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Caroline had been a little restored to the loss of Bath by the great joy it had given her to declare, as she bade friends goodbye, that she and her brother were bound for the grand Derbyshire estate of Pemberley. It had pleased her to see eyebrows raised and smiles lift in admiration and she was forced to acknowledge, if only to herself, that she was rather excited to see the great house she had once dreamed of becoming the mistress of. She was not disappointed.
“Here, Caroline! Look to your right and you shall see your first glimpse of Pemberley.”
Charles had forewarned her that, due to the rolling hills, they would be treated to a brief view of the house upon their approach to it and she had instructed him to remind her to look out for it. Blinking sleep from her eyes and stifling a yawn, she hastened to look, squinting into the grey distance until she beheld a great expanse of land with a grand house nestled in the midst of it. It looked like something out of a dream.
“Oh!”
“Oh is right!” Charles said, with a merry laugh. “Quite a change from Bath, eh?”
“It is so isolated!”
“Indeed! And why do you think Darcy prizes it so?” Charles leaned across his sister so that he, too, might catch sight of their destination. “Fret not. It only appears isolated from this vantage point. Darcy has tenants aplenty and neighbours and it is...oh...two miles, I think, to the nearest town.” His smile stretched a little thin. “Although town is perhaps rather too generous. It is more like Meryton than the bustling place we leave behind us. Still, we shall not want for company with Darcy and Elizabeth on hand to entertain us.”
“And Georgiana,” Caroline put in, hurriedly. She did not wish to be left with only Elizabeth Bennet for a companion and was already eagerly awaiting a prolonged association with the musical Miss Darcy who would, she was certain, be a far superior companion.
“Yes, Georgiana.” Charles smiled with affection and Caroline felt an old hope of hers, long extinguished, begin to flicker into potential life again. In all her dreams, when she became Mrs Caroline Darcy, she had not forsaken her brother, casting him in the role of husband to pretty Miss Darcy and all in all weaving a very pretty tableau for their new family to play out. Caroline frowned. Eliza Bennet had spoiled it all, of course, by throwing herself at Mr Darcy and making him marry her, but perhaps all was not lost. She might succeed in securing for her brother a better bride than he had found for himself. She would far more easily welcome Georgiana Darcy for a sister-in-law than she would Jane Bennet, even if to do so would be to sacrifice her position in her brother’s household.
It will not be an issue for very long, Caroline thought, nursing a secret that made her smile, even though it was far from settled. Bath had been very good to her, and she had won more than one courteous admirer, one of whom chanced to be related to a very plain young lady who Caroline had taken special care to exchange addresses with. Miss Sarah Leadbetter was no fashion plate but she was kind and amusing and Caroline had taken care to know her, particularly after dancing with her brother once at an assembly. Mr Edward Leadbetter had been called away almost the very next day but had implored Caroline to take pity on his sister and befriend her, which task Caroline had been only too eager to attend to in hopes his sister would do for Caroline what she could not do for herself and make a match for them. She patted her reticule warmly, thinking of the note that lay nestled safely within from Sarah, who already spoke of the new year when she longed for Caroline to come and stay a while with my brother and me in London. Caroline smiled. Yes, she could endure Charles marrying - if he made the proper choice of whom to marry - with the promise of Edward Leadbetter and a new year engagement of her very own. She sighed, which sound reached her brother’s ears and prompted a comment.
“Poor Caroline! You are surely very tired of travelling. It is such a long way we have come!” He frowned, continuing to speak almost as if to himself. “I don’t wonder we oughtn’t to have stood by my original plan and gone only as far as Hertfordshire. Netherfield would have been quite comfortable enough for us, although it would have been a quiet sort of Christmas...”
“Exactly so!” Caroline blurted out, eager to steer her brother out of this sort of remonstrance just as quickly as she could. “You would not have wished to spurn Mr Darcy’s generosity, I am sure! Not when he has been so kind to invite us. And think of poor Georgiana!”
Charles grew grave.
