Chapter 21
On a warm Kent morning, just shy of the four-week courtship imposed by Lord Matlock, Mr Ian Ashby was shown into the drawing room at Rosings Park by the butler.
If Lady Catherine had walked into that same drawing room at that instant, she would not have recognised the lady sitting therein.
She was a very pretty picture of health and poise and was none other than her daughter, Anne, the owner and mistress of the estate.
“Good morning, Ian,” the woman very much in love greeted the man who had given her his heart in return. “I trust that all is well with you today.”
“It could be better, Anne, but that depends on our conversation we need to have,” he replied as he approached her. “If you would grant me the time, there is a particular question that I would like to ask you,” he murmured and Anne was taken aback by the smouldering look of love on his countenance.
“I am at your disposal, Ian,” she replied in a soft, breathy voice, and with a nod she dismissed her companion. Anne felt an excessively jubilant sense of expectation as her Ian went down onto one knee in front of her and took her hands in his own.
“Anne Rachel de Bourgh, over the last months that I have gotten to know you I have fallen deeply in love with you.
My love for you is fulsome and will be constant until the day that I draw my final breath.
You complete me, Anne; you make me a better man and I will make it my aim in life to make sure that you never repine the day that we met.
“I could enumerate your qualities for many an hour, but if I did, I would never get to the most important of questions. Please end my days as a bachelor and consent to marry me.” He waited, watching her for any sign she still had doubts.
At first, in her overwhelming euphoria, all Anne could do was to nod vigorously while tears of joys dropped from her light blue eyes.
“Is that yes, Anne?” he asked as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a ring box.
“A decided and vehement YES, Ian. I will marry you; I too love you. I think I have from the first moment we met. You have made me the happiest woman in the land,” Anne admitted.
Joy emanated from her in a way she had never experienced before.
Not two years ago, before Mrs Jenkinson overheard the conversation between the despicable Lady Catherine and her quack, she did not believe she would be alive when she turned five and twenty, and now she had her whole life ahead of her and a man she not only loved but who loved her in return and to whom she was now betrothed.
He slid a gold ring down her finger, her eyes widening at the large, brilliant diamond circled by a ring of small but deep red and matching rubies.
“When would you like to marry, Anne? Richard and Jane will wed in a little over two weeks, and following they will be on a wedding trip. What say you to the end of July or beginning of August?” he asked hopefully.
“I would marry you tomorrow but that would create quite a scandal until I did not birth a babe less than nine months after the wedding,” Anne joked. “Let us go look at the calendar in the study and then we can pick a day. I would like to marry on a Friday, if it is all the same to you,” she stated.
“Whichever day you choose will be the day. Lead the way, my love.” Ian smiled; glad she had the same sentiments he did.
The newly betrothed couple stepped into the study and looked at the two mentioned months. Anne chose, and her fiancée agreed to, the seventh day of August. It would ensure her cousin Richard and his then wife would have returned from their wedding trip.
As he had Lord Matlock’s consent and blessing already, there was no need for Ashby to ride to town to seek an audience with the Earl.
Anne sat down and composed an express to her aunt and uncle to be delivered to Matlock House by her personal courier, as soon as it was completed and she had sanded and dried her missive.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Reginald Fitzwilliam thanked Darling for the express, which the man had just placed in his hand. He strongly suspected that he knew what the missive contained, so he smiled even as he broke the seal.
30 May 1812
Rosings Park
Kent
To my dear Uncle and Aunt,
It is with great pleasure that I inform you that Mr Ian Ashby proposed marriage to me this morning and as it was my absolute desire to accept him, I did. Your niece is now betrothed to the man she loves above all others in the world.
On behalf of my affianced and myself, I thank you, Uncle Reggie, for bestowing your consent and blessing before my Ian left London.
I feel no equivocation; he is the only man that I could ever be happy with, and I pray that you, my dear Aunt and Uncle who have now become as dear to me as parents, will, along with the rest of the family, wish me and my betrothed joy.
We have set the date for the wedding to be the first Friday of August. Richard and Jane talked about a wedding trip of a fortnight or three weeks duration.
As our wedding will be almost two months after theirs, it is my most profound wish that they and all of our family and friends will be able to join us at Rosings Park to help us celebrate the day I look forward to with such anticipation with my soon to be husband.
With a heart full of love and optimism for the future, I am your devoted niece,
Anne
The Earl felt a single tear of joy for his niece roll down his cheek.
Her life could have been so very different.
She had a future with a man that he and all of the family approved of and liked.
After all, Andrew never befriended anyone unless they were of the highest morals and character.
He stood up from his desk and strode toward the sitting room where the family along with Jane, Kitty, and Lydia Bennet were seated.
