Page 38 of Brighton Rescue (Pride and Prejudice Variation #23)
Netherfield Hall, Hertfordshire
“Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, please do come in!” Charles Bingley cried out hospitably. “I am certain you are quite chilled and wish to warm yourself by the fire.”
Elizabeth stepped quickly into the front hall of Netherfield and turned to take her baby son from her husband’s strong arms. “Fitzwilliam, Adam is hungry.”
“Elizabeth needs to care for the baby, Bingley,” Darcy said to his friend. “Perhaps she could be shown to her room immediately?”
“Of course! Abigail, escort Mrs. Darcy to her room.”
“Yes, sir!”
Elizabeth rose on her toes to give her husband a quick kiss on the lips and climbed the familiar stairway to the upper level where she could nurse her infant in privacy.
Darcy watched her fondly until she was out of sight and then turned to observe Bingley grinning at him in amusement.
“It appears that the joys of marriage have not diminished in the least, Darcy,” Bingley commented. “Please do join me in the drawing room for a drink!’
Darcy chuckled as he followed his friend, eager to warm himself by the roaring flames of the fire.
Hertfordshire was experiencing an unusual cold snap for December, which had made the last day of travel from the north quite tiresome.
Little Adam, nestled in blankets and held against the warm body of either his mother or father, had not been bothered in the least by the cold, but his parents were pleased to be indoors.
“If anything, my marriage to Elizabeth has only grown more wonderful in the last year,” Darcy said, taking a glass of brandy from his friend’s hand with a nod of thanks. “She is a marvelous wife and mistress of Pemberley, and a loving mother to our child. I am truly blessed.”
“I am extremely happy for you,” Bingley answered.
“And I am overjoyed for you,” Darcy said, his voice thick with fervor. Two years ago, he would have disdained such open emotion, but Elizabeth had softened him considerably since she danced unexpectedly into his life. “I have no doubt that you and Mary will be happy together.”
“I am entirely certain of it,” Bingley declared, dropping casually onto his favorite wing backed chair. “It probably seems an odd thing given that I originally pursued Mary’s eldest sister, but I know that I am more compatible with Mary than I ever was with Jane.”
Darcy leaned back and smiled contentedly. The news that Charles Bingley had proposed to Mary Bennet had been a surprise, but a very pleasant one. Elizabeth had been delighted that her third sister, who was not always appreciated by Mrs. Bennet, would be so well settled.
“I am thankful, Bingley,” Darcy said, taking an appreciative sip of brandy and relishing the subsequent glow of warmth in his innards. “I was largely responsible for the failure of your courtship with Jane and must confess to great relief that you have found happiness elsewhere.”
“Do not give it another thought,” Bingley urged.
“I believe that Jane and I could have been happy together, but in retrospect I was not mature enough to be a good husband to her. I have, I hope, grown up significantly in the last year. In addition, Mary has a core of steel which I lack, but that I appreciate and admire. She is marvelous with the tenants of Longbourn andNetherfield; indeed, I partially fell in love with her watching her deal with the Simpsons and the Audleys. She is kind, but she also has an eagle eye for laziness, and is not willing to reward it. Mary is truly remarkable.”
Darcy, staring at his cheerful friend, was surprised to feel an invisible weight drop from his shoulders.
He realized that he had still been feeling guilty over interfering with his friend’s courtship with the former Jane Bennet.
Bingley’s words made all the sense in the world; Jane was an agreeable woman, as was Bingley, and if they had married, it was quite possible that family and friends and servants would have taken advantage of them.
“I am thankful, Bingley,” he repeated again.
/
On the road to Hertfordshire
“Are you quite certain you are well, Jane?” Gabriel Hartford inquired, scrutinizing his wife carefully.
Jane cast a pleading look at her mother by marriage, and Lady Amelia, seated across from the couple, leaned forward to pat her son reassuringly on the knee. “Now Gabriel, do stop fussing! Jane is entirely well.”
“The carriage jolts so very much,” he fretted. “I find it rather uncomfortable, and you are the one carrying our child!”
Jane laughed and planted a loving kiss on her husband’s cheek. “My darling, I am so much better than I was even a few weeks ago. I feel wonderful, I assure you! ”
“You look wonderful as well,” Gabriel murmured, returning her kiss.
“Now, now, my dears, do remember that I am in the carriage with you!” Lady Amelia said. “I truly delight at these exhibitions of young love, but I must insist that you save your more enthusiastic physical demonstrations for when I am not present.”
