Page 42 of A Life Diverted

On entering the room, James hugged his grandmama, mother and sisters—giving Lizzy an extra-long one—and shook his father’s hand.

Thereafter, his sire introduced James to those he did not know.

Once he was seated near his two older sisters, he was told all, including about Janie being engaged to Lizzy’s eldest brother.

He did not repine that he would no longer be the eldest brother once Janie married David, as he had been asked to call him.

He could not but grin when he was informed about the near-simultaneous fainting of his older sisters.

Knowing that what Lizzy had believed about being cast out was the furthest thing from the truth allowed James to sympathise with the Wendells.

He could not imagine that if he, or one of his siblings, had been ripped away from their family the way it had happened to Lizzy, or Ellie as they called her, his parents would have acted much differently than Lizzy’s birth parents and family had.

“Will Lizzy be leaving us?” James enquired. He had always felt a closeness to his second sister and would hate to never see her again.

“Until Ellie is ready to think about it, no decisions have been made,” Cilla replied.

“I will repeat what everyone here already knows. We will never ask or expect Ellie to break contact with her Bennet family. My hope, especially with the wedding upcoming in January, is that we will become one large family. There will be gains of family members on both sides and no losses.”

Seeing his parents, Janie, and Lizzy all nodding their agreements allowed James to relax. He would not lose Lizzy as a sister, even if she resided elsewhere.

As he looked around the room, James did not miss the way that Darcy fellow would look at Lizzy when he thought he was not being observed.

He was not sure what the smouldering looks meant; he was only fifteen and had no experience with regards to what passed between men and women.

From what he could tell, Lizzy’s birth family were all good, honourable people.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Each minute Elizabeth spent in the company of her Wendell family; she became more and more comfortable with them.

By now, thanks primarily to the Lucases and Aunt Hattie, combined with a few other callers, word that Lizzy had been reunited with her birth family was known in and around Meryton.

The fact that she was connected to a peer of the realm did not change the way her friends and neighbours related to her.

They treated Miss Lizzy the same way they had since she arrived at Longbourn with the Bennets.

On Saturday morning, all of the unmarried—in Jane and David’s case, as yet unmarried—younger group met in the summer drawing room. “Who will be the first seeker?” Elizabeth asked.

Everyone assembled knew the significance of Lizzy, or Ellie, being willing to hide away for the first time since she had been kidnapped from Willowmere.

“Ellie, try and make it more difficult for us to find you,” Barney teased. “All David and I had to do was listen for your giggling. I trust you will not be giving us any audible clues, will you?”

“I think I can control the urge to giggle. I am, after all, no longer a girl of two,” Elizabeth responded with put-on imperiousness. She lifted her pert nose into the air.

Darcy felt his attraction to this magnificent woman growing each time he was in her company.

He kept himself under strict regulation as he reminded himself that it was not the time to advance his suit yet.

He would have to try to gauge Ellie’s willingness to look at him as more than a cousin at some point in the future.

When she lifted her pert nose in jest, he felt an almost overwhelming urge to plant a kiss right on the cute little tip of it.

“I will be the first seeker,” Darcy heard himself volunteering.

He was rewarded with a warm smile of thanks from Ellie.

The way her emerald-green eyes shone was intoxicating.

“If I heard the rules correctly, we may hide anywhere in the house. Kitchens and servants’ areas are out of bounds, and no locking of doors. ”

There were nods of agreement from the other participants.

He turned and began to count loudly and slowly. By the time Darcy reached ‘five’, he could sense he was alone .

Elizabeth accompanied James to find a place to hide where William would not find her easily. She was not ready to think what, if anything, it meant, but she quite liked the idea of him discovering her hiding spot.

They looked in a few rooms first, but brother and sister ended up in the schoolroom. “Lizzy, I will be in the closet; you may use the large trunk,” James suggested.

At first she did not react to James’s suggestion. However, as soon as she lifted the lid of the trunk and saw some folded blankets within, Elizabeth began to shake and sob.

James was extracting himself from the closet when Lizzy’s cousin, William Darcy, practically ran into the schoolroom. She was a helpless little mite once again, bound and gagged, under blankets and not able to free herself. The feeling made it seem like the walls were closing in on her.

“Ellie, all is well; this is not the box under the seat in the carriage where that criminal placed you.” Without thinking, Darcy pulled her into an embrace and rocked Ellie back and forth, and like he did for Giana when she was upset, he rubbed her back gently.

“All is well, all is well,” he repeated until she began to calm.

By now some of the others who had been hiding had entered the room, including David and Barney.

“Is Ellie well, William?” David asked as Jane joined those in the schoolroom.

“She was about to hide in that.” Darcy cocked his head towards the large trunk, its lid open. “It brought back bad memories.”

“I think you may release Lizzy now,” James said.

Suddenly it struck him why Lizzy had reacted to the trunk the way she had.

She had been placed into the storage area below the one bench of the carriage, between blankets.

He was berating himself for not remembering when he suggested it as a place for her to hide.

He still thought that Lizzy should be released, but James understood what had caused her to react the way she had.

Albeit reluctantly, Darcy released Ellie.

While she had been in William’s arms, Elizabeth had felt his strength. Not only had she felt safe in his embrace, but it felt to her just as if she belonged right there. She shook the thought from her mind. Rather, she felt silly that she had reacted in that way.

“I am so sorry I spoilt the game; I thought I was ready, but…” Elizabeth stopped speaking when Janie placed a slender finger on her lips.

“Lizzy, it was not the game. The trunk with the blankets within evoked memories of being under the bench in the carriage. It is only natural that you reacted as you have,” Jane opined.

“We need to change the rules so there is no hiding inside of trunks allowed.” Jane squeezed her sister’s hands.

“I hope that one day that will not be a memory which causes you to return to when your life was diverted.”

“I suggest we attempt this game another day, so we may all relax. I agree with Jane. Ellie, with time this too will be a thing of the past,” David asserted.

Seeing how loved Lizzy was by her old and new families, comforted James.

He had been too young to remember Lizzy’s frequent nightmares, but he remembered being told about how she used to have them.

He recalled a few days when he was younger, before going to school, when he would see Lizzy shortly after waking.

He would never forget the wild look she would have in her eyes, which would go away as soon as Mother or Jane soothed her.

James had seen the same look in Lizzy’s eyes before William had come to her. It had faded fast once he had arrived.

“Come,” Jane said, “let us go have tea.”

On their way back downstairs, the males called out, letting the others know the game was over for this day. The twins were not very sanguine with the game being truncated, but they did not complain too much—thanks to Mrs Frost’s proximity.

As they reached the drawing room, Hill informed everyone a carriage was in the drive approaching the house.