“Yes, quite so. Poor Georgiana. No, you are quite right, Caroline.” He surveyed his sister with affection, before leaning over and tweaking one of her dark curls, which was flat and fading after too many hours in a carriage. “Well, fret not, sister dear, we shall be there almost before we know it and I am sure after a quarter-hour’s rest in Mr Darcy’s parlour - and tea, for he is always most generous when it comes to one’s refreshments - we shall both forget our arduous journey and think only of celebrating!”
Caroline smiled, turning back to look out of the window as the road weaved through a spate of woodland on its way through Pemberley’s grounds and up to the grand house they were to call home for the festive season. How fortunate they were, to have such friends. And how fortunate to come here and avoid entanglements better left in Hertfordshire!
***
“LIZZY! OH, LIZZY DEAR! I never thought we would arrive here. Did I not say so, Mr Bennet? Our journey was endless and I was quite sure our coachman intended us to travel hour upon hour into eternity. My goodness, but we had such a very long journey! I am quite sure there might have been a quicker route if only our driver had the smallest bit of sense to trace one out. Did I not say as much to you, Mr Bennet?”
“You did, my dear,” Mr Bennet said, with an indulgent sigh. “Quite frequently. And loud enough that I am quite sure our poor senseless driver heard it.”
“Well, I can hardly help that!” Mrs Bennet retorted, glaring at her husband. “And I think you are quite wrong, for the noise of the road was loud enough to be almost deafening. I am certain my ears are still ringing with the sound of it! And the carriage jerked so, with all the roads winding this way and that it is a wonder we are here in one piece!”
“And yet you are,” Lizzy said, laughing as she welcomed her parents and sisters into the grand house that had become her home these last weeks. “You are here!” She hugged her mother and pressed her cheek to her father’s and then turned to behold her sisters with so much affection she felt as if her heart might burst from her body. “You are all really here! It is a miracle.”
“Speaking of miracles, Lizzy! You have not heard our news!”
“Oh, Mama!” Jane protested. “Do let us at least go as far as the parlour before you begin announcing things.”
“Yes, Mama, and I think you might let one of us tell her -”
“Tell me what?” Lizzy found her way to Jane’s side, watching as Lydia emerged from within the parlour and stood, framed in the doorway, to watch their family make noisy progress down the wide corridors towards her.
“Lydia!” Mrs Bennet squealed, bursting into floods of loud tears. “Oh, Lydia, my baby! Come here and kiss me, for I have missed you so much!”
Lydia obediently hurried to her mother’s side and was yanked into a suffocating embrace that left her struggling for freedom.
“Where is Mr Darcy?” Mr Bennet asked, blinking around him as if he expected his host to appear from a shadowy, silent corner. “He might have been here to welcome us!”
“He will be,” Lizzy said, hurrying to forestall any potential criticism of the husband who had once more become dear to her now that the bitterness that had temporarily separated them was set aside. “He is upstairs with Georgiana -”
“Then we shall enjoy having you all to ourselves for a few minutes before he returns!” Jane said, hugging Lizzy to her and linking arms with her sister as the party made their way into the parlour. “What a pretty room this is - oh!”
Lizzy felt Jane flinch beside her and followed her gaze to where Colonel Fitzwilliam stood to attention, framed by one of the wide parlour windows.
“This is Mr Darcy’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam,” she said, slipping free of her sister’s grasp and turning to introduce her family. “Colonel Fitzwilliam, my parents, Mr and Mrs Bennet, and this is Jane, Mary and Kitty.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam perfected a regimental bow, straightening with a bright smile that instantly won the hearts of all the ladies present. Lizzy heard a low groan in her father’s throat and turned just in time to see him roll his eyes and mutter there is no escaping the militia under his breath. She struggled to stifle her smile when Kitty bounced forwards.
“Now can I tell the news?”
“What news?” Lydia asked, with a wary glance in Mary’s direction.
