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“No, Mama. I want you to know that you are the best mother in the world, and I will miss seeing you every day,” Lady Elizabeth said with deep feeling. “Before I forget, thank you for inviting Mother Anne and my new sister to stay at Bennet House for some days.”

“It is our pleasure, Lizzy. Anne agreed that it will be good for you two to start your married life without a mother and sister underfoot.” Lady Sarah stood and kissed her daughter on both cheeks.

As happy as she was for Lizzy, she knew that after tomorrow there would only be two of her daughters left at home.

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

The Fitzwilliam brothers and their wives had been guests for dinner at Darcy House that night.

During the separation of the sexes, the three cousins who would become brothers on the morrow were sitting in the master’s study puffing on cigars and drinking some of the fine French cognac their father-in-law had gifted to Darcy.

“So, William, do you need any tips for tomorrow night?” Richard teased his friend and cousin.

“No, thank you, Richard,” William gave Richard a death stare. “I may not be as experienced as an old soldier who once gallivanted all over the continent, but I am not without experience.” The Duke of Derbyshire thought back to his eighteenth birthday.

They were at Darcy House the day after the family had celebrated the milestone with William who was in his second year at Cambridge.

Father had told him to keep that evening open and not make any plans.

Through the years, George Darcy had drummed into his son’s consciousness the need to respect ladies, to never act the rake.

Aside of the inherent disrespect, he pointed out the dangers of contracting the French disease or one like it.

They had left the house at seven that evening and arrived at a very good looking and well-maintained house a half hour later. His father informed him that they had arrived at one of the high-class brothels that members of the upper circle of the Ton were wont to frequent.

“Father,” Darcy asked, “you have always taught me to respect women and never to use them as some do.” He had wanted to add “like George Wickham does,” but he decided to hold his peace.

“Yes, my son. Nothing tonight will negate my teachings. This is what my father did for me, when you marry you will want to have the tools to be a good lover for your wife. You enjoy learning, do you not?” George nodded once when his son agreed that he did.

“Think of this as a different kind of education. All who work at Madam Juliette are ladies of the highest standard, and all are without disease. After my visit, I was chaste until I married you mother. What you choose to do is up to you, but I would recommend the same path I took.” George Darcy concluded.

Three hours later a much wiser and educated Fitzwilliam Darcy joined his father in the Darcy carriage, as he departed Madam Juliette’s for the one and only time, he resolved to follow his honoured father’s path.

The Duke was snapped out of his reverie as Andrew slapped his back.

“Wake up, William, it is time to re-join the ladies. Is it not remarkable that come the morrow we will be married to three sisters? It is a pity that there are not two more Fitzwilliam or Darcy men for Kitty and Mary,” Lord Hilldale joked as they headed back to the drawing room.

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

At Ashbury House, Lady Amy had just had her ‘talk’ with her mother.

Like her new sister Elizabeth, she would soon be a duchess as well.

The difference for her was that she had thought that she would have years to learn what was needed to be a duchess, she had not received the training to ascend to such a lofty title as her betrothed had.

True, she was the daughter of an earl, but there was a big leap between that and becoming a marchioness on the morrow.

As she sat on her bed after her Mama had kissed her goodnight, Amy wondered how it was possible to have turned the anxiety into excitement, she was relieved, no longer scared, and determined she would make sure she gave the same gift to her own daughters someday were God to bestow such a blessing.

She thought back to the conversation that she had been party to with her soon to be mother-in-law and Lady Rose.

“Aunt Rose,” Amy looked at her aunt and tears pooled in her eyes, “how am I to fill the role of Duchess of Bedford that you have filled so ably for so many years?”

“Amy, dear,” Lady Sarah said soothingly, “do you think that Rose and I were not nervous when we married our husbands?” she asked. “When I married Thomas, he had already ascended to his dukedom, so thanks to the entrapment I never had any time as a marchioness before I became a duchess.”

“That is true, Mother Sarah, but you would have been married to Father Bennet if it were not for the perfidy that was perpetrated against him, and you had known him while he was a marquess,” Amy tried to reason.

“As you have known Tom while he was a marquess,” Lady Rose pointed out. “Is the reason that you are nervous because you feel like you will be usurping my position?” Lady Rose asked astutely. Amy nodded as more tears gathered, and her mother-in-law handed her a spare silk.

“You will not be usurping my position, you dear girl. I could never be the Duchess of Bedford without my Sed as my duke! It is the way of the world, has been the way for many more years than any of us have been in it, and there is nothing that you have done that had caused us to be where we are,” Lady Rose told the young woman.

“Rose is correct, Amy, and you have an advantage that neither Rose nor I had when we became Duchesses,” The Duchess of Hertfordshire stated.

“What is that, Mother Sarah?” the confused young lady asked.

“Us, Amy. You have us,” Lady Sarah elucidated.

“When I married Thomas, it was not many months after the former duke went to join his beloved wife in heaven.

