AN: Well, here it is, way sooner than I expected.
Warnings: fluff, the tooth-rotting kind. Also, a bit of angst.
The rest of November passed in relative peace - the amount of schoolwork picked up while the housework was slowly winding down as the collected autumn harvest was steadily transmuted into jellies, juices and marmalade and the normality slowly encroached.
Even the first hearing in Aunt Catherine's case didn't affect them in a significant manner. They went, they testified, the girls' testimony was read, the witnesses told their story. The judge looked suitably disturbed. The lawyers of both sides exchanged angry glances and superior looks.
Aunt Catherine and Anne looked as if they didn't understand a word of English.
On the evening before the final trial Elizabeth cooked a full dinner for all of them, including Mrs Reynolds and senior estate staff, because she just couldn't stay still.
The onion soup, lasagna, tossed salad and vanilla pudding with raspberry sauce were well-received and had been praised highly by all, and yet, and yet, she simply couldn't find a peaceful spot for herself. Finally, William gave up and herded her out of the house, leaving the diners to clean up.
Fortunately a quick brisk walk in the evening air was just what she had required and she managed to fall asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
The court session itself was terribly underwhelming, with aunt Catherine staying silent instead of blathering about familial duty (surprising but not disappointing) and Anne staring vacantly into space. Aunt Catherine was given a suspended sentence in the view of her advanced age (the lady judge read out the specific number out loud, calling Mrs De Bourgh "a senior citizen", which was the first thing that sparked any reaction) and was ordered not to approach properties, family members or businesses belonging or in any manner linked to William and/or Elizabeth.
Anne's case was treated separately as she was pronounced as "obviously disturbed" and "under the negative influence" of her mother (who finally protested at that) and so the judge's pronouncement was to consign her to an institution that would first deal with her addiction and from there, a psychiatric assessment would be made as to her future.
That made aunt Catherine react. Wails about unfairness of it all, everyone being against her, even her own brother, blood of her blood, and how was she supposed to support herself without her daughter?!
The judge looked at her over her glasses and kindly asked whether Anne had been in fact employed at some job that would have helped them to support themselves and whether a social assistance would be needed by Mrs De Bourgh.
Sudden silence from the side of both women ended the proceedings and William happily collected the document that declared their estate and company a De Bourgh free zone.
#
They sat in the quiet car for a moment, looking at the light rain.
"That was quick," Elizabeth remarked softly. "I mean, all these court shows make it look so much more complicated..."
"The important this was, they were caught in the act," William pointed out. "Another vital point - the children were involved. Girls are not under 13, which would have been even worse, but still, they are kids. So they treated it pretty seriously. Also, I think aunt Catherine managed to infuriate her cousin Moira enough to make other judges move that much quicker. But you know, Lizzy, one old proverb should be applied in this case," he started the car and pulled away from the parking space. "Don't look the gift horse in the mouth."
"I am just happy this is done," she sighed. "Let's go home and forget about them."
####
The Christmas market was impressive, even in comparison to the ones they had just recently seen in London. Whole old market square - right in front of the sixth police station - was taken over by little booths, offering everything from hand-painted glass ornaments to mulled wine. Mina and Rose exchanged glances as their parents started to giggle over their shared cup of chocolate and marched decidedly towards the stage, where one of the organisers' tents was set up and receiving submissions for the carol singing competition.
"So, a duet?" the plump lady there asked brightly.
"No, she's singing" Rose pushed Mina forward. "I'm just the moral support."
"Are you sure? Twin acts are always popular" she winked at them.
"No, Mina is the one who sings" Rose repeated, a bit more slowly.
"Well, but wouldn't your parents be happy to see twins working together like this?"
OK, she's honestly fluttering her eyelashes at us.
"No, our parents think we are actual separate human beings" Mina said patiently, her voice carrying over the din. "And they do not expect us to do things we do not like just to make someone happy."
"Well, if you say so..." the woman pursed her lips, but finally handed one form to Mina. "Fill this in and bring it back. Make sure one of your parents signs it, too."
Mina glanced at Rose and they both shook their heads minutely.
People.
They made a perfectly synchronised turn away from the scene, but Mina stopped in her tracks after two steps. Rose looked first at her, then up the alley.
Ah, of course.
Teddy was coming towards them, whole mass of people carrying him easily in the direction of the stage.
