As spring moved into early summer, the sisters learned what their mother was like when she was so large in the late stages of pregnancy. They were all too young to remember clearly the birth of any of their sisters. She could or would not get around easily, so they had to care for her every whim. Her nerves were even worse than they had been before. She and all her daughters hoped for a boy; Mary even prayed for one, hoping that her righteous life might make a difference in how her prayers were received.
Finally, as expected, in May, 1813, the pains began and she told her daughters to inform the midwife and her sister Philips. When these two women arrived, the girls were barred from her room, being maidens and so were to remain ignorant of the details of what happens during childbirth. Elizabeth sent a message to Jane asking if she wanted to come, but Jane declined, saying she was now too large and too close to her own delivery to learn to fear what would happen when her own time came.
Being her sixth delivery, Mrs. Bennet did not labour for too many hours. Just that evening, the girls heard the distinctive cry of a baby, the first heard in Longbourn for many years. "It is a boy! We are saved!" they heard their mother shout. They were soon allowed in to see their mother, exhausted, but looking so proud of her achievement. Their main desire was to see their brother.
Lydia was the first to remark, "He is beautiful! Look at all that dark hair!" They did not notice that their mother smiled at this comment, thinking of another's dark hair. Soon all four girls had taken their turn holding him and they naturally cooed over him. It was obvious that this baby would not lack for caregivers.
Elizabeth, ever the practical one, asked, "What are we going to name him? Should he not be named after our father?" Mrs. Bennet had to restrain herself from suggesting that 'George' was a good name.
They all agreed that this was an excellent idea, so they collectively decided that he would be called Thomas Edward Bennet, but they soon found that he was just Tommy to them. Fortunately, Tommy was healthy and had no serious problems.
Mr. Philips delightedly sent off a letter to Collins, telling him the good news that he would not have to worry about learning how to manage an estate; that Longbourn had a new Master who would take full control of Longbourn upon reaching his majority. Until then, the two trustees had responsibility for the estate. While Charlotte was pleased that the Bennets' lives would not be disrupted, she could not say this out loud to her husband as he was mightily disappointed. He quickly went to Rosings to pass the news to his patroness. She was pleased that she would not lose such a perfect parson that suited all of her requirements and slavishly followed her instructions.
The whole Gardiner family came for the christening as they were also relieved at the birth of a Bennet son. The Gardiner children loved their new cousin, especially the two girls. He was just like a baby doll! When they asked if they could play with him, they were disappointed to hear that he was just too young, but that he would grow quickly.
In a family conference, they all decided that the Philipses were best suited to be named as godparents, living closer in proximity to Longbourn than the Gardiners. The christening was very well attended as so many residents of Meryton were happy for the Bennets. No one wanted to see them lose their home, especially to a person such as Collins, who had not impressed anyone when he had been there. Perhaps the only residents not very pleased with the birth were Sir William and Lady Lucas, who had hoped for better things for their daughter Charlotte, but they accepted the good fortune of the Bennets with grace. In any case, they were satisfied that Charlotte was quite satisfied with her lot in life. She repeatedly told them how contented she was with her cottage in Hunsford.
After the christening, the Gardiners stayed at Longbourn for a few days before returning to London so Mr. Gardiner could be brought up-to-date on all that Elizabeth had done with her management of the estate. He readily approved of everything she had done, especially with the improvements that had been made over the winter. He had been impressed with his niece before, but his admiration of her grew tremendously. He hoped that these added responsibilities that took up so much of her time would not reduce the likelihood of her meeting a gentleman who might be suitable as a husband. He was just like his wife and his sisters in wanting all the Bennet girls to find happiness with good husbands.
While Mrs. Gardiner remembered Mrs. Bennet's statement that she could not be pregnant as she had not been with her husband for a long time, she hoped with all her heart that this did not mean that she had strayed from her marital vows. She hoped that this merely meant that she had not remembered being with him. In any case, she had not repeated that statement to anyone; not even her husband. When Aunt Gardiner looked at her new nephew, she realized that it did not matter how he came to be conceived as he would be the saviour of the Bennet family. The only result of Mrs. Bennet's admission was that Mrs. Gardiner had even less respect for her than she had before.
The Gardiners had considered asking one of their nieces to come to live with them in London. They had previously thought that Kitty would be the best choice so she would no longer be under the influence of her most immature sister, Lydia. However, they were astounded at the change in Lydia's behaviour. She was no longer so wild or so silly as she had been before her trip to Brighton. They spoke to Lizzy about this change and asked what might have caused it. Lizzy said that Wickham's killing of their father and his subsequent hanging was the main reason, but she added that she now had more control over Lydia and her pin money as their mother had been so preoccupied with her pregnancy. She thought that she was more consistent and sterner than their father had been with her. Lizzy also mentioned the attentions Lydia had received from Captain Carter and the implicit promise that he would call on her when he resigned from the military to take on the management of his own estate. She said that she believed that Lydia admired him and so was not so desperate to attract the attention of other men by flirting with them. Lizzy talked to them about Mr. Carter's good qualities as he would have to obtain the permission of both of Lydia's guardians if he asked to court and eventually marry her. After Lizzy's assurances about him, the Gardiners decided that they would not resist his application when or if he made it.
