Chapter 12
Three Months Later
“Lizzy! Hurry up and come down! Mr. Darcy’s family will be here any minute!”
Elizabeth put the finishing touches on her hair, then smoothed her skirt and walked out the door. How she missed Jane! Her sister had been Mrs. Bingley for seven weeks now, and Elizabeth never missed her so much as when her mother was haranguing her and she needed Jane’s calm presence.
“Come along, girls! You cannot keep a countess waiting!”
“They are not even here yet, Mama,” said Lydia.
Elizabeth smiled at her younger sister. Lydia and she had become surprisingly close since Jane moved out.
“Into the drawing room, all of you,” tutted Mrs. Bennet. She shooed Elizabeth, Kitty, and Lydia into Longbourn’s largest room and looked about to make sure all was in order. “Where is your father?”
“I will get him,” said Elizabeth, moving towards the door.
“Oh, no you don’t! I will not risk you missing their arrival. Lydia, fetch your father.”
“Yes, mama.”
Mrs. Bennet was always a mass of nerves when a marriage prospect for one of her daughters was about.
She had been remarkably calm after Jane married, though, and they had thought it was the dawning of a new era.
It was not. Mrs. Bennet had merely been saving her nerves for Darcy’s aunt, the countess.
“They’re here!” cried Kitty from her place by the window. A large carriage was trundling up the drive.
Mr. Bennet walked in with Lydia just as the knocker sounded on the door.
“Everybody remember your manners,” hissed Mrs. Bennet.
Lydia rolled her eyes and Elizabeth stifled a laugh. In some ways, it was good to know her mother could be relied on to always behave in a predictable manner.
The butler stepped into the room. “Mr. Darcy and his family are here, ma’am.”
“Show them in, Hodges, show them in!”
The butler stepped back into the hall and re-entered with a distinguished woman on his heels.
“Lady Matlock.” Darcy followed her and the butler kept announcing names as Darcy’s family entered the room like a royal procession.
His sister Georgiana was there, hiding behind her cousins.
Darcy’s favorite cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam had come, along with his elder brother and his wife, Lord and Lady Seaton.
Lastly, Darcy’s paternal aunt, Mrs. Davies, had come with her son Jonathon.
Mrs. Bennet was shocked into silence by all the grand people suddenly filling her drawing room. She called for tea and made polite small talk, her voice staying surprisingly soft. Her guests could not know it was intimidation and not manners that kept her volume in check.
“How are the wedding plans coming, Mrs. Bennet?” asked Lady Matlock.
“Very well, my lady. Though if they would wait another month there would be more flowers to choose from.”
Elizabeth discreetly tapped her mother’s hip from her seat beside her and prayed she would move on before she begged Darcy’s aunt to host the wedding breakfast herself.
“I appreciate that you wish to decorate for the wedding breakfast, but I have waited for my bride for three months already. I wish to take her home to Pemberley,” said Darcy.
Colonel Fitzwilliam and his brother snickered behind Darcy, but he ignored them. They were not the ones he needed to impress today.
Conversation continued and eventually Mr. Bennet invited the men to his study to look at some rare book he had acquired, and the ladies were left alone in the drawing room.
Elizabeth had already met Georgiana the week before when she had arrived with her companion.
She found her delightful and sweet, which was a great relief since they would all be sharing a house.
Since she was already familiar with her new sister, she thought she would get to know her new cousin.
“May I sit with you?” she asked quietly as she approached Minerva on a settee.
“Yes, of course.”
Elizabeth sat next to the nervous woman. She appeared only a few years older than herself. “How was your journey?”
“Oh, it was uneventful, thank you,” she answered quietly, her eyes on her hands.
Darcy had said she was reserved and shy, but Elizabeth had not expected this degree of diffidence. Elizabeth imagined the lady’s husband did not help matters. She had only spoken with Lord Seaton for a few minutes, but it was enough to know he would eat alive someone as gentle as Minerva.
Looking around and seeing that her mother was occupied with Darcy’s aunts and his sister with her own sisters, she said, “Are you fond of music?”
Minerva looked up. “Yes, I am.”
“Come with me.” Elizabeth stood and moved to the door, Minerva following slowly behind her.
Elizabeth led her to the music room down the hall, far enough away from anyone else in their party that they might speak undisturbed.
“Do you play the pianoforte?”
“Yes, of course. Though I prefer the harp.”
“Oh, you are impressive! I enjoy the harp, but I do not play it myself. I believe there is an instrument at Netherfield. Perhaps I might hear you before you leave Hertfordshire.”
