Chapter 32

On Monday morning, the day before the ball, Elizabeth rode Penny—who had been delivered from Woburn Abbey by the time she arrived at Longbourn—across the fields on her way to Oakham Mount at dawn, so she would be there to see the sun rise over the Hertfordshire landscape, as she had done countless times before when she lived at Longbourn. John Biggs was following her on the same gelding he always rode during the time he had been employed by the Bennets.

Elizabeth was hoping William would arrive while she was on the Mount, just as he and Richard had, when she had made her opinions known to the man who she was unaware was actually her soon to be brother-in-law. She could not help but smile as she remembered how amused Belle and Andrew had been when she had related her presumption at interrogating Richard. Rather than presumptive, they had called it protective.

On this morning if William did come to see the sunrise, she was certain Richard would not be with him. Richard made sure he was at Longbourn each morning soon after Jane made her appearance downstairs.

As they approached Oakham Mount, Elizabeth felt a frisson of pleasure when she saw Zeus breakfasting on some of the shrubs at the base of the hill. She was impatient for John Biggs to assist her from her side-saddle so she could make haste and walk up the path. As soon as John used a long tether to secure the horses so they too could munch on the vegetation, he followed his mistress up the path to the summit.

When the two reached the top, Biggs could see that other than the two of them and Mr. Darcy there were no others present. He took up a position at the head of the path which gave him a clear view of the top of the Mount.

As Elizabeth approached the rock where William was sitting, her boots crunched on a fallen twig from one of the oak trees on the summit—the ones for which the Mount was named. William stood with alacrity and his whole face radiated the joy he felt at seeing Elizabeth approaching him.

“Good morning, Lady Elizabeth,” William gave a bow.

“And to you too, Master Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth replied archly.

“Touché,” William conceded. “I am well pleased you too decided to visit this eminence today. I assume you will not on the morrow as it is the day of the ball…when we will partner one another for some sets again.”

“I may not come to the Mount to watch the sunrise, but I will be taking a ramble over the familiar paths of my youth,” Elizabeth revealed. “All too soon we will be departing for Bedford House on Russell Square and the season. While I am still here, I intend to make as many new memories of the area as I am able.”

William indicated a space next to him on the flattened rock and Elizabeth sat. They were as close to each other as propriety would allow. With the sun about to rise above the horizon, neither spoke as they drank in the splendour of nature welcoming a new day. There were not many clouds in the sky, but the white wispy ones which were to be seen close to the horizon were glowing with silvers, yellows, and golds as the brilliant light of the sun peeked above the horizon.

The two watched with amazement as if this was the first sunrise they were seeing as the sun’s warming rays spread over the fields below. Neither one was sure if the warmth he or she was feeling was from the new day’s sun or from the proximity of the other.

Each felt a certain level of comfort with the company of the other but did not verbalise their feelings.

“How are you adjusting to life with your birthparents?” William asked once the sun had broken completely above the earth. “I am sure the upheaval you, Saul, and Philip have experienced is something few alive can truly understand.”

“They do anything they are able to accommodate me, and my brother and sister have both been most welcoming of their little sister,” Elizabeth reported. “When this first all came to light, I detected a certain level of resentment from Emily.” Elizabeth placed her hand on William’s closest arm seeing he was about to express his indignance that anyone would hold her accountable for the pain Aunt Cilla had suffered. “However, it was gone almost as fast as it had been detected. Her mother was suffering terribly. For a mother to know she has lost a babe at the time of its birth is bad enough, but to be told almost two decades after the fact must have caused sorrow like you or I have never known. Those who were the cause of Aunt Cilla’s delayed anguish coupled with discovering Philip was not her son could not be held to account. Yes, it was irrational, but I was the physical manifestation of the despair her mother was suffering.”

William relaxed. He had been ready to step in and defend Elizabeth, but he was pleased it was not needed, and Emily had realised Elizabeth was as much a victim of the scheme as her own mother was. “I can only imagine Aunt Cilla’s despondency when she has not been in public. I am sure if my mother was in such agony, I would have looked for a way to mitigate it as well.”

