Her mother had fainted. Her mother had actually fainted. She had made a scene in the restaurant and fainted. Fainted, as in, someone needed to use smelling salts to wake her up.
It was embarrassing.
They were all back in Lizzie's hometown because Jane had insisted. She and Bing had been married for six months and Lizzie had a suspicion that the reason for the family reunion was a big announcement.
Lizzie and Will had gotten married a month earlier in a small ceremony. They had fought her mother over the size of the wedding (she had wanted to throw the wedding of the century with hundreds and hundreds of guests) but in the end got her to agree to an intimate affair of family and close friends at Darcy's vineyard. They had just returned from a three week honeymoon in South Africa. They had spent one week on safari, one week in wine country and one week on the beach.
It was everything a honeymoon should be and everything she had dreamed of, but now they were back to reality and the reality of the situation was that her mother was passed out on the floor of brunch. She threw back a mimosa and Jane and Dr. Bing helped her mother up after a waiter had provided smelling salts.
The brunch had started the way they usually did. Her mother was being her typical self, raving over something or another, trying to set Lydia up with a rich, single man. Her father was sitting quietly, observing the whole situation with amusement. Lydia was two mimosas deep and Caroline was rolling her eyes. Jane and Bing were starring lovingly at each other. And she and her husband were laughing at their own private jokes.
Everything was perfectly normal until Jane stood up, hand in hand with Bing and announcing that they were expecting their first child.
Before anyone could react, her mother had started to wail, tears pricked the corners of her eyes, "I'm soo-ooohhhh happy! The Lord has been good to us! Oh Loo-oord!" her wails became louder and louder and she worked herself up into a fainting spell.
The entire restaurant had stopped what they were doing and gave their undivided attention to the scene unfolding before them. Her father was unaffected by the whole ordeal, Caroline was horrified and Lydia was somewhere between shocked and trying to hold in a giggle. And Jane and Bing (being the doctor that he was) had sprung into action. She and Darcy had taken to their mimosas.
When she came to, she had apologized for making a scene before giving Jane designs for the nursery. It was all too much to handle.
After finishing her third mimosa (she deserved it, she couldn't handle this brunch sober) she turned to her husband, "when we get pregnant, we're telling her over the phone."
He smirked, "when we get pregnant we're fleeing the country and then telling her over the phone."
"That, dear husband, is an excellent plan."