The conversations stopped as he entered the sitting room, and all heads turned toward him as they noticed the letter in his hand.
“Anne just notified us that she is captivated by Ashby and has accepted his offer for her hand in marriage.” The Earl teased his wife because they both had long known where the hearts of the couple resided.
“It is about time that our dear niece had some delirious joy in her life. She told me of her devotion to our soon to be nephew before she returned to Rosings Park,” her aunt gushed in her delight for Anne. “Reggie, do you know his father from the Lords?”
“I do, Elaine. The Earl of Ashbury and I have worked together a number of times; not a bad fellow for a Tory,” the Earl winked at his wife.
“The brother and heir, Timothy, is married. I understand that Lord and Lady Amberleigh are a much-contented couple. There is a sister, Lady Sarah Ashby, who I believe is nineteen or twenty. A very pleasant sort of girl. She has had two seasons with many suitors but she showed no interest in any of them. The countess is Lady Gillian, a namesake of our sweet young granddaughter.”
“My husband, you have more news about them than the Tatler!” Lady Elaine noted playfully with a broad smile.
“I, for one, cannot conceive of a better man for our cousin,” Andrew stated with confidence as he changed the subject back to his friend.
“We have been friends since our days at Eton and he is one of the most loyal and constant friends anyone could have. He will protect Anne with his life if need be, and he will make her life one filled with felicity, love, and absolute devotion.”
“Those are sage words, brother. From the first time the family and I met the man when he came to Snowhaven the summer after you two completed the first year at Cambridge I have liked and respected him. Yes, Anne’s future is in extremely good hands,” Richard agreed as he gave the glowing beauty sitting next to him on the settee, a smouldering look full of love and desire. He loved his Jane to distraction.
“I really appreciate that your cousin has allowed more than enough time between our wedding and hers so that we may attend her at Rosings Park.” Jane blushed at his overt display of desire but squeezed his hands.
Just because she hid it better than Richard did, it did not mean she did not return his sentiments.
“Lizzy will be traveling with the Gardiners to Dovedale after our nuptials,” she blushed a deeper shade of crimson as she mentioned her upcoming wedding.
“However, the date that they have chosen will give her plenty of time in Derbyshire before they will need to travel into Kent.” She looked at her betrothed lovingly.
“Richard, have you decided where you would like to take me for our wedding trip?”
“Were you not considering the Lake District Brother?” his young sister Tiffany asked.
“That I was, Tiff, but I wanted to ask Jane something first,” he turned back to the outwardly serene Lady Jane. “Have you ever been to the seaside before?”
“No Richard, I have not. Does it not sound strange that my family owns a shipping line and shipyards and I have never been near the sea? If you have a place in mind on the coast, that would be perfect for me.” She smiled brightly.
“You are thinking of Seaview Cottage, are you not Richard?” asked Marie as she remembered very pleasant times spent at the ‘cottage,’ which was really more the size of a manor house on an estate.
“Are you a mind reader, Marie?” he said as he grinned. “Yes, that is what I am thinking of.”
“Seaview Cottage?” Jane asked, trying to think if she had ever heard mention of that name before.
“It belongs to Darcy. Uncle George purchased it for Aunt Anne after she fell in love with it when they rented it for their wedding trip,” Richard explained.
“Yes, my brother could never deny my sister anything that was within his power to grant her,” the Earl informed them wistfully as he remembered his dearest sister and the husband that loved her above all and anything else.
“The Darcys use it but seldom, I think there are too many memories of Uncle George and Aunt Anne there,” Richard continued, “so any time that members of the family or close friends have wanted to stay there, Darcy has always indulged us with a positive answer as long as there is no one else planning to be there at the requested time.”
As the excitement built within her, Jane felt a frisson throughout her body, especially ‘down there’ as she thought about her wedding and her wedding night with the man that she loved.
“Where is it located?” Jane asked, hopefully concealing her thoughts from everyone else in the room.
It was becoming increasingly harder the deeper she was starting to ache to become his wife in all ways.
“It sits on a bluff with a nice view of Brighton,” her betrothed answered.
“It is the perfect location with views of the sea on one side that will take your breath away, and of Brighton on the other side. The bluff creates a private beach that cannot be seen from the sea and the only access is from William’s property.
It is situated at a distance that if one wants to visit Brighton or its environs it is less than an hour ride in a carriage, while at the same time far enough away to remain undisturbed if one chooses not to seek society.
” As he said the last, his betrothed blushed as they separately came to the same conclusion that they would not be seeking society for the first sennight or more of their first trip together as man and wife.
There was stifled laughter from the older adults in the room while the three young girls viewed the scene quizzically, not understanding what the others found so amusing.