As much as he wanted to ask her if he could call on her, given the weight of the subject they had been discussing, William decided to wait to give Elizabeth more time to become accustomed to all the changes in her life. He decided to delay asking her until her life was more settled; he hoped that would be by her introductory ball.

“It is time for me to return to Longbourn to wash and change before I join the family to break my fast,” Elizabeth stated as she stood.

She was somewhat saddened William did not speak of anything more intimate. Perhaps she had misread the signs, and as the woman, it was her lot to wait for him to declare himself, so until then—if he ever intended to—she would have to wait.

After standing, William bowed over Elizabeth’s hand, raised it and bestowed a kiss on it. When he did, his eyes were locked onto hers. Elizabeth missed a breath as she became lost in his blue eyes. Was she imagining things, or seeing that which she wanted to see? She could have sworn the look was one of a man in love with a woman, but she could not be sure.

With John Biggs following, they walked down the path to where the horses were secured. William requested the privilege of assisting Elizabeth into her saddle, which she granted without delay. When his hands pressed against the sides of her waist, Elizabeth blushed furiously at the pleasure his touch engendered—even through his gloves and her riding habit. He lifted her effortlessly. Elizabeth and William rode next to one another with the footman following behind them. At the fork in the path, one the direction to Longbourn and the other to Netherfield Park, William doffed his hat and gave a half bow while seated in his saddle. Elizabeth watched longingly as he kicked Zeus into a gallop and rode away from her.

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

After her brisk walk the morning of the ball, Elizabeth returned to her chamber to wash and change. Her lady’s maid had just assisted her mistress to dress when there was a knock on the door. Elizabeth dismissed her maid and opened the door to reveal Jane without.

“Janey, are you ready to go down to break your fast?” Elizabeth enquired.

“I will be soon, however, I wanted to speak with you before we join the rest of the family,” Jane averred.

“Of course! You know I always have time for my Janey,” Elizabeth welcomed her sister and sat down on the bed. Jane closed the door and joined her. “What is it Janey, dearest?”

“So much has changed already,” Jane blurted out, “and now when I marry Richard everything will change again.”

“Jane, you do not regret your marriage upcoming, do you?”

“What? No of course not! I love Richard more than I have adequate words to describe and there is no other man for me. This has nothing to do with my soon to be husband, I want to marry him more than anything I have ever wanted.”

“Then what is troubling you?”

“I am referring to the relationship between you and me.” Jane paused as she gathered her thoughts so she would be able to articulate what she wanted and not be misunderstood. “Our impending separation has caused me to think about how things will be in the future. Lizzy, we have been apart before when I have visited the Gardiners without you and vice versa. However, when one of us has been away, she has always returned; safe in the knowledge the other one will be at home waiting for her. That changed irrevocably when you left with your parents by blood, even though you came to stay with us now. You no longer live here; you are a visitor. Come Friday the same will be true for me.”

“The changes in my life are far beyond my control.”

“Of course they are! Lizzy, I am not trying to say anything different.”

“Then Janey, what is it you mean?”

“That I will miss you.”

“As I will you. But Janey remember, had the swap not occurred all those years ago and I had been your sister by blood, you would still be marrying and leaving Longbourn on Friday. The only difference is I would be here and not somewhere else. We had this discussion a few years ago regarding how it is the woman’s lot to leave the only home she has known, and follow her husband to his.” Elizabeth looked deeply into Jane’s cerulean coloured eyes. “My opinion is there have been so many changes of late, you are a little nervous about one more.”

“You may have the right of it,” Jane owned.

“Do not forget we will see one another during the season. You will visit Woburn Abbey and I will spend time with you at Rosings Park, and at other times we will see one another elsewhere.” Elizabeth paused and smiled widely. “If things work out the way I hope they will one day, when we are at our estates, we may be not farther apart from one another than Longbourn and Netherfield Park are.”