“Yes, if you mean to tell us of Mary’s good fortune -”
“Oh, we all already know about that,” Kitty said waving off Elizabeth’s comment with a giggle. “I mean my news.”
“Yours?” Elizabeth looked first to Jane and then to Mrs Bennet, who tore her eyes away from Colonel Fitzwilliam just long enough to impart the information and cause Kitty to pout.
“Catherine, also, is to be married.” She beamed. “To Mr Denny.”
“Truly?” Lizzy looked at Kitty, who smiled and blushed and suddenly looked very grown-up.
“Congratulations!” Colonel Fitzwilliam said, hurrying to usher the family into chairs instead of leaving them standing awkwardly by. “Truly this will be a wonderful Christmas with so many good things to celebrate! You must let me go and see what detains Darcy.”
He seemed to hesitate, passing Lydia, and Lizzy wondered if he saw, as she did, that her sister’s smile did not quite reach her eyes. The old Lydia might have lashed out or said or done something that might detract from the moment, and Lizzy braced herself for just such an outburst, but to her surprise Lydia remained composed, pausing only a moment before hurling herself into Kitty’s arms and embracing her.
“I am so very happy for you! And Denny is a marvellous boy for asking you. I shall tell him so next time I see him!” She turned, accusingly to Mr and Mrs Bennet. “I am half surprised you did not bring him with you!”
“That is hardly practical, Lydia,” Mr Bennet began, with a glance in Mary’s direction.
“Yes, we could not bring him without Mr Collins, and Mr Collins could hardly be expected to leave his parish -”
“I thought he had no parish any longer.” Lizzy had made this observation without thinking and caught her sister’s warning glance too late to stop from voicing it. “I mean, Lady Catherine is so upset...that is...”
A voice cleared in the doorway and all eyes turned towards the twin forms of Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, who exchanged a knowing, disappointed look.
“Oh dear, has my aunt taken her anger at me out on Mr Collins?” Mr Darcy asked, with a grim frown.
“I fear she has, Mr Darcy, for you see -” Mrs Bennet began, but Darcy made no sign he had heard her. His eyes flew straight to Elizabeth.
“How came you to know of this and say nothing?”
“I...” Elizabeth’s mouth was dry. “I learned only recently. I did not think -”
“I swore her to secrecy,” Jane volunteered, with a confused look at Elizabeth. Even she could not have missed the sharp tone of Darcy’s voice.
“Yes, do not berate your poor wife for not telling tales,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said, with a jocular smile. “Recall we have had a few troubles of our own to be dealing with of late. Now, Benents, do all be seated and allow us to serve refreshments for I am sure you are all tired after your long journey...”
He spoke swiftly and eagerly and most of the family were swept up in his enthusiastic wrangling, but Elizabeth felt her husband’s gaze on her and looked up, seeing disappointment sweep over his countenance like a shadow. Was it as easy as that to slip in his estimation? I had so hoped we were making progress once again, yet now I feel as if we are as far apart as ever! Jane was still beside her, and for that she was grateful. She clung tightly to her sister and tugged her a little away from the rest of the family, toward a window that overlooked the grounds.
“Oh, Jane!” she confided, with a sigh. “I am so very glad you are here at last. Things seem a little easier to bear with you beside me.”
“How serious you sound, Lizzy!” Jane chuckled, taking Elizabeth’s words for a joke. Her smile faded when she saw the serious set of Lizzy’s chin, and she grew serious. “Oh, goodness! It cannot be as bad as that, can it? Whatever is the matter?”
Elizabeth opened her mouth to dispel her sister’s concern, to make light of the situation until some other, later time when she might be afforded a chance to speak freely but before she could say a word there was a commotion elsewhere in the house and she looked up with a start just in time to hear her husband exclaim, with a delight that surprised her.
“Ah! Here is Providence. One set of guests newly arrived and here comes our next. Mr Bingley! Miss Bingley! Do come and join us in the parlour. What impeccable timing you have, for look, the Bennets have just arrived a little before you! We can take tea altogether!”