They all laughed at that, and despite her words, Elizabeth sent them to their rooms to refresh, informing them that tea would be served in the family sitting room in an hour. “And, if you are too tired from your journey, take all the time you need to rest before dinner. You will be here above a fortnight, and while I have much to share with my sister, this is also your wedding trip, and I know you will wish for time away from our company. Do not feel you must spend all your time with us.”
Both Mr and Mrs Hastings denied this claim and arrived for tea, taking slightly more than the hour suggested to join the rest. Once there, the groups divided between the sexes, the four sisters (Georgiana was easily included among the Bennet sisters by now) speaking together about this and that and the two gentlemen coming to know each otherbetter by speaking of their time at Cambridge and the sport to be had while visiting the country.
After speaking as a group for some time, Jane and Elizabeth soon separated from the group for a more private conversation. “How are you finding married life, dear Jane?” Elizabeth asked quietly.
Jane blushed brightly. “I am finding it very … pleasant,” she replied after hesitating for a moment. The two ladies laughed a little but then proceeded in quiet conversation to discuss married life. However, this conversation soon turned from pleasant topics to more difficult ones.
“I had expected that my giving birth to a son would have softened Mama towards me somewhat, and she would have written to me by now,” Elizabeth began. “Kitty and Lydia both have said that she seems subdued and that she crows about my son to the neighbourhood, but she has still not written anything to me.”
“We stopped briefly at Longbourn on our way to Pemberley,” Jane sighed. “Mama is … well, I am not certain what she is. She seems aware of the gulf between the two of you, and I think she realises she needs to apologise, but she is as yet unwilling to do so.”
“Do you think she will ever apologise?” Elizabeth asked. Jane attempted to frame a reply but was interrupted by the door opening. The baby had awoken from his nap, and his nursemaid’s instructions were to bring him down as soon as he was ready. “Jane, Frederick, I would like you to meet our son, Alex,” Elizabeth said as she stood and walked to the door to take her son from the maid.
“Oh, Elizabeth, he is so precious,” Jane cried, following Elizabeth and reaching out to take him from his mother’s arms. Elizabeth reluctantly surrendered him and allowed Jane to cuddle him for several minutes. The gentlemen approached their wives. Darcy stood behind his wife to embrace her, while Hastings stood beside Jane and looked down at the babe in her arms.
“I believe he looks very much like you, Darcy,” Hastings laughed. “I believe he even has your scowl.”
Elizabeth laughed at the comment. “He is my husband’s twin, or at least that is what some older servants and tenants claim. I carried him for nine months, but he comes out the perfect image of his father; there is not a bit of his mother in him at all.”
Darcy barked a laugh. “I am not certain I agree with that, my dear,” he interjected. “He is as troublesome and opinionated as his mother.” He squeezed her waist as he spoke, and she turned to him to accept a kiss.
“And you delight in having such a troublesome wife, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and well you know it. Had you wanted a complacent wife, you could have married one of those persistent society women who chased you all those years,” Elizabeth retorted.
The couple were momentarily lost in their teasing while their guests merely rolled their eyes at their antics and continued admiring the baby. After a few minutes, the child became heavy in Jane’s arms, and the group moved back to sit.
“He is very handsome, Lizzy,” Jane said.
Elizabeth beamed. “We certainly think so,” she replied. Darcy merely nodded from his seat next to his wife, his arm wrapped around her waist.
Conversation remained on the child for a short time until Jane requested to show her husband around the gardens before they needed to dress for dinner. Jane spent the previous summer at Pemberley and had a few favourite spots she wanted to show her husband. Understanding the need to walk for a time after such a long journey and seek some time alone, they graciously excused their guests, retiring to their room for their own private time.
“What did your sister say of her visit to Longbourn?” Darcy asked as they made their way upstairs.
“Not much. We spoke of other things and only just began speaking of my parents when Alex was brought in,” Elizabeth sighed. “I am certain we will speak again.”
With that, the two made their way to their bedchambers for a rest before dinner.
The two sistersfound additional time to speak a few days later. “Jane,” Elizabeth began. “We began to speak of our parents, and, obviously, we have not seen them since our last conversation withthem. How are things there? Letters only say so much, and Papa, well, Papa is not the best correspondent in ordinary circumstances, and his letters now seem to say even less. We still receive reports from Mrs Hill and Mr Todd, and Papa writes of the estate but not much else.”
“I am certain you know that both Kitty and Lydia are presently at home,” Jane began. “Kitty and Lydia assist Mama with her tenant visits, and Mama was very surprised to learn our sisters frequently assisted you and me when we were still at home. Lydia apologised to the Lucas family at Christmas, and while that relationship is still strained, I think that has as much to do with Charlotte as anything else. The Lucasses are unhappy that your husband offered Charlotte her own cottage and that she chose to live in Derbyshire rather than nearer to Meryton.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Lydia wrote of her determination and her reception when she did so. She knew it would be difficult, and Lady Lucas made it no easier, but Lydia anticipated that. Charlotte has settled well here and will likely visit us while you are here. She enjoys having her own home and received word recently that Mr Collins has arrived in Africa safely.”
“Yes, well, Mama and Lady Lucas no longer visit with each other and are very cool towards each other now. They do not openly disdain each other, but it is a near thing,” Jane said. “Of course, both women seem to recognise the danger of openly speaking out against the other.” She stopped and sighed and turned back to the topic of their parents.
“Papa and Mama speak now, although it is mostly the business of the estate. They meet at breakfast each morning and discuss their plans for the day and any needs around the estate. Mama is doing well as the Mistress of Longbourn and has given her role a new life. She stays busy with the tenants and spends more time in the kitchen garden and the still room. The kitchen garden needed work, as none of our sisters ever did much there, so it remained untouched for most of the year. I showed Mama some of what we used to do in the still room with the plants, and she enjoys working in the gardens. She is becoming better at aiding the tenants with illnesses and the like, as you and Mary used to do, and spends time with the children on the estate.
“I think she wants to apologise but is uncertain how to do so,” Janefinally said. “She feels ashamed for how she has treated you—she has said as much—but does not know how to fix things between you.”
“Or she simply does not want to,” Elizabeth interjected. “She writes to Mary, and I have occasionally read some parts of those when Mary has insisted. She knows she has been wrong; she has apologised to all the rest of her daughters, but she simply cannot bring herself to do the same to me. Admit it, Jane, she has apologised to all the rest of her family.”
“She apologised for always pushing me to be more forward and for encouraging Kitty and Lydia to flirt. She admitted that her insistence on our all finding husbands, regardless of how we did so, was wrong.”
“She has also apologised to Mary for slighting her and undervaluing her, but she cannot bring herself to do the same for me,” Elizabeth stated. “I do not know why she hates me so much, but I know that it irks her to know I was the first to marry and to marry well and that my husband is the one who saved them. She cannot bring herself to apologise because she cannot admit that I have done well.” No longer able to remain still, she stood up and began to pace the room.
“Calm yourself, Lizzy,” Jane said. “It cannot be good for you to get so worked up over something you cannot do anything about.”
“I am calm, Jane,” Elizabeth retorted. “I have always known that I was my mother’s least favourite child and that she has always resented me for not being born a boy—as if I could have done anything about that. I have not heard a word since I told her I would no longer tolerate her abuse of me, especially after my husband saved the family from ruin. She will never accept that she is in the wrong, so I think I can consider our relationship severed. I do not anticipate that ever changing.”
