Epilogue 3 #3
Nicholas was solicitously attentive to his wife Georgiana, having danced attendance on her through all the hard months of her first pregnancy.
Both of them hoped for a son to inherit the earldom, but a daughter would be joyously welcomed as well.
Elizabeth was glad that her sister by marriage and her youngest two sisters by birth had all managed to visit at the same time.
The three ladies were firm and fast friends, and their husbands had occasionally been known to laugh that they provided half the business of England’s postal service.
Visits like this were rare, and the enjoyment of them was doing all of them, and perhaps especially Georgiana, a great deal of good.
“Elizabeth?”
She turned toward her husband, who was looking at her hand, and she also looked down and remembered her letters.
“Do you wish for me to open Anne’s letter first?” she asked.
“I would, thank you,” her husband said. “If you do not mind, of course. I have been a trifle anxious about them.”
“I know,” Elizabeth replied and slit open the letter.
Brighton
Saturday, 2nd July, 1825
Dear Elizabeth and Darcy,
I am pleased to inform you that our entire family is doing much better now.
I was worried about our little Frederick, as whooping cough can be very serious for a two-year-old!
However, he has improved remarkably in the days since we arrived at Brighton, and he now only coughs occasionally at night. The cool breezes are delightful!
Nathaniel recovered far more quickly than his brother and is greatly enjoying daily walks along the beach.
By the by, Mary did invite us to Emerald Island to recover, but given that the place is awash with scientists, we thought it would be best to travel elsewhere.
Another reason for our decision to choose Brighton was, of course, that we have been able to visit our cousin, General Richard Fitzwilliam, and his wife whenever we wish to do so.
Their two children are the same ages as ours, and I look forward to seeing them when our boys are completely over their illness.
Elizabeth, my dear, I look forward to hearing of the healthy birth of another Darcy babe.
With much love,
Anne Sampson
“That is wonderful new,” Darcy said, and Elizabeth nodded with complete understanding.
They had both been surprised and pleased when Anne had conceived her first child, and everyone had rejoiced in the birth of a healthy son who was now heir to the great estate of Rosings.
When Anne had produced a healthy spare son two years later, all her friends and relations had praised God above for His goodness.
Given how ill Anne had been through most of her life, many considered it to be rather a miracle!
And then came the word of whooping cough, which could be very dangerous for young children, and thus this letter was a great relief.
She opened Jane’s letter, spread it flat, and then read aloud, “Dear Elizabeth, I am pleased to inform you that Caroline was delivered of a healthy son three days ago, and mother and child are doing very well. Naturally everyone is very happy, as the little one is now Sir Henry Rivenhall, and Caroline will be legally permitted to oversee Cloudview until his majority. We are so pleased.”
“That is wonderful news,” Darcy said, smiling broadly at her.
She sighed in agreement and said, “Moreover, I think that Caroline will actually be a very decent mistress of Cloudview. She was unwise in her spending as an unmarried woman, but Jane tells me that she genuinely dotes on her daughter, and after her rather disastrous marriage, I understand she is determined to do her best to give her children a good life.”
“Difficult circumstances do bring change,” Darcy agreed.
She smiled and nodded even as her mind drifted to their thirteen years of marriage.
She was endlessly grateful for the changes and circumstances which had allowed her to meet and fall in love with and marry this good man.
They were so unlike in so many ways; he by nature grave and somber and fastidious and quiet, and she lively and cheerful and thriving in company.
Yet they complemented one another, with her vitality bringing life to his sober routine, and he lending a solemn support that had always been missing from her life.
They were equally meticulous in their duties, both kindly disposed towards their dependents.
It was true that there had been hard times.
Wealth, connections, ease and luxury could not bar any door against every one of life's difficulties.
Elizabeth was endlessly grateful every time she looked at her eldest and youngest sons, that she had not lost either child or her own life.
The spectral memories of days in labor, worry giving way to frantic activity and accoucheurs rushing to staunch bleeding and encourage tiny babies to breathe, rose in her mind once more before she firmly banished them.
Her Fitzwilliam had been by her side through every hardship, had cradled their sons and held her in his arms as she wept for the death of a sire whom she had not realized how deeply she loved.
Truly he was the best husband any woman could ever hope for.
Elizabeth liked to think she had done well as his wife, honoring him and serving their people together.
Pemberley had more tenants and servants and dependents than Longbourn and Emerald Island had together, but the running of those lesser estates had in some measure prepared her for the duties that were hers as mistress of Pemberley.
The farmers’ wives and Mrs. Reynolds, the housekeeper, had learned quickly enough to come to Mrs. Darcy when they needed their patrons’ assistance, and Elizabeth counted that a victory.
