Chapter 25

T he two eldest Bennet sisters would not have believed what they had just been told about all of the changes their parents had made, and were making, over and above what Charlotte had written in her letter, had they not implicitly trusted the word of those who reported all to them.

They, along with the Gardiner parents and Charlotte, were seated in a parlour at Lambert Hills the day after the surprise of the Gardiners, Charlotte, and the two youngest Bennets arriving in Derbyshire. Elizabeth and Mary had chosen to share a bedchamber so Charlotte would have the second chamber in the suite. Elizabeth had found it amusing that Charlotte's letter was dated to throw her off which explained why her friend arrived only two days after the letter was dated.

"Father sold his most treasured first editions?" Elizabeth verified. Nothing had proved her father's determination to make changes more dramatically than the actions he had taken. This was no lip service to change. He was finally working to secure the future of his daughters and wife. She heard Jane's voice in her head saying: ‘ You see, God always has a plan .'

"In fact, you will be able to see them on Christmas day, I believe they are now ensconced in their new home, the library at Pemberley," Gardiner related. "It is not only the money from your father which is building dowries for you and your sisters' futures. Mr Bingley handed me a draft for twenty thousand pounds. It was his younger sister's dowry, which he stripped from her. His instruction is for it to be equally divided between the four remaining Bennet sisters. With his money and what your father has added, you are each approaching ten thousand pounds, and that is before I am able to increase the principle by reinvesting the dividends."

"Charlotte, you wrote of the changes our parents are making, but I never thought they would be so far reaching. This is a complete change of the family. Please tell me I am awake and not dreaming this," Elizabeth responded in wonder. She was about to add ‘if only this had occurred before Janey's death' when she heard her sister's voice in her head again. ‘ No more looking back, it is time to embrace the future. '

"What think you, Lizzy? Could it be time to return to Longbourn after Twelfth Night?" Mary suggested.

"Yes, I think you may be correct, Mary. This is so much more than I ever imagined," Elizabeth shook her head. "Of one thing I am sure, Janey," she lifted her eyes to the heavens, "is well pleased with the direction the family has chosen to take."

"Catherine and Lydia are not the same girls as they were before Janey's death," Mary observed. "Mrs Perkins seems to have them well in hand. How is it she did not accompany you to Lambert Hills to watch over her charges? I would very much like to meet the lady who has wrought such changes in my younger sisters in so short a time." Elizabeth nodded her agreement.

"Camile, Mrs Perkins, agreed your uncle and I, as well as you two, Charlotte, Tim, and Gwen were more than enough to watch over Catherine and Lydia, and it will allow her an intensive period of working with Fanny," Madeline replied.

"Aunt Maddie and Uncle Edward, do you have room for us to travel back to Hertfordshire with you when you depart after Twelfth Night?" Elizabeth enquired after a nod from Mary.

"Lambert will lend us his older carriage if it is needed, but that may not be necessary," Gardiner responded. He saw the questioning looks from the four ladies in the parlour. "Am I the only one who remembers Bingley and the Hursts are travelling to Netherfield Park the same day we will depart? I believe his is a large coach, and he would agree to help convey some of us back to Hertfordshire."

"In other words, Eliza, you will be returning home with us," Charlotte stated joyfully. As much as she understood Eliza's need for time and distance away from Longbourn and the Bennet parents, Charlotte missed her friend greatly.

"So it seems, so it seems," Elizabeth agreed.

"There is one more thing I did not mention until now," Gardiner related. "Regardless of the success or failure, you should be aware your father is pursuing a simple recovery to have the entail on Longbourn broken."

"Why now?" Elizabeth asked the question for Mary as well.

"While you were at Netherfield Park and before Jane passed, your father received a letter from his heir presumptive expressing a desire to visit Longbourn. Before he could inform your mother, Jane became ill and he wrote telling the man not to come," Gardiner revealed. "He shared the letter with Phillips and me," her uncle paused and shook his head slowly, "it was the drivel of a simpleton and a sycophant with a simultaneous overblown opinion of himself.