“Perhaps.”
“Do you mind if I play something?”
“Not at all.”
Elizabeth sat at the instrument and played a slow tune, something simple that did not require her full attention. Minerva shuffled through the music sheets set in a basket on top of the pianoforte.
“Do you have any advice for me?” asked Elizabeth.
Minerva looked up with frightened eyes. “What do you mean?”
“You have recently joined the family. You might know what topics to avoid to prevent an awkward dinner.”
Minerva looked relieved. “I would not bring up politics when Lord Matlock is at table.”
“Does he feel passionately about it?”
“Depending on the topic, he can go on for hours. Once, he would not stop talking long enough for Lady Matlock to direct the servants. We ended up missing the entire third course because the souffle had fallen by the time he was done.”
Elizabeth laughed lightly.
“Cook was terribly upset.”
“I can imagine!”
Minerva seemed more relaxed now. Elizabeth ventured another tack.
“Do you often visit Pemberley?” she asked.
“I have only been once, last year, for a week before the Season.”
“Would you like to come this summer? Fitzwilliam and I are hosting a house party, and I would so love to have a familiar face in the crowd. My sister Mrs. Bingley will be there.”
Minerva smiled tremulously. “Mrs. Bingley is very kind.”
“She is. It has been a longstanding joke around here that Jane got all the goodness in the family, that is why the rest of us are so mischievous.”
Minerva almost laughed.
“Truly, I would love for you to come. Please think about it. If I may make a confession, I am a little nervous about Pemberley.”
“It is a beautiful estate.”
“I am sure it is. It is not the estate itself that worries me. I will be miles from my home and all my sisters, and I will know no one there. It seems a daunting task.”
“You will have Mr. Darcy to assist you.”
Was that jealousy Elizabeth detected? “I will, but he will be busy with estate matters, and some things I must do on my own. If he is constantly stepping in for me, the staff will not learn to respect me. I may consult with him in private of course, and I intend to, but the execution will be up to me alone.”
Minerva nodded. “That does sound daunting. Surely Georgiana will help you, as well. And might not one of your sisters come to stay with you?”
“I have thought about bringing my sister Catherine. Our other sister Mary has recently married and moved to Kent, and Jane is at Netherfield, as you know. But if I take Kitty, Lydia will be here all on her own, and that does not seem fair to her. She is already likely to be the last one at home due to her being the youngest. It seems cruel to begin that prematurely.”
“I see your point. A house party seems a good idea then, but invite your friends instead of your husband’s.” Elizabeth laughed, but Minerva seemed shocked by her own words. “Forgive me, I meant no offense.”
“I am not offended in the least! Truly, you may speak as you wish here. Once you get to know my younger sisters, you will see why it takes more than such a statement to offend me.”
Minerva choked out another laugh. “Thank you, Miss Bennet.”
“Would you call me Elizabeth, or better yet, Lizzy, as my sisters do? We are to be cousins, after all.”
Minerva bit her lip.
“It would help me to feel more at home in the family.”
Minerva’s eyes instantly brightened in understanding. “Of course! It is strange to suddenly be called by a new name. I will call you Lizzy, of course. And you must call me Minnie, as my sister does.”
“Very well, Minnie. I am sure we shall be great friends.”
“Your cousin is a brute,” whispered Elizabeth. She and Darcy were standing by the window in the drawing room before dinner.
“Which one do you mean?”
“Lord Seaton. His wife is shy, but she has a lovely sense of humor if you draw her out.”
“Does she?”
“Yes! But he will not take the time to do so. He is not even gentle with her! You saw how he was barking at her to put her cloak on faster. I was mortified on her behalf.”
Darcy scowled out the window. “I cannot say you are incorrect, though it pains me to say it. Jeffrey thought he was getting one thing in a wife and could not cope with his disappointment when he got another.”
Elizabeth huffed. “He is not a child. Disappointment is a part of life. If he would take the time to get to know her, and be kind to her, he might find she is even better than whatever it was he was expecting.”
“You are right, of course, my dear.”
“You would never speak to me in such a way, would you? Even if you were cross and disappointed?”
Darcy looked horrified. “Of course not! Do not even think such a thing.”
“I am relieved to hear it.”
“I am surprised Lady Seaton told you so much. She had only known you for an hour.”
“She told me very little. Much of it I deduced from my own observations.”
Darcy nodded. “Perhaps I should speak with Jeffrey.”
“Someone should. Why not you? You have a soulmate now. You are not completely without experience.”