Page 67 of Great Uncle Henry (Pride & Prejudice Vagary)

“M y dearest, loveliest Elizabeth, you know Uncle Henry would not have you sad during the first Christmastide since his passing, do you not?” Darcy asked gently as he embraced his wife in his arms.

“I am aware of that, William, however, knowing does not make me miss him less,” Elizabeth replied sadly.

“It is especially melancholy for me to be back at Netherfield Park where he lived his last years in the mortal world. At the same time, I am very grateful that he reached his seven and seventieth birthday before God called him home to His side. Both he and Aunt Felicity lived years longer than either expected they would.”

“That is more like my wife who tells everyone to remember the past as it gives them pleasure,” Darcy soothed.

“There is so much to be thankful for, and I do not refer to the massive fortune Uncle Henry left me,” Elizabeth agreed.

“It was a blessing that Uncle Henry met Bennet, Henry, and Annabelle before he left us. I am only sorry that Aunt Felicity went to her final reward before our daughter was born.” Bennet was called Ben and Annabelle, Belle.

“Not to mention the children of Andrew and Jane, Richard and Elli, de Bourgh and Charlotte, and Roger and Mary,” Darcy reminded his wife. “We all took the ‘go forth and multiply’ quite seriously.”

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

After their wedding trip, which had been a month at Seaview House on a bluff near Brighton, the Darcys had returned to Hertfordshire for what had become a family tradition.

Christmastide was spent at Longbourn and Netherfield park with the extended family, which included the Lucases and the de Bourghs.

Even though Uncle Henry had not been able to see, he had loved the sounds and smells generated by all of the family being present.

Soon after Twelfth Night, Lydia—who had become loved by all in the family—had voluntarily returned to her school.

She had stood by her determination that she needed more instruction to forever banish the last remaining vestiges of her former character.

A week later, Elli and Richard Fitzwilliam and Charlotte and Albert de Bourgh travelled south to Surrey and Kent respectively.

A day later the remaining Fitzwilliams, Anne de Bourgh, and three Darcys departed for London to partake in the season.

Rather than be left at Netherfield Park, Kitty was part of that party.

Mary and Roger had decided to remain in Hertfordshire, neither so very keen to spend time in London at that time.

Elizabeth and William Darcy remained in London until the end of February before leaving the Fitzwilliams, Anne, Kitty, and Anna behind in London.

They stopped in Hertfordshire to collect Fanny to travel north with them.

A few weeks earlier, Elli and Richard, and Charlotte and Albert had arrived in Town.

As they did not have a house of their own in London, Bennet House in Grosvenor square had been made available for Elli and Richard.

As she had expected to based on the tales of Pemberley she had heard, Elizabeth fell in love with the estate at first sight.

Just before they departed for Derbyshire, Elizabeth, who had never missed a single month’s courses before, did not have her indisposition in February.

As her mama was with them, Elizabeth had consulted her at the first rest stop after collecting her.

Elizabeth had been advised to wait to tell her husband her suspicions until after at least one or two more courses were missed.

Although she had planned to do that, Elizabeth had forgotten how observant William was when it came to her person.

After being married for almost three months, he had known when his Elizabeth suffered her monthly courses.

He had noticed already at the inns they had stayed at on the way north that she had not been indisposed.

A few days after arriving at Pemberley, he had mentioned his observations to her and asked if he was correct.

One thing, Elizabeth could not, would not do, was dissemble to her husband, so she told him he was correct and what she and her mother suspected.

To say that Darcy had been overjoyed had been an understatement.

It was not easy for him, but he promised not to wrap his wife in wool to keep her safe.

She did agree to forgo riding until after she had safely delivered.

The quickening was felt towards the end of May.

Elizabeth wrote to her sisters as well as Uncle Henry to let them know her good news.

Uncle Henry wrote back, using Mrs Bellamy as his scribe, and could not contain his joy.

Letters from her sisters followed overflowing with the best of wishes.

Mary’s letter said that she had just missed her second month’s courses.

Charlotte, Jane, and Elli all suspected they may be with child, but had not said anything yet.