When the Gardiners went home to London, they did not take Kitty with them as they had spoken to Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth about her. They had all decided that Kitty seemed to be happy at Longbourn at this time, but that they would keep their offer open if they came to believe that Kitty would benefit from going to London.
Elizabeth had wondered if they should hire a nurse for Tommy, using the money they had put aside to pay rent on Longbourn if the baby had been a daughter. In a family conference, they decided that the four sisters would each take responsibility to look after him. They were pleased to do this as they all fell completely in love with him as he was such an easy baby who did not cry much or fuss unless he was hungry or needed changing. In any case, Mrs. Hill, their long-time housekeeper, also seemed to dote on him and was often seen to take him from his mother whenever she could. In this, Mrs. Bennet did not seem to object at all. However, as much as the other girls tried to take their turn, the main care for Tommy seemed to fall on Elizabeth, perhaps because she was the oldest sister at Longbourn, but more likely as she was the most reliable and attentive to his needs. Elizabeth noticed that she spent more time with her brother than her mother, whose attitude confused her as she had assumed that a mother would be very attentive to a newborn.
Just a month after Tommy was born, they received word from Netherfield that Jane was in labour. She used the same midwife as her mother, so the family was familiar with her. The whole family went to Netherfield and even brought Tommy with them. Jane's labour took much longer than her mother's, which was not surprising as this was Jane's first child. The length of Jane's labour almost undid Mr. Bingley as he was so nervous for his wife. It was not until early the next morning that they finally heard the baby's cries. Their mother had been with her the whole time, but her sisters were again kept out of the delivery room. When they were allowed in to see Jane, they could see that she was smiling, but exhausted. They oohed and aahed over the baby, who was a daughter that they named Anna Frances Bingley, to the great joy of her grandmother, Mrs. Frances Bennet. Mr. Bingley was almost floating in his excitement at the birth of his first child. The baby was held by everyone before they even considered leaving to allow Jane to get some rest. Bingley had hired a nurse to help Jane, so the baby was left in her care when the Bennets all left to get some rest.
As the six-month period of deep mourning for their father had passed and they were well into the period of half mourning, the Bennets decided they would slowly begin to enjoy more entertainments that were available in Meryton. To signal their availability, they had a dinner party for their closest friends. Guests included the Lucases, the Longs, the Gouldings, and several others. Mrs. Long, when she received the invitation, asked if she could bring her brother as he was currently visiting them. The dinner party was a great success as the food was, as always, very well selected, cooked, and presented. The guests all got along very well, including Mrs. Long's brother, a Sir Albert Elford, who had been knighted for some service to the Crown. It turned out he was a widower who was retired and lived in Reading, Berkshire, which was not too far from Hertfordshire. He was a jolly fellow who kept the table entertained with his fanciful tales during the whole dinner.
After dinner, the ladies separated and retired to the drawing room, but the gentlemen did not stay apart for long as they heard such pleasing sounds of the piano and singing from the ladies, several of whom were quite as proficient as Elizabeth in both talents. Elizabeth noticed that Sir Albert soon went to her mother and began to talk mostly to her. His attention to her may have been the result of Mrs. Bennet being the only unattached mature lady in the group, but the way he looked at her seemed to indicate another reason. This shocked Elizabeth a bit as she had not thought that her mother would attract the attentions of a man, especially this quickly; she thought of her only as her mother, and not as a woman who might be attractive to men. She had noticed that her mother had basically regained her figure after the birth of her son, although her breasts were much larger than they had been. Elizabeth assumed the reason for this was that she was nursing Tommy.
Meanwhile, her mother found that she was enjoying receiving such close attention from a gentleman that she found handsome and interesting. It had been many years since her husband had treated her so courteously, so she smiled at Sir Albert and thought how nice it would be to be called 'Lady Elford.' Even though it had been many years since she had tried to attract a man's attention, she found that she still remembered some of the tricks that had captured Mr. Bennet's interest such a long time ago. Her imagination leapt from attention, to admiration, to love, and from love to matrimony in a moment. As Sir Albert was to remain with the Longs for several weeks, she made sure that he was aware that she returned his interest in becoming more closely acquainted. Her daughters at first were aghast at their mother's antics, which, as they were not excessively overt, they then found them to be amusing.
