Chapter 10. Jane’s Happy Days #2
It was two more weeks before the babe decided to be born.
Jane woke uncomfortable and unable to eat or drink anything.
Aunt Gardiner came and sat with her niece for most of the morning, while Elizabeth was sent to the nursery to aid Nanny with lessons and playtime.
At lunch, Aunt Gardiner sent Alice for the midwife.
Uncle Gardiner remained at his office next door and Cook promised to keep hot, clean water ready for the birth.
When Elizabeth returned to the chamber she shared with Jane, and let Aunt Gardiner leave for a few minutes, Jane took her sister’s hand and told her, “Lizzy, I love you. Thank you for everything you have done for me.”
“Of course, Jane,” Elizabeth said before kissing Jane’s head. “I love you too.”
For a minute, Jane grimaced as pain gripped her, and she attempted to rise from the chair.
“Do you need to stand?”
Shaking her head, Jane took several rapid, light breaths and said, “I am trying to find a different position but the pain passes. Is the midwife here?”
“Any time now,” Elizabeth assured her sister.
“Lizzy…I love this babe,” murmured Jane to which Elizabeth nodded without replying, simply holding Jane’s hand. “And I still love Charles.”
Another painful muscle spasm took hold just then and Jane cried out, “Charles! Why did you leave me?”
Jane’s grip on her sister’s hands grew painful for several seconds but then she released Elizabeth’s hand and panted once more.
Aunt Gardiner and the midwife arrived and for the next half hour, Elizabeth followed direction from the midwife. The bed was stripped, and new linens laid. Alice arrived with the first of several pails of hot water that were poured into a large bowl and several pitchers.
“Why do we need so much hot water?” Elizabeth asked her aunt.
“The water will cool and be mixed with more hot water later to bathe Jane and babe after he is born,” Aunt Gardiner explained. When the midwife moved Jane into the bed, Elizabeth made certain to lay out the swaddling clothes and towels to wash the babe.
“Name him Charles,” Jane said as she struggled through another spasm. “My babe’s name is Charles.”
“Yes, dear,” Aunt Gardiner agreed as she watched Jane struggling with the pains. “His name is Charles.”
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As another hour passed, Elizabeth remained at Jane’s side, holding her hands and wiping her brow as the muscle spasms worsened and Jane cried with the pain, occasionally calling for ‘Charles’ to come to her side.
Finally, Jane asked, “Lizzy, can I have something to drink? I find that I am thirsty.”
“Clean water, give her some of the cool water,” the midwife said shortly as she used a towel to wipe away blood from Jane. “The babe will be here soon.”
Elizabeth used a cup to give Jane a drink of the water before another spasm came, making Jane strain again, her lips twisting in pain.
“Push miss, push,” the midwife encouraged Jane who moaned and twisted on the bed.
“Elizabeth, go to the kitchen and bring up a tea tray,” Aunt Gardiner requested gently.
Hesitating to leave Jane’s side, Elizabeth refused to move, and Madeline stepped closer, her hand reaching out to grasp the hands of both her nieces.
“I see the head,” the midwife announced. “Push miss, push.”
“Charles…I love you,” Jane moaned once before her body twisted about. Suddenly, she fell silent, and her hand was limp in Lizzy’s grasp.
The midwife looked up, and then back down before she reached in and pulled the babe from his mother. Elizabeth stared as the midwife lifted the baby boy and rubbed his chest and smacking his bottom lightly to make him cry.
The thin cry filled the bedroom as the midwife directed, “Miss Elizabeth, if you will come and cut the cord.”
“Yes of course,” she said, releasing Jane’s hand and getting the scissors previously washed and cleaned to perform this necessary task.
Still holding Jane’s hand, and crying freely, Aunt Gardiner managed to ask, “How is the babe?”
“He has healthy lungs and all his limbs,” the midwife replied, glancing at the still form on the bed.
Elizabeth cut through the cord with one movement, then glanced at her sister and said, “Jane, he is so small. He is crying…”
But Jane did not answer and finally tearing her eyes from the form of the wiggling baby as the midwife tied the cord with a bit of string and then began to bath him, Elizabeth turned back to her sister who lay silent and unmoving on the bed.
Aunt Gardiner continued holding Jane’s hand as tears fell down her face.
“Jane…” Elizabeth called. “Wake and see your baby.”
The midwife wrapped the baby in the swaddling clothes and handed him to Aunt Gardiner.
“Why will Jane not wake up?” Elizabeth asked, not willing to see her sister’s face so still.
“Lizzy, come help me with Charles. The midwife will see to Jane now,” she said.