When I married, I became a duchess overnight, like Lizzy will.

Rose had been married to Sed for seven years, all that time as his marchioness.

Our mother-in-law Bennet passed not a year after Sed and Rose wed, so like I did, Rose had to learn on her own.

We relied on each other as my sister-in-law had been a duchess for barely longer than me when I married my dear husband.

“You, Amy, are not alone. In addition to Rose and me, you will have Ladies Anne, Elaine, and Catherine to assist you when you need, not to mention the fact that you will soon be gaining six sisters. Among them will be a duchess, a countess, and a viscountess. My dear daughter, you will have more support and help than you will know what to do with!” Lady Sarah stated with authority.

As the soon to be marchioness thought back over the conversation, she acknowledged that the duchesses were, as usual, correct and pinpointed precisely the issue as well as why it was not one.

She would have a support system like none other who had become a duchess.

Her sister Lizzy too would have as much support as she required, but she suspected that Lizzy would take things in stride.

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

The morning of the wedding Thomas Bennet arrived at Bedford House, ahead of the family.

He desired to talk to his brother before he was brought below stairs as the house filled with family.

When he arrived, he noted that a company of royal guard were already stationed outside his brother’s house.

As he considered this, it struck him that it would soon be his son’s house if the miracle that they were all praying for was not forthcoming.

Lord Thomas was ushered into his brother’s chambers where he found his brother looking better than he had since the return from Derbyshire.

Seeing Sed looking somewhat better gave him a modicum of hope.

Lord Sed was seated in the bath chair with a blanket covering his legs while his valet of almost thirty years fussed with his master’s cravat.

Once his man was satisfied, he was dismissed and told to make sure that the brothers were not disturbed.

“You look better than I have seen you since you became ill, Sed,” Thomas Bennet stated.

“Mayhap it is the excitement, but…I feel better today than…I have since this infernal sickness…took hold,” he said and coughed into his handkerchief.

His younger brother did not miss the red stain on the cloth.

It seemed that his brother could talk a little longer without taking a breath, but the rasping and crackling sounds were still audible.

“I wanted some time to talk to you before the wedding, Sed,” the younger Bennet brother stated, “as with the ceremony followed by the ball at Bennet House, I was not sure that I would get to spend any time just with you today.”

“You know I always…have time to see my baby…brother,” Sed smiled at his jest. “If Penrod is correct and I leave the mortal coil soon…” He took three or four deep breaths, or as deep as he was able, with the pain he felt in his lungs with each.

“I leave knowing that Rose will be with those…she loves and love her in return.” He took a pause to regulate his breathing.

“Being involved in your children’s’…lives as we were…

made us forget…that we were not blessed… with our own.”

“They are not just mine and Sarah’s, Sed.

You and Rose have been a second set of parents for them, and they love you as a such,” Lord Thomas choked up as he spoke.

“Marie was delighted when you walked her down the aisle to Andrew. You and Rose have been a very big part of their lives, and if God brings you home, it will leave a huge hole in all of our hearts.” Both brothers had tears rolling down their cheeks and neither was embarrassed by the openly displayed emotions.

“Thomas, I am afraid that you will have to give Lizzy away on your own today,” Lord Sed said with a smile.

“She and William will have a love for the ages, you know. People will talk about them and the way that they came together long after all of us have departed this earth,” the older Bennet brother predicted, and his younger brother found that he could not disagree with him.

It was not too many minutes later when the master of Bedford House’s valet knocked on the door to let them know that the footmen were there to take his Grace below stairs.

The brothers shook hands and as he left his brother’s room, the Duke of Hertfordshire turned to gaze on his older brother one more time as he had a frightening premonition that he would not have many more conversations with his brother Sed after the wedding.

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

Soon to be eighteen-year-old Tony álvarez was sitting on the dock in Bundoran’s harbour watching the small boats as they were maneuvered by the man holding the tiller with skill acquired over many years of practice.

For the first time in his life, he was beginning to question the wisdom of the path that his parents had set for him.

The young man was becoming confused. He had heard Karen Younge rant about revenge, but he was questioning what she was avenging.

The man that she claimed to love was described by his mother as a blackguard of the worst order, and had been killed while trying to harm others.

He took a risk, and then when it did not go the way he hoped, the victims were being blamed, not the ones that caused the situation.

In the few weeks that they had been in Bundoran, he had noticed how happy the locals seemed, none of them had empires to run, and none of them seemed to care about what others had. They seemed to find their bliss from within, not without, and without worrying about possessions they did not have.

After using the skills to fully consider all he knew, he had determined logically that his father’s case was similar to that of the late Wickham’s.

He had made choices that had led to his downfall.

As much as the son was starting to understand this, he was not ready to let go of his animus against those who had arranged for his father to be captured and hung.

Tony did not like the polarizing thoughts that were swirling around in his head, and trying to shake them, young Mr. álvarez returned to his room at the Happy Leprechaun.