Elizabeth immediately went to Netherfield to show Jane their mother's letter. She was in too great a hurry to get there to walk, so she ordered that her dog cart be prepared for her. She and Jane had developed the habit of seeing each other just about every second day, either at Longbourn or at Netherfield, but it was unusual for Elizabeth to enter in such a rush. She found Jane and said, "Jane, I finally heard from Mama. Here, read her letter! I cannot believe what it says and does not say."
Jane read the letter, twice, then said, "Lizzy, come and sit down. I am afraid that I know your concerns. Mother did not ask about any of us or mention what will happen to you, Mary, or Tommy. I am afraid that what we had thought is coming to pass. Mother is totally immersed in her new life and has basically forgotten about us. She must assume that you will continue to manage Longbourn and look after Tommy. She does not even mention if they will be coming to visit us. If it would do any good, I would write to her to encourage her to think about what this means for you, but I will not waste my time or paper; she seems content to leave things as they are. It appears that she does not realize the responsibilities that have fallen on you."
Elizabeth was surprised that Jane, who never criticized anyone but always looked positively on every situation, almost said something negative about their mother. "Jane, is this going to be my life from now on? Will I always be here at Longbourn looking after the estate and raising Tommy? He is only one! Should I expect this to continue for another twenty years?" She thought back to the second offer of marriage that she had received and wondered if she had thrown away her best chance of happiness. She felt pangs of regret for the words that she had used then as she knew how wrong she had been in her accusations.
"No, Lizzy, we cannot let that happen. It is not fair to you. The least we can do is to made sure that you can get away, probably to London, for more frequent visits. I can easily look after Tommy. He and Anna get along very well and crawl together everywhere, getting into mischief. Tommy is one now and I expect that he will be walking very soon. He is already standing up whenever he can find something to hold on to. I know that Anna will be following his lead. They will be even more fun then, except for the nurses who will have to run to keep up with them.
"Lizzy, you have to have a life beyond Longbourn. You will not become a spinster aunt as you had joked so often. With Mama gone, my household is quieter. While I enjoyed her visits a great deal, she was a bit disruptive with the staff whenever she gave them orders that did not coincide with my instructions. Would you like to have Charles help you with the estate? He is becoming much more comfortable with running Netherfield. In fact, he is planning to buy the estate as he is enjoying his life as a landed gentleman so much. If you like, we can talk to Uncle Philips about having Charles do some things for you. We will do anything we can to make sure you find some pleasure in life." In her mind, she decided to write to her aunt Gardiner to talk about the whole situation with their mother and to suggest that she invite Lizzy to visit them several times a year. She only wanted Lizzy to find the happiness that she had found with her dear Mr. Bingley. She wanted her to find a husband who would make her as happy as she was.
Jane wrote to their aunt, explaining her worries about Lizzy's situation. She indicated that they had heard from their mother only once and that it seemed that she had no intention of returning to Longbourn in the near future or to change the living arrangements for her children. Mrs. Gardiner was not surprised to receive this letter as it was completely consistent with what she had discussed with Lizzy before Mrs. Bennet's wedding.
As a result, she wrote to Lizzy inviting her to go to London as soon as she could. As soon as spring planting was complete, she took Tommy and his nurse to Netherfield and used the Longbourn carriage to go to London, taking Emma, her lady's maid with her. She had invited Mary to go with her, but she said that the noise of London did not suit her, so she decided to stay to look after Longbourn. She said that she would spend more time practicing the piano and studying the scriptures. Elizabeth asked Jane to check on Mary frequently to make sure that there were no problems at Longbourn and not to leave Mary alone in the house. Jane readily agreed to this and promised to have Mary over almost every day so she would not be left alone at Longbourn. They both worried about Mary becoming a recluse.
