“Master, Miss Browning requested that she be allowed to meet Lady Elizabeth, if possible,” Mrs Hill requested. At Elizabeth’s questioning look, her birth father explained.
“Loretta Browning was the other nursemaid who was looking after you alongside Tammy when that…, eh hm, she too was drugged the night you were taken. She now works for our parson Mr Pierce and his wife Miss Charlotte Lucas as was. They have a daughter Emma, born in May of this year. As we have no more little ones, when Charlotte was looking for a nursemaid, we suggested Miss Browning,” Bennet explained.
“I will be happy to meet her,” Elizabeth informed the housekeeper who smiled in pleasure at the confirmation.
Tammy showed her guests to their chambers rather than giving that task to Mrs Hill. There had been a debate whether to place the guests in the family wing or the guest wing. In the end, Tammy and her husband had decided on the guest wing as they did not want to push too hard. It was important that the pace Lizzy determined would be the pace they would follow.
Soon after everyone had been shown to their rooms everyone met in the largest drawing room. On the way down Elizabeth had stopped in the gallery with her family and they had all marvelled at how much she resembled her Grandma Elizabeth, who was called Beth, Bennet. Her Uncle Thomas had previously explained that he had named her after his late mother. At the time, he had gone into depth about that women’s mania and how she had wanted Lizzy placed with a tenant family, but thankfully her presence had long been excised from Longbourn. During that discussion, she had learned that even her new Uncle Edward and Aunt Hattie spoke as if they were the only Gardiner children.
Once everyone was comfortable, Tammy rang for tea which was accompanied by freshly baked pastries and slices of chocolate cake. Bennet did not miss how Lizzy was eyeing the chocolate cake and chuckled as he nodded at the marvel of how some things never change.“It was your favourite; you almost made yourself sick demanding a second slice on your first birthday,” he remembered fondly.
“That never changed,” Elaine recounted.“Every birthday cake since she came to us had to be chocolate, the bigger the better, and she has had two slices each and every year!”
“And never got sick,” Andrew added with a grin.
“It was not only birthdays; for any family celebration at Matlock House or Snowhaven, the bakers knew that no matter what else was ordered that there would have to be a chocolate cake,” Elaine smiled widely.
“Mama! You are making it sound like I indulge in gluttony!” a scandalised Elizabeth responded.
“Kitty and I must take after you, Lizzy,” Tom grinned,“we both love chocolate cake and would have it for every meal if Mama would allow it, but,” he affected a fake pout,“she will not.”
“We all like chocolate cake,” William spoke up,“just not as much as Tom and Kitty!” Kitty stuck out her tongue at her oldest brother.
“Nothing remains from the house that I was born in, is that correct, Uncle Thomas?” Elizabeth asked.
“That is a fact,” Bennet agreed.“It was not just the bad memories; over the years my ancestors had added to the house in a hodgepodge manner. Rather than perpetuate the same mistake I had the house torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Tammy will tell you that I considered a renovation, but we saw the folly of it and chose the harder route which was really no hardship as we had another residence nearby.”
“We do have your bed, and the clothing which was left after you were stolen from us,” Tammy informed Elizabeth.“Would you like to see them?” Elizabeth nodded, blinking rapidly to either allow the tears in her eyes to fall or fade. Tammy led Elizabeth and the Fitzwilliam and Darcy women up to the nursery. It was large with a number of doors that led to nice sized chambers for the servants that worked with the children, and there was one door that was kept closed until today.
Tammy opened it to reveal a small bed, that of a toddler’s, a blanket folded neatly at the foot of the bed, and two shelves with tiny outfits on it. Elizabeth slowly walked to the little bed and sat on it, caressing the blanket that laid protective over it. She lifted each little outfit and admired her clothing from so many years ago, and there was not a dry eye among the women watching her.
Even with her memory, she could not summon any which included the items in the room. She folded each item neatly and replaced them where she had found them. Although she did not remember them, she felt that a piece of her life that she had forever lost was regained; taking another long look at the items then she turned to Tammy.
“May I take the blanket?” Elizabeth requested softly.
“Of course, you may, dear girl,” Tammy enfolded her in her arms and Elizabeth experienced a feeling of familiarity.“Everything that you see in here is yours, so you may take whatever you choose to, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth picked up the blanket with reverence. On the return to the drawing room, Elizabeth asked her maid to place the blanket on her pillows. From that night on, she would sleep with a little piece of her previous life at Longbourn with her.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The Lucases, Longs, and Gouldings had dinner at Longmeadow the evening that the Bingleys and Bennets arrived home. They would all be to Netherfield Park on the morrow, but they did not want to descend on the mourning family the same day that they arrived home.
As much as they wanted to condole with their friends to support, they also could not wait to see Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam.“I have a feeling that she will be at Netherfield on the morrow,” Cheryl Long opined.“She has known the Bingleys for a number of years.”
“It is capital that Bennet has been reunited with his Lizzy,” Sir William added in his affable manner.
“From what Tammy wrote, he did not exert his rights to demand that she return to live at Longbourn, nor does he intend to, and I, for one, applaud that decision,” Lady Lucas shared.
“The Fitzwilliams are the only family she has known. She was but one when that insane Fanny had her taken!” Jenny Goulding added stridently.
“Just remember not to mention that woman’s name in front of any of the Bennets or their family,” Spencer Goulding reminded his wife.
“You are correct husband. That person does not deserve her name mentioned by any of us; I apologise to all for my slip,” answered Mrs Goulding contritely.
“Her ladyship is older than I am, is she not?” asked Mandy who was fourteen.
“I believe that she will soon be sixteen, Mandy,” Cheryl informed her daughter. Both had been shining lights in her life since their parents were tragically murdered in France some eight years earlier. Cara, like Mariah Lucas with whom she was best of friends, was twelve.
