A/N: Once again, thank you for your reviews on the last chapter. I've already asked that you keep an open mind in my first AN on the first chapter with regards to Darcy and please bear in mind that when they do eventually come face to face again, there will be a lot of anger between the two of them until they realise what really happened.
It had been a busy week for Elizabeth. Saturday, she had taken Rose to an indoor play area and out for lunch at The Harvester as a treat so it was nice to spend some one-to-one time with her little girl. On Saturday night she and Jane shared a bottle of wine once Rose was in bed and discussed some ideas for the wedding. Jane told her that it was going to be in December, they wanted a short engagement and quick wedding so that only left a few weeks to sort the arrangements out, well the reception was going to be held at Netherfield at Charles's request. They would get married at Longbourn Church and had already set the date for the 28th of December.
Charles had wanted a buffet instead of a formal dinner, that way people wouldn't be placed at tables where they wouldn't talk to each other and could move around at their own free will. But there was still the other things such as the transport to sort out, dresses, suits, menu, decorations, music, photographer and many more other things that they hadn't even thought of on Saturday night. Sunday consisted of a rainy day indoors watching Disney movies whilst Lizzy went over her lesson plans for the week.
Mrs Bennet was avoiding Lizzy at all costs since the matriarch had been told off by her daughter on Friday about her 'bastard' comment. If Lizzy knew one thing it was that her mother would have preferred her to have been married at the time of Rose's conception. But alas, it was what it was and she didn't regret having Rose the way she did. Lydia had spent the majority of Sunday afternoon trying to persuade Jane to let them wear bright pink bridesmaid dresses that she had found in a bridal magazine but Jane had firmly told her she didn't want bright colours.
It had been an early night on Sunday for most of the household, Jane had a nine o'clock meeting with a new client and Lizzy would have to drop Rose off at pre-school for eight in the morning before heading to school for eight-thirty. So after a good night's sleep and a lot of rushing around on Monday morning, Rose happily skipped off into her classroom with two of her little friends whilst Lizzy got back into her car and drove to work.
The morning at school went by in the blink of an eye, the morning with her class was spent doing literacy before the first break time of the day came and it was her turn to do playground duty with two colleagues, Marie King and Matthew Lucas. It was nice to watch her class run around the playground, she and Matthew ended up holding either end of a long skipping rope as some of the girls jumped in. When the bell rang, they went back into the classrooms and she started her classes numeracy lesson in their times tables.
Her students then went to lunch and she sat with Matthew in the staff room. Matthew was the older brother of her best friend Charlotte and the two had known each other for her entire life, he was the one who had put in a good word for her with the Headteacher when she had left university and she had been grateful ever since. Although Matthew taught year four whilst she taught year six. After lunch had finished, the rest of the afternoon was spent in the school hall getting out the gymnastics equipment and doing warm ups for their PE lesson.
Three o'clock came once more and it was raining yet again, only harder this time. After her meetings with the other members of staff, she got into her car and headed home. Rose had been collected by her father at lunch time so she was looking forward to spending a little time with her daughter before dinner was ready. Upon her arrival back at Longbourn and after parking her car next to her Dad's, she ran into the house to avoid getting drenched and was greeted by Rose who was covered in felt tip pens.
Lizzy laughed, "Did Granddad give you those?" she asked.
Rose nodded, "We drawed pictures." the little girl replied proudly.
"Can you show them to Mummy?"
Taking hold of her little girl's hand, Rose led her into the study where she pointed to the pieces of paper on the desk. Sitting in her father's swivel chair, she looked at the pictures that her daughter had drawn and smiled. Rose loved to draw and although most children her age still scribbled, Rose was able to form shapes and stick figures.
"They're really nice pictures, Rose." Lizzy said warmly.
Rose beamed up at her and hugged her round the legs tightly before showing her mother the picture she had drawhn of the two of them, a small stick figure with unruly curly hair and a taller one with lighter brown hair and two massive green dots for eyes. After spending a little more time looking at the pictures that Rose had drawn with her Dad, they were called in for dinner where they mainly discussed the plans that Jane and Charles had made that afternoon, the Church was booked now so the date was official, it was easier to get married in the two week holiday because Lizzy would be off from work and Lydia, Kitty and Mary wouldn't have to worry about missing university lectures or sixth form classes.
After dinner, Rose was bathed and read her bedtime story by Lizzy before being tucked in and drifting off to sleep. Elizabeth watched as her daughter slept so peacefully, her daughter's forehead free of stress and worry; she envied that sometimes, but she wouldn't have it any other way. As long as Rose was happy and well in her surroundings, it made her happy. Once Rose was settled, she made a start on her lesson plans for the following week as she wouldn't get a chance to do so with the engagement party on Saturday night.
And the routine went on over the next four days. Come Friday Lizzy was glad to get home from work with her lesson plans for the following week completed. Tired from her week of teaching, Rose was bathed and climbed into Lizzy's bed as her mother placed Aladdin into the DVD player; pressing the play button before climbing into the side that wasn't occupied by the three year old.
"Mummy?" Rose asked with a yawn.
"Yes darling?"
"I wanna be a princess." Rose whispered.
Lizzy smiled, tucking a curl behind her daughter's ear, "You are a princess, you're my princess."
"Princess Rose." the little girl smiled.
Elizabeth nodded in agreement, holding her daughter close to her as she could. Before she knew it, Rose had fallen asleep when Aladdin got stuck in the cave with the magic carpet, Abu and the genie.
he ended her Friday night with an early night tucked up in her bedroom with Rose watching a Disney film, both sleeping with the television playing the DVD.
ooOoo
"Good to see you Darcy!" Charles greeted enthusiastically, as William and Eleanor got out of his car.
