Page 29 of A Life Diverted

W hen Elizabeth awoke the next morning, she felt a nervous energy.

She would be meeting her birth parents today.

Based on what Janie’s express had told the family, they would more likely than not be on their way from London already.

As she did when she felt like this, she needed to exercise.

She dressed in her navy blue riding habit and made her way downstairs.

Mama and Papa would be up already, not only because this was a momentous day, but it was their normal routine.

Papa would be going over correspondence and his ledgers while Mama met with Mrs Hill and made sure everything was as it should be in the house.

Often before she broke her fast, Mama would have already called on some of the tenants in Longbourn’s village.

She would make calls to some of the tenants at their farms after she had broken her fast. Unlike her parents, Grandmama Beth did not rise as early as she used to thanks to her advancing years.

Hence, Elizabeth would only stop at the dower house on her way back from Oakham Mount.

“Please have the stables notified I intend to ride out,” Elizabeth requested when she saw Mr Hill.

“Aye, Miss Lizzy,” Hill responded with a bow.

On reaching the study, Elizabeth knocked and entered when bade to do so.

“I see from your outfit you intend to ride this morning,” Bennet observed as he looked up from the ledger he had been balancing. “Are any of your sisters, your brother, or Miss Weasley riding out with you? ”

“No, Papa, I am on my own today,” Elizabeth replied.

“Then a groom and footman will accompany you. I assume your aim is to ride to Oakham Mount so you can watch the sunrise?”

“That, and I will stop at the dower house on the way back. Mayhap Grandmama Beth will invite me to break my fast with her. If she does, I will send the groom with a message, so Mama does not worry or wait for me to eat.”

“You are a good girl, Lizzy. Away with you now so I can complete my work before the meal.” Bennet forgot to mention they would have guests at the meal.

Elizabeth came around the desk, kissed Papa on his cheek, and skipped towards the door.

As was her wont, she made her way to the stables through the kitchens.

As she always did, Cook handed her freshly baked treats wrapped in a cloth.

With thanks to Cook, Elizabeth deposited the treats into her one pocket.

Before leaving the house, she took a carrot with her.

Aphrodite was waiting for her next to the mounting block.

Before settling onto the saddle, Elizabeth approached her mare from the front.

The horse shook her head up and down in welcome as Elizabeth approached.

She immediately spied the carrot. After rubbing her mare’s forehead, Elizabeth proffered her mount the treat, which was happily taken and munched.

Once mounted, Elizabeth directed her horse towards the gate leading to the open fields.

The groom and footman were waiting for her just before the gate, the latter having dismounted and was holding the gate open.

As soon as they were in open fields, Elizabeth allowed her horse to run as fast as was safe while riding in a side-saddle. Soon enough, Oakham Mount rose up before her.

When she came here in the morning without any of her siblings, Elizabeth enjoyed her solitude.

It was not to be today; there were two stallions and a mare munching on the remaining few grasses which had not shrivelled in the cold yet and the few shrubs which still had leaves.

She harumphed and almost wheeled her mount without stopping.

She changed her mind, deciding she wanted to see the sunrise, and she would not be scared off by the unknown riders.

She allowed the footman to help her down. “Simon, as there are others here today, I need you to accompany me to the summit,” Elizabeth told the man. Rupert here will look after our horses.” She inclined her head to the groom who had also dismounted.

“Aye, Miss Lizzy,” the footman responded. They began the walk up the path which led to the summit, the footman walking ahead of her, just in case.

Elizabeth relaxed when she saw who was on the summit.

She told the footman to stand near the head of the path.

She walked towards the two men she had discovered were her cousins during the extremely eventful previous night.

With Richard and William was a younger girl with straight flaxen hair, looking away shyly.

“Good morning, Ellie…Lizzy,” Richard greeted.

Darcy welcomed his cousin as well. “May I introduce my sister, Georgiana, to you?” he requested. Seeing a nod, Darcy made the introductions.

“Well met, Miss Darcy. It is good to see you,” Elizabeth stated as she returned the younger girl’s curtsey. She remembered what William had told her about his sister. She was only fourteen, which Elizabeth was sure accounted for some of her shyness.

