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The plans were set. The wedding would be held in the Bedford House ballroom.

A very comfortable armchair with a footrest would be placed at the front for Lord Sed so he would have an unimpeded view of the ceremony; he would be carried downstairs in a bath chair by some footmen before the guests arrived.

He was excited at the prospect of wearing clothing other than his night attire.

A royal courier had brought a note from Buckingham House informing the Bennets that the Queen, Regent, Prince Edward, and Princess Elizabeth would attend the wedding.

The Queen sent a Ming Dynasty vase for each couple as she had when the older twins married.

The note indicated that the Queen’s vicar, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would be happy to perform the ceremony.

Fortunately, Reverend Moseby-Finch, the head clergyman at St. Georges Church, had responded that even on such short notice he was available to perform the rites of marriage, and would be present by nine that morning as the wedding was planned to start at ten.

Lady Rose had written a note expressing her joy at the four royal cousins joining them and politely refused the use of the Queen’s vicar.

The Phillips family had arrived in London from Meryton the previous day and were staying with their son and daughter on Portman Square so that Hattie and Madeline Gardiner had been available for any help that Ladies Sarah and Gillian needed to plan the wedding.

Along with Lady Anne Darcy, Mrs. Gardiner had taken the responsibility for acquiring the flowers, and Hattie was in charge of decorating the Bedford House ball room, which would be divided in two.

The ceremony would be performed on one side while the wedding breakfast would be hosted on the other side.

Once everyone had transitioned to the wedding breakfast, the Duke of Bedford would be returned to his bedchambers.

Besides the family that was already in London, Lord and Lady Amberleigh, and Ian and Anne Ashby, Lady Amy’s older brothers and their wives, would arrive on the morrow from Surrey, two days before the nuptials.

Both brides had been seen by Madam Chambourg to consult on their wedding gowns, and her store was closed until they were ready.

The Duchess of Bedford understood that her husband’s insistence that she continue to plan the betrothal ball was part of his plan to distract her from the truth of the seriousness of the illness that would soon take his life.

As a compromise, and only if he were still with them, there would be a shortened wedding ball at Bennet House the night of the wedding.

Outside family only a few close friends were invited.

The supper set would be the final set and after the meal the ball would end.

Ladies Catherine and Elaine were working with Bennet House’s housekeeper to plan the ball.

The Duke of Derbyshire and his future duchess had been counting each day that passed until the fifteenth day of June separately as they were in anticipation of the day that would join them forever so they would not have to part again.

Though they hated the reason of the accelerated wedding, neither repined marrying earlier.

They, along with everyone in the family, were praying that God would deliver a miracle and spare Lord Sed as He had when He returned Lady Anne to her family when all seemed lost.

Both couples had agreed that, if necessary, they would defer their wedding trips until after the sad event, and three months of mourning, one month would be deep mourning and two months of half.

They had all wanted to mourn longer, especially the deep mourning period, but the Duke of Bedford had extracted promises from all in the family that they would not.

His wife had promised to keep to a half year of deep mourning and the next six months in half mourning as he did not want her to mourn him for the rest of her days.

Lady Rose was the last surviving member of her original family.

His Grace Sedgewick Bennet, Duke of Bedford, knew that his beloved Rose would be surrounded by loving family after he was called to be with God.

His brother and sister had told him and Rose, in no uncertain terms, that if the predicted outcome came to pass, that his duchess would be welcomed into their household and would live with them for the rest of her days.

Sed Bennet was able to rest easier than most as he was supremely confident in his heir’s abilities.

He had educated him for the ascendency as well as any had ever been taught.

Like his father and his siblings, Lord Tom Bennet had a vast ability to assimilate and hold information that could be recalled as needed.

The Duke of Bedford was sad that his journey on the mortal coil would soon be at an end, but he was at peace knowing that he would see all of his family that he loved so well in God’s Kingdom when it was their turn to join him.

