Page 45 of Heiress of Longbourn (Pride and Prejudice Variations)

15 th October, 1812

On the Road to Netherfield

Her beloved husband's hand was clasped around Elizabeth's own, both of them leaning towards each other and bumping gently together as the carriage swayed. Across from them, Mrs. Annesley worked at a piece of knitting, while Georgiana, like Elizabeth, watched out the window, her book open in her lap, held lightly in her gloved hands.

The scenery outside was too glorious to ignore. The trees were ablaze with their autumn glory, crimson and orange and yellow, like a wildfire had swept the forest. Pinecones and red berries punctuated autumn foliage in colorful highlights. Rabbits hopped among the brush, while squirrels chittered overhead.

Elizabeth drank in the loveliness, her heart full to bursting with her joy at her new marriage. Not that hers was an entirely cloudless sky; she and her husband both knew their own minds too well for that. Contentions inevitably arose between them, but – and this was still a strange thing to Elizabeth, who had grown up in a house ruled by its mistress’s tears and vapors – when disagreements occurred, her husband did not retreat to take refuge in his library, just as she chose to master her own emotions and approach problems with rational logic. She and Fitzwilliam had enjoyed many productive discussions over dinners, or afterwards in the drawing room, or even in bed at night, after a spirited day.

She had also been challenged in learning to be mistress of an estate as large and grand as Pemberley. Elizabeth was grateful for her husband’s patient tutelage, with no hint of the derisive amusement that hallmarked Mr. Bennet’s attitude towards his own wife’s ignorance and hysteria. Mrs. Annesley, too, had proven a treasure, with her quiet, subtle nudges to the new mistress of Pemberley alongside her own charge.

On this thought, Elizabeth glanced over at Georgiana herself. The girl had become lost in her novel once more, a faint smile on the sweet face, and Elizabeth felt a rush of affection for her young sister by marriage. The two young women had grown into very good friends, and Georgiana was now just as much a sister to her as any of the Bennet girls. Of course, Elizabeth’s love for her sisters by blood had not abated an iota, and she was overjoyed to be back in Hertfordshire after so many months away.

The reason for the journey was a vitally important one, as Mary was to be wed in only a few days. Her fiancé, Mr. Standish, had recently been awarded a living in Wiltshire, and after offering for Mary’s hand, and being accepted, had almost immediately departed to his parsonage to begin repairs and preparations for his new bride. The previous parson, aged and infirm, had been unable to keep up with the necessary maintenance and, being a patient and uncomplaining man, had never made mention of his own increasing difficulty and inconvenience. As a result, the gentleman who was patron of the living had, all unwittingly, allowed the parsonage and grounds to fall into a shocking state of disrepair, providing the funds but not the labor for its upkeep. Made aware of its state and properly horrified, the good gentleman had been working closely with his new parson to ready the cottage for new inhabitants, including a gently bred young lady to be the mistress.

Now, Mr. Standish’s parsonage was ready to receive the new bride, and the clergyman was returning to Meryton to wed the third Miss Bennet. It was serendipitous timing for the party from Pemberley. The summer harvests had been good, the fields and orchards yielding bountiful fruits and grains and vegetables, and there would be no shortage of food for even the lowliest farmer on the weediest, most sodden patch of ground. The Home Farm had returned so lush a harvest that, even should disaster strike some tenant family or servant, the master of Pemberley would be well able to provide for his dependents.

The carriage turned, breaking Elizabeth’s thoughts, and her eyes lit up as she recognized the country around them. The carriage was now close to Netherfield, and her soul lifted with the knowledge, even as she leaned forward to see whether her home county had changed in her absence. After a few minutes observation, she concluded that the countryside around Meryton that had not changed at all, with the fields and hollows and stone walls looking exactly the same as they always had. It was Elizabeth herself who had changed so much, both in her view of the world and in her position in life. The last time she had seen these pastures and trees, she and her father had been on a desperate flight northward to try to mitigate the disaster of Lydia’s elopement.

The carriage took another turn, this time onto a lane she knew well, one she had walked on many occasions. She was a married woman now, not a maiden tromping around the countryside where she had grown up, and it felt oddly surreal to see the home of her childhood untouched by a year which had altered so much for her.

“Is that Netherfield?” Georgiana asked, and Darcy said, “It is indeed.”

