“Infatuated yes, but he was taken by your mind, by your academic abilities. You my daughter seem to be infatuated with more than just his mind!” Elaine replied with a big smile.
“What do I do, Mama? I do not want to push him away as he did me then,” Elizabeth worried not knowing how to deal with this situation, not knowing was a foreign concept to her and she did not enjoy it.
“No, my dear girl, repeating his behaviour will only cause you both pain. Only God knows what will be, but as hard as it is for now you have to act with him as you always have. The big difference, Lizzy, is that you are asking for help beforehand and he did not.” Elaine had watched her daughter growing up before her eyes and here was another inexorable step forward.“You will have to regulate your feelings while not being distant; it is not easy, but it is what you need to do. Who knows what will be in four or five years…” Elaine left the statement open ended on purpose.
“I will endeavour to do such,” Elizabeth as determined not to cause him pain like he had inadvertently done her.
For the rest of the day, Elizabeth was successful in her endeavour and even used time to visit Pemberley’s one-of-a-kind library with Will and there they debated the latest book that they had both read. The next day Andrew arrived and was soundly ribbed by his younger cousin, William, who told him that he was about to be leg-shackled.
On the designated day, Richard arrived resplendent in his regimentals and the close family unit was complete.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Not only was Mrs Fitzpatrick frustrated and angry, but so was her footman, Sam Hodges. She had sent spies out the last two years and each time they reported that they could not get close, and everyone was most tight-lipped. No matter the incentive, they could glean nothing. They had told her that they had watched after they had their questions rebuffed and it was not above an hour before some of the men that worked as outriders arrived, summoned by the locals to report them. It was all that Wickham’s fault, but she had ceased the beatings and physical punishment two years previously as she planned to use him as part of her plan at some point.
Sam was frustrated because the Bennet man that he cuckolded never responded to his missive; he was out of ideas as to what to do. He had no choice; he would have to reach out to the Younges and enlist their aid.
George Wickham felt somewhat better about his lot in life. The old lady did not beat or whip him anymore; she claimed that she would use him as soon as it was safe to move against her enemies, who were his enemies after all. He repressed the memory of what he had suffered at her hand and directed all of hate and anger at the Darcys and Fitzwilliams, and the mongrel foundling especially.
Chapter 11
The day before departing for Yorkshire transported the cousins back to yesteryear when they would all ride together as a group, except that Georgianna had her own mare and Alex was riding a cob. As usual, either Andrew, Richard, William, or Elizabeth would surge ahead of the pack, sending them all into a gallop and with William’s Zeus and Elizabeth’s Saturn neck and neck for the first place. The two had such a combination of endurance and speed that both fathers had determined that they should be bred the next time that Saturn was in season. The hard part would be explaining to Elizabeth that she would not be able to ride her mare for almost a year if the mating was successful.
Longfield Meadows was at the northern end of West Riding in Yorkshire, so the Darcys and Fitzwilliams departed Pemberley on the six and twentieth of June after sunrise. They overnighted in an inn close to York and arrived at the Rhys-Davies estate the following day, early in the afternoon where they were enthusiastically welcomed by the young Duke, the Dowager Duchess, and Lady Marie. Lady Rosamond Rhys-Davies, nee Pike, had been friends with Lady Anne since the two had attended seminary together and had become friends with Lady Elaine when she met her after Lord Reggie had become betrothed to his now wife.
Elizabeth already loved her future sister who never treated her like a young girl to be tolerated as a sister of her betrothed. The same was true with Anne and Georgianna; both liked their soon to be cousin very well. Unfortunately, the late Duke and his Duchess had not been blessed with any more children beyond Perry and Marie. They were a small but very harmonious family.
The days leading to the wedding were full of preparations. Given the Rhys-Davies’prominence in society, the guest list was long, including Princess Elizabeth and Price Edward who represented the royals who were cousins to the Rhys-Davies. Although many matchmaking mamas of the Ton had tried to put their daughters in Perry’s path, he had not been interested. He was determined to find a match based on love, respect, and felicity as his parents had and he did not care how long he would have to wait to find his true match.