"Bennet wrote after Jane's passing to defer the visit indefinitely, at the very least for a year. The man wrote back showing his true colours demanding the hand of one of you, or he would turn my sister and any unmarried daughters from Longbourn the day he arrived to take up his, as he termed it, birthright.

"In the past, your father would have been highly diverted and would have done nothing as he cared not what happened to the estate after his own death. The problem with this obsequious, pompous Collins fellow is that Bennet is now very concerned for the future welfare of his wife and daughters, along with the future prosperity of Longbourn and those who depend on the estate. The same day he received the ridiculous letter, he went to see Phillips and had him initiate a simple recovery. Your uncle has retained a barrister, who is very experienced in this area of the law, and the case will be presented to the Court of Chancery when it begins to hear cases again on Monday the fourteenth day of January 1811. Phillips and the barrister believe your father will prevail in court."

"Papa's actions only reinforce the need for a reconciliation and for me to forgive both him and Mama," Elizabeth opined. No one pointed out to her, it was the first time since Jane became ill she used those particular appellations for her parents.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Darcy had not noticed any unexpected deliveries to Pemberley, and nothing he had attempted had loosened Giana's lips regarding what his surprise was. His own gift for Giana had been too hard to hide from his sister.

He had ordered her a new, top of the line, grand pianoforte. It had arrived earlier that afternoon, and there was no way to not have Giana notice the old instrument being moved to the third floor's guest wing music room that morning. As soon as the older pianoforte was moved—one which had been purchased for their late grandmother—Giana knew what her present was. She had been bouncing on the balls of her feet as the new grand pianoforte was removed from the wooden crate, and the legs and pedals attached to it. The purchase price included the services of an expert to oversee the instrument's assembly and tuning.

Even Giana's bliss at playing the new pianoforte for the first time did not cause her to divulge what she was to gift him on Christmas day. The only slight clue came from his sister asking for and receiving a promise he would not interrogate the footmen, Mrs Annesley, or the coachman who had been with her and Richard as to where they had travelled the day she had discovered what she chose for him.

Richard had let slip it was only about an hour's travel. All that did was confuse Darcy more. Matlock and Metting were both more than an hour, and Kympton and two other small towns were a half hour away or less. Most annoying of all, his aunt, uncle, Marie, and Andrew all smiled at him cryptically as if they knew something he did not.

By the Sunday before Christmas, Darcy had given up trying to divine what Giana's secret was. His sister had well and truly won this year.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Bennet saw the letter before him, but he was almost afraid to open it. He would recognise Lizzy's hand anywhere. He knew what he hoped the letter said, but as he was not sure, he was aware he needed to read it before he raised his wife's expectations their family would be made whole again, as whole as it could be with Jane no longer being with them in the mortal world.

There was also one from his cousin, who by now would have been served with the papers informing him of the case before the court regarding breaking the entail on Longbourn. He knew it was cowardly, but Bennet decided he would read his cousin's drivel before Lizzy's letter. He broke the seal.

21 December 1810

Hunsford Parsonage

Bordering the great estate of Rosings Park, Kent

Mr Bennet,

Your despicable actions to try and deprive me of my birthright only prove how justified my honoured father was to be at variance with you. You have no honour in attempting to deny me that which is mine .

My patroness has written a letter to the court, demanding the case be dismissed summarily. As they should, the court will bow to Lady Catherine's wisdom and power, and you will soon discover how you have erred in crossing me and incurring the wrath of my beneficent patroness.

Being certain they will follow Lady Catherine's edicts; and as my patroness has advised me not to, I will not debase myself by attending the court. You will not be allowed to continue to live on an estate which should have belonged to a Collins decades ago. Once this sham court case of yours has been dismissed, Lady Catherine will begin proceedings to have you, your wife, and daughters removed from my estate well before you pass away.

In light of your attempt to deny me that which I am due, I withdraw my offer of marriage to your eldest living daughter. Your actions have cost her a far better match to which she or any of your other daughters can ever aspire.