Georgiana peered out at the building and said, “It seems pleasant, if not particularly large.”

“It is very comfortable,” Elizabeth agreed, suppressing her amusement at such a na?ve statement. Netherfield Hall was the largest mansion in the area, but compared to Pemberley, it was quite modest. Even now, several months after her marriage, Elizabeth occasionally found herself startled at Pemberley’s vast size. Indeed, in the early days of her marriage, she had gotten turned around more than once, only to be spurted out of some wayward stairway into the servants’ quarters or the kitchen, to the surprise of the staff.

The carriage came to a halt and within a minute, a footman opened the door from outside, and Darcy stepped down and handed out the ladies.

Elizabeth took a deep breath of cool Hertfordshire air and then her heart leapt as the door to the Netherfield Hall opened to reveal Jane with Charles at her side.

“Jane!” she cried out, stepping forward to embrace her sister.

“Dear Elizabeth,” Jane replied, returning the hug with fervor. Elizabeth, who knew her sister very well, stepped back a moment later and cast a curious look at her sister’s abdomen. Jane grinned at her knowingly, and Elizabeth’s smile broadened into a genuine beam of delight, and she leaned over to whisper into her ear, “My dear, how absolutely wonderful.”

“It is,” Jane murmured back and then turned to greet Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley. “Welcome to Netherfield Hall.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Bingley,” Mrs. Annesley said, and Georgiana added her agreement, though her eyes were cast down. Elizabeth remembered, too late, that Georgiana still tended to be uncomfortable in new places, and she said, “I am confident that we would all like to refresh ourselves now. Jane, would you kindly guide us to our rooms?”

“Of course,” Jane said, flashing a smile at her husband, who was chatting with Darcy a few feet away. Elizabeth cast her own loving look at Darcy, who smiled and nodded, well understanding her desire to spend time with her favorite sister.

“Shall we?” Elizabeth asked, taking Georgiana’s arm in her own and beginning to climb the stone stairs to the impressive oak door.

***

Elizabeth’s Guest Bedchamber

Netherfield Hall

Half an Hour Later

Elizabeth had, with the assistance of her private maid, changed out of her traveling attire and into a comfortable long sleeved muslin day dress, with a woolen shawl to ward off the chill. Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley had retired to their own bedchambers, and Elizabeth had dismissed her maid, and now she and Jane could speak in private.

“Before we speak of anything else,” Jane said, gesturing toward the chairs by the fire, “how are Lydia and Alexander and Baby Benjamin?

Elizabeth sat down and said, “They are all very well, and Benjamin is a stout lad with an incredible pair of lungs. Lydia is tired, but over the moon about her child, which is a great comfort to me. Given her youth and her former flightiness, I worried that she would find motherhood tedious and annoying, but that has not happened.”

“And do you think,” Jane began, and then she lowered her voice, “that our brother Alexander is at ease with his nephew being his heir?”

“Alexander looks on Benjamin as his own son,” Elizabeth promised her. “Moreover, our brother is not master of an estate, so his heir will not inherit land, which I expect would make it easier.”

“I understand,” Jane assured her, and then leaned forward, her handsome face glowing. “As you guessed when we embraced, I am with child.”

“Oh Jane, I am so happy for you! How do you feel?”

“I am well enough now. I was ill for about four weeks but now feel energetic. I know Lydia was sicker, and for longer, so I am grateful.”

Elizabeth nodded and said, “I was only sick for four weeks as well, and I too was not as ill as our youngest sister.”

This provoked a frown of confusion, followed, a moment later, by a beaming smile from Jane, who cried, “Oh Lizzy, truly?”

“Truly, though we are not yet announcing it to the world. My nausea entirely disappeared only last week.”

“Oh, how blessed we are,” Jane said, leaning forward to clasp Elizabeth’s hands in her own.

“We are indeed,” Elizabeth said merrily, returning the squeeze, and then she leaned back and said, “But come, I know that the party from Longbourn will be here for dinner this evening, and I wish to know how they are all doing, especially Mamma.”

Jane Bingley straightened her back, blew out a breath, and said, “She is better than she was, though she is still inclined to complain about your marriage on occasion. However, you have missed the very worst of it, as she howled vociferously when we returned from your wedding and told her the truth.”

