Elizabeth watched her intended as he mounted Caesar and threw her a quick smile before turning his horse towards Kympton. With a nudge and a cry, the horse sprang into a fast trot throwing up clouds of dust in his passing.

"I am glad everything has worked out for you, Lizzy." said Jane. "After the parson's visit, it seemed like your wedding would never take place. I am very happy for you."

Elizabeth, her body still buzzing from the extreme change in circumstances, could not stop smiling. "I can not quite believe it myself," she turned toward Jane with a mischievous look. "Until after our vows in front of the parson, I will not."

With both sisters smiling at each other, and with lighthearted steps, they entered the inn arm in arm and proceeded down the hall to the private sitting room. Unfortunately, Mrs. Bennet's shrill voice carried far enough to be heard in the hallway, and after a quick glance at Jane, Elizabeth opened the door.

"-must have them! How can we wear dresses we have already worn to Lydia's wedding? We must have new dresses for the wedding -"

"Mama," cried Elizabeth. "Please, lower your voice. We could hear you in the hallway."

"Pshaw, I doubt anyone could hear anything what with all the people coming and going. I have never been in an inn so noisy." Mrs. Bennet flicked her handkerchief.

Mary lowered her book. "We have not traveled such a distance before without relations nearby. This is our first stay at an inn, therefore —"

"Oh, Mary! Do you forget your parent's wedding holiday? We traveled to Brighton and stayed at the inn not far from the ocean. The inn was large and quite lovely, right on the promenade."

Elizabeth sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of tea. The news during breakfast had left her with no appetite, but now after being reassured by Mr. Darcy, she was quite hungry.

"Is the news not wonderful, Lizzy?" Asked Mrs. Bennet. "I would have thought you would be over the moon with excitement. I know I was the day before I wed Mr. Bennet, my poor nerves could barely handle it." Mrs. Bennet glanced at Elizabeth calmly drinking tea. "I would be unable to eat with having my wedding called off, then arranged for the very next day —"

Elizabeth paused in the motion of bringing her tea cup to her mouth. "Tomorrow?"

"— and of course I had asked Mr. Bennet for dresses for your wedding. But he persisted in being cruel and now we shall have no new —"

She slowly sat her cup back down on the saucer.

"Lizzy? What is wrong?" Jane leaned over and squeezed Elizabeth's hand.

Elizabeth looked around the room, the rest of her family staring at her. "Tomorrow is quite sudden."

Mr. Bennet lowered the newspaper he had been reading to look directly at her. "Indeed, and that was why your intended thought it imperative to wed on the morrow, so his aunt could no longer interfere. She will be expecting two more weeks of the Banns read."

Mrs. Bennet stared at Elizabeth as if she was addlepated. "Of course it is tomorrow! Mr. Darcy informed Mr. Bennet of that himself, which Kitty heard and ran upstairs to tell me!"

She knew Mr. Darcy had informed her of the change in their wedding date, yet the news had not fully registered until this very moment. There was a very good reason for moving the wedding date up by a fortnight, but she had not been prepared for this to be her last day with her family.

Her eyes darted one by one to her family members scattered throughout the room. Kitty looking down at the floor, Mary reading by the fire, Jane leaning towards her staring with concern, Mrs. Bennet apprising the room of the extravagances she expected Mr. Darcy's estate to have but that she had not seen during her previous visit, and Mr. Bennet reading the newspaper.

"Lizzy?"

She turned to Kitty.

"Will you have an engagement ball?"

"A ball! Yes, you *must* have an engagement ball. The Lucases did not have one, and rightly so for *I* would not want to celebrate a marriage that will allow my daughter to take someone's home from them!" Elizabeth sighed while Jane squeezed her hand. "But an engagement ball at Pebbly will be quite the event. I dare say the Lucas', even though William is a knight now, would have a hard time —"

The extreme stresses of the day, from the horrible news from the parson, to Mr. Darcy renewing his vow to wed her tomorrow, and now Mrs. Bennet mispronouncing Mr. Darcy's grand estate, Elizabeth burst with laughter.