Elizabeth had not seen Kitty or the Gardiners for three months since her mother's wedding, so their reunion was loud and spirited. She remarked on how the four Gardiner cousins were growing, with the oldest now being twelve and the youngest six. At first, Elizabeth had not been very interested in going to London, but went only after Jane and her aunt had encouraged her. However, once she had arrived at the Gardiners' house, she found that her worries decreased. She was confident that Jane and Charles would look after Tommy and Longbourn and that Mary would be invited to Netherfield often so she would not be left alone for long periods of time as she trusted that Jane would do as she had promised.
London did not offer many entertainments in the early summer, but there were still a few that they attended. While Kitty had been taken to several over the past three months, Elizabeth had not gone to any in Meryton except for one or two assemblies with Jane and Charles as she loved to dance, but there were no new eligible men there to make the dances very interesting. Her social life had been restricted to visits and teas, with an occasional dinner invitation. In London, they went shopping and saw plays and the opera, which she enjoyed a great deal. She chided herself when she found that she kept looking at the other patrons, hoping to see a tall and handsome gentleman. She felt that the weight on her shoulders was lessened from this visit, much more than she had expected.
Elizabeth stayed in London for three weeks until she thought of the heat and smells of the city that would soon occur. These thoughts convinced her that she would rather return to the country before the weather became much warmer. She was in London when Tommy turned one, but she wanted to return to Longbourn in time for Anna's first birthday, which was in June. When she arrived home, she found Mary, as expected, immersed in her practicing the piano and reading religious books. Together, they went to Netherfield to pick up Tommy. Elizabeth had been worried that he would not remember her after having been away from him for several weeks, but he smiled at her and quickly crawled to her to be picked up. Elizabeth's maternal instincts became even stronger at their reunion and his reactions to her. She could not understand how her mother seemed to have lost her feelings for her son when she felt so strongly about him.
They had a small family party at Longbourn for Anna's birthday, with only Elizabeth, Mary, Bingley, Jane, Anna, and the Philipses. Being too young to understand what was happening, Anna and Tommy just enjoyed the fun and the food. Much of the enjoyment by the adults was just watching the babies making a mess.
In July, Elizabeth was working on estate matters in the office at Longbourn that had previously been her father's as she often did in the morning when she heard a carriage arrive. She looked out the window and saw her mother and Sir Albert come up to the front door. She was astounded that she had received no warning that they had been planning to come to Longbourn. Her mother did not wait for anyone to welcome her in; she just walked in as if she were still the resident Mistress here. Mrs. Hill happened to be nearby and welcomed them in warmly. Elizabeth went to greet them and received a hug from her mother and a polite bow from Sir Albert.
"Mama! I did not know you were coming! It is so good to see you! I will have your rooms prepared for you."
"No need for that. We arrived last night and are staying with the Longs. I did not want to burden you with our presence. I thought that it was time to see the old neighbourhood. Oh, Lizzy! We are having such a good time in Reading. There is so much to do there; much more than here."
Elizabeth was stunned to hear that her mother would rather stay with Sir Albert's family than her own, but she had to content herself with the thought that this must have meant that her mother was putting her new husband's desires before her own. They went to the sitting room and Mary came to see who had arrived. She also received a hug from her mother.
"Mama, would you like to see Tommy? You will not believe how he has grown." Without waiting for her answer, Elizabeth asked Mrs. Hill, who was still there, to bring Tommy down. When she carried him in, she handed him to his mother, who appeared to be reluctant to take him. Tommy, not recognizing his mother, did not look happy to be given to this stranger.
His mother held him awkwardly and said, "My yes, he certainly has grown." She then passed him back to Mrs. Hill, who set him on the floor. He crawled over to the couch where Elizabeth was sitting and pulled himself up to a standing position. When Mary beckoned to him, he took a few unsteady steps before plopping down on his rear. He crawled the rest of the way to her.
Elizabeth could not believe that his own mother would appear to be so uninterested in her son, as a son is what her parents had tried so desperately to achieve for so many frustrating years, but had but had resulted in only five daughters. Her mother then said, "He certainly has black hair. He is the only one of you to have such dark hair."
