Chapter Eighty-one

 

 

…I could give her anything and yet…

 

After William and Amanda’s wedding, Fitzwilliam pushed to get his family moved to Pemberley by August. He and Elizabeth wanted to go back to the Cumberland Plateau for the birth of Charles and Jane’s baby, now confirmed to be a girl.

After several weeks of hard work, the Lambton office was finally opened, and the move complete. As things settled into a routine, Fitzwilliam came home from work early one day and found Elizabeth in her study. With a broad smile, he approached her. “Elizabeth, I have a surprise for you. I have been planning this for a long time. Come along, and I’ll show you.”

Rising from her desk, she followed him out the door and along the graveled pathway towards the stable. As they approached the entranceway, she could hear the whimper of puppies. When they came to a certain stall, he opened the door and stood back to gauge her reaction. There they were—two Black and Tan hound puppies snuggling together on a heaping pile of straw, whimpering and sniffing. She ran to them, immediately scooping both up at once and raising them to her face as she kissed them and breathed in the sweet scent of puppies mixed with straw.

“Oh, Fitzwilliam! You remembered… you remembered! I love them so much. May I please take them to the house? I’ll keep them in the kitchen until they are housebroken, or as you would say, house-trained. I want to train them myself, as I now have the time, and they must go with us to Tennessee!” she said, reaching up with her one free hand to caress his face and place a kiss on his cheek.

He chuckled and pulled her close as he kissed her forehead. Her expression was priceless. He could deny her nothing, he thought to himself as he looked fondly upon his wife with two hound puppies, squirming, sniffing and licking her blouse while Elizabeth cuddled them, spreading little kisses from one to the other.

“Yes, Mrs. Darcy, you may bring them to the house, and I think it can be arranged for them to go with us. We really are a family now, complete with two tiddlers, two dogs, and a baby on the way. The travel arrangements keep getting more and more complicated.”

Elizabeth caught his playful look. “Thank you so much for being so thoughtful. You are truly the best of men. I can’t believe you remembered when I had forgotten,” she said with a broad smile. “I intend to train them to track like I did Old Dan and Lady Beth. They will be loyal protectors of all I hold dear.” She stepped up on her tiptoes to touch her lips to his while holding the puppies to her heart.

“I’m sure they will, and I’m glad you like them. Now, what will you name them?” he asked with a smile while his hand stroked the soft heads of the two little bundles.

“They will be called Gentleman Jack and Lady Jillian—otherwise known as Jack and Jill, after my uncle’s bloodhounds.” She gazed lovingly on the two precious pups snuggled in her arms.

Fitzwilliam put his arm around her waist as they walked back to the house. “Now, Elizabeth, there is one other thing I want to give you.”

She glanced up. “What more could you possibly give me? You’ve given me everything.”

He looked down and chuckled. “Not quite everything, not yet,” he said. “I want to build a replica of the cabin at Longbourn. I was thinking of putting it on that rise of ground just above the falls in Pemberley’s cove. What do you think?”

“Oh, I would love that, but could we make it a little bigger? I’d like to develop and expand the loft into a second floor for the children, and I would like to have a modern kitchen. You can include a wood-burning cook stove if you like, but I want running water and a bathroom.”

“Whatever you want, love. We’ll draw the plans together, and then I’ll contact my building firm. We’ll have it ready by next summer. It’ll be our little getaway when I can’t be too far from home.”

“Fitzwilliam, I do love you so.”

“I know.” He looked at her tenderly, watching the sparkle in her eyes …I am a lucky man. I could give her anything and yet… she prefers the simple things.