“Elizabeth Rose Bennet Rhys-Davies, do you have a tendre for William?”

“I think so…yes, I do. We happened on one another at Oakham Mount…” Elizabeth related all from the previous morning. “I had hoped he would at least ask to call on me.”

“Lizzy, you silly goose, think about it. William knows as well as anyone else you have just been restored to your by-blood family. I am sure he will be circumspect until you have been with them for longer than you have so far.”

“Now you are the most intelligent one, I was being a goose. If Papa was here now, he could call me one of the silliest girls in all of England! Of course! William is too considerate of Mother and Father to do anything so soon after all of this. I hope I am not seeing that which I desire to see in his looks and our interactions. He never treats me less than an intellectual equal.”

“Lizzy! Even a blind man would not miss the intense looks he gives you whenever you are near him. Richard and I discussed this, and we both agree William is besotted. I did not want to mention it to you until you first mentioned your feelings. I think you and William would do very well together, and to have your home so close to mine would be more than I could have ever hoped for.”

“He has requested two sets for tonight’s ball already,” Elizabeth admitted shyly. “The first and supper sets.”

“Something he would not do if he did not have tender feelings for you. All he has to do now is request your final set, and it is as good as a public declaration.”

Elizabeth got a dreamy look in her eyes. She already knew the final dance of the night was to be the waltz.

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

Not long after the midday meal, before those attending the ball went to get some rest in anticipation of the long night ahead, Charlotte was shown into the drawing room. There was no missing the way she was glowing with pleasure.

“Charlotte, do you have some news for us?” Elizabeth asked with arched eyebrow.

“I am engaged,” Charlotte gushed. “Jamey, Viscount Hadlock, proposed this morning. After Papa gave his consent and blessing, we visited my fiancé’s parents at Netherfield Park and received their blessings as well.”

“This is wonderful news, Charlotte,” Fanny enthused. “On behalf of everyone here I wish you extreme happiness.”

“We are to be cousins,” Elizabeth stated as she pulled Charlotte into a hug.

“Yes, Lady Eliza, I suppose we will be,” Charlotte teased.

“Just wait until you marry Jamey, it will be my turn to tease you using your title,” Elizabeth shot back with a smile.

“The ball tonight must celebrate your engagement to Jamey as well as mine to Richard,” Jane suggested.

“I appreciate the thought, but this is your night…” Charlotte ceased speaking when Jane raised her hand.

“Stuff and nonsense. You sharing the honours at the ball will in no way detract from my enjoyment tonight, and I am sure I can say without fear of contradiction, that Richard will agree with me without any reservation. You know how close he and Jamey are,” Jane responded forcefully. “Besides, I will have my time on Friday when I marry Richard, and unless someone has not told me, we are not sharing the ceremony with another couple.”

Before Charlotte could offer any further objections, Jane sat at the escritoire in the corner of the drawing room and wrote a note to her soon to be mother-in-law and Aunt Cilla. Minutes after she sealed the missive, a groom was on his way to Netherfield Park to deliver it.

An affirmative reply was received with alacrity.

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

Although William was determined to ask for Elizabeth’s final set as long as she was not engaged to dance it with another, he decided he should canvass her parents to see if they were sanguine with the statement he would be making by dancing three sets with their youngest daughter.

Once all the excitement over Jamey’s engagement had died down to a dull roar, William sought out the Duke and Duchess. He found them in their private sitting room.

Permission was granted after he had been questioned about his intentions. Although her parents did not demand a certain period before he declared himself to Lizzy, they were well pleased when William told them he had decided against making a declaration to Elizabeth before the day of her ball at Bedford House. They were unaware he did not know they had not set a minimum time until they would allow someone to approach Lizzy.

Her parents knew what a good and honourable man William was, especially since he had discarded his improper pride, so they would be happy to gain him as a son.