Chapter 12
Elizabeth would always remember her sixteenth birthday as the happiest one to date.
Alongside the Fitzwilliams and Darcys were Lady Rose and her birth family.
The only ones missing were Perry and Jane, and Anne and Ian, both couples still enjoying their wedding trips.
It was also the first year in her memory that her birthday was being celebrated on the day that she was actually born.
To add to her joy, she and her closest cousin shared a birthday.
Georgiana was thirteen and looking more like a young lady than a girl with each day that passed.
In July, Georgiana would be going to a school for young ladies in London.
Lizzy had never been sent to school because, in her family’s opinion, thanks to her intelligence and non-traditional education, that kind of school would have been a waste of time for her.
The chocolate cake had three-tiered layers.
The bottom tier had seventeen candles for Elizabeth, while between the middle and the top, there were fourteen candles for Georgiana.
They started blowing out candles opposite one another and both moved clockwise around the cake until all one and thirty candles were extinguished.
Bennet had moisture in his eyes while Tammy squeezed his arm.
The last birthday he had attended for his Lizzy was fifteen years ago.
All the progress they had made at melding their two families was heart-warming and, considering that he never expected to see his second daughter again in this lifetime, was beyond anything that he could have imagined.
One daughter was a duchess, and the other was raised the daughter of an earl.
He could not imagine it if he had tried.
Who would Kitty marry; a prince? The thought of his youngest marrying made him maudlin.
William and John knew what he wanted and with the sale of Netherfield plus the five thousand he had added, they each had a legacy of fifty thousand pounds generating income invested with Gardiner and Associates.
Bennet was sorry that neither the Gardiners nor the Phillips were able to join them at Pemberley or Snowhaven, but both families would be present at Rosings Park.
His sister Maddie was increasing with her second child, and Easter would be the last time Maddie would be able to travel any distance until after she recovered from her upcoming confinement.
William watched Elizabeth with supreme pleasure as she tucked into her oversized slice of cake. He had had the conversation with his parents the previous night.
Will had knocked on his parents’ sitting-room door, and when summoned inside he had joined them in a glass of wine in front of the crackling fire. “I need your advice,” he opened. After his blunder years ago, he had sworn to be open with his parents and ask their advice if in a quandary.
“Is it about a certain extremely intelligent cousin by any chance?” his mother asked with an indulgent smile.
“How did you know? Am I that transparent?” Will was embarrassed that his parents had noticed his problem.
“Yes, you are. Do you realise just how often you stare at Lizzy when you are together?” George asked. “The way you stare at her so intently while trying not to appear as if you are, be careful that Lizzy does not think that you are seeking fault in her!”
“It is the opposite; I find her perfection personified! I love her, not like I loved her mind then, but as a woman; as the woman, the only woman that I would ever want to bind my life to!” Will laid his feelings bare for his parents.
“You are aware that Andrew will not even consider an application to court her, never mind a request for her hand until after she has at least experienced some of her first season,” his mother informed him.
“I am well aware of that, but I do not know how she feels about me! I know that Wes De Melville is interested in her; mayhap he is better for her,” he returned weakly.
“If you truly believe that, then you do not deserve her love, William,” George admonished his son.
“It is hard not knowing,” William whined unbecomingly.
“If the way she looks at you is any indication, then I have a feeling that Lizzy will be my daughter one day,” Lady Anne soothed her son, who gaped at her in disbelieving surprise.
He was snapped out of his reverie thinking of the young woman that he loved by someone handing him a plate of cake; he decided that he would have to be a lot more observant of his cousin Elizabeth.
After the presents were opened, Will and Richard met with George Darcy, Andrew, and Bennet in the master’s study.
They were informed of what Branch had learned from the stable hand Jones, how Jones now thought that Branch was working with him to achieve his employer’s aim, and how they believed that said employer was none other than Lady Catherine.
Richard, of course, wanted to head for the stables and force the location of his former Aunt from the man, but he was able to see the wisdom of the plan that had been formulated. Both Andrew and Uncle George promised Richard and Will faithfully that they would be apprised of any new developments.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Branch followed Jones into Kympton on the night before his accomplice was to return to pick up his note.
The note Jones carried read: Nothing to report.
The master wanted to keep the ones that requested the intelligence interested, and Branch was sure that Jones’ employer had never seen his writing before, or if he or she had, they had not paid attention to it.
After Jones removed the loose knot of wood and deposited his note, he left.
Branch gave him fifteen minutes before opening the hiding place and switched the notes.
As he left, he nodded to one of his fellow guards who the master had installed in quarters which had a clear view of the tree, and more especially the knothole.
The next day as the sun rose, the watcher observed a man look around to make sure he was unobserved.
He opened the cover, removed the note, and closed the hole again.
The man slipped away, and a few minutes later a horse left the inn heading south.
The man wrote a report and handed it to a boy, one of the tenant’s sons, to ride back to the estate and deliver the note to the master.
The master had decided against trying to follow the man on horseback to his source, as even a dim man would eventually notice he was being followed over many miles of road.
Until instructed otherwise, the guard would be at his post every fortnight to observe, unless Branch discovered a change in the schedule.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Mrs Fitzpatrick was in anticipation of her footman returning from Derbyshire. When he finally arrived, she held out her hand for the piece of rolled-up parchment. She read it and then threw it into the fire. It read:
4 April – both families Rosings Park, Kent. Many outriders.
There would be no chance to put her plan into motion, not with the outriders and on the Great North Road that was so well travelled. No, as much as she hated to, she would have to wait a little longer, but at least she had her spy in place and no one was any wiser.
George Wickham too was frustrated; he had discovered where the old bat kept her fortune…
in the bank! How was he to access her money from the bank?
Thanks to her suspicious nature, he was sure that she had instructed the bank that she and she alone was to be there in person to withdraw money.
Now his puzzle became how to make her want to withdraw a large sum.
He was at a loss on what to do, but he was confident in his ability to charm, so he started to strategize. He had lost what he considered his birth right, Rosings Park, so it was imperative that he succeed in getting his hands on her fortune.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
April 1807
Elizabeth was looking forward to hugging Anne and her new brother Ian.
She was in the second carriage that turned into Rosings from the lane just after they passed the Hunsford Parsonage.
Mr David Bamber, his wife, and their three sons were all enjoying the spring weather in their garden and had waved to the carriages as they passed their house.
It was frustrating that the view of those waiting was obscured by the first coach.
Elizabeth, Amy, Georgiana, William, and John alighted from the carriage.
As soon as Elizabeth heard Aunt Rose proclaim “Perry” she knew that Jane, too, had come.
She picked up her skirts and ran toward the entrance, where she spied Jane in a hug with Mother Bennet.
She waited patiently until Jane had hugged her father, then she fell into her sister’s arms.
“How well you look, Jane,” Elizabeth gushed as she held onto her sister as if she had been gone for years, not months.
“I missed you too, Lizzy,” Jane smiled at her sister.
“It is good of you to say so, but I have a feeling that your husband kept you busy so you did not have too much time to think of us,” Lizzy stated innocently.
“Lizzy!” Jane blushed deep scarlet.
“What did I say?” Lizzy asked as she saw anyone who was or had been married trying to hold back their laughs.
“I meant that you had so much to see, so I am not sure…” Her mouth made a perfect ‘O’ as she realised how what she had said could also have been heard.
As soon as it hit her, Elizabeth joined Jane in blushing, and those who had tried to hold back their laughing failed.