Chapter 3

Mr. Jones was waiting for Fanny when the Lucas carriage arrived at the inn. He showed her up to a chamber which he told her was close to those of the two other ladies who were labouring.

“I will be below until I am summoned by Mrs. Brown, or one of her daughters, if she requires my assistance,” Jones informed Mrs. Bennet. “Will your husband be joining the men waiting in the taproom?”

Fanny related her husband was away from home. “Mother…Mrs. Beth Bennet will send an express so I expect Thomas will arrive on the morrow.” She winced as another pain, stronger than those before it hit.

Jones bowed and exited the room as quickly as he could, closing the door behind him. It was opened almost immediately by the midwife who had one of her daughters who assisted trailing her. “Please accept my apologies for requesting you join me here. As you know I am the only midwife hereabouts and it is the only way I am able to care for all three of you who have commenced your lying-ins,” Mrs. Brown explained.

Although the woman was normally not so verbose, Fanny made no comment on that fact. “When I bore Jane, I found walking about the room made me feel more comfortable,” Fanny drawled. Just then she felt another ache building. She held onto the back of the lone chair in the room until it passed.

“Please allow me to examine you, and if you are not too far along, I will not object to your doing the same this time,” the midwife stated.

As soon as Fanny lay back on the bed, the midwife began to feel around her swollen belly, and then she looked under Fanny’s dress. “From what I am able to feel, the babe is in the correct position to be born, and your body is preparing itself. It could be many more hours yet. You may walk a little if you still desire, but please do not leave the room.”

Fanny stood and held onto the chair again as the cramping intensified. She felt like something fell from her body. On the floor she saw a little brown blood around something which looked rather slimy. Before she panicked she remembered that there had been a similar occurrence some hours before Jane was born and Mrs. Brown and Mother had assured her it was a normal and natural part of the birthing process.

The midwife’s daughter cleaned up the discharge as soon as Fanny moved away from it. So far she had not felt her waters break so she was certain there were still hours to go before her travails were over. How she hoped it would extend until Thomas arrived home.

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

The Duke and Earl were pacing back and forth waiting for news of their wives’ progress. Matlock was trying to calm his brothers as best he could when the apothecary returned to them. He had to do something to try and distract his two friends and brothers.

“Mr. Jones, did I hear correctly that the lady who is also in her labours is a Mrs. Bennet?” Matlock verified. It had the desired effect as Bedford and Holder stopped their pacing and looked on in interest to hear the answer.

“Yes, my Lord, you are correct,” Jones confirmed.

“Is her husband perchance Thomas Bennet?” Matlock queried.

“Yes, indeed, the lady who arrived is Mrs. Thomas Bennet of Longbourn,” Jones responded questioningly. “Are you acquainted with Mr. Bennet?”

Matlock grinned ruefully. “My brothers-in-law and I were well humbled by Mr. Bennet some weeks before he graduated from Cambridge when we all lost in a chess match against him.”

“I had heard he played twenty men at the same time and won each and every game, not even a draw,” Jones remembered.

“Other than the number being ten, everything else you heard is correct,” Bedford interjected. “It was not just ten players, but all past champions and record holders at Cambridge. He eviscerated every chess record at the school, and to date none of them have been felled.”

“Matlock, does Darcy not play against him via the post?” Holder asked.

“Yes, he does. The best he has done is play Mr. Bennet to a draw,” Matlock revealed.

“I have challenged him across the board a few times,” Jones sighed. “Our games are not very long in duration.”

“Mayhap when Mr. Bennet joins us we can lose to him again,” Bedford observed.

“As I understand things, Mr. Bennet had business with his brother-in-law in London and travelled as he was under the impression Mrs. Bennet would not enter her lying-in for a few weeks yet,” Jones related. “I would expect him to arrive on the morrow.”

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

Dusk was falling when the express rider arrived at Gracechurch Street on Thursday evening. After their business that afternoon, Bennet had accompanied Gardiner to the warehouse.

The two men ate their dinner in the office and then took a leisurely stroll back to Gardiner’s house. As soon as they entered, the housekeeper handed Mr. Bennet a missive which had been delivered by express almost two hours earlier. Bennet was about to berate the woman for not sending the letter to her master’s offices, but he stopped himself. He realised it was his omission as he had not requested he be notified if something arrived for him. Bennet owned that he had not thought about saying anything as he had not considered the possibility of anything occurring before he arrived home.