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

The day before the wedding Lady Sarah knocked on her middle daughter’s bedchamber door and was admitted by her daughter’s French maid, Miss Jacqueline Arseneault.

Lizzy called her Jacqui and both mother and daughter were pleased that someone familiar would be accompanying her across the square on the morrow.

Lady Sarah had petitioned her husband, and it had not taken much convincing for him, to agree that Biggs and Johns would stay with Elizabeth and become Darcy footmen to continue to stand guard over her as they had done for the last number of years.

After the murder of the man in Fowey, no chances would be taken with the safety of any of the family members.

The abigail left the room, and Lady Sarah and her daughter moved to the private sitting room attached to the suite.

Once they were comfortable on the settee, Lady Sarah proceeded to give her daughter ‘the talk.’ It was, in essentials, the same talk that she had had with Jane and Marie the night before their wedding.

As her middle daughter would become a duchess on the morrow, she addressed the change in rank that her daughter would undergo after the wedding.

“When I met your father, he was the Marquess of Netherfield, and I knew that one day he would become the Duke of Hertfordshire. It never intimidated me as I had a long time to get used to the idea that I would one day be a duchess. With William’s elevation of such short duration, are you nervous about becoming a wife on the morrow?

” her mother asked as she held Elizabeth’s hand.

“Mayhap I should be, but I am not, Mama,” Lady Elizabeth offered thoughtfully.

“My relationship with William had a difficult beginning and I was still immature myself.

I had allowed the stories of that woman to colour my judgements, and the way that I looked at the world.

When I saw the tangible effects of my petulance, I was ashamed.

You and Papa had tried to correct me, but I was too stubborn to change at that point.

“My behaviour was most shrew-like. There was nothing that I can do to change the past, and it was not my burden to carry. It was after talking to Mother Anne that I began to see things clearly. It took the perspective of one that was not close to me, well not yet, to help me see things in my own behaviour that I was not proud of. You know, do you not, that I wanted to forgive William much sooner, but Mother Anne asked me to wait?”

Her mother nodded, “I do. You are not the only one who had long conversations with Anne, Lizzy,” Sarah Bennet said with a smile.

“Your papa and I are very happy that you were able to see the problems in your own behaviour. We would have stepped in if you had gone too far; in fact, we almost did in William’s case.

You were not the only one angry with him, we all were, but the punishment did not fit the crime in our opinion.

“We spoke to Andrew and Richard the next morning before William made his first apology.

They were the first ones who asked us to hold off before mitigating any of the repercussions that William would face.

When Anne came for that first visit, she repeated the request, for the same reasons that she enumerated for you.

“Both of you learnt invaluable lessons about the consequences of bad behaviour, and jumping to conclusions without all of the facts. I dare say that it is behaviour that neither of you will ever repeat, Lizzy.” Lady Sarah pushed an errant curl to the side as she waited for her daughter’s response.

“You are correct, Mama, both William and I learnt and grew. No, I am certain that we will never repeat the same behaviour. To return to your concern about my being nervous. I was nervous about the marriage bed before your talk, but about being William’s duchess, no I am not.

We have been through so much together, I know that we will have a true partnership and there is nothing that we will not be able to face together,” Elizabeth said resolutely.

“Not only will William be there to help me, but you, Papa, Mother Anne, and the rest of the family will be there as well.”

“After William missed your sisters’ weddings, I am glad that he will have Richard standing up with him. How did you choose Marie over Jane as your matron of honour?” Lady Sarah asked.

“I love all of my sisters and brothers, but she and I have similar temperaments, that is if you ignore my past quick judgement,” Elizabeth said self-deprecatingly. “Mayhap for that reason I have always felt a little closer to Marie.”

“Jane and Mary too have a similar temperament, but Kitty, I fear, is a mix and it has been a pleasure to watch her become the young women she now is,” Lady Sarah stated. “Is there anything more that I need to answer for you, Lizzy?”