Pemberley, 17 May 1832
Mrs Darcy was sitting in her yellow sitting room and enjoying the occasional quiet time, when someone knocked on her door. Turning around she saw her oldest niece peeking around the door.
„Oh hello Amy, how come you are not resting? Is something the matter?" The children had made a rather long tour on one of the nearby lake in the morning and had come home tired, hungry, all of them, even the often wild Wickham boys, after lunch.
„Everything is fine, Aunt Elizabeth. I was just wondering if you have some pink yarn for me? I do not have any left and Mama also did not have any.", Amy smiled hesitantly at her and Mrs Darcy noticed a light garment in the young woman's hand.
Mrs Darcy stood up and went to her embroidery basket: „Please come in and sit down Amy. I have to look for it. Do you want to show me what you are working on?"
Amy sat down and held the garment up at her. It was a little girls dress, made out of different shades of pale pink linen and embroidered in neat small stitches: „Oh that is truly beautiful! Did you add the embroidery yourself?"
„Well yes. I made the whole dress, out of some old garments we had left. Katie loves pink. It is her favorite color.", Amy face lit up when she talked about her little sister. She rarely smiled but when she did she looked more then pretty, almost beautiful.
„Then you must be a very skilled seamstress and an even more caring sister. I would have needed weeks to complete a dress like that and it would look not even half as good as it does now." Mrs Darcy fished some pale pink garment and a needle out of her basket: „What do you think? Will this work?"
„I could use it for some smaller flowers, thank you.", Amy looked like she wanted to get up again so Mrs Darcy mentioned for her to stay seated: „Why don't you stay and keep me company? I also have some needlework to do."
Amy stayed but did not say a thing. She worked quietly and diligently on the dress, not looking up more than necessary. Mrs Darcy was not sure how, but she knew she needed to get her niece to talk a bit. Amy had been the perfect guest these past days. Always polite, always offering help. Never showing any emotion. Every day she was in Pemberley the things Lydia had said about what happened in Newcastle made less sense.
„Do you also work on your own dresses? They often look especially beautiful."
„Yes we do. We all do. I mean Mama and Effie and I. Even Katie helps us, rolling the yarn. She is too small for everything else but such a dear child."
„Katie is very sweet. And she is so attached to you."
Amy sighed: „Katies birth was not easy on our Mama. It made her very sick. We worried a lot, Ben and I. Effie was still a child back then. Mama had to lay in bed for a long time. Katie was so small and helpless, I took care of her. She was a happy little child despite all that. The happiest little girl you had ever seen. Then, two years ago, the Influenza went trough Newcastle. Curt was the first to get sick, then Freddy. They both recovered fairly good, they were strong and healthy boys. But Katie, it almost ate her up. Thats why she is so small now, she never fully recovered. And I am back to worrying about her." Amy smiled sadly at her aunt while caressing the dress with her hands as if it were little Katies head.
Mrs Darcy did some quick calculations. As Katie was four now, Amy could not have been much older than fourteen when she started caring for her sister. How difficult it must have been for the girl!
„I am sorry you had to shoulder all that at such a young age, Amy. Caring for such small children can be quite difficult, even under better circumstance. You did truly well by Katie."
„Do not be sorry, Aunt. Please don't be. It is no hassle taking care of Katie. I love her so much, you know? As if she were my own. And Jack loves her so much. She will come with us eventually. When we - well there is no use to talk about that now."
„I do not want to pry, Amy. But if you want to talk about what happened with someone please know that you can always come to me." She went over from her armchair and set next to her niece, squeezing her hand.
To her utter surprise Amy chuckled. It was a dry laugh, reminding of her own sons sometimes rather sarcastic humor.
„I can only imaging what my Mama has told you. And you have every right to know, as you have hosted us without complaining all week and probably will be for some time.", she went somber again. „But it will take me some time, as I have never told it to anyone fully before. Effie is the only one to know and even she doesn't know everything. She is so small still, much to young to worry about more than necessary."
„Take all the time you need. You don't have to say anything more today, if you feel uncomfortable."
„But I will, Aunt Elizabeth. Maybe it will do me some good. But I have to start earlier than what has happened last month for you to truly understand Jack. Because he is a good man, he truly is. It is simply not fair how he is regarded now, just because of all this mess." Amy looked truly upset for a short second but then quickly regained her normally composed look: „I joined society with sixteen, when Katie had recovered from pneumonia. Mama went with me to a lot of balls, she meant well. But she was mostly to tired to truly give me company. It was my second ball. I was dancing with a young soldier for the third set and I felt quiet dizzy. So he offered to take me to the gardens. I had not expected it to be that dark. And him to be so forward. He started kissing me. He was so tall, I could not fight him off. He just kept on forcing himself on me. But then Jack came. I did not know him at that time. But he saw me struggling and he went over and fought that man. Even though he was much taller than Jack was. But Jack always knew how to fight, even back then. He saved me. And he saw to it that I recovered and went into the hall again. When Mama and I went home I was afraid I would never see him again to thank him for everything properly. But he called the next day with his sister and I never told anyone this. Mama does not like Jack anyways and I do not want Effie to worry about something she cannot change. I do not want them both to worry." Amy took a deep breath and was about to start talking again, when the door burst open.
„Amy, Amy! I have been looking everywhere for you! Ben wrote! He got that promotion he is always talking about. And they want to take Freddy in. We are finally going to return home!", Effies hair was a mess and she looked out of breath. But she was grinning from ear to ear and finally looking like the girl of just fifteen that she was.
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Hello lovelies! It has taken some time but finally here it is - the new chapter. Thanks to everyone reviewing, favoriting and following so far, I am always so excited to see that you (hopefully) enjoy reading what I write and have not lost patience with me and my characters till now!
As requested here a quick rundown of all the ages:
Arthur Darcy, 18
Imogen Darcy, 15
Amy Wickham, 19
Ben Wickham, 18
Curt and Daniel Wickham, 17
Effie Wickham, 15
Frederick Wickham, 13
Gideon Wickham, 11
Henry Wickham, 10
Isaac Wickham, 8
James Wickham, 6
Katie Wickham, 4
Rose Bingley, 18
Andrew Bingley, 15
I deeply apologize if there is some inconsistency in their ages. I changed some of the details quite a lot while preparing the story and will try to change any errors in the chapters uploaded so far when I have time again! Please review anyways 3