.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The night before her wedding, after the gathering of all of the ladies broke up, Elizabeth’s mother and Mother Tammy came to talk to her about what to expect on the wedding night.
“Like your papa and me, you and Will have the deepest kind of love, Lizzy, and when there is love, then everything that you need in the relationship is built on a solid foundation. You respect each other, and he will never do anything to occasion your pain if he can help it,” her mother stated.
“You have grown up on an estate, so you know that the male appendage will be inserted inside of you, do you not?” Mother Tammy asked.
Blushing all shades of red and pink, Elizabeth nodded.
“I am sure with your voracious reading that you have read a book or two on the subject, am I correct?” Again, Elizabeth nodded.
“With the love that you two have, he will not want to merely take his pleasure and then leave you; in fact, I am almost sure that it will be his preference to sleep every night in the same bed as you. Have you two canvassed the subject?”
“Yes,” came the mortified squeak. “We will share a bed.”
“Then the most important thing will be communication,” Mother Tammy added.
“What Tammy said is absolutely correct. Do not be afraid to tell him what you find pleasurable and what you do not. Also, ask him the same for himself,” Lady Elaine explained.
“If I take pleasure in the act, will I not be wanton?” Elizabeth asked, not able to look either lady in the eye.
“No, Lizzy, never!” her mother cried. “When the act is within the bounds of marriage and love, there will never be anything wrong with both of you taking pleasure, regardless of where, as long as you have privacy, or when!
Please do not buy into the nonsensical tale that a woman ‘must lie still’ while her husband does what he does.
Mayhap in the worst kind of arranged marriages, but not in a love match like yours, like mine, or Aunt Anne and Uncle George, your Mother Tammy and Father Bennet, and I could go on and on.
“It is not written anywhere that the man is the only one who should have pleasure in the marital bed; you are as entitled to take pleasure as your husband, and that makes you happy, not wanton!”
“We will not lie to you Lizzy. The first time could occasion you some pain, and there will be some blood, but only the first time; each time, it will get easier. It is like anything else in life; if you want to be proficient, you must practice diligently,” Mother Tammy teased her birth-stepdaughter.
“Do you have any questions, Lizzy?” her Mama asked.
“No, Mama, Mother Tammy. You were very thorough in your explanations, and I think I will try to get some sleep now.” Elizabeth kissed both ladies on the cheek, and after her lady’s maid assisted her in preparing for bed, she eventually allowed sleep to claim her as she dreamed about sharing a bed with Will and what they would do in said bed.
Elizabeth looked over at Aggie, who was where she would expect to find her, stretched out on the thick rug and no doubt dreaming of chasing rabbits.
She would be nine soon but still seemed to be in good health.
She was a little slower and did like to rest more than she used to, but other than that, all seemed well with the dog that Elizabeth loved to distraction.
One of the signs that Elizabeth knew to be wary of was when Aggie would start to eat less and not be as interested in her food.
Thankfully, Aggie would still wolf down her food and never looked the other way when offered a treat.
Both Aggie and Saturn would move to Rivington just before the master and mistress of the estate were scheduled to return from Loretta and Richard’s wedding.