“Richard and William told me of yesternight. It sounds like the plot of a gothic novel,” Georgiana stated shyly.

“I am not sure it is real yet.” Elizabeth looked at her three cousins. “How is it you are up and about so early this morning? Surely you are not nervous like I am? I did not sleep very much. ”

“Miss Bingley attempted to compromise me when we returned from Longbourn,” Darcy revealed. “And her brother attempted to support her.”

“Without telling them who the landlord is, we warned Mr Bingley and his family that if they did not vacate of their own volition, they would have to experience the ignominy of being evicted,” Richard related.

“Even though our former friend did not take the warnings we issued regarding his sister and any attempted entrapment to heart, he realised we were serious about this. Hence, he and his family are busy vacating Netherfield Park as we speak. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour this morning, so we went for a ride.”

“What of Aunt Catherine?” Elizabeth enquired.

“Neither Mr Bingley nor his younger sister would risk life or limb to bother our aunt,” Darcy said, not even trying to hide a faint smile.

“Is she very intimidating? I did not find her so,” Elizabeth stated.

“Normally, Aunt Catherine is like you saw her last night, but when she needs to be, as Miss Bingley discovered to her chagrin, she can be very forthright and forceful,” Richard reported.

“It seems they will depart Netherfield Park just in time. Longbourn has some guest suites, but not that many,” Elizabeth opined.

“Enough about those people.” Elizabeth took the cloth from her pocket and shared the warm baked items with her cousins.

Then she offered her arm to Miss Darcy. “Come, as we are cousins, we need to get to know one another. You did not meet me before I was removed from the Wendells’ estate, did you? ”

“No, I was born in March 1797, three years after you were taken from Willowmere,” Georgiana revealed.

Darcy watched as Ellie and Giana spoke. He had seen her at the assembly, but here, now as the light of the new day’s sun got brighter, he could see just how beautiful Ellie was.

He could not imagine what this kind of upheaval to his life would have made him feel had it happened to him.

From what he could see, other than fainting, it seemed like Ellie was strong enough not to be overset by everything she had already previously endured and recently discovered…

so far. Would her equanimity stand up to meeting her mother, father, and brother?

He could not explain it yet, but he felt very protective of his newly rediscovered cousin.

It did not take many minutes before the young ladies were addressing one another by their familiar names.

When Giana asked what name Elizabeth preferred, she said that for now Lizzy or even Elizabeth would do until she became used to her original name again, although she did not object to being called Ellie.

Elizabeth wondered if her forgetting so much of her past was connected to her propensity not to remember her dreams.

“Will Aunt Catherine join us to break our fasts?” Elizabeth asked once the sun was above the horizon as the four cousins began to make their way back to the path and down the hill.

She had remembered that those from Netherfield Park had been invited to break their fasts with the Bennets, so she realised that although she intended to stop at the dower house, she would not be able to have the meal with Grandmama Beth.

Hopefully Grandmama would drive her phaeton to the manor house to join them.

“Yes, she and Mrs Annesley, Giana’s companion, will arrive at Longbourn before half after nine,” Richard replied.

With the groom and footman following, the four rode back towards the house. When Elizabeth said she wanted to stop at the dower house, her cousins decided to join her.

On arriving, the phaeton was in front of the house, the pony hitched and ready. Of course, Grandmama had been present during the disclosure the previous night so she would join the family this morning.

“Lizzy! I did not expect to have such an escort with me,” Beth exclaimed, with a smile, when she saw the riders in front of her house.

“We are on our way back from Oakham Mount,” Elizabeth explained.

“Allow Simon to lead your horse back, and you can ride back in the phaeton with me,” Beth suggested. Then she noticed the young girl she had not met.

Seeing where Grandmama was looking, Elizabeth introduced Giana to her.

Darcy dismounted and looked at Ellie for permission to assist her from her saddle before the footman was able to reach her. She gave a little nod with pinked cheeks. He reached up and placed his hands on her slender waist, lifting Ellie down as if she weighed nothing.