That summer the whole family, including Uncle Henry and Aunt Felicity, came to Pemberley for the summer—which eventually became a family tradition.

The Taylors conveyed the matriarch and patriarch of the family, only travelling about half as much per day as they normally would to make it easier on them.

It was at Pemberley that the other three ladies confirmed they were at various stages of being with child.

When Anne de Bourgh heard that her cousin Charlotte was with child, she was greatly pleased that the sounds of children’s feet would once again ring in the halls of Rosings Park.

Before the family members returned to their various homes, Mary had felt the quickening.

Henry and Debby Taylor were very excited they would soon have two grandchildren, and Felicity was no less in anticipation of enjoying meeting her great-grandchildren.

By the end of the summer, Elizabeth was large with child, so Fanny remained with her.

Aunt Maddie promised she would return to be with Lizzy from early October at least until the birth.

On the twentieth day of October 1812, Bennet Robert Darcy was born.

Everyone understood that the name Bennet honoured all with that name, especially Uncle Henry, and not Thomas Bennet.

Fanny had returned home with the Gardiners after the christening.

Hence, she had been with Mary. The young Taylor couple lived in Longbourn’s dower house when James Henry Bennet Taylor was born in December 1812.

They had decided that all of their children would bear the name Bennet as part of their names, honouring all of the Bennet ancestors who had come before them at Longbourn.

Jane, Elli, and Charlotte had delivered their children within a week of one another in February 1813.

The former two had daughters, while the latter had a son.

Thankfully, Fanny and Lizzy had been at Hilldale with Jane, Lady Lucas had been with Charlotte at Rosings Park, and Debby had been at Rivington with Elli.

Elizabeth had delivered her second son—named Henry for her great-uncle and who would one day be the master of Sherwood Dale—in April 1814.

Jane bore twin sons in July of the same year, Elli a son in August, and Mary a second son in September.

Charlotte and Albert were blessed with a daughter in January 1815, who they named Anne after her namesake who had left the mortal world in October of the previous year.

The next child to be born to one of the five couples who had wed in November 1811, was the Darcys’ daughter born in January 1816, mere weeks after Aunt Felicity, at the age of three and eighty, had passed away.

Henry Bennet had taken his sister’s passing very hard. The fact that it had been expected had not made it easier for him. He had soldiered on and not given up as he had vowed to Fee before she went to her final reward.

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

“Think how much our great-aunt and great-uncle lived and what good lives they had,” Jane, who had been sitting quietly as she rubbed her swollen belly, stated. “Do not forget that they saw another three weddings in the immediate family and more great-grandchildren before they passed away.”

Even though she was great-grandmama only to the children born to her grandchildren, Felicity had been considered such to those born to all her great-nieces. Henry was counted as the great-grandpapa to all children born in the extended family.

“That is true, Janey,” Elizabeth owned. “How pleased they were to attend Lola’s, Anna’s, and Kitty’s, no Kate’s, weddings.” When she came out, Catherine had asked to be called Kate.

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

Lola and Johnny Lucas, who had become the heir to Lucas Lodge when Franklin had been taken in a hunting accident a year before, married in May 1814, just before she turned twenty. The Lucases had been flabbergasted when they learnt that Lola had such a huge dowry.

As a wedding present to Lola and Johnny, Henry purchased Haye Park when the Gouldings quit the neighbourhood, which when Sir William was called home one day would be joined with Lucas Lodge.

They had been blessed with a daughter before Gammy—as she had been addressed by all of her grandchildren, honorary or blood—and Uncle Henry departed the mortal world.

Kate and Anna—with Mrs Younge as her companion—had met the twin sons of the Duke of Hertfordshire at their joint coming out ball held at Matlock House in the season of 1813.

Kate was eighteen and Anna would be eighteen in March of the following year.

Neither young lady was ready for a proposal that first season, or even their second season.

However, when Kate was twenty, she accepted the proposal of the Marquess of Hertford and Anna, at almost nineteen, accepted Lord Archibald Chamberlain, the younger—the same name as his father—a month later.

A grand double wedding had been held in London in March 1815.