“That must have been very annoying,” Elizabeth said with a grimace.

“It was tedious, but of course, I could retreat to Netherfield when I grew weary of her vapors, and Father requested that Kitty and Mary be permitted to stay here as well until she had calmed down. He then retreated to his library and ordered that Mamma not be allowed to use the carriage without his permission. She quickly grew tired of being alone and unable to visit friends and started behaving better, if not perfectly. I daresay she will probably whine a bit about your position as heiress of Longbourn, but Father is ready to take her in hand if she is too tiresome.”

“I see,” Elizabeth said with a sigh. “It is a pity that she cannot understand that she will never have to leave Longbourn, but I am beyond hoping she ever will. In any case, I can manage a little fussing.”

“Yes, and you will be staying here, so you will not be menaced by her moaning day and night.”

Elizabeth laughed. Jane had changed in the last year, but that was no great surprise. She had found a wonderful man to marry and been exposed to a villain who had run off with Lydia in the hopes of extracting money from Longbourn. Only by the grace of God had the Bennets been saved, and those few who were aware of the whole story could truly appreciate how fortunate they were.

“Is Mary excited about her upcoming wedding?” Elizabeth asked.

“Oh, very much, and I think she and Mr. Standish are very compatible. He is a bookish gentleman, but also practical and devoted to his position as a clergyman. I am confident that Mary will thrive as the mistress of the Hillson parsonage. A year ago, I think she spent too much time studying because she was trying to prove her value in a houseful of more beautiful sisters. Now she will be in her own home, with her own husband, without being mortified by the constant comparisons of her beauty with ours.”

This was very insightful, and Elizabeth nodded and said, “I am delighted for her.”

“As am I,” Jane replied, and turned her gaze to the flames of the fire. “It is hard to believe, is it not? A year ago, none of us were married, and now only Kitty will be single.”

“It is amazing indeed,” Elizabeth agreed.

***

Drawing Room

Netherfield Hall

Darcy stood by the window and stared out at the fields to the south of Netherfield. He had stood here many times during the autumn of 1811 and found himself full of wonder at all the glorious changes of the previous year. A year ago, he had been a brooding and often irritable bachelor. Now he was happily married with a child on the way.

“Darcy?”

He turned toward his closest friend and took the offered glass, which was full of Madeira wine. “Thank you, Bingley.”

“I propose a toast,” Bingley said with a grin. “To Jane and Elizabeth!”

“To Elizabeth and Jane!” Darcy returned, and they both drank.

When both glasses were empty, Bingley set his down on a small table and said, “By the by, Darcy, my sister, Caroline, is engaged.”

“Is she?”

“Yes, not that it is of great concern to you anymore, as you are safely married to Elizabeth. You need no longer fear being compromised by a grasping and greedy woman, Darcy, which is just one of the many benefits of marriage.”

“One of many,” Darcy echoed and realized he sounded positively besotted. He felt a twinge of embarrassment, which quickly ebbed away. He adored Elizabeth, and he knew that Bingley adored Jane, and there was no shame in that.

“In any case,” Bingley continued, “she is engaged to Sir Nicholas Mowatt, a childless widower of some five and thirty years. They are to be married next month in Town, and Jane and I will be attending the ceremony, along with the Hursts.”

“So you have made peace with your sisters, then?” Darcy asked curiously.

“We have, but with the caveat that they had best be on their best behavior with Jane at all times. Louisa birthed a daughter a few months ago, and while I have not yet seen the child, she is apparently a beautiful creature, and the Hursts are ecstatic over her. As for Caroline, she has only written a couple of notes in the last year, but I think she is pleased with her upcoming marriage to a baronet.”

“That is good,” Darcy said cautiously.

Bingley chuckled and said, “You are surprised that a baronet would marry my sister, but it is primarily her money, of course; the man’s first wife was a spendthrift, and he needs Caroline’s dowry. He may find my sister to be difficult to reign in regarding spending as well, but that is not my problem.”

“Yes, and that is a wonderful thing,” Darcy said and arched an eyebrow. “Now that is an idea; perhaps Lady Catherine could marry again and harass a new husband instead of the rest of her family!”

Bingley laughed and said, “That poor man. But I am sorry that your aunt continues to cause trouble.”