It was not long after that dinner party that Captain Carter returned to Meryton and called upon the Bennets, specifically to see Lydia. After greeting them all very politely, he said, "I have reached the age of 25, so I have now inherited the estate that was left to me. I resigned my captaincy and will be taking possession of the estate as soon as possible as it has been in the care of a steward for several years and needs closer attention. It is in Essex, so coming to Hertfordshire first was not much out of the way. I am staying at the inn and plan to be here for several days if that is agreeable to you, Miss Lydia? May I call on you while I am here?"
Lydia was very pleased to see him even if he no longer wore a red coat. He was invited to stay for dinner, which he readily accepted. Over the next several days, he spent most of his time with Lydia, who followed her mother's example to show him that she returned his regard. Lydia made sure she took him to visit her Aunt and Uncle Philips as she knew that, as one of her guardians, the consent of her Uncle Philips would be needed if Mr. Carter asked for either a courtship or her hand. Carter extended his stay several times until he found an opportunity to be alone with Lydia to ask for her hand, which she gladly accepted. When he left to seek the permission of Mr. Philips, Lydia went to tell the family about his proposal. Of course, they were delighted with her news. Carter soon returned with the permission of one guardian and said that on his way to Essex he would stop in London to meet with Mr. Gardiner. Elizabeth was sure this would be granted as she had spoken of Captain Carter to the Gardiners. They tentatively set the wedding date for late September in Meryton. Carter wanted this late date as the harvest on his estate should be finished by then. This date was quite acceptable to the Bennets as they would be completely out of mourning by then. He then left for his estate via London with tender good-byes to his betrothed.
Naturally the whole family was excited about this visit and proposal, especially Lydia. She knew that she was now much different from the irresponsible girl she had been until she went to Brighton. She was looking forward to being a wife and having responsibility for her own household. She soon went to Mrs. Hill to ask to be involved in learning about the running of Longbourn so she would be ready to become mistress of her own establishment. She also began to accompany Lizzy on her regular visits around the estate so she could learn something about what her husband would need to look after. Lizzy was very impressed with how her sister had matured in just a year. They found that they became closer than they had ever been before.
They received word from Mr. Gardiner that he had been visited by Mr. Carter to ask for Lydia's hand and that he had given his approval. He said that Carter had promised to send him the marriage settlement documents and they had also discussed Lydia's dowry, which was not large but would prove to be useful in setting up their new household in Essex.
Their wedding soon came. Mrs. Bennet had been busy making all the necessary arrangements, so those were very well organized. Just before the wedding day, her mother had the talk with Lydia about marital relations and what to expect. Lydia ended up more confused than she had ever been. Mrs. Bennet began by talking about the physical act and how Lydia should just lie back and accept her husband's attentions as it would soon be over. However, a dreamy look came into her eyes and she said that it was possible that the occasion could be wonderful for both parties, but she did not explain how this joy could be achieved. After this talk, Lydia went to Jane, who gave her much more encouraging information and made many suggestions on how to help her husband learn to be slow and gentle with her. Jane promised that the act of love was the most incredible experience that a wife could achieve if she trained her husband properly.
Many people attended the marriage ceremony and the wedding breakfast. The newlyweds then left for their new home in Essex. In consultation with her uncles, Elizabeth had even managed to give them a wedding gift of a decent sum of money from the increased profits from the estate and the savings that they had managed to accumulate. That pleased the couple greatly and they said that it would be put to good use to improve Carter's estate.
Longbourn seemed much quieter with only the three girls, Tommy, and Mrs. Bennet now in residence. Elizabeth was very busy with the management of the estate and much of the care of Tommy. When she had begun to be busy when the harvest began, she had said to Mary and Kitty one morning, "I am going to be very busy with the harvest for several weeks, or even longer, so I will not have as much time to look after Tommy as I had. You know that Mother is not spending much time with him. May I ask that you make sure that Tommy is well cared for? The harvest is extremely important as we rely on the income we derive from it. I have to make sure that nothing goes wrong." As this was the second harvest that Elizabeth had overseen, things went much better than the first one. She was pleased that their yields on almost all the farms had increased, thus justifying the expenditures she had incurred on making improvements. Everyone was quite pleased with the results.
Neither Mary nor Kitty was enthusiastic about taking on this added responsibility, but they agreed. Neither seemed to have as much feeling for their brother as Lizzy, whose maternal instincts seem to develop the more she cared for him. With the harvest complete, Elizabeth found that most of the care for her brother once again fell on her. She did not mind this as her social life was almost nil except for visits to Jane at Netherfield and to her Aunt Philips in Meryton. There were no young men in Meryton who were of interest to her. Whenever she thought of any of them, she found that they just did not compare to a certain tall, dark-haired, and handsome gentleman that she had once known.