Chapter 8

8

T o say that their transport was uncomfortable would have been an understatement. Mr. Darcy’s long legs required him to sit sideways, facing the opposite window to avoid crashing his knees into hers. Even with that, his attempts were futile. One of his hands held onto the strap above him while the other gripped the edge of the seat. On their side of the carriage, Mrs. Carter elbowed Elizabeth’s arm even as Elizabeth did the same to her.

Elizabeth silently praised the wet nurse for her patience.

All went well until after they made their first stop halfway between Meryton and Town. Charlie started fussing. No amount of soothing satisfied him. When he began to cry in earnest, his sister, not from any apparent discomfort or pain, joined him in a miserable duet that tormented the newlyweds. Mrs. Carter took it in stride.

Elizabeth hoped the rhythmic movement of their transport would rock the babies to sleep during the final leg to London, but that was hardly the case. The servant’s carriage, not as tightly sprung as Mr. Darcy’s town coach must have been, bounced and jolted them with each bump in the road. At every sharp movement, Charlie and Clara’s cries grew louder. Mr. Darcy’s frustration was visible in the set of his jaw, and the tightness of the leather pulled over his knuckles as he clutched the handle. Was it because of their discomfort or the crying?

Rather than guess wrong, which she often did when it came to him, she asked him. “Sir, can I be of assistance to you? You seem…”

“Miserable!” His reply bounced loudly around the carriage. “I beg your pardon. As far as I can recall, I have never ridden in this…this torture chamber.”

Elizabeth slapped her palm over her mouth, restraining her mirth. His sense of humor and exaggeration appealed to her. Who knew he had it in him?

Darcy continued. “That I routinely require my servants to ride in this contraption is abhorrent. Once we are in Town and other more important tasks are cared for, I intend to direct my full attention to this matter. In the meantime, I beg forgiveness from both of you. I do not blame the children for complaining loudly. I suppose that if I were in their position, I would do the same.”

“How kind of you, sir.” Elizabeth had come to be impressed with his concern for those below him. His gentleness with her parents, too, was completely unexpected, a wonderful surprise that gave her hope that perhaps one day they might have a level of respect between them.

Charlie cried louder, interrupting her thoughts. Clara increased her volume, too.

Mrs. Carter began to adjust her clothing by undoing the front buttons. Elizabeth had seen her nurse the babies many times. Mr. Darcy had not. His eyes rounded as his mouth gaped. Recovering quickly, he turned away from them, staring out the window at his side where daylight brightened the horizon. His tall person must have been terribly uncomfortable. Elizabeth was barely able to contain her chuckle. The poor man!

After much encouragement, Charlie was able to latch on to Mrs. Carter, which immediately settled him. Clara continued to protest.

With her free hand, Mrs. Carter pulled the fabric back from her other breast. “You best take care of the little lady, Mrs. Darcy.”

Mrs. Darcy? It was a name she would need to become accustomed to.

Before Mrs. Williams was hired to be Charlie’s wet nurse, Elizabeth often helped Mrs. Carter by handing her a babe at the correct angle so they could latch on. At first, she was embarrassed— No, in truth, Elizabeth had been mortified. However, seeing the twins, especially Charlie, satiated on Mrs. Carter’s milk was a tremendous relief. Elizabeth overcame her discomfort quickly, grateful that Mr. Darcy continued to look away.

While the twins nursed, Elizabeth hummed one lullaby after another to cover the noise of their happy suckling.

Surprisingly, her husband reached over and took her hand, drawing her attention to him.

“Are you well, Mrs. Darcy?”

His eyes peered intently at hers, his grip on her fingers firm. “I am.”

Barely lifting his chin, he said, “I remember my mother singing the same song to me when I was quite young. When thunder rumbles and lightning strikes across the valley during the long stormy nights in the North, it is fearsome. I would climb between her and Father in their bedchamber. She would sing to me, and then Father would tell stories until I fell asleep. Somehow, I always woke up in my bed after sleeping soundly the rest of the night.”

She eased against the squabs, pleased to learn something of his childhood.

“When Kitty was little, her cough was much, much worse. Even though I thought I was much bigger than her, I would sit by her bed at night while Mama rocked and sang to her. I, too, would fall asleep and need to be carried back to my bed. Sad to say, I was much older before I learned that Mama feared losing her daughter. She still fusses over Kitty. Until the birth of these children, I was entirely unaware of a mother’s daily sacrifices. You had good parents.”

“I did.” He released her hand, and she immediately missed his strength and his warmth. “I know of very few who spend any time at all with their children until they are old enough to be presented to company. Often, they are sent to live with their wet nurses until they are weaned, the parents seeing them once every month or so. Once the wet nurse is no longer needed, they are hidden away in the nursery under the guidance of a tutor. Before their teenage years, boys are shipped off to Eton or elsewhere and then to university. Few of my classmates knew their parents as well as I did mine.”

Elizabeth considered his words carefully. What did this say about the type of parent he would be? Certainly, he would be involved with guiding the training of his offspring, would he not? For the day-to-day activities and their concerns? Would he choose to be like his parents? Elizabeth had to ask.

“Then you will want Charlie and Clara to know you, too?”

“Absolutely! No child in my house will be a stranger to me. ”

She appreciated his lack of hesitation before he responded. It was one more good mark in his favor. And it boded well for their future if they were successful with their appeal to the Court of Chancery.

On their own, the corners of her mouth lifted as she continued to look directly into his eyes. His lips softened in response. What did it mean? Whatever it was, it offered Elizabeth a glimmer of hope.