“It is no great thing, as she is back at Rosings, and I can easily throw her letters into the fire without reading them. I am more annoyed with the Ladsons, as they were indeed harboring her for the days between her initial appearance at Pemberley to protest my engagement and the wedding ceremony itself. I do thank you for dealing so firmly with her in church.”

“Oh, I quite enjoyed it,” Bingley said cheerfully. “She had no right to interrupt the ceremony, and I dislike bullies.”

“As do I,” Darcy agreed heartily.

***

Netherfield Hall

Later

The door to the drawing room opened, and Elizabeth, who was standing near the fire next to her dear husband, turned as her mother and father, along with Mary and Kitty, entered the room.

A moment later, without thought, she rushed over and embraced her sisters and mother in turn, tears filling her eyes.

“Mamma, Mary, Kitty,” she said. “Oh, it is good to see you after so many months.”

“We are very happy to see you too,” Mary said. Elizabeth, studying her next younger sister, was delighted to see the subtle but real changes in both her appearance and her expression. She had always been a solemn girl, Miss Mary Bennet, and now there was genuine joy in her eyes and a small smile on her lips.

“Indeed we are, Lizzy,” Mrs. Bennet said, reaching out to turn her second daughter toward her. After a careful inspection, she said, “You look very well, my dear, but I do not like to see you in mere muslin! Mr. Darcy is master of a great estate, and as his wife, you ought to be wearing velvets and silks and sables.”

Elizabeth suppressed a sigh and merely said, “Muslin is very comfortable, Mamma. But please, will you not tell me about the upcoming wedding breakfast for Mary?”

She assumed that such a question would result in an outpouring of enthusiastic description, but she was disappointed when her mother cast a hasty look toward Darcy, who was now in conversation with Mr. Bennet, and said, “My dear, I do wish to speak to you of a matter of importance. Pray come over by the window where we can talk in private.”

Elizabeth grimaced but did so, while her sisters drifted away to confer with Jane and Charles.

“Lizzy,” Mrs. Bennet said as soon as they had come to a halt, “you simply must tell your father that Kitty ought to be heiress of Longbourn. It is only fair.”

Elizabeth, while not surprised at this request, was irritated.

“Mother, I am the heiress of Longbourn, and I assure you that…”

“But Lizzy, it is not right, not at all! When Mary is wed in two days, Kitty will be my only single daughter, and she ought to inherit the estate, not you, especially since you are the richest of all my daughters. Ten thousand pounds a year and a large estate in Derbyshire. Why do you need Longbourn?”

“I do not need it, true,” Elizabeth said, forcing herself to speak calmly, “but Father still believes that I am the best daughter suited to look after the estate in the future.”

“But why?” Mrs. Bennet cried out, and now her eyes were full of tears. “Mr. Darcy will sell it off before your father is cold in his grave, and I will be cast into the hedgerows!”

There was so much wrong about this statement that Elizabeth hardly knew where to begin. Fortunately, her father and husband appeared at her side, both wearing stern expressions.

“Mrs. Bennet,” Mr. Bennet said sternly, “I told you not to bother Elizabeth about Longbourn.”

“But…”

“Mrs. Bennet,” Darcy interrupted, “the marriage settlements signed at the time of my marriage to Elizabeth dictate that you will be able to stay at Longbourn for the rest of your life, so you need not worry that you will lose your home.”

Mrs. Bennet bit her lip, and she nodded tightly. “I see. Thank you, Mr. Darcy, that is very kind of you.”

Elizabeth gently grasped her husband’s arm and pulled him away, permitting the older Bennets to talk in private, and she said, “Thank you, Fitzwilliam, for trying to reassure my mother.”

“Do you think she believed me?” her husband asked softly.

Elizabeth looked over at her mother’s face, which was downcast, and shook her head. “I doubt it, but she is too in awe of you to argue. Poor thing, I worry she will take her fears to her grave, but there is nothing we can do about it.”

“It is a pity,” Darcy said, “but at least we know the truth, that Mrs. Bennet will be cared for the rest of her life.”

***

Longbourn

Two Days Later

Noon

The wedding had gone off gloriously and without a hitch, with a score of happy faces looking on, though Mrs. Bennet had sobbed gustily into her handkerchief during the ceremony. The moment it was over, she leaped to her feet to rush home and make the final adjustments to the wedding breakfast. Kitty, as the only remaining unwed daughter, was delegated to overseeing the lavish banquet spread across the entire dining room table, now widened further from its usual size with the extra leaves placed in.

