Page 126 of The Crown’s Gift

"Fitzwilliam."

"I am only asking."

She covered his hand with hers. "We have time."

This time, waiting did not feel empty. It held a heartbeat too small to hear and a family ready to receive it.

* * *

Emma Bingley was christened beneath the same church roof where her parents and the Darcys had married.

She slept through the sacrament, woke during Mr Collins's congratulation, and expressed her opinion with sufficient force to end it early.

"A Bennet," Lady Bennet declared.

"A Bingley," Charles said proudly.

"A baby," Jane corrected, taking her daughter back.

Jane recovered steadily. Motherhood tired her, surprised her, and occasionally reduced her to tears over matters as small as a dropped spoon. She did not become less serene; her serenity became more honest.

"I love her," she told Elizabeth during a quiet morning at Longbourn. "And sometimes I wish someone would carry her out of the room for one entire hour."

"Both may be true."

"Mama says she never wished to be away from us."

From downstairs came Lady Bennet asking Hill whether Emma had been taken to the nursery yet.

Elizabeth smiled. "Mama edits memory."

Bingley learned to walk the nursery at night. Sir Thomas held Emma during estate meetings, claiming she improved everyone's brevity. Darcy, who had rarely held an infant, accepted her as if receiving a parcel of unstable glass.

Emma grasped his finger and refused to release it.

"She likes you," Elizabeth said.

"She has no judgment."

"A serious flaw."

He looked at the child with wonder. "Will ours be this small?"

"I sincerely hope so."

Spring altered more than the family tree. Mr Avery requested Sir Thomas's permission to address Mary. He came to Netherfield with sensible income, honorable references, and an admission that he knew little of estate life but was willing to learn.

Sir Thomas asked what he loved about Mary.

"The way she listens," Mr Avery said. "She hears structure beneath noise—in music, in argument, in people. She does not speak quickly, but when she does, I discover the conversation has been waiting for her."

Sir Thomas gave consent.

Mr Avery proposed in the music room after listening to Mary play a new piece. He did not kneel until she had set aside the final page.

"Mary, I do not ask you to make my house musical or my life respectable. I ask because I love the mind that makes the music and the woman who has learned to trust it. Will you marry me?"

Mary said yes so softly he asked again. Then she laughed and repeated it.