He recognised his mother’s script and wanted to tear the note open, but he regulated himself as he told himself he needed to be able to read the words on the page. He broke the seal without damaging the page.

4 March 1790

Thomas,

Before you jump to conclusions Fanny and the babe are well.

That being said, please return as soon as you are able and it is safe to do so. Fanny’s labours have begun and she would like to know you are close by to greet your new son or daughter.

Do not come to Longbourn, make directly for the Red Lion Inn. Fanny is there as Mrs. Brown is tending to two travellers who, like Fanny, have also begun their lying-ins. I am sure you will comprehend with only one midwife in the neighbourhood, there was no choice. The Lucases generously sent their carriage to convey Fanny to the inn.

I am at the estate with Janey, so with Hattie Philips in Bath and Sarah Lucas with her cold, and tending to her children who are ill, Fanny is alone. Before you rush off into the night remember you are no use to Fanny if you are killed trying to return home in the dark.

As I am sure you will make directly for the Red Lion, as it should be, Janey and I will see you when you come tell us all is well.

With all of my motherly love,

Mother

His mother’s admonition was timely as before he read that, Bennet’s instinct had been to order his carriage made ready and depart with immediacy. What Mother wrote made him see clearly. Even if Fanny, Jane, and their new babe would be well off, he was aware he was of far more use to them alive. That led Bennet to think about his cousin, Clem Collins. With everything he had learnt about the man, Bennet would not put it past the brute to try and expedite his inheriting Longbourn.

How he hoped Fanny had the right of it and that she was carrying his son and heir. The last thing anyone needed was for Clem Collins to ever become master of the estate. Bennet was sure it would not take the uneducated man very long before he drove the estate into ruin. No, he would not chance a return during the night.

Bennet handed the missive to his brother. “I will send a note to the head clerk,” Gardiner stated after reading the short note, “and if I am welcome, I will join you so I may see my new nephew or niece. I am sure my father will be very keen to see his second grandchild.”

It was decided, the two men would be on their way at about half after five, just before first light.

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

Elaine Fitzwilliam was flitting between her sisters’ chambers doing whatever she could to comfort them as the intensity of their labours increased. It had been many hours since they arrived at the inn in the small market town, and now the time approached midnight.

As she wet a piece of linen, then squeezed out the excess cool water, Elaine dabbed Rose’s forehead which was glistening with sweat from her exertions. “How is…Cilla…doing?” Rose asked between pains.

“Much like you are my much older sister,” Elaine teased. “She is also getting closer. As the clock is about to strike midnight, it seems that both of you will bring your children into the world on the fifth day of March. I do not believe you will be labouring for another full day to get to the sixth.”

“Elaine! Do not even…jest about such a thing!” Rose exclaimed. “Will you go see Cilla and tell her I am…thinking of her.”

Now was not the time to try and gainsay her sister, so Elaine leaned over and kissed her sister’s forehead. She slipped out of the door, nodding to one of Mrs. Brown’s daughters who was seated in the hall. The girl replaced her in the chamber so Rose would not be left alone. When she entered the other chamber, she found the midwife within examining Cilla.

“Is there progress?” Elaine enquired.

“Yes, mi’lady, there is. Your sister is close to giving birth. If you will remain with her, I will go check on Her Grace,” Mrs. Brown requested.

“Rose?” Priscilla managed before her body was wracked by the biggest labour pain she had yet experienced which caused her to scream a profanity-laced outburst.

Knowing there was no point answering while her sister was hurting in that way, Elaine just held Cilla’s hand—the latter squeezing her fingers—as she waited for the wave of cramping and contracting to pass. “Our sister is about as ready as you are to bring your child into the world,” Elaine told her younger sister as soon as the latter had relaxed a little.

“Time…day?” Priscilla demanded.

“Just past midnight on Friday morning,” Elaine averred.

“Enough already! I need this out of me!” Priscilla exclaimed before her labouring intensified again.

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

Fanny could not remember her body aching like it was now when she had birthed Jane. The sharp difference between the times was, to Fanny, another sign that she was carrying a son.

She could tell by the frequency that her labouring pains had increased significantly, and they were now at, or even less than, three minutes apart. To her it felt like they lasted forever, but in truth it was less than a minute. She missed having Mother and Hattie with her. Fanny could not miss her late mother’s absence as she had never met the lady.