"Starlight," he greeted her breathlessly. "Rose," he nodded towards the older sister. "How are you two doing?"
"Fine. We were just collecting the form" Mina waved the piece of paper. "You?
"Bringing mine back already" he pulled out his copy. "We've picked the carol and want to submit this quickly, before anyone else takes this one. Hm?" he raised an eyebrow at Mina.
"I've picked one already, too. Mom helped me a bit, and I've been practising it every day now" she pushed up her scarf.
"Clever. I was considering three titles but we finally decided on one today morning."
Mina reached to grasp his shoulder.
"Make it a proper challenge, Theodore. I hope you chose something appropriate, for my sake, so when I beat you soundly, they won't say that I won just because you weren't brave enough for a more grownup attempt."
"I'll give you a challenge, Starlight" he turned slightly red with combination of chill and excitement. "Now, do you suppose, once we deal with the paperwork, you'd be willing to have a look at the booths with me?"
Rose rolled her eyes. Of course her sister would be willing. There may be things that her sister would deny Teddy - at least Rose definitely hoped so - but taking a walk with him through a Christmas market was not one. She knew Teddy's 'Starlight' was not a calculating witch like a stereotypical captain's girlfriend from a movie, so her reasons for said walk wouldn't include showing Teddy off to people from school (which would have been pathetic but also something that other girls did, a lot) or making some other boy jealous. It would be just because these two honestly, authentically enjoyed each other's company and because the distance from Lambton to Pemberley meant Mina didn't have many chances to meet Teddy outside of school since the London trip, as the weather had turned to chilly and there were no good conditions to even chat after their lessons as they were all expected to be home as early as possible.
Still, despite all the weirdness of the previous three months - or two, or a month and a half, depending what you counted as the start of their relationship - and the restrictions put on them by their parents, Mina and Teddy seemed to be sickeningly perfectly happy. She went to all the rugby games (one lost, two won) and he waited for her in front of the school or in the entrance hall on the rare days when his lessons ended earlier than theirs. She chose to ask him for help when she felt she was falling behind in some subjects instead of going to their mother. He chose to spend his lunch periods with the two of them, instead of people from his own year. Sometimes, on certain days, like the day of a game or a particularly hard test, Teddy would even join them for a few minutes during shorter breaks, sitting next to Mina on the bench and then rejoining his teammates or whoever he had the next class with, but it was rare. All in all, it was quite fine by Rose, because that meant her sister was not changing into a clinging vine like some girls from upper classes, and Teddy wasn't going weirdly jealous and possessive, like some older boys were about their girls.
Rose had to admit they looked rather cute together. Mina was much slimmer than her - they still displayed a significant difference in built - and Teddy was, well, ripped. Rugby and Army Cadets activities gave him a physique girls at school were mooning over. Rose felt a certain level of satisfaction, and maybe possessiveness, when listening to some of these girls discuss the tactics of "taking Teddy away from that usurper". As if they stood a chance! He was Mina's and if anyone wanted to dispute that, well, first they'd have to challenge Mina. There were some that had actually been considering it - as if Teddy was a medieval princess, meekly handed over to whoever bashed in the most heads during the tourney.
They apparently never saw the way Teddy looked at Mina, the way he focused on her. The way he listened, ignoring everyone else.
She smiled, just a bit.
Oh, and now they were going to kiss.
Sickeningly sweet.
Teddy had apparently been watching some of these romantic comedies the sisters officially shunned (but quietly had watched), because he picked up Mina's hands and held them in his, rubbing them for warmth, all the time looking at her intently, blushing so sweetly Rose felt the need to look away from them.
A cough interrupted them.
"Ah, Dad," Mina smiled, had hands still in Teddy's.
"Mr Darcy," Teddy blushed even more.
"Hello, Theodore."
Dad managed to infuse that simple greeting with something very much like a threat and Teddy bristled at that.
"Sir," he straightened a bit. "We were just talking..."
"Teddy" Mina pulled on his arm. "Dad was looking at us all that time. He's just trying to scare you."
"It's working," Rose heard him mumble and snorted.
He will do. I hope he is smart enough to stay.