The two best friends hugged briefly before Charles placed a light kiss to Eleanor's cheek. The three of them walked into the house, being greeted by the Hursts and Caroline Bingley, who immediately hugged Eleanor. The two women, despite Caroline's interest in Darcy, had always got on reasonably well because Eleanor came from a similar background to Darcy and if there was one thing Caroline wanted, other than her own marriage into the Darcy family, it was that William Darcy knew what his family expected from him.
"Have you eaten yet?" Charles asked.
"Reginald had us eat a hot meal at lunch time, you know how insistent he can be." Eleanor replied.
Entering the living room, they all sat down and started to discuss the engagement party that was taking place tomorrow night.
"I take no credit for the décor, Caroline was the one to have the house decorated and met with the caterers all week." Charles said with gratitude.
"The plan is to have the marquee outside decorated with circular tables covered in white table cloths where the guests can sit and be served food from trays that the waiters will be carrying. Just something light. The poles that keep the marquee standing will be covered with gold ribbon and a banner will cover the far end with the words, 'Congratulations Charles & Jane' in a nice font. Something simple yet lovely, like Jane Bennet." Caroline boasted.
Bennet. William frowned. Bennet had been Elizabeth's last name when the two were together, but then again Bennet was such a common surname in today's age, it was possible that Jane just simply shared a surname with his ex-girlfriend.
"It sounds wonderful Caroline," Eleanor complimented, "When it's mine and Fitzwilliam's turn to hold an engagement party, I will most certainly ask you and your talents to plan the party."
William held a breath when he met the icy stare from his best friend's little sister, he knew what Caroline was getting at. A part of her didn't want to see him marry someone else and another part was asking him why he hadn't proposed to his girlfriend after three years together which could possibly lead to Caroline hoping she still had a chance.
"I'd love to offer my services Eleanor." Caroline replied with a smile.
"Of course, we'd want to go on a larger and more extravagant.."
William zoned out as Eleanor, Caroline and Louisa talked about an engagement party that wasn't even happening and wouldn't be happening for a while if he had a say. But he knew that ever since he had told his girlfriend and father about Charles and Jane getting engaged, he would be getting a lot more pressure to propose to Eleanor and with his girlfriend openly discussing what she would like her own engagement party to look like, it was certainly adding to the pressure he was already getting from his father.
"So what's her family like?" William asked.
Charles smiled, "She's the eldest of five girls. Her mother's quite...I suppose you could say loud and sometimes old fashioned."
"Old fashioned?"
Charles nodded, "Fran Bennet wants to see all her daughters married when the time comes. Jane's sister is a year younger than her and has a three year old daughter and she's not married. So in their mother's eyes her second daughter is a disappointment."
"No wonder the daughter is a disappointment if that is the mother's beliefs." William replied.
"Rose is a lovely little girl, a credit to her mother and to Jane. Jane adores her niece, such a cheeky little girl." Charles said fondly.
"It seems that this little girl has had an affect on you."
Charles nodded in agreement, "Rosie has me wrapped around her little finger but it's the way she lights up and calls me 'Uncle Charlie' that makes me melt."
"I hope that you'll get that with your own child one day Bingley."
"I hope so. Just be aware that Jane's youngest two sisters can be quite 'silly' as their father describes them. The youngest is boy mad and the other tends to follow in agreement. But they're lovely girls, ambitious. Two of them are currently at university." said Charles.
"What do they study?"
"Music and History."
William nodded, at least his best friend was marrying into a family that had it's members attend university, that had to count for something. From previous descriptions from Caroline, Jane was always described as a country girl with country tastes and lived on a small estate but still needed a job to live on. Whilst his own family owned property and let those properties through their estate agent business, their family had come from money for several generations.
After a little longer of talking, he and Eleanor bade the others goodnight and climbed the stairs to the room where they would be sleeping. William couldn't wait for the weekend to be over, the sooner he could get in his car and drive back to Pemberley the better, he wouldn't have to keep putting up with Eleanor's talk with Charles's sisters about weddings and engagement parties and he wouldn't have to keep getting stares from the woman whose feelings he didn't return.
ooOoo
Elizabeth sat at her dressing table, curling tongs in hand and trying to finish off her hair before her mother came up trying to search for her. She had spent most of the day shopping with Jane and Rose, getting dresses for the party tonight. Rose had chosen out a ruffled red dress and matching bow to wear whilst Jane had picked a light pink dress with glitter on the see through sleeves but she hadn't found anything that she really liked; until they had gone into the Debenhams store where she found a blue, bodycon dress which Jane liked on her as well. With the votes of her daughter and sister, she bought the dress.
It was times like this that she wished that she didn't have to bother with the curling tongs and that she had curly hair like Rose did. She had always thought her daughter would be lucky when Rose got to her teenage years, she wouldn't have to bother with hairstyling equipment when she had natural curls. She let her hair frame around her face, pinning the left side back behind her ear before standing up, hearing the frantic shouts of her mother from downstairs.
"Lizzy! Elizabeth?! Get down here, we're going to be late." came the frantic shrieking of her mother from the entrance hall.
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth stood up and glanced at her reflection for one last time in the mirror. Her make-up was lightly applied and her hair was now finished and in place, Lizzy picked up her matching clutch bag which contained her phone and keys. She left her bedroom and met her daughter at the top of the stairs. Taking Rose's hand in her own, the two of them met the rest of the family in the entrance hall and left in their cars for Netherfield. Time to go and celebrate her sister's engagement.