Mrs. Bennet was not amused. "Lizzy! It is not ladylike to laugh brashly! And at nothing to boot! You will be hauled off to Bedlam if you do not stop!"

"Mr. Darcy's estate is not Pebbly," Kitty announced. "But *Pemberley*."

"I did not say Pebbly! How could you accuse me of such a thing? I have a notion —"

Jane tugged at her hand. "Come, Lizzy. Let us go upstairs. I am unsure which dress to wear. I wish I had brought more, but I had expected only one wedding to attend."

###

In the small room they now shared upstairs in the inn, Jane pulled out her dresses and laid them on the bed. "I wore this one to Lydia's wedding. It is the best dress I brought with me, but I do not feel I should wear it to both weddings."

"The only ones that will notice are the same one that attended Lydia's wedding, and we are all wearing the same clothes again for my wedding." She paused, a flush shooting through her that she was getting married tomorrow. "There is not even enough time to order a new dress made, even if Papa would agree to it."

Jane lowered the blue dress and looked at her sister. "You know he would, Lizzy. But, I can not imagine the modiste in Lambton would be able to have a dress ready for you by early morning tomorrow."

Elizabeth shook her head and looked away pulling her dresses out and inspecting them one by one. "I cannot imagine how much this is costing for our family to stay at this inn this long. We are always short on funds, as Mama reminds us of often."

"It is your wedding day. I do think you should have a new dress." She motioned to the dress Elizabeth held in her hands. "Have you not re-hemmed that dress and covered it with ribbon several times already?"

Nodding, Elizabeth stared at the barely concealed worn hem that she had tried to hide with ribbons. "I do not know what the parson will think when he sees me in this dress. He will think I compromised Mr. Darcy for his wealth."

Jane pursed her lips, a rare display for her. "I was quite surprised at what Mr. Woodforde said. I could not have imagined any man of the cloth thinking so ill of our family."

"I can, when Lady Catherine de Bourgh has his ear."

"What do you think will happen to him? I cannot imagine he thought it was sensible to stop the wedding of his patron."

Elizabeth shook her head as she sat on the bed. "Neither can I. He must have thought Mr. Darcy would be thankful for his interference, for his attempt to save him from marrying into our family."

"What he said were awful things, Lizzy. It is not true at all, you know."

"He was not wrong though, we did conceal the nature of Lydia and Wickham's relationship."

Jane frowned. "But there was a very good reason as to why we had to do so. The parson would have known that any family with unmarried daughters would have done the same. Kitty and Mary have to be able to find good husbands."

Elizabeth turned and studied her sister's face. "You do not consider yourself needing to find a husband? Have you already found one then?" She teasingly smiled at her sister, who did not return it.

"I do not believe that I will ever love again. I will never find a man as wonderful as Mr. Bingley."

Elizabeth turned towards her with some measure of alarm. "Jane, do you not think that you will wed Mr. Bingley?" Jane looked at her hands in her lap. "He has not taken his eyes off of you since he has seen you again. I truly believe that he loved you then, and loves you still."

"We have renewed our friendship, but that is all, Lizzy. I am quite certain he will not offer for me." Jane stood busying herself with putting her dresses back. "I hope Mama did not already send clothing to be laundered. These dresses should be ready by tomorrow morning if we send them out now."

Elizabeth picked up her pale pink dress and chewed her bottom lip. She could not imagine why Mr. Bingley had not offered for her sister yet. It had been obvious he was still in love with Jane. Never would she have expected or wanted this for Jane, for Mr. Bingley and her to have renewed their acquaintance but have nothing come of it. She would have to ask Mr. Darcy if there was anything he could do.

I've recovered from covid, and the subsequent sinus infection, but now I'm dealing with an inner ear infection. I'm feeling better though, and thank goodness for antibiotics.

I've been going through earlier chapters trying to remember what I had written, and I'm unable to find scenes I thought I had written. Like Jane talking to Elizabeth in her room at the Lambton Inn about Darcy and Elizabeth's engagement. I will have to do some fixing of this story after it's done. The travails of writing this book for a year!