Two days before the wedding, the Bingleys arrived. Thankfully the fawning and pretentious behaviour was long in the past so none could make any derogatory comments about the way that the tradesman and his wife carried themselves. There were, of course, those among the guests who would whisper about how such high families could invite those in or so close to trade to the wedding all the while conveniently forgetting that the Rhys-Davies were the owners of Dennington Lines.
William wished Mrs Hurst felicity on her wedding, since it was the first time that he had seen her since before she resigned the name Bingley. He was impressed with her husband, who he now met for the first time. It seemed that this would be the last long trip that Mrs Hurst would take until after her babe was birthed.
The night before the wedding the younger men were in the billiards room enjoyed some games, cigars, and libations. Perry pulled his friend and soon to be brother-in-law over to a corner.“You do know, Andrew, that as much as I like you, if you ever hurt my sister, you will have to answer to me, do you not?” he asked seriously.
“I understand the need as the head of your family to admonish me thusly, and I will not take offence, but you must know that I love your sister far too much to ever knowingly hurt her. Her felicity will be my highest priority until I draw my last breath in the mortal world,” Andrew replied sincerely, looking directly into his friend’s eyes so he could see the truth of his words.
Perry never doubted that Andrew would be the best of husbands to Marie, but he felt that he had to say something in the vein of what he believed that his departed father would have said had he still been with them. Perry missed him every day and was doing everything that he could to live up to the example that his late father had left him. He could not be giving his sister over to a better man on the morrow and was very happy to gain Andrew and Richard as brothers and the dynamic Elizabeth as a sister. There were a number of cousins that would be added, so the small family of three would expand substantially.
Lady Rose, or Rose, as she was called by her intimates, gave her daughter the talk the night before the wedding. Marie had been nervous, but her mother’s talk had calmed her down and removed a lot of the anxiety she felt about the wedding night. She especially liked that her mother had told her that anyone that told her to‘lie there and wait till it was over’did not know of what they spoke and should be felt sorry for. Marie had loved Andrew since the first time that he had come home with Perry to visit, and the fact that her love was requited drove her to heights of joy she had not known were possible.
Not long after the betrothal, Marie, her mother, and Perry had made a visit to Hilldale, where she would live with her Viscount as his Viscountess. She had seen Hilldale House on Berkley Square during the past season. There was little that she felt that she needed to change in either place, besides the mistress’s chambers as there had not been a Lady Hilldale for decades, so both houses had not been updated for more than fifty years.
She was looking very much forward to the wedding trip; they would be at Lakeview House for two weeks and then travel to Seaview Cottage and be there for a further three weeks. She blushed as she thought of the private cove and beach that she had been told about as she imagined just her and Andrew being there in an isolated and very private setting. Perry had offered them the use of the family private ship to go anywhere that they chose, but they were both most pleased with the wedding trip that was planned.
Marie was glad that her friend Louisa Hurst had been able to travel to witness her wedding. She had originally asked Louisa to stand up with her but given her state Louisa had demurred with regrets. Another good friend from school had accepted the honour. She was not surprised that Andrew had chosen his brother to stand up with him.
Both bride and groom got almost no sleep that night. Richard, William, Charles, Wes, and Ian all tried to get Andrew to calm down once he was dressed the next morning before they departed for the church in Bedford.“She will realise that I do not deserve her!” Andrew moaned as he walked back and forth in his sitting room.
“God knows why, but she loves you too much for that,” Richard ribbed his brother.
“We have all been asking ourselves what she sees in you, Andrew,” his friend Ian jabbed.
“Hey!” was the indignant response from the groom.
“You see you know what you are worrying about will never happen,” William soothed,“I know that you two will have a long and felicitous union.” The four others all nodded in agreement.
“It is just me being a nervous ninny!” Andrew berated himself.
