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Rosings Park had not hosted so many for a long, long time.

Besides Lady Catherine and Anne’s family which had grown considerably larger when Andrew and Richard had married their wives, the Ashby’s and their family were also guests at the estate, though some guests were being hosted at the estate of Lord and Lady Metcalfe.

Her ladyship and Lady Catherine had been friends from the time that they shared their first season.

Rosings Park manor house, with some help from both of her sisters, and her daughter’s input, was decorated with understated elegance.

All of the gaudy and ostentatious baubles that had made the house cold and uninviting were gone.

Ironically, what items sold for Miss de Bourgh by Gardiner and Associates had earned back an amount that was close to the original cost of the items, even after the commission was paid.

Lady Catherine could not have been happier. She was no longer the ‘crazy aunt’ that the family would tolerate for duty. The family enjoyed their visits to Kent, and the visits at Easter had become a time that the whole family looked forward to and stayed for a month complete.

The Marquess of Birchington was elated that Lady Amy Ashby was at Rosings.

It was not that he was unaware that she would be at her brother’s wedding, but it was the feeling that suffused his body every time he saw her.

There was no doubt that Lord Tom Bennet had fallen in love with the intelligent and very comely Lady Amelia Ashby.

They had seen each other a few times in town, he called on Ashbury House regularly, and the families had attended a good number of events in common.

Like he had at Anne’s engagement ball, Tom would dance the three sets with the lady, sending a very clear message to the Ton and to the lady herself that he wanted her as his own, the same as he did at any ball that they both attended.

After requesting a private audience with Lady Amy from her father, he received permission for said interview on condition that he request no more than a courtship.

Anne de Bourgh told her cousin that he may use a parlour next to the drawing room.

The Earl of Ashbury escorted his daughter to the parlour, allowing a reasonable time limit and admonishing them that the door would be left ajar.

“Amy Ashby, I have lost my heart to you,” the Marquess began.

“Never has any lady engendered tender feelings, never mind the depth of the love that I feel for you.” Lord Tom paused when he noticed that there were big tears rolling down the lady’s cheeks as he thought he had upset her until she smiled at him and indicating that he should continue.

“While you are the most beautiful woman that I know, that alone is not what attracted me. I was drawn in by your humour, wit, and intelligence. You are companionate, and I have noticed that you treat all, no matter the station, with respect, and you are the keeper of my heart. When I view my future there is no version that I see where you are not standing alongside of me. Would you grant me the honour of allowing me to court you, Amy?” He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

“Thomas, Tom, you hold my heart as much as you say that I keep yours.” Lord Tom let out the breath he had not realised he was holding after hearing the sweetest words imaginable.

“I too love you, Tom. Not because you are a marquess, or for your wealth or connections.

You are a good and honourable man with whom I know I can be myself.

When I am with you, I never feel like I have to act less than I am so that you are not intimidated.

You meet all of what I want and need in a husband.

If you had been the King, I would have refused you had you not been able to accept me as I am.

“Yes Tom, I want to be courted by you, and I pray that it will not be a long courtship. In fact, if I were to be honest, there is nothing a courtship will achieve that I do not already know,” Lady Amy offered boldly.

“There was a condition imposed by your father, my love, and without his revoking that condition, even if you are of age, my honour will not allow me to gainsay your father,” Tom said sadly.

Lady Amy strode to the door with purpose and asked the footman stationed in the hall to request that her parents and the Duke and Duchess of Hertfordshire join them.

The lady well knew what she was doing by asking for both of their parents.

Having Tom’s parents present would guarantee that her father would not be able to raise any spurious reasons against a betrothal.

Their parents entered the parlour and looked at one another questioningly and then to the couple. “I requested that you join us to help us solve a dilemma we are facing,” Amy started cryptically.

Lord Ashbury had a sneaking suspicion what the ‘dilemma’ was, but played along.

“How can we assist you Amy, Lord Birchington?” he asked, dreading her reply.

He was about to lose his little girl, and her mother would overrule any nonsensical objection he would try to raise.

He was not ready to let her go yet, but then he checked himself as he heard how selfish his words sounded in his head.

“Well Papa, it is strange you should ask …” Amy was cut off by her beloved father.

“Let me save some time. The Marquess kept his word and only requested a courtship, and when you heard about my restriction…” Now it was his turn to be interrupted by his wife.

“Maxwell! What did you do?” Lady Gillian Ashby, Countess of Ashbury asked with no little asperity.

“As I was about to say when you interjected, Gillian my love,” he looked apologetically at his wife and daughter as Lord Thomas and Lady Sarah looked on in amusement at the scene playing out in front of them.

“I realise my restriction was of purely selfish reasoning trying to hold onto my girl for a while longer. There is no restriction; it shall be as you two decide.”

Lord Birchington leaned toward the lady he loved and whispered, “Repeat everything I said earlier except substitute ‘courtship’ for ‘marry me’.”

“Yes, absolutely yes, Tom!” she announced before he could add anything more.

“As I witness my Amy’s enthusiasm in answering your question, you have my consent and blessing. Welcome to the family, Tom. Never hurt her,” the Earl warned as he shook his daughter’s betrothed’s hand.

Crying tears of joy for the happiness and love that she saw flowing between the newly engaged couple, Lady Gillian said, “And you have my blessing, my dear daughter and future son.”

Lady Sarah hugged Amy. “Even though I have many daughters already,” she teased, “I am very happy to welcome one more, especially one who I know will make my Tom so very happy.”

The Duke hugged his son, and with a voice full of emotion he congratulated him and welcomed Amy to the family.

A notable and powerful family had just become even more so.

While power, wealth, and connections were never a motivating factor for any of them, all would be increased on both sides of the family.

Lady Amy requested that they would not make an announcement until they returned to Town after the wedding at Rosings Park as she and Tom did not want to take focus away from the bride and groom.

The family was in anticipation of the arrival for both newly wedded Fitzwilliams on the morrow.

Lord and Lady Matlock had not heard from their sons since they departed the wedding breakfast back in mid-January as they had been in town when the family had sojourned at Snowhaven.

Men do not tend to write to their parents during their wedding trips.

Both Jane and Marie had written letters to their new mother-in-law once they arrived at their respective estates and had written at least once more before the couples met at Snowhaven to begin the journey southward to Rosings Park.

The plan was for both couples to return to Town with the family after the wedding and spend the rest of the season in London.

The Duchesses of Bedford and Hertfordshire were no less excited to see the new Fitzwilliam wives.

Aside from the letters on their wedding trips, Lady Sarah had received two more from each from their estates, but she could not wait to hug them again.

The two months since their wedding had been the longest that Sarah Bennet had ever been separated from any of her daughters, and Lady Rose Bennet missed them as much as Lady Sarah as they were her daughters of the heart, and she was no less looking forward to seeing the sons-in-law who had long been loved like sons by blood.

In London both couples would preside at Hilldale House on Portman Square.

Richard and Lady Jane Fitzwilliam had not decided whether they would invest in a town home for themselves.

The Bennet family alone owned eight homes in London between both Dukedoms, even after the one they gifted to Graham and Caroline Phillips.

If they really felt the need for more privacy, they had only to ask and one of the homes not in use would have been put at their disposal expeditiously.

The couples had arrived in Town the previous day and would leave for Kent early the next morning, so they were expected between noon and one in the afternoon on the morrow.