####
Mina was beginning to feel a bit pressured by reality around her, but it was a good pressure. The schoolwork became easier and easier, what with her and Rose finally catching up with all the weird missing assignments since October and everyone was anyway in the full mode of Christmas preparation. The concert was going to take a lot of effort but with Mom and aunt Georgiana involved she was not allowed to accept too many songs - they chose an appropriate set and divided the practise time between themselves. Mina was assigned four carols she already knew by heart, so she would need only a small review with Mom for the new verses and a few days of practise with aunt Georgiana to make sure they had them down pat and she was anyway practising daily with Mom for the contest that was to take place on the 23rd...
After quiet consideration, she dug out her boxes with yarn and her crochet hooks and started a new piece, just to have something else to do among all that singing. It felt good to have a rather mindless task to keep her hands busy and her thoughts relaxed.
The fact that she could make a Christmas present that way was an obvious benefit.
####
Thankfully not much had to be cleaned in the house, as since the wedding most of their activities had been limited to work, homework, music and making preserves.
A medium-sized tree in a huge pot was installed in a sufficiently cold corner of the dining room and was immediately adopted by Mina and Rose, who took care to water it at appropriate intervals.
Elizabeth had prepared the dough for gingerbread cookies and placed it in the freezer for maturing.
A number of shorter pine and spruce branches were collected by the grounds crew and brought to the house to become the base of the smaller decorations and table wreaths.
Christmas cakes had been baked by Mrs Reynolds (who had brutally evicted everyone - even Elizabeth - from the kitchen for the time of preparation) and the girls were tasked with dousing them with chosen homemade brandy every evening.
There was glitter trailing everywhere, greeting cards were being decorated, written, signed and sent out every day - to their relatives (including Gardiners in Australia but excluding some others on the Gardiner side), friends (carefully selected, but including Elizabeth's master thesis tutor, because why not - and she added a note regarding her planned appearance at the Imperial to that missive), various kinds of coworkers, teachers and parents of the girls' classmates - and the Stricklands, of course. Elizabeth personally added the last one to the first mailed group.
William had ordered and collected a transport of gift baskets for both the company and the estate employees while Rose and Mina helped him to choose age-appropriate books for the children of his workforce.
Class Secret Santa was managed by the expedient of baking two trays of chocolate biscuits, as the persons that Rose and Mina had drawn from the pool were sworn fans of all things sweet. Mina had managed to sneak a few additional chocolate rounds into a separate box (Rose later reported that Teddy sighed heavily, hugged her and put the box in his backpack, while handing Mina something tiny). Mina didn't share any details and Elizabeth left it at that. They were all supposed to have some degree of privacy, after all.
#
Elizabeth made a brave attempt at finishing the large quilts she had started in London, but even with the help of their intended recipients she found she wouldn't be able to get them done by Christmas, so they decided, all three, to make it their winter project and work on them together, as part of their sewing lessons, once the holiday madness would end and Lizzy and Will would be back from their trip.
#
"You won't be disappointed that you won't get..." she looked up as the girls were helping her sort the fabric pieces into colours again.
"Mom, come on. There was a bunch happening this year. I know how much time it takes to sew this stuff and we are not expecting anything that would take more than half an hour to make."
"But Rose doesn't have..."
"I do," her older daughter countered immediately. "Mina shared her things with me. We use them equally. I won't say I'm not sorry that my stuff is gone, but really, Mom. Doesn't make sense for you to overtax yourself, like you did before our birthday. I mean, I love that dress and Mina loves hers but please please don't? And if we survive Christmas and everything, then we can make some New Year plans and, you know, do things in a more... relaxed manner. At least until the spring planting, because then Dad tries to stay awake all nights and becomes a zombie farmer..."
#
In general, everything was coming along rather... nicely.
Mina was steadily improving with daily practise.
Rose was steadily improving with daily practise.
Mina was learning the software that William had shown her on his office computer.
Georgiana was disappearing and coming back around midnight almost every other night (two o'clock on Fridays... well, Saturdays already).
William allocated two afternoons in a week to riding with Rose, as the temperatures didn't drop too dramatically and there was no snow at all.
There were no calls or text messages from Elizabeth's parents since the London trip and she considered it a good sign. Also, it gave her all the freedom in the world she needed to spend all her free time with her actual own family.
