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S nowhaven was an extremely festive place as Lady Hildegard Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock, ably assisted by her daughter-in-law, Elaine, the Viscountess of Hilldale, wife of her only son, Reginald, as they made sure the last details for Lady Anne’s wedding were all finalised as they should be.

Anne was the Countess’s youngest of three children and the sweetest daughter a mother would ever want to have.

Reggie, as all but one called him, was the eldest of the three Fitzwilliam offspring.

Next was Catherine, who was three years younger than her brother, whom she would always call Reginald, opining that Reggie was not the regal name of a future earl.

Anne was born five years after Catherine.

Where Anne was blonde, had the Fitzwilliam blue eyes, and was very pretty, Catherine was not.

The latter sported a darker shade of brown hair, with brown eyes, and although not homely, she was not comely.

Catherine was the only member of the extended family who objected to Anne’s marrying on the morrow.

Her main objection was that Anne should not marry before her older sister, a complaint which had been rejected out of hand by Lord Willard Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Matlock.

The second reason she was against the match was that the groom, Robert Darcy, was merely a gentleman farmer and had no title.

That reason was also rejected by the Earl.

Not only was Darcy even wealthier and held more land than the Fitzwilliams, but because as long as the man, or in Elaine’s case, the lady, was gently bred, Lord Matlock approved of them.

There was also the fact that Darcy had become the master of Pemberley and all Darcy holdings two years earlier.

Not only had Catherine tried to interfere between her sister and Darcy, but she had also tried the same thing between her brother and Elaine, claiming that a non-titled daughter of a minor country squire should not be a future countess.

She had been ordered to recede by her father, in no uncertain terms.

The old earl also knew that like he and his Hildegard, both Reggie and Anne had desired love matches.

Catherine, on the other hand, only cared about status and wealth.

She had already had four seasons and had not taken.

It was no secret in the family that she was extremely jealous that Anne had found the man she wanted to marry even before she had taken her curtsy before Queen Charlotte shortly after turning seventeen.

Her older sister’s objections notwithstanding, Darcy had proposed and been accepted before the end of 1781, which had led to the reason family and friends were congregated at Snowhaven.

Suspecting Catherine would attempt to object during the ceremony, Lord Matlock had restricted his middle child to her suite once family and other guests began to arrive.

She would remain there until well after the wedding breakfast.

The earldom was already secured for another generation thanks to the birth of Andrew to his son and daughter-in-law a little less than a year earlier.

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

“Mama, why do you have a melancholy look on your countenance?” Lady Anne enquired. She, her mother, and Elaine were seated in the private sitting room in the master suite.

“I was thinking of, and missing Grace,” Lady Matlock stated wistfully.

Grace Chamberlain was the late Duchess of Hertfordshire, who had been taken by influenza some two years previously.

She also happened to be Lady Hildegard’s best friend from the time the two were very young girls.

They had grown up on neighbouring estates in Buckinghamshire, each one’s father an earl.

Over the years, until they each married, they had done everything together.

They had met the men they married at their joint coming-out ball.

Hildegard had been taken with the then Viscount Hilldale, her Willard.

Grace had fallen in love with the Marquess of Hertford, Winston Chamberlain, the only son of, and heir to, the Duke of Hertfordshire.

Her friend had married some six years after Lady Hildegard.

While Hildegard had a son and two daughters, Grace had a daughter, Leticia, and then more than five years later, in October 1762, when she had despaired that she would never give her husband a son and heir, Archibald Winston was born.

Leticia married Hubert Barrington in August 1777.

They had been blessed with a son and two daughters in the five years since they had married.

“Are not some of the additional guests being hosted at Castlemere?” Anne verified.

Like Snowhaven, Castlemere’s manor house was built onto a castle.

The latter castle was larger than the one at the Fitzwilliam estate and, as the name inferred, had a nice-sized lake not far from the mansion.

Castlemere was the largest of the Hertfordshire dukedom’s secondary estates and shared a border with Robert Darcy’s estate.

Pemberley was a little larger than Castlemere, which was on par with Snowhaven and Chatsworth in size.

“Indeed, Anne dear, the Barringtons are, of course, there, and Leticia is the hostess for her father. A few other families are being hosted there as well,” Lady Matlock confirmed.

“You know that your soon-to-be sister-in-law and her family are at Pemberley. Edith is Robert’s hostess until you return to the estate after the wedding trip. ”

Robert Darcy’s older sister had married Ernest Portnoy in April 1778. They had two sons, Lawrence and Warren. It was well known among the friends and family that Edith Portnoy was praying that her next child, if she was to be so blessed, would be a daughter.

“Mother, am I the only one who has noticed how much His Grace has changed since Lady Hertfordshire passed away?” Elaine wondered.

“No, Elaine dear, you are not alone in noting the difference,” Lady Matlock agreed.

“I know he has been much harder on Archy, telling him to forget about making a love match because of the pain when you lose one you love. I am afraid at some point Lord Winston will force his son into an arranged marriage. Though with the birth of Leticia’s son Anthony, if Archy never married or did not beget a son, the dukedom will continue regardless.

” Lady Matlock paused as she felt a tear welling up in one eye.

This often occurred when she thought of her late best friend.

“Grace would not be happy with the way her husband has begun to treat her son. I can only pray that Archy remains the affable man he became while my friend was alive.”

“Is he not in his final year at Cambridge?” Anne asked.

“Indeed, he will graduate in May of this year,” Lady Matlock stated. “According to his sister, if Archy does not find a bride who is acceptable to the Duke by the time he turns thirty, Lord Hertfordshire will arrange a match for him.”

“That is sad; to be forced to wed someone you do not want to wed.” Lady Anne shook her head sorrowfully.

“Is Papa serious about arranging a match for Cathy if she does not take in the next season or two?” Her mother nodded.

“Even though my sister does not believe in love matches, I pray that He softens her heart, and she makes one for herself.”

Both her mother and sister-in-law agreed with the expressed sentiment.

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

London, February 1783

“Catherine Fitzwilliam, you are very lucky that your mother and my Grace were the best of friends!” Lord Winston Chamberlain, the Duke of Hertfordshire thundered. “If any other had attempted to compromise my son, I would have irrevocably ruined her and her family.”

“Does that mean you will have me marry the Marquess?” Lady Catherine pushed. Unfortunately for her, she had a hard time seeing beyond her desires, and she wanted to be a duchess.

“You are as dim-witted as all of society believes,” Lord Hertford, who was next to his father, retorted.

“I will never have a termagant like you as my wife! You are not the first to attempt an entrapment, and even though some of the others were better thought of, I did not gratify them. As I never touched you and you ended up on the floor, I will not marry you.”

The Duke nodded his agreement. “Attempt anything like this again, and I will not give you a second chance.” The Duke saw the calculating look in the harpy’s eye.

“That includes any of my friends’ sons, especially the heirs of the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire.

But make no mistake: if word of your attempting something dishonourable like this with anyone again ever reaches my ears, I will ruin you without mercy.

” The Duke stood, went to the door, spoke to someone outside, and then he seated himself on a wingback chair opposite the virago.

His son was standing next to his father’s right shoulder.

Even though she did not think she did anything so very bad, Catherine Fitzwilliam knew that the Duke never made idle threats. Also, with the Marquess telling her he would not give in to a compromise, she needed to hold her peace.

This night, she attended the Jersey ball with her parents.

Her brother and his lowborn viscountess were at Hilldale still, as their second son, who they named Richard after her nobody father, had been born two months earlier.

Anne and her untitled husband were at Pemberley because her younger sister suspected she may be in the family way.