Elizabeth placed a sweet roll on her already full plate and paused to wait for her husband, who was selecting pieces of ham for his own meal. They had detoured briefly to Netherfield after the wedding as Georgiana had no wish to attend the breakfast at Longbourn, uneasy about being surrounded by so many strangers loudly celebrating the new couple. Mrs. Annesley, of course, had stayed with her young charge, leaving Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam to extend the Darcy well-wishes to the Standishes and partake of the wedding feast.

Darcy turned away from the table and offered his arm to his wife, who led him into the corridor of her childhood home, moving skillfully around clumps of people standing and conversing and sipping coffee or tea from the cups in their hands. The door to the drawing room had been flung wide, and Elizabeth paused briefly to look inside. The newly married pair were seated beside one another on the couch, a low table pulled up nearby to hold their plates and cups, and a throng of ebullient well-wishers around them. Mary was laughing, her face alight with joy. The dusty rose-pink of her gown lit up her face, usually so sallow in the somber colors she had long preferred, and the style of her hair showed Kitty’s skillful touch, framing her face and drawing out her finer features, softening the sharp planes of cheeks and jaw and lighting her eyes. She was genuinely pretty, and Elizabeth was glad for her.

“Do you wish to eat here?” Darcy asked softly, and she shook her head and said, “I would prefer a quieter place. Shall we try the sitting room?”

“Of course,” he agreed, and she knew that he was relieved. He, like his sister, was not fond of crowds of strangers.

She led him on down the hallway to the east sitting room, smaller and cozier and with far fewer people – only those closest friends of the Bennet family would know to come here. One of the two tables sat entirely empty, while at the other, Charlotte Lucas and her father were eating enthusiastically. Elizabeth was not surprised that both had addressed their breakfasts with such vigor. Mrs. Bennet eagerly embraced any opportunity to offer extravagant meals, and having been cheated of the chance to host wedding breakfasts for Lydia and Elizabeth, she had poured considerable money and time into first Jane’s, and now Mary’s, wedding breakfasts.

“Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy,” Sir William said with a jovial smile. “It is so good to see you. Congratulations on your own marriage.”

“Thank you, sir,” Darcy replied with a nod of the head. “It is very good to see you, too.”

“I am thankful you were able to attend the wedding and breakfast,” Elizabeth continued. “I hope you and your family are well?”

“Yes, we are very well,” Charlotte said composedly, though her eyes were a trifle sad. Elizabeth understood her friend’s melancholy, and said, “I am pleased to hear that, because I wished to ask for a favor, though you need not answer immediately. As you may know, we will be leaving for London in a few days, and we were hoping that you might be willing to come with us, Charlotte, if Sir William agrees, of course.”

Father and daughter exchanged startled glances, and Charlotte said, “To London?”

“Yes, we will be there for a few months, probably, and Fitzwilliam always has business to tend to. I would very much like to have you visit as a friend.”

Charlotte’s face lit up at these words, and she looked again at her father, who said, “I think that would be a lovely idea, my dear daughter, if you would care to go?”

“Oh, I would like that very much,” Charlotte said.

“That is decided then,” Darcy declared, and Elizabeth lowered her hand below the table to squeeze his left arm with gratitude. Poor Charlotte, now nearly thirty, was living a rather dreary life as an aging spinster at Lucas Lodge, and she looked forward to giving her old friend a pleasant holiday. Moreover, Charlotte, a sensible and kindly woman, had a far higher chance of finding a husband in Town as a guest of the Darcys than here in Meryton.

“Now, Mrs. Darcy, will you be presented in Court?” Sir William asked eagerly.

“I believe so,” Elizabeth replied, her eyes merry, though she kept her voice appropriately solemn.

“Oh, how marvelous!” Sir William replied. “It seems like only yesterday that I was knighted at St. James…”

The story of Sir William’s presentation was one Elizabeth had heard many times before, but she found she was not at all impatient. How could she be, when she was at her childhood home, with her beloved husband at her side, with the heir of Pemberley in her womb, after watching Mary wed a man she admired and loved?

No, there was no room for irritation, only gratitude for all of her blessings.