The house and grounds were being prepared for their visitors. The bigger potted trees were moved around and decorated in an ascetic manner she identified with William's preference for small, ecological and reasonable solutions. The gates and other non-functional items were wrapped in greenery and ribbons. The rooms were aired, checked 'just one last time', the mattresses shaken out and covered, the linens prepared for each room in sufficient amount. The rooms were strictly assigned, with assumption of all guests arriving, to ensure the greatest amount of privacy and the smallest potential for conflict.
Elizabeth had thought long and carefully where to put Richard and Evan, but the small yet comfortable room just next to Georgiana's won. Rose and Mina would clean up their "study" and Jane's middle girls would be put there, allowing her to rearrange the grownups a bit. Other than not knowing for sure who would actually arrive, they were more or less all set.
Just menus to be planned and some entertainment to be set up, to avoid the risk of everyone sitting in their rooms, ignoring each other or, even worse, getting into arguments!
####
Georgiana dug through the right storage closet and unearthed the tree decorations, so on the Friday evening a week before Christmas she herded the girls down to the dining room and tasked them with decorating the tree while she practised the carols she promised to play for the concert and Mina sang the ones she was supposed to sing. All this came, to their relief, easily and without any errors.
The tree was rather small in comparison to the amount of ornaments available, and yet, when most of the glass baubles were placed, Mina said something about needing one more box. Before Georgiana managed to ask what she meant, her niece dashed out of the door and ran upstairs, her steps thumping on the stairs.
"Mom? Mom, where are our tree decor...!"
A door slammed and Georgiana rubbed her nose with her thumb.
Oh boy.
Rose watched her anxiously, not understanding, but soon Mina appeared downstairs with a dusty box and weird expression on her face.
"Well, the box was in Mom's workroom, we are supposed to learn to knock and Dad is supposed to learn to make sure the door is locked like he thought it was," she informed them with a faraway look.
"What were they...?" Rose managed to stop herself almost in time, but Mina answered anyway.
"Judging by our last year sex-ed, something that usually results in siblings. Oh, don't look at me like that, you know they had to have done that at least once before."
Rose blushed rather hotly and they sat in silence for a moment, carefully ignoring each other's embarrassment. Finally, Mina shook herself off and popped the cover of the plastic container open.
"Look, aunt G," she pointed. "These are ornaments Mom made. Rose, stop blushing like a Regency debutante and come have a look."
Georgiana welcomed the change of topic gratefully and pulled out several round ornaments. They were white, matte finished and covered with a netting of glass beads. She regarded them in silence then looked up at Mina.
"Elizabeth made these?" she asked slowly.
"Well, not the glass ball itself, them she buys. She said that the year I turned two she had a terrible cold through the whole of November and so needed to do something that didn't require a lot of thinking. Aunt Jane found a book about making Christmas stars, like this one," Mina pulled out a flimsy-looking white-and-silver decoration from somewhere deep in the box and handed it to Georgiana. "And Mom remembered having seen once a webpage of a lady who made ornaments covered with beads. She says she adapted the way the stars were made to netting these," she flicked one of the red balls with her nail. "And she's been making them ever since. We buy big boxes of ornaments cheap just after Christmas, because all the home improvement stores and so on don't like to store them, so they sell them for like a quarter of the price and then Mom covers as many as she can. One year she started in September and made sixty by the end of November. They went for charity auctions and so on."
Rose carefully turned one of the white ones to see the tiny beads.
"Mom calls this one 'Elsa' because of the colours. It's really pretty. We had a lot of aqua blue ones, but people bought them like crazy, and then there were the gold ones, too, and that disappeared just as quickly."
"But..." Georgiana bit her lip and looked at the half-dressed tree in the corner. "Isn't it a bit too much?"
Mina puffed out her lips.
"We can ask Mom to help us with these branches that Brian and Walter and others brought in. She already said she wanted to make a centrepiece for the table and little decorations to be put in every window and on any flat surface that doesn't hold something already. So, we will have a lot and lot to use them for. We just have to make sure to take them off when we remove the decorations in January, so that they don't get thrown away by accident..."
"Let's leave them in the box for now - the ones that you can't fit on the tree - and we'll ask Lizzy for her opinion. Later."
####
The Christmas concert was on Sunday, 17th of December and everyone was preparing for it with utmost care. The primary school "little choir" could sweetly sing all the required winter-themed songs and Mom accompanied them on her guitar. The highschool choir, comprised mostly of students who had braved the folk song contest, had been polished to high sheen and could produce a few more complex carols, while Miss Yang played Mom's piano. The best school piano turned out to be irreversibly damaged, so part of the proceedings from the tickets and collection during the performance would be going towards replacing it with a new instrument. Miss Yang was actually eyeing Mom's Yamaha with a hungry expression, from time to time...
