Three days before the wedding of Georgiana Darcy to Philip Stratham, Elizabeth welcomed Lady Fairborne into her parlor. The Fairbornes were neighbors of Pemberley to the East. Elizabeth knew of them because Georgiana insisted upon delivering their invitation.
“Lady Fairborne, I am most honored you have come. Would you care for tea?”
The woman smiled graciously and touched Elizabeth’s hand. “I have not come for a social call, my dear. I came because there is some terrible oversight on your part when it comes to invitations for the wedding. I supposed you must not know all the Darcy family friends and acquaintances.”
Elizabeth stood motionless for but one moment before her brow creased in concern. “It is impossible. I have not met most of the families around about us, but Georgiana surely knew the number of invitations we must send and to whom they must be sent. Allow me to call for her, please.”
Lady Fairborne remained standing as Elizabeth left her to send a maid to the salon. Miss Darcy was there this time of day playing her pianoforte.
Turning back to her guest, Elizabeth wondered how the invitations had gone missing. She recalled leaving Georgiana to finish them with Lady Hull the afternoon she went in the sleigh with Mr. Darcy.
“I find I am at a loss, Lady Fairborne. I cannot think how they were lost. I am in your debt for the kindness you paid my family by coming to tell us before the wedding day. How terrible it would have been to have our friends and neighbors left slighted when they all wish to attend.”
Lady Fairborne took Elizabeth’s hand again. “Come, let us sit after all. I would dearly love to see Georgiana again before her wedding day and speak of her future happiness. As for any debts you may owe me, they are cancelled by my warm welcome to Pemberley. I have longed to visit and meet the mysterious Mrs. Darcy.”
The woman was so kind, Elizabeth was immediately fond of her. She was of Mrs. Bennet’s age, but her agreeable nature made her seem much younger and Elizabeth hoped they might form a friendship.
“I plan to hold a tea after this little one is born and invite all the ladies I have heard so much about from Georgiana. You must say you will come!”
Georgiana entered as Lady Fairborne exclaimed it would delight her to attend such an event.
“Oh, Lady Fairborne! To what do we owe such an honor?” Miss Darcy came to sit beside the woman she so admired.
Elizabeth remained silent while the lady recounted her tale of missing invitations. Georgiana grew increasingly agitated at this news. “Why the wedding is only three days away! What will we do?”
Taking her sister’s hand, Elizabeth spoke calmly. “I will see they are all invited if Lady Fairborne will tell us the names of those who have not yet received their invitations. Surely there will not be very many. And since they are anticipating your wedding ceremony, it will not be too short a notice.”
Lady Fairborne waited until Elizabeth sat before the desk in the parlor and took out her paper and pen. She carefully rattled off the family names one by one.
The list was long and Elizabeth felt anger rising in her breast. She knew for certain many of the names had been in the last invitations she and Georgiana had made that day Lady Hull came for a visit.
“Georgiana,” she said as she rose from her chair with the list in hand, “I recall addressing many of these the day William took me out in the sleigh. What might have happened? Surely a footman delivered them to the post.”
Miss Darcy lowered her lashes. She hated to admit that she had given the invitations to Lady Hull’s footman. There was no reason to think something so important as wedding invitations might go missing in the woman’s possession.
“Elizabeth, I gave them to Lady Hull. She asked to take them to the post for me as it is on the way to her cousin’s home over the bridge beyond Lambton.”
Lady Fairborne drew in a breath and Elizabeth looked to her. It was plain Lady Hull had not carried out her promise. “What is done is done, I suppose. Let us call for Mrs. Reynolds and we shall simply make them again.”
Lady Fairborne spoke up. “I would dearly love to help remedy the situation, ladies. It would be an honor to be of assistance in your time of need. Let us have our tea for sustenance and then we shall correct this error.”
“And I will deliver them all before nightfall myself,” Georgiana said with much enthusiasm.
“We will go together my dear, for I would not like to make them again the day before your wedding,” Lady Fairborne declared.
The ladies laughed and Mrs. Reynolds was called to help set the trouble to rights.
While Georgiana spoke of her wedding trip to Lady Fairborne, Elizabeth decided to keep an eye on Lady Hull the day of the wedding. She thought she might send a footman to the lady’s carriage to find whether the missing invitations resided there.
No doubt the woman had devised her plan to help Lady Matlock make Elizabeth appear unable to perform her duties as the proper mistress of Pemberley. It was revenge for the Earl of Matlock banishing his wife from London, Elizabeth was certain of that.
Her suspicions tucked away for later contemplation, Elizabeth joined in the writing party with her guest and sister. They passed the hours happily and when the invitations were once again completed, the Darcy ladies accompanied their esteemed guest in her carriage to deliver the missives to their friends and neighbors.
When they returned home at last, dinner was served and Lady Fairborne stayed to see Mr. Darcy and meet young Richard.
Later, in Mr. Darcy’s bedchamber, Elizabeth recounted their excursion. “I have never enjoyed such an outing in all my life, William. Lady Fairborne was most kind to come and give me the awful news and then to go with us to deliver them, it was most astonishing. I hope we will become dear friends.”
Enjoying the light in his wife’s eyes, Mr. Darcy took pains in relieving her of her stockings and rubbing her feet. “I am certain the two of you will share a long and happy friendship. She is a great lover of books and she takes extraordinarily long walks about their estate. Did you know?”
Elizabeth had reclined against the silk pillows on his bed and murmured her approval. “Then we have much in common already. It will be wonderful to know such a woman better.”
Mr. Darcy continued his ministrations and Elizabeth sighed with great contentment. She thought she might have at least five more children if her husband would be so attentive with her as she carried each of them.
“What on earth do you imagine happened to the other invitations? I hate that you were made to write them out again. It seems impossible they did not reach the post. Which footman ought I speak with on the matter?”
“If you must, I think it was one of Lady Hull’s footmen. Georgiana allowed her to take the invitations that evening as the post was on her way home. I suspect she kept them in her carriage and never so much as stopped at the post.”
Mr. Darcy left her feet and came to lay with her in the bed. He was gaining weight now that they were back home and his health greatly improved. Elizabeth thought particularly romantic thoughts as his weight settled beside her.
“Why would Lady Hull contrive of such a silly thing? She has ever adored Georgie. It makes very little sense.”
Elizabeth tried to answer as his lips moved along a path towards her décolletage. Her voice was a breathy whisper as she struggled to form the words. “I believe it has more to do with your Aunt Margaret than with Georgie. Lady Hull is a busybody and a gossip who is dear friends with your aunt. I suspect she meant to paint me as a country chit on the day of Georgie’s wedding.”
Mr. Darcy chuckled and raised his head to see the effect of his kisses upon his wife. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes fluttered closed, and her chest rose and fell in a most enticing manner. “Aunt Margaret be damned, Elizabeth. I need you now. Say you desire me too.”
Elizabeth licked her lips, a sight that freed her husband from his fraying restraint. “Mr. Darcy, I desire you more than the moon desires the sea, more than the sun desires the sky, and more than…”
His lips covered hers and Elizabeth Darcy succumbed to the seduction, her words lost in his kiss.