Chapter 37 #5
“It seems from that chatter in this drawing room,” Bennet said looking at the five youngest ladies, “that I am to be a grandpapa sometime next year.”
“If things go according to the normal length that a babe is carried, then I should enter my lying-in sometime in March or April next year, Papa,” Jane informed him.
“I should enter mine in April or May next year Papa.” Elizabeth was feeling a lot better already, her sickness in the morning seemed to be passing even faster than her mother’s.
She still could not countenance the smell of fish, but other than that she was almost feeling like herself again.
That morning she had felt a little sick, but it had not resulted in casting up her accounts.
Some ginger and camomile tea and a slice or two of dry toast in the morning when she woke seemed to be helping settle her stomach.
If Mrs Reynolds was present she would have kissed her for making the suggestion of the tea and toast to be consumed even before dressing.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Dinner that night was a joyous occasion.
The group that had arrived that day made the acquaintance of the Elliot family.
Darcy had met the parents and the oldest brother, but this was the first time that he met the barrister based in Liverpool.
Even though her best friend May Gardiner would not arrive until the morrow, Grace was in her element with a plethora of grandparents, aunts and uncles in attendance.
She already considered the Lucases grandparents, much to Lady Lucas’s deepest gratification and happiness.
Like her sister Fanny, Hattie Phillips saw right away that her two oldest nieces were with child.
Their Aunt Phillips did not blurt anything out or make a vulgar utterance.
She waited until she had Jane and Lizzy alone and congratulated them in a soft voice which meant more to both than anything she could have announced to the room.
Charlotte was glowing. She was so obviously happy and very much in love with her betrothed, but she was also deeply relieved that in but a matter of days she would no longer be tied to the name Collins.
The Longs, Gouldings, Jones, Glenfields and the rest of the four and twenty families of the neighbourhood were present.
John Lucas missed his good friend James Gardiner and was waiting expectantly for him to arrive with his family.
The three girls who were supposed to start at Greenlake School for Young Ladies were not unhappy that their enrolment for the new term had been delayed until after the wedding when Georgie would return to Darcy House with her brother and sister.
At the end of the evening Sarah Lucas pulled her oldest friend aside.
“We cannot thank you enough for all of your help, Fanny,” she said quietly to her best friend and erstwhile rival.
“There is nothing to thank me for, Sarah, it is our pleasure. We have always felt close to all of you, especially Charlotte as she, Lizzy, and Jane continued the bond we started. Even when I thought that she would displace me as the mistress of this home, I still loved your daughter, more than I could admit because of the fear I could not manage.”
“It was reasonable, if not always contained. But nothing to thank you for? You are hosting Patrick and his Family at Jane’s estate; you are hosting the wedding breakfast, and if it were not for her friendship with Eliza, Charlotte would not have met the love of her life.
” Lady Lucas held her breath to ensure her emotions stayed appropriate for the company as she had cried more than enough in thanks.
“We have much to thank you and Thomas for, Fanny, so please accept our, my sincere appreciation.” Both women, choked up with emotion, hugged.
The guests departed after enjoying a bountiful table set by Fanny Bennet.
Her elevation to the peerage had not changed how she always set a fine table for her friends, with respect to all their likes, and more importantly their dislikes.
The next morning the Earl and Countess of Pemberley departed for their walk alone after begging off company who wanted to join them.
They walked out just as the first fingers of the dawn were reaching across the sky in the east. Their pace was not rushed and they ascended the path to the top of Oakham Mount twenty minutes before the expected time for the sunrise.
They reached the summit just as the first tendrils of the orange and red of the sun rise illuminated the sky.
The few clouds that scudded across the horizon took on the colours of the first rays of sun.
It was not long after that the sun peeked above the horizon, shooting out rays of bright light that turned the clouds from red to silver to brilliant reflectors of the morning’s sun as it continued to rise above the horizon.
They held onto each other as they watched the wonder of God’s creation at the birth of a new day.
They could see some tenants already at work in the fields of both Longbourn and Bennet Fields.
They spied a group on horseback that they recognised as Hugh, Mary, Richard, and the five girls.
They could see that both Kitty and Helen had improved their riding skills significantly as the group of eight gave their mounts their head and galloped across an open field trailed by two grooms and some footmen.
“Thank you for giving me a second chance and loving me, Elizabeth.” Darcy pulled his wife close to him and kissed both her cheeks then her lips.
The kisses became more urgent, passionate, and hungrier, and had they not been afraid that they may be discovered, there would have been a lot more pleasure had on the mount that morning.