And Mina, well, she was glorious. Her preparation for the competition ("Just one more week", she moaned on Saturday evening, "And I don't want to sing anything until summer!") and for the concert itself took a lot of time and energy, but Rose was quite content to see her finding her place at school and in general Lambton under-18 society. She knew her sister felt a bit off most of the time (especially if parted from Teddy...) and so Rose cheered on all her efforts to establish her image and make a niche for herself. And if it was performing - well, Rose was happy to be the most faithful fan. Or the second most faithful fan.
Of course, there were stupid whispers. There would always be whispers, they knew that now, and while Rose couldn't be happier with her sibling's progress at integrating with their classmates and Lambton at large, some people simply couldn't understand how the two of them weren't always at each others' throats, sometimes even trying to stir up trouble between them. But they would persevere, because there were, after all, two of them to face every challenge.
Well, not the concert, of course, and not the competitions Dad had signed her up for, but she was sure Mina would be there for her just like Rose would definitely be there for her to cheer from the audience.
And the concert was now.
Both of them had new dresses, sewn by Mom's friend Evie (slightly loopy, but apparently a really great dressmaker), in deep reds and browns with golden accents. Mina was wearing her topaz-glass note pendant on a black ribbon, while Rose had put on the chain with a small bit of amber uncle Richard gave her for her tenth birthday.
Rose was happy her hair (since she was the one not on stage) didn't require much more than combing, as her sister was now undergoing a small torture session with a brush and number with bobby pins, to make sure her hair was all out of her face.
The little choir would be singing from memory, because even if they managed to mess up "Jingle Bells" or "We wish you a Merry Christmas" mostly they would be found 'adorable' but the older choir had proper printouts of the needed lyrics, covered with notes and reminders, all smartly set into black-and-red binders. As Mina was running through basic warm-up with Mom, Rose observed the boys practising in the corner for the last time. Teddy and Vincent managed to keep the rest in check and it could be hoped that the whole thing wouldn't work out too badly...
Rose left them to their organised panicking and peeked from the side of the scene to check the audience.
Half of the seats empty. Wonder if this is bad or good...
"Rose, you should take your seat at some point," her sister was so silent in her ballet flats Rose nearly jumped out of her skin from fright. "Dad can't keep chasing people away from it forever and he does seem a bit lonely out there. What if some cougar sees him and starts hitting on him?"
Rose looked, terrified, into her twin's golden eyes.
"I'm just kidding! But go, go. Sit with him and represent the family, before I make a fool of myself in front of, like, half of this town, OK?"
"OK. And you won't. I'm sure."
Mina just rolled her eyes.
"Teddy will be there and that's distraction enough. Now, go, before the little choir runs all over you, they are like a little tornado..."
#
Sitting next to Dad on the right end of the second row, Rose turned to the side and watched people coming through the door at the back of the audience. Their classmates and older students dressed to the nines, all the parents and grandparents, all the little ones in their best holiday dresses and mini-suits and... Ooh. Uncle Richard. In a rather dashing suit and in his old greatcoat - that one that skirted the rules of wearing military uniform parts when off-duty, as Dad had complained once.
He joined them quickly and took a seat in the third row, leaning closer to them and resting his chin on Dad's shoulder.
"So what is the program?" he mussed up Rose's hair a bit, until she snapped her teeth at him. "Are Mina and Lizbeth both performing today?"
"And so is aunt Georgiana, and Miss Yang and Teddy. But only Mina has a solo, because Miss Yang didn't have time to have separate lessons with Teddy and to prepare him or anyone else. Mina has been practising with aunt Georgiana and Mom a lot, and I mean a lot, and there are two choirs, Mom is helping with the little kids..."
"Hmm. And how does she feel as a part of school entertainment, Will? I mean, this isn't exactly her kind of event..."
"Mom says that doing this with aunt Georgiana and Miss Yang makes it bearable and the little kids are OK, once they know what they are supposed to sing. Ooh, here she comes, so it will start soon."
Miss Yang walked up to the microphone and invited everyone to sit down, reminding the audience that the performance would be starting in five minutes.