I take no leave of you, Mr Bennet. I send no compliments to your wife and daughters. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.

Mr Collins

"You will finally discover how little influence and power your deified patroness has," Bennet told the letter aloud. "Hmmm, I wonder what the Bishop of Kent will think when he reads your letters?"

He could no longer procrastinate, so Bennet took up the letter from Lizzy and broke the Lambert seal.

19 December 1810

Lambert Hills, Derbyshire

Mama and Papa.

If you will have us, Mary and I will return to Longbourn with the Gardiners, Charlotte, and our sisters after Twelfth Night.

Bennet had been hoping against hope to read those words from Lizzy. He had been worried she would never want to see him or her mother again. He knew not what changed her mind. All he cared about was Lizzy and Mary were coming home.

We had begun to hear about changes both of you were making, but the best proof was seeing the changes in Catherine and Lydia, after just two months. When that is combined with what Uncle Edward related to us, there was no ignoring the fact it is time for us to be part of the family at Longbourn again.

It did not hurt that I realised Janey would not be happy if we did not reconcile, sooner rather than later. The truth is both Mary and I needed this time to be away. It was far too difficult to be reminded of Janey at every turn at home. It will not be easy, but it is my belief the time away has assisted greatly in the mourning process.

Papa, I never thought I would see the day you would think about, never mind actually sell your most precious books. But you have. As an aside, I will be seeing them on Christmas day. We will be at Pemberley, which I hear tell, has a magnificent library. According to Uncle Edward, Mr Darcy purchased your collection in its entirety. In honour of the personal sacrifice you have made, I will visit your ‘ friends ' in their new home.

You may ask how it is we will be at his estate for that day… Elizabeth informed her father how it had come about… So you can see it was purely by chance Mary and I met Miss Darcy. She is nothing like her brother, but would not take no for an answer, so we will all be hosted at the Darcys' estate on the 25th, subsequent to church.

If the library is even half of what has been described, I may get lost in there forever.

Uncle Edward asked me to tell you we will arrive home by the very latest, Friday, the twelfth day of January 1811. Until then Mary requests that her warmest regards are passed on to both of you, as are mine .

We are looking forward to coming home,

Elizabeth

Bennet felt a few tears of relief run down his cheeks. He had not been certain, but it seemed his not pushing Lizzy and Mary had born better results than he could ever have dreamed of. By the time his four daughters arrived home, it would not be quite three months since Jane's loss.

As the days of his keeping his wife in the dark to increase his amusement were well past, Bennet went in search of Fanny. He smiled as he thought about how they had begun to share a bed once more, which they had not done since before Lydia had been born. He discovered his wife in the smaller parlour where she was working with Mrs Perkins. Bringing the latter lady into his household was one of the best decisions he had made.

"Please pardon the interruption," Bennet requested respectfully, "but, Fanny dear, I believe I have one letter you will enjoy while the other may amuse you." Bennet handed his wife the letter from Collins first.

Although Fanny's colour heightened, she maintained her equanimity. "His patroness can do…"

"Nothing, Fanny. All of her supposed power resides in her head and that of her lacky's. If, as he says he will not appear on his behalf, the judgment will be entered noting no opposition," Bennet explained carefully, earning him a nod of approval from Mrs Perkins. "Now this one will bestow pleasure, of that I am sure." He handed her the letter from Lizzy.

There was no mistaking how Fanny's face lit up as soon as she identified who the writer was. The smile widened and tears of joy ran down her face as she read on. "All of my girls are coming home," Fanny told her youngest daughters' companion. Before she allowed her exuberance free reign, Fanny schooled her features and began to think of all she needed to plan and execute before their arrival, remaining within budget, of course.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

On Christmas morning, Elizabeth felt far more excitement than for any Christmas before. It was not for the day, or the prospect of forgiving her parents. If she were willing to admit it, it was that she would soon be seeing a certain tall, dark haired, muscular, and blue eyed man who she was learning was well read and intelligent in addition to being everything handsome.