A sound from down the lane broke through Elizabeth’s thoughts, and she turned simultaneously with Darcy to look down the path.
An entire cavalcade was on its way to the pavilion, led by a lady’s small phaeton.
Lord Pembroke was driving his wife Georgiana, his handling of the ribbons far more careful than was common for such an expert.
Behind them came a laughing, babbling crowd of children and nurses and mothers and fathers.
The peace of the pond was broken indeed, but the tradeoff was sweet; it was a blessed thing to be surrounded by near and dear ones, the next generation yelling and climbing and playing and generally doing what children did, with sisters and friends in close companionship.
Familiar fingers caressed her cheek, and Elizabeth turned towards her husband.
Her Fitzwilliam had risen to his feet and come over to her, and for a moment they simply shared a glance of unspeakable, overflowing love.
His thumb brushed across her cheek, and Elizabeth, utterly happy, tilted her head up as her husband bent to kiss her.
***
Elizabeth’s Bedchamber
Pemberley
One Hour Past Midnight
The Next Day
The house was very silent, with only the soft ticking of a clock disturbing the peace of the distant sound of nocturnal birds and the insects they hunted.
Darcy blinked into the inky blackness, wondering what had woken him.
The air was warm, though not sweltering like earlier, with opened windows letting in cooler night air.
Darcy turned over, the sheet rustling. The blankets had all been turned back to the end of the bed, and only a thin sheet covered himself and his wife.
He reached for her, intending to snuggle her close now that the room was finally cooling off, but his hands met only empty linen.
He splayed his palm and fingers on the spot where Elizabeth had lain, finding it cool to the touch.
He sat up, tossed back the sheet, rose, and lit a candle from the lamp burning low on the mantle.
Likely all was well, he knew, but he could not quite suppress the nagging worry that tugged at his heart.
Elizabeth did not sleep well as the end of her pregnancies neared, the weight of the baby and the changes to her body making it difficult for her to make herself comfortable and drop into a true deep sleep.
With their previous four children, it had not been at all uncommon to find her in one of the chairs on the balcony off of their joint sitting room.
The candle cast a little pool of golden light which revealed that yes, the bedroom was empty, and he went next door into the sitting room.
The door to the balcony was slightly ajar, and he went to it and let himself outside.
Elizabeth was reclined across a settee, her dark hair shivering in a pleasant breeze, her hand draped across her stomach and her eyes distant as she looked out over the moonlit grounds, but when Darcy emerged, she gazed up at him with a glad smile of welcome.
He smiled back, rather perfunctorily, as he examined her face.
The candle was wavering wildly now, and it threw light and shadows across the balcony.
Elizabeth did not look too unwell, he thought.
Though it was nearly impossible to discern her complexion in the uneven light, her face was not pinched, nor her eyes pained.
“Are you all right?” he asked, lowering himself next to her.
She nodded reassuringly, and said, “I am, but I was too hot to sleep, and the babe is very active at the moment.”
He blew out the candle, set it on a small table nearby, and wrapped one long arm around her, which permitted him to lean against his reassuring bulk.
“It is beautiful,” she said softly, and Darcy, looking out over the landscape, could not disagree.
The full moon and stars bathed the world in a soft silvery light, washing out the greens of grass and trees and gardens into shades of gray.
In this world of shadows and pearly light, the stables glowed like a beacon; the orange of lantern light showing that a stable boy lingered in attendance upon one of the mares, who was heavy with foal and might give birth any time now.
Darcy lifted his eyes to the heavens above.
In the night sky, a million points of light glowed in a field of impenetrable sable.
Somewhere up there, hung planets, both those seen and those beyond the reach of even the most powerful telescope, and moons, and giants balls of flaming gas so brilliant that their light could be seen from distances that boggled the mind.
Darcy wondered if another comet was even now tearing through empty space, trailing a long shining tail behind it.
His mind drifted back, across the years, to another night as beautiful as this one, though there had been no moon that night.
He had not yet realized that he was in love with the second Miss Bennet, but memory painted her as lovely, intriguing and intelligent as she had positioned the telescope so that he might see the glories of the comet.
As though she could hear his thoughts, Elizabeth shifted and softened against him.
Darcy tightened his arm, looking down at her.
Her eyes were closed, her face relaxed in peaceful repose, breathing deep and even and steady.
Darcy’s glance turned very tender. He shifted, the better to support her weight, and leaned his head back, returning his gaze to the heavens.
The stars were beautiful, and it would be no hardship to stay up and watch them all night, if need be.
Elizabeth had at last slipped into elusive sleep, and he would not risk waking her with his movement.
It mattered not if he was tired on the morrow.
That weariness would be no great sacrifice if it helped his darling, beloved Elizabeth by watching over her as she slept.
The End