“Of course, Mother,” Jane agreed in amusement.
She already felt far closer to Lady Amelia than to her own mother, which was in some ways regrettable, but in other ways thoroughly delightful.
The fifteen months since her marriage to Gabriel Hartford had been wonderful, though not always without friction between a man and woman who were still getting to know one another.
Gabriel Hartford did have nightmares about the war on occasion, and Jane did get stung by a bee once, and the servants, uneasy at the sudden appearance of a new mistress, had been initially suspicious, though Jane soon won them over.
Now Mrs. Jane Hartford was carrying the heir of Beehaven in her womb as she, along with her husband and mother in law, drove north to Meryton to attend the marriage of another sister.
/
Longbourn
“Let me look at you!” Mrs. Bennet ordered, inspecting her third daughter. “My dear, you do look very well, though would not the white gown be better for your wedding?”
“Not at all, Mama,” Lydia said authoritatively. “Mary’s coloring is better suited for primrose; white will make her skin look sallow.”
“Well, you are the expert,” her mother said, too happy to be quite as obstinate as usual. “My dear Mary, I do hope you have thanked your younger sisters; you never looked so well before Lydia and Kitty took you in hand. You could not have won Mr. Bingley without them!”
Lydia, who had grown surprisingly close to Mary in the last year, looked at her mother with irritation, but Mary smiled reassuringly at her youngest sister and said sedately, “Indeed, Mama, I am most grateful to Lydia and Kitty. Now, I presume all is ready for the wedding breakfast tomorrow?”
“Oh, you are quite right to remind me! I must speak with Cook to make sure that ... oh dear, if the oranges do not arrive on time, I will never hold my head up again! ”
She bustled off, calling stridently for Cook, and Kitty began assisting Mary to remove her dress, which would be set aside for the wedding ceremony the next day.
Lydia was still frowning toward the open door. “I do wish Mama would stop saying such rude things to you, Mary,” she said. “It is so stupid! Mr. Bingley obviously finds you very attractive indeed!”
“I appreciate your championship of me, Lydia, but you need not worry that I am hurt by Mother’s comments about my lack of beauty.
I am, without a doubt, the plainest of the five of us, but it no longer distresses me.
Mr. Bingley has told me that while he used to look upon physical beauty as the most important attribute in a woman, he now realizes that mind and soul and spirit are far more vital in a loving marriage. ”
“Forthe LORD seethnot as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart,” Kitty said rather unexpectedly.
Mary nodded and said, “Exactly, Kitty. I clung to that verse for so many years when I felt diminished compared to my more handsome sisters. Now I realize that being attractive can be a blessing, but it is not the greatest blessing. I have no doubt that Mr. Darcy and Mr. Hartford love our sisters because of their character and temperaments, not merely because they are handsome. Besides, I am confident that Mr. Bingley does appreciate my appearance, and he is the only one who really matters now.”
“I am certain of it,” Lydia agreed, “I have seen Mr. Bingley look at you, dear sister, and it quite takes my breath away. He definitely does not consider you plain!”
/
On the road to Hertfordshire
“I hope I did not ignite any suspicions in my latest letter to my mother,” Anne de Bourgh worried aloud as the carriage rolled steadily towards Meryton.
Richard Fitzwilliam, second son of the Earl of Matlock, grinned at his cousin and said, “Anne, you truly need not worry. Lady Catherine is tied up at the Matlock estate battling my father. By the time she returns to London, we will be safely wed. I will not permit her to bully you, Anne. I promise.”
Mrs. Jenkinson, Anne’s companion, said, “I confess, Colonel Fitzwilliam, that I have never understood why Lady Catherine did not suggest that you marry Miss de Bourgh after Mr. Darcy found a bride. You are very eligible, sir! ”
“I am also a military man, Mrs. Jenkinson, and accustomed to command,” Richard pointed out. “Darcy is decisive as well, of course, but Lady Catherine always assumed that Darcy would carry Anne away to Pemberley and leave her to administer Rosings as she saw fit.”
“She is in for quite a surprise then,” Mrs. Jenkinson said calmly, though inwardly she was gleeful. She had held her position as companion of Miss de Bourgh for many years now, and while she was genuinely fond of her charge, she found Lady Catherine extremely overbearing and annoying.
“Yes,” Richard agreed, his eyes suddenly hard. “Lady Catherine will be forced to accept a great many changes once Anne and I are safely wed.”
“You do have the wedding license?” Anne asked worriedly.