Elizabeth, who was watching her mother closely, noticed that a slight flush suddenly appeared on her face. Her mother's comment and reaction played on her mind. She quickly thought of all that she had heard about her parents' trip to Brighton and her father's death at the hands of Wickham. When she thought of Wickham, she realized that his hair had been almost black. She was horrified when she thought to herself, 'No! That cannot be! But why was my father fighting Mr. Wickham at their rooming house? Mama! What have you done?' She could think of no other explanation, but hoped she was wrong. 'Is that why Mama is so uninterested in Tommy? She obviously does not seem to love him at all. Is she feeling guilty?'
The Elfords did not stay long as her mother said that she wanted to go to Netherfield to see Jane and Anna. Elizabeth asked if they would come for dinner, but they said that their time was uncertain because the Longs had planned several entertainments for them. She did promise to let Elizabeth know if they had an evening free.
After they left, Elizabeth and Mary both sat, very disappointed. Mary said, "Lizzy, how could Mother seem to feel so little for us? They stayed for such as short time! She did not seem interested in Tommy at all. I know that we are supposed to honour our mothers and fathers, but should that not also work the other way as well? Is this how it will be from now on? They would not even stay with us, but we have left her suite untouched, ready for her! Lizzy, I guess you are the Mistress here now, so you should move into her room as she will obviously never use it again. It is much nicer than your own room."
"Mary, I am not sure what to think. I admit that I am shocked; first, that she did not warn us that they were coming; next, that they are staying with the Longs and not with us; and finally, at her apparent lack of interest in any of us. I guess that her new husband is completely occupying her mind. She is so different from how she was with our father. It is hard to believe that she is the same woman. I imagine that this is what we should expect from now on. Mary, we are on our own now." The sisters hugged each other in the apparent loss of their mother's affection.
Jane came over later that afternoon with Anna. "Lizzy, we had such a nice visit from Mother and Sir Albert! They stayed for several hours. She seems so happy with him. She barely let Anna go the whole time. They promised to come to dinner as soon as they are free. Of course, you and Mary will come then."
When Elizabeth told Jane how short their visit to Longbourn had been, and how their mother did not seem interested in Tommy, Jane found that hard to believe. "Lizzy, that cannot be! I hope that you did not say anything to upset them? Why would she seem to prefer Anna to Tommy?"
"Jane, just think that Anna is her granddaughter and she can give her back to you. They obviously do not want Tommy to be with them, so she was likely worried to show much interest in him in case I wanted to give him back to her. From what she said, she is enjoying her new life in Reading so much that she has no intention of returning to any part of her old life. We seem to be just a bad memory to her. Mary even said that I should move into her suite as it is obvious that Mother has no intention of ever occupying it again. Oh Jane! Who will look after Tommy if I do not?"
"I will! Lizzy, I already told you that Charles and I will gladly take her. You have your own life to live. Please do not think that Tommy is your responsibility alone. Any time that you need a break or want to get away, just let me know. You have taken on so much. It is not fair to you."
"Thank you, dearest Jane! I appreciate your kind offer and will take advantage of it whenever I need a break." Elizabeth wanted to talk to someone about her suspicions about Tommy's parentage, but she did not want to horrify her favourite sister with such dreadful thoughts.
Their mother did find an evening free to spend with her daughters, so the three sisters gathered at Netherfield for dinner and conversation with the Elfords. They found that their mother was not very interested in hearing what her daughters had been doing; she talked almost exclusively about her new life in Reading and their plans to spend more time in Bath, which she had loved. She did spend a short time with Anna and Tommy before they were put to bed by their nurses.
None of the sisters saw much more of their mother for the remaining time that she was in Meryton. She spent most of her time with the Longs and the Philipses. It was from their Aunt Philips that they heard that the Elfords had returned to Reading, with no definite plans when she might visit Meryton again.