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Riding for Gretna Green was out of the question so how were they going to marry? When Lydia heard Major Brown’s idea she was taken with it immediately. It was one more step in this great adventure. Young women who had not reached their majority could not marry without the permission of their parents. But young women who had been widowed were exempt from this restriction as it was presumed permission had been previously granted. The judicious dispersing of a couple of sovereigns amongst the clerks of the Adjutant General’s office procured the name, and more importantly the documents, of a young widow who had herself died. The wedding of Lydia Bennet, named as Annie Chisholm for the ceremony, and Simon Brown was totally invalid. The bride was falsifying her name, was not a widow, was underage and did not have parental consent. It mattered not one jot to Lydia. She believed herself married to a redcoat and, although she did not know it, was also the first of the five Bennet sisters to marry. She beat her sister Elizabeth by five days.

Confusion over what had happened was enabled by the fact Sarah Forster had stood witness for the couple but said nothing to her husband. Major and Mrs. Brown left on schedule for Southampton with the rest of the Major’s regiment. Therefore nobody was searching the road along the south coast.

Jane and Mary had agreed not to share the news with their sister on the eve of her wedding but as a full week had passed since the first express they reluctantly agreed to inform the now Mrs. Darcy of Lydia’s disappearance. All they had heard from their father was a terse note informing them he had arrived in Brighton safely but that there was no trace of Lydia. Then the letter arrived.

Mrs. Lydia Brown had cheerfully, yet thoughtlessly, written a short letter to her family and it had been sent as the ship slipped away from the dock for Spain. With a blithe disregard for any and all proprieties she informed them she was blissfully happy with her dear Simon. His regiment had been posted to Spain and she was accompanying him there. She even wrote that by the time the family received the letter she would be on the high seas. She would write when she could but she was now a married woman, off on an adventure with the man she loved. That was it.

There was no mention of her husband’s name or his rank. They were able to figure out from her changed surname and her ‘dear Simon’ comment that she was married to a Simon Brown. That he had been posted to Spain meant he was in the Regulars, but other than that they had no intelligence. And most glaringly of all there was no information as to how she had actually been able to marry in the first place. Mary and Jane did not have to time to try and resolve any of the many outstanding questions. When Mrs. Bennet read that Lydia had followed her husband to Spain she collapsed. And this was not one of her faux-dramatic calling for salts. She collapsed to the floor like a marionette when all the strings were cut at once.

Although Jane was the oldest, Mary took charge.

“Mrs. Hill, please attend our mother. Have her taken to her room. Mr. Hill, we will need two grooms, one for a short local trip, the other to contact our father and request his immediate return. Jane, a note to Mr. Jones requesting his attendance.”

The three set to their tasks.

“Catherine, I need you to write a short note demanding father’s immediate return to Longbourn. Make no mention of either Lydia and her letter or our mother. Impress upon him that this is not a request but a demand for his return. I will sign it, have no fear of his wrath.”

Mary took it upon herself to write the most important letter. A groom could reach Darcy House before night and pass on the request that the Darcys come to Longbourn immediately. He would stay the night and then travel to Brighton the next day. Mary wished she had time for a lengthy explanation but it was already well into the afternoon and she had no time.

‘There is a situation here that requires your immediate assistance. L. has eloped and is presently on a ship to Spain with her new officer husband. Mrs. B. has collapsed and the apothecary has been called. Mr. B. is in Brighton and unlikely to return until Monday evening or Tuesday lunchtime. All three of us would very much like your support, and truthfully we need it. Congratulations on your wedding. Love M, J & C.”

It was nothing more than the letter form of a barked set of instructions. It was all she could do.

Chapter 33

The wedding of Elizabeth Bennet to Fitzwilliam Darcy was everything they both wanted. It was not the most important thing, but the wedding was not a spectacle. It was small and intimate with just family and close friends in attendance. None of Elizabeth’s sisters were there but she did not allow their absence to overshadow the day. Georgiana stood up with her while the Colonel was Darcy’s best man.

As she had walked slowly up the aisle, she and her uncle mutually supporting each other, Elizabeth knew that this was her perfect wedding, at least in material matters. As she approached the alter she felt elegant in her simply adorned dress. The fabric was rich, shimmering in the morning sun, but it was not overly fussy. Lady Maria listened to her and there had been no disagreements of note. Where she had an idea, she presented it in her usual quiet manner and Elizabeth had incorporated several of her suggestions. But there had been a total lack of drama, no screeching demands, it truly was her day. By the middle of the afternoon the wedding breakfast was over and Elizabeth and her new husband were in their carriage for the short journey to Grosvenor Square. To start their married life.

It had fallen to Claire Smith to give Elizabeth the wedding night talk. Her mother was not available; there had been several giggles as they imagined that talk. ‘Lie back and it will soon be over.’ None of her sisters were married, and again were not present. Lady Maria was a mother figure to Elizabeth but was still a maiden herself, there could be no help from that quarter. Elizabeth could have asked her Aunt Agatha, but they did not have that kind of relationship. There were no barriers between them it was just the way they were. And Mrs. Mallory, as she had been before her remarriage, had never had children.

Lady Susan was briefly contemplated but her age and position, her lack of a familial connection to Elizabeth, ruled her out. It was left to Claire. Having grown up in the country around working farms, and with her experiences while assisting her uncle, Elizabeth was not completely unaware of the secrets of the marriage bed. Claire therefore emphasised other matters.

“Miss Elizabeth, one of the best pieces of advice I received was from Mrs. Brewer, your uncle’s housekeeper. She told me not to go to sleep mad with your husband. Talk with him, and when the roles are reversed listen to him, and do not let disagreements fester. She told me that the marriage bed is a great way to distract you both from issues that you disagree about. Bob and I rarely fight but there is truth to what Mrs. Brewer told me.

“The other key thing she said is perhaps even more important, even although it requires an instant change in attitude. In a darkened room, under the covers, performing as man and wife for the first time, it is only natural that there will be a degree of fumbling, how can there not be. Up until this very night, maidens are forbidden from thinking of matters of the flesh. Yet the very next evening they have their wifely duties. You need to talk with your husband, help each other. I do not wish to embarrass either of us but Mr. Darcy is a tall well-built man. He could inadvertently squash you, and he would be horrified to discover he had hurt you. From my own experience that change does not happen immediately but it is necessary. In less than a day you will be allowed to think, talk and act very differently from how you have been commanded to up until this point. It is that change in thinking that takes time to settle down, to become comfortable without immediate turning into a blushing maiden.”

18 hours after that speech Elizabeth Darcy lay beside her husband, her head resting on his chiselled chest. Claire had been right, this was such a change from life as Miss Bennet.

“I swear I can hear your mind turning. What are you thinking? Are you in discomfort?”

It seemed natural to kiss his chest and Elizabeth was less concerned about the act of kissing her husband and more the sensation that it was natural.

“You are right my dear husband.”

She delighted in saying that, and Darcy gently squeezed her in appreciation.

“I was contemplating what Claire told me last night. How everything that was forbidden knowledge for a maiden last night is now expected behaviour of a wife. Here we are, it is 5.00 in the afternoon and we are lying naked in bed. My discomfort was momentary, as I had been warned, and so my mind is flitting about.”

“I see what you mean, it is quite the change to go from the innocent maiden of this morning to now.”

Despite herself, Elizabeth fought a blush.

“I do not know how to ask this in a manner that is not intrusive. Was it different to the other times? No, stop I do not wish to be compared to other women, sorry William I should not have asked that.”

Darcy pulled her up his body and kissed her gently.

“When it comes to experience with the act of love, I am only one encounter ahead of you.”