"What about Evan?" Dad asked when others crowded around, looking for free seats.
"Didn't get time off. I can easily negotiate for a few free hours on a Sunday, but for him it's a much longer drive, so he would have needed at least one night off. But he does have approval for his Christmas leave, so expect us on the morning of twenty-third. I want to be here on time for the competition!"
"I wish Mina would win this time," Rose sighed. "She has been preparing so hard and she really deserves to get the first place. Whatever it is that Teddy is working on."
"Oh. They are again competing against each other? Maybe these contests should have a non-competitive clause in their regulations, to make sure pairs don't participate in the same category," he laughed softly. "And how... how is she?"
Rose rolled her eyes.
"Perfectly happy. Well, apart from the dating restrictions, of course, but that can't be helped."
"Ah, dating restrictions, I see. And what are they?"
"No dating, not as such. They are not supposed to be alone outside, blah blah. And no touching other than hugging and handholding. At least they weren't told not to kiss... Ah, see? I feel cavities forming when I see them. Totally disgusting."
Mina, her song binder left safely on the music stand, was now fixing Teddy's bowtie and he was looking down at her with an indulgent smile.
"He has been watching way too many romantic comedies," Rose remarked in an undertone. "I mean, seriously, look."
Dad's soft whistle and uncle Richard's cough were an appropriate reaction - in Rose's mind - to the way Teddy deposited a long kiss on the back of her sister's hand.
"I see your point about the cavities," uncle Richard nodded slowly. "The only way they could get any more disg... Ah, well."
Teddy reached out and tucked a strand of hair (something had escaped the bobby pins) behind her sister's ear.
Seriously.
"Yeah, that," she sighed. "And now..."
Teddy ducked his head and pressed a kiss to Mina's lips.
"Someone has to talk to them," uncle Richard groaned. "They are a menace to public health..."
"Lucy will," Dad pointed out. "She will want to put the choir in correct places, so... yep."
Miss Yang's hand pulled Teddy away by the collar of his shirt and pushed him firmly to the back of the little group of older choir. He only rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be manhandled by his much shorter teacher.
Rose quickly glanced at her sister and saw a small smile playing on her lips as she turned to the microphone set for her on the side of the scene.
"If I could ask everyone to be finally seated? Thank you," Miss Yang waved to the light operators and the whole hall quickly darkened, the only the lights over the exits and by the stage remaining lit. "Thank you all for arriving in such numbers to our first Christmas concert. I know that we don't have a tradition of such an event in our school, but I wanted our students to showcase their talents and, with the help of some of the parents and guardians of our students, here we are. The proceedings from the tickets and the collection will help fund a new piano for the school and to enrich the offer of after-school activities in the arts area. Helping me in this enterprise are Mrs Elizabeth Darcy, who had kindly lent us her piano for the purpose of this performance and will be playing the guitar and Miss Georgiana Darcy who will be playing her harp."
The introduction was met with a round of applause and Miss Yang proceeded to introduce the little choir, the older choir and the soloist - Rose heard their classmates clapping like crazy when her sister was called to bow to the audience.
"We will begin with the little choir and Mrs Darcy. Elizabeth, to you."
Mom was already sitting with her guitar and the group of under-tens in front of her was giving her their full attention.
Their rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was surprisingly coordinated and well-voiced and the audience seemed to appreciate it. Mom was most definitely not the supporter of the 'louder is better" direction of choir singing. Fortunately.
The next one was "Jingle Bells" despite it not being specifically a Christmas song, but Mom said they had chosen, reasonably, something the kids would be able to sing without much additional learning. It was followed by "The Holly and The Ivy" and, then, very nicely, by "Deck the Halls".
Uncle Richard was humming to the melodies, making Dad repeatedly swat him with his gloves to shut him up.
"So..." he drawled in the break, when the little choir was taking their bows and Mom herded them off the stage. "Lizbeth is working with the younger kids, you say? Anything you want to share with the class, William?"
Dad swatted him with the gloves again, shushing him as Miss Yang introduced the older choir and sat at the piano.
"Twelve Days of Christmas" was arranged to show how well coordinated the choir was, girls and boys alternating on singing every other line, and they pulled it off rather successfully.
And then it was time for Mina and aunt Georgiana. The harp was gleaming in the limelights and Mina looked absolutely