“But…Jane…”
The baby began crying again as Lizzy sat in a chair and Aunt Gardiner slipped the newborn into her niece’s arms.
“Hold him, protect him,” Aunt Gardiner commanded, and Elizabeth nodded her agreement. She refused to look at the bed where the midwife pulled the sheet over the beautiful face that would never smile again.
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It was the appropriate time for morning calls when the Darcy carriage, bearing Fitzwilliam and Georgiana Darcy arrived at Gracechurch Street.
Just as Darcy stepped from the carriage, a hearse pulled to a stop in front of the Gardiner home also and a man dressed in the black outfit of an undertaker with three workmen appeared.
There were a few neighbours watching from their doors, but no one approached the Gardiner household.
The brother and sister remained silent and waited on the street as the four men unloaded a wooden coffin and entered the house. Glancing at Georgiana for a moment, Darcy hesitated to continue but after assurance from his sister that she was well, they approached the door.
Howard, the footman Darcy remembered, opened the door with Mr Gardiner standing behind him.
“Come in Miss Darcy, Mr Darcy,” Mr Gardiner said before he directed them into the parlour.
“Mr Gardiner, we…”
Gardiner’s sad face was forgotten as Elizabeth entered the room, tears streaming down her face.
“Uncle, they have come for Jane,” she stated with loss and pain in her voice.
Georgiana enveloped Elizabeth in her arms while Darcy stood to one side, his arms aching to hold the young woman who had lost someone dear to her.
But then he lifted his head as he heard the cries of a babe.
He found Mr Gardiner’s face guarded as the man said, “Late last night my niece, Jane Bennet, died. And my son was born this morning.”
Without hesitation, Darcy stepped forward and offered his hand, “My congratulations on the birth of your son, Mr Gardiner. May I inquire how Mrs Gardiner is doing?”
“Mrs Gardiner is well as can be expected this morning. We mourn the loss of our eldest niece and celebrate the birth of our child.”
“You have my condolences in the loss of your niece, Mr Gardiner. If there is anything my sister or I…”
Away from the two men, Georgiana asked, “Miss Bennet, what happened?”
“My sister Jane died of a broken heart last night. She has been here–in seclusion– since December,” Elizabeth replied.
The undertaker stepped through the open door and asked, “Mr Gardiner, we need you and one other witness to identify the deceased before we take the body away.”
Hearing those words, Elizabeth felt her legs trembling and Georgiana dropped with her onto the sofa just behind them.
Seeing the distress on Miss Elizabeth’s face, Darcy stepped forward and said, “Mr Gardiner, I knew Miss Bennet in Hertfordshire last fall. Allow me to aid you in this small matter.”
Darcy bowed to Elizabeth before he left the room, but she gave no indication that she heard or saw the man. In the hallway, Mr Darcy and Mr Gardiner climbed the stairs with the undertaker following behind them.
Alone in the parlour, Georgiana hugged Elizabeth again and asked, “And your aunt had her babe? I heard the cry.”
“Yes.”
“And is your aunt well?”
“Yes, she is well,” Elizabeth replied and added. “It…the babe is a boy and appears to be well.”
“I did not realize your sister was here.”
“It is difficult to explain…the circumstances are uncomfortable,” Elizabeth admitted reluctantly.
Deciding not to pry, Georgiana Darcy tightened her hug and whispered, “Tell me nothing. I am your friend and today, I am here simply to console you.”
Sitting back and taking Elizabeth’s hand, the younger woman said, “Now, tell me something wonderful about your sister.”
Without hesitation, Elizabeth declared, “Jane has the most beautiful face in the whole world and when she smiles, the world returns that smile. She loved everyone in her family and our friends. My sister Jane was a gracious young woman…”
“What a wonderful memory!”
In the hallway, Alice gently closed the door to give Miss Elizabeth privacy.
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Darcy followed Gardiner up the stairs and on the first floor, they heard the cries of the infant that were quickly muffled.
“The wet nurse is feeding my son,” Gardiner explained, motioning toward his bed chamber. “My wife will move our son into the nursery with the wet nurse tomorrow after our youngest two are moved into a bedroom with their older siblings.
The undertaker spoke up, “You are blessed with a large family, sir.”
The men climbed two more flights of stairs to a third floor where they passed through a door in the wall and into the third floor of the next house.
The undertaker led the two gentlemen into a large bedroom where a sheet covered a figure on the bed. Solemnly, the undertaker pulled the sheet from the head; first Mr Gardiner and then Mr Darcy viewed the pale face of the body.
“Well, sir?” asked the undertaker.
“Yes, this is Jane Bennet…was Jane Bennet whom I knew for four months last year in…”