Her father would be informed in the morning as Fanny saw no good reason to have him pulled from his bed when all he would be able to do was wait with the other men in the taproom.

While Mrs. Brown’s older daughter tried to comfort her, Fanny screamed with the pain which travelled from her back to the front of her belly, only increasing the cramping which was constant now. After she checked under the robe Fanny had donned, the older Miss Brown went to go collect her mother.

Knowing she had some minutes before either of the highborn ladies were ready to push, Mrs. Brown urged Mrs. Bennet to push with all that she had. The level of pain was so much worse than the first time she had delivered a child. On the third push, when she expended her waning energy, Fanny felt a release of pressure and for a second or two she heard the squalling of a babe, and then her world went black.

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

Elaine was feeling the fatigue of so many hours awake, but she was determined to see her sisters through the births of their children. She exited Rose’s chamber and almost fell down onto one of the chairs which had been placed in the hall.

The younger of Mrs. Brown’s daughters approached with a cup of restorative tea in hand. Elaine drank it thirstily. By the time she detected the bitter aftertaste, she was asleep.

As the Duchess and Countess were about to give birth at almost the same time, Mrs. Brown opened the interleading door between the chambers and supervised her daughters as they assisted her. Not too long after, there was the sound of the squalling of two more newborns. Each mother, after being told she birthed a son, was offered some tea before her babe was handed to her. The tea had the same effect on them as it had on their sister.

“Mama, are you sure we must do this?” the older daughter verified.

“Yes, that man will be told that Mrs. Bennet birthed a daughter,” Mrs. Brown averred quietly so only her daughters could hear as each one held a new born babe. “It is a much better alternative than what he ordered.”

Neither of her daughters offered any further objections. It was done and done for the best. She and her family were safe for now. As long as Mrs. Bennet only had daughters in the future, her daughters would remain safe, hale, and healthy.

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

When Elaine woke, she did not suspect any foul play, excepting she was exhausted, had a bitter aftertaste in her mouth, and had fallen asleep where she sat. She did not question Mrs. Brown when that woman related her instructions to her daughters to allow the Countess to sleep.

“My sisters?” Elaine enquired with no little dread. She was well aware how perilous childbirth could be, and how close both Rose and Anne Darcy had come to being lost when each had a miscarriage and had bled far longer than was safe. All she could do was hope that her prayers had been answered and Rose, Cilla, and their babes were all alive and safe.

“Both are well, but sleeping. You have two nephews; each one is sleeping in his mother’s chamber. My eldest daughter is seated in the doorway between the chambers as my younger one is with the other lady who birthed her child,” Mrs. Brown reported. “She too is well and sleeping. She was blessed with a daughter. If you so desire, you are welcome to go see your nephews.” Mrs. Brown paused. “Have your sisters employed wet nurses?”

“No, they will feed their children as we all did those who came before the new babes,” Elaine related. She then made her way into Rose’s chamber. Rose looked very peaceful as she slept with her son in a basinet next to her bed, his lips puckered as he sucked in his sleep. The little mite was all but bald. She passed the girl seated where the midwife said she would be and saw a similar tableau in Cilla’s room. Her son was as bald as his cousin and looked just as content as he slept. Elaine was well aware the peace would only last until one or both of the newborns demanded sustenance.

She made her way down to the taproom where she found four sleeping men. She only woke Mr. Jones so he could go check on the mothers and newborns upstairs and left her husband and brothers to their slumbers.

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

When Fanny woke, it took a few moments for her to understand why it felt like a babe was on her breast. It became clear when she noticed one of Mrs. Brown’s daughters was holding a babe to her so it could take sustenance. The mite had a shock of dark, curly hair, nothing like her or Thomas. She would not question God’s wisdom. Very slowly she opened the swaddling to see if her intuition had been correct. She quickly noted she was holding a daughter.

Fanny felt a momentary jolt of disappointment. She pushed that aside with alacrity. This daughter, like every babe, was a gift from God, and regardless of the hopes of a mere mortal, she would not question God’s decisions. She would love her daughter as well as she loved Janey and mayhap next time she would be blessed with a son. She prayed that it would not be too many hours before her beloved Thomas arrived to be at her side.