Darcy considered himself a man of the world. With that said, in his limited experience, he had never seen a suckling baby attached to a woman’s engorged teat, and he would not start now, especially when both breasts were employed.

Never would he have conceived of his current circumstances prior to Bingley’s letter. Now, not only did he have a wet nurse in his miserable carriage, but he also had twins and a wife.

He appreciated the openness of his wife. His heart sang along with Elizabeth as she again hummed, then sang the lullaby. Something he noticed was how often she caressed the babies’ cheeks, stroking their fingers and toes while they were changed or smoothing their downy hair while they slept. She would be an excellent mother to Bingley’s children.

Her devotion to Charlie and Clara was unparalleled. Bingley and Jane would be pleased by how much Elizabeth sacrificed for their children to see them happy.What of their own?

Darcy comprehended that marrying him was a sacrifice on her part. Would she view bearing his children to be the same? She would unless he bent his standards always to include her. Were his standards wrong? Not necessarily, for they served him well as a single man. But he was single no more. He now had a partner to consider who would be equally vested in their future.He could not regret his decisions.

“Are you well, sir? You are frowning.” This time, Elizabeth reached over and caught his hand. He was surprised and pleased at her voluntary touch. Then he recalled how often he saw her lay her fingers on her elder sister’s arm when she was ill. Elizabeth shared her devotion through touch. Did her reaching for his hand indicate that her feelings for him were growing? Of course not. He could only hope that soon that would be the case.

“I am well enough. Though my thoughts of how to formulate my petition to the court are uncertain.” He hedged by changing to a subject he knew would be her chief concern. “For instance, should my primary reason be that I am related by marriage to the children? Or that Bingley once asked me to stand as godfather to any future children? Or that I loathe Bingley’s family and strongly believe they could never make the children happy?”

Elizabeth chuckled. “I cannot see a good result coming from your third reason for gaining a favorable decision, sir. Thus, I must ask about the second. When and under what circumstances did you and Bingley discuss children for surely it had to be a long time prior to his falling in love with Jane.”

He grinned, leaning back in his seat, unwilling to let go of her hand when she started to relax her grip.

“The summer day was particularly warm. My favorite cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, had recently returned from the continent. You need to understand something of Richard’s character before you hear the rest of the tale so I will begin by telling you that my cousin is truly the best man I know. He is two years older than me which made him six years older than Bingley. Richard is a man of honor with a keen sense of humor. As the second son of an earl whose brother has produced a single grandson for Lord Matlock despite being married almost a decade, his mother has harangued him for years to sell out his commission, marry, and become a baby-making machine. Bingley, whose wealth came from the factories up north, teased that he was in a better position than my cousin for producing said babies since the business of production, although of textiles, was his heritage.”

He wanted to laugh when Elizabeth’s eyes went wide.

“Now, pray understand that neither man was speaking crudely. All three of us would need an heir to inherit. So, underneath the tease, he was serious. If you would, please recall that I mentioned that it was a warm summer day. Pemberley has a river running through it that empties into a large pond. Upstream, there are secluded pools where the water feels particularly cool on a hot day. We three enjoyed our time swimming. We were as relaxed as three younger men could be. As we dried off in the sunshine, the conversation returned to the need for an heir. Since Bingley and I have no brothers… Oh, my lord! I completely forgot until this moment that Bingley asked Richard, along with myself, to be godfather to any children he might have.”

“The son of an earl,” Elizabeth muttered. “Far more powerful and well-placed in society than a baron like Lord Armstrong.”

“Yes. My uncle’s birth and ambitions render him a powerful ally.”

“Or foe,” she suggested.

“Indeed.” Darcy introduced Bingley to his aunt and uncle years prior. At first, his relatives questioned his close association with a man from trade. However, Bingley’s natural amiability soon warmed them until they accepted him into their company whenever he was with Darcy.

Elizabeth said, “I take it that the three of you offered to serve as godfathers for each other?” At his nod, she continued. “Then you now know exactly how you will begin your petition to the court.”

His wife was a wonder. “I do since Richard and I had to do the same for my sister after my father’s death.” Considering his words carefully, he said, “Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley in Derbyshire, nephew of Lord Matlock, and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, son of Lord Matlock, petition the Court for nurture, common law, and testimony-based guardianship of twins Charles Alexander Bingley II and Clara Jane Bingley, the children of Charles A. Bingley and Jane A. Bingley, both recently deceased.’”

“You sound very respectful, which should go well with the court.”

“I shall need to remind Richard of his promises.” Darcy stopped. “No, first I shall have my attorneys draw up papers authorizing you to access our fortune during your lifetime. You need a marriage settlement. Then, they will need to change my last will and testament to include you, Bingley’s children, and any children we may have in the future. I only wish I could have presented your father with a settlement prior to our wedding.” He shook his head with regret. At the same time, he was pleasantly surprised that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Bennet mentioned money during any of their conversations, at least not money from him. “Then, we will discuss our application to the Court of Chancery. Bingley was a good friend. However, I cannot help but wish he had not only put his desires for his family’s future care in writing but signed them as well. I will not make my friend’s mistake. I swear this to you.”

“I thank you, sir.”

Darcy was under no illusion that the task of gaining custody ahead of Lord and Lady Armstrong would be easy. It was practically impossible. With that said, he would prove to Elizabeth that he was willing to fight with every option available to them to keep the twins under their care. Lord and Lady Armstrong did not have a chance if true justice was served.