Chapter 12
Christmas Day
Christmas Day dawned bright and clear, as cold as ever, but with a brilliant sun sparkling over the frost. And in Darcy House, it dawned with still greater joy than anywhere else in all London.
“Well done, Mrs Darcy,” the nurse said proudly as she finished cleaning and swaddling the newborn baby. “It is a baby boy, as fine and healthy as any I have seen.” And she placed the child in his mother’s arms.
“He is beautiful,” Mr Darcy said softly, placing his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Nearly as beautiful as his mother.”
Elizabeth laughed at him, albeit a little weakly. “Oh, Will! I suppose that is fair enough, for I must be almost as red-faced as he is at the moment. I certainly feel too weak to hold my head up.”
He looked at Nurse Rooke in quick alarm, but she lifted a hand to forestall him.
“Now, now, Mr Darcy, you needn’t worry. Of course your lady wife is tired, labouring all afternoon and all night.
There is no cause for alarm in that. I shall stay with Mrs Darcy these next few days, and we shall have the doctor in if I see anything ever so slightly amiss. ”
“Thank you, Nurse Rooke,” he replied. “But I shall worry all the same. I cannot help worrying over what is so precious to me.”
She softened at once. “Very well, sir, very well.” With that, she went out of the room, carrying away the dirtied linens.
Jane smiled softly at her sister. “He is beautiful, Lizzy. Shall I leave you now? Perhaps you and Mr Darcy would like to spend a moment together.”
“Yes, do go and rest, Jane,” Elizabeth urged her. “You must be nearly as tired as I am, for you certainly did not sleep a wink last night. Sleep in the guest bedroom, if you like.”
Jane shook her head. “As we had intended to have Christmas supper together in any case, I shall return home now, and sleep there. It is not so many hours until then, and I must tell Charles and Caroline that you are well, and delivered of a fine son.”
“Very well, then,” Elizabeth agreed. With a last embrace for her sister and words of congratulation for her brother-in-law, Jane turned to go, leaving Elizabeth and Mr Darcy alone with their sleeping child.
“James Darcy,” Elizabeth said, a caress in her voice. “And I did not think I could love anyone so much as you, Will.”
Gently, he kissed her. “I feel much the same myself. Thank you, Elizabeth. He is a most marvellous Christmas present, the finest I ever received.”
“So he is, at that. He was certainly the most difficult to unwrap.”
“How strange it is to think that he will be as tall as I am, one day,” her husband mused. “At the moment, he looks almost impossibly small. I should not wish to take him from you before you are ready, love, but I own I am eager to hold our son.”
“Then take him, for I believe I shall enjoy watching you hold him nearly as much as holding him myself.”
Darcy took his son from Elizabeth’s arms, rocking him slowly. Elizabeth watched with a fond smile as he murmured softly to the child.
Suddenly, she sat bolt upright, groaning a little in pain from the abrupt movement. “Will!”
He turned to her with a terrified face and walked quickly back to the bed. “Elizabeth! What is wrong? Shall I call for the nurse? The doctor?”
“No, nothing like that. I am sorry I frightened you. It is not me. I mean to say — Will, where is Georgiana?”
“What have I done?” Mr Darcy exclaimed. “How could I have done it? Elizabeth, she must still be with my aunt! When I received the message that the child was coming, I ran out of the party and left her there! To leave my own sister on Christmas Eve!”
At that moment, they heard the noise of voices downstairs. Mr Darcy had only just given the child back to Elizabeth and turned to go downstairs and investigate — and subsequently, it must be assumed, begin the process of retrieving his sister — when a knock came on the bedroom door.
Mr Darcy gave Elizabeth a questioning look.
“See who it is,” she told him. “I am sure you know who I would be willing to see, and who not.”
He nodded and opened the door slightly. “Georgiana! Thank goodness!” Mr Darcy exclaimed. “How have you come back to the house? I am so sorry to have abandoned you.”
“Never mind that now, never mind!” Georgiana exclaimed. “How is Lizzy? And the baby? Can I see them?”
“Come in, Georgiana,” Elizabeth called from the bed. Georgiana pushed into the room almost before Mr Darcy could move away from the door. “Hello, Georgiana. Look at your nephew! Is he not a fine child? I am sorry that I distracted your brother into leaving you.”
“Oh, do not worry about that,” Georgiana said.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam was there, you know, and he would have taken me home last night, but my aunt said I had better remain where I was. Do you know, I am not all Will forgot! He ran away without even getting his hat and coat, and in such weather! May I hold your baby, Lizzy?”
“Of course,” Elizabeth said, giving the child to Georgiana, who perched on the edge of the bed and promptly began cooing to young James Darcy. “My goodness! Your hat and coat too, Will? I hope you do not catch cold.”
Mr Darcy cleared his throat. “In my defence, I was very much excited. It is not every day that one’s wife bears her first child.”
“No, indeed it is not,” she said. “Perhaps you will be less overwrought the next time.”
“Perhaps,” Georgiana piped up cheekily, “but I rather doubt it. Your hat and coat are downstairs, Will, and so is Cousin Richard. He brought me back this morning.”
“What a Christmas!” Mr Darcy remarked. “We shall certainly have plenty to celebrate today.”
“And plenty to talk about,” Elizabeth added.
∞∞∞
The Christmas party that evening was quiet, as befitted a house with a new baby and a mother newly delivered of her son, but no less joyful for it.
The Bingleys arrived even earlier than had been arranged, for Jane could not bear to stay away long.
Early as they arrived, they found the Gardiners already there.
In the year and a bit more since Charles had married Jane, Caroline had learned that, despite being in trade and living in the unfashionable neighbourhood of Cheapside, Mr Gardiner was a gentleman of good sense and excellent manners, pleasant to converse with.
Mrs Gardiner, though no less sensible and elegant than her husband, had been a less pleasant acquaintance for a time, for she was aware of all the shameful discourtesy of Caroline’s behaviour to Jane during the first winter of their acquaintance.
At last, however, when Jane had not only forgiven her but made a firm friend of her, Mrs Gardiner had thawed, and, knowing her better and with an improved judgement, Caroline had been truly grateful for the concession.
The Gardiners could not stay long, for they would neither bring their own four children nor stay long away from them, but they could not resist the opportunity of seeing Elizabeth’s child.
When offered, Caroline submitted to holding the baby with a little reluctance and no small amount of curiosity. He looked up at her with unfocused eyes, seeing nothing, and sighed a little in his sleep. She looked down at him curiously, thinking.
Louisa had never had a child with Mr Hurst. Given that her sister had already been married for half a dozen years, likely she never would. Thankfully, Louisa did not seem to mind. Children were an inconvenience, to be sure, and risked the loss of one’s figure, not to mention one’s life.
Only — holding little James Darcy, Caroline could not help but feel that a child was a very fine thing.
The feeling only grew upon returning the child to his father.
Mr Darcy held him so tenderly, and with such a look of wonder on his face, that Caroline felt a strange twist in her heart.
As though she might like to have a baby of her own, and a husband who would look so at their child.
It was something of a relief when the group began to think of exchanging presents, and there began to be too much bustle to think of such things.
Caroline handed out her blown-glass ornaments with considerable enjoyment.
They had two great benefits; first, she had not had to be bothered with all the work of making presents by hand, and second, she had greatly enjoyed selecting an appropriate piece for each person to whom she presented a gift.
Miss Darcy’s present had required no thought at all, for the glassblower had offered little ornaments in the shape of pianos among his wares.
For Jane, Caroline had selected a rose, nearly as pretty as she was, and for Elizabeth, a violet.
Elizabeth received it with charming delight, as she did all her presents.
Mr Darcy had given her a necklace of stunning magnificence, set with sapphires that made Elizabeth’s eyes shine all the more brightly.
Her thanks were sincere and graceful, but Caroline smiled to notice how quickly both the Darcys seemed to forget the sparkling gems in favour of their son.
Upon opening Jane’s present, Elizabeth gasped with delight. “How wonderful!”
“It reminded me ever so of you, Lizzy,” Jane told her. “If you walk any more, you will be a wood nymph yourself.”
“I shall not go walking far for some time,” she replied, a little ruefully. “Thank you, Jane. I adore it.” And then, with a little glance at Caroline — “This is by Mr Northville, is it not?”
“It is,” Caroline said, pleased that she was able to keep her voice light. The glance she exchanged with Elizabeth, full of silent laughter, was entirely their own secret. “He is very talented, do not you think? And with a remarkably creative and insightful mind.”
“Indeed, I do think,” Elizabeth replied, smiling. “I look forward to meeting Mr Northville. As I am sure I will have the opportunity to do, one of these days.”
To judge by the glance Mr Darcy cast towards them, he must have perceived some deeper meaning in his wife’s tone. But to Caroline’s relief, he said nothing.
Across the room, Jane and Charles had been opening their presents for each other unobserved, when Charles drew the attention of the whole room by exclaiming in delight.
When Caroline looked over to him, he was holding up an example of Jane’s delicate embroidery on fine linen.
But it was not a pocket handkerchief, nor a cravat, nor anything else intended for Charles himself.
It was a baby gown, embellished at the neck and cuffs with Jane’s very finest work.
“My dearest heart, do you mean —” Charles asked eagerly.
Jane nodded shyly. “Yes, indeed. We may expect our child this summer.”
In his delight, he caught her up and embraced her, then danced his wife around the room.
“Congratulations, Mr Bingley,” Elizabeth said warmly. “What a delightful surprise!”
He stopped dancing Jane around to laugh at her. “Why, I am not so easily fooled as all that! You and Mrs Gardiner knew before I did, I have not a doubt of it.”
“I am sorry, Charles,” Jane began, “only I wanted to be sure —”
“Oh, my dear wife, do not apologise! There is nothing in the world for which you ought to apologise. Of course you wanted to talk it over with your sister and your aunt,” Charles forestalled her, first with his words, and then with a kiss, even in front of all the room.
Caroline joined all the others in offering her warmest congratulations. And though the air outside was frostier than ever, the Darcy’s drawing room was cosy and bright. Though the fire burned warmly in their hearth, it could not offer them half so much comfort as the joy of family and happy news.
Though it would not have done to speak of it, Caroline found herself standing by the window as the night went on, looking out and thinking of the one who might make her own happiness complete.
There was only one Christmas present Caroline really wanted that year: his heart, given in fair exchange for hers.
But that was a happiness for which she could only hope, and not expect.
They had no fixed plans to meet, and he had made it plain that he was not likely to visit at the house.
To see each other, they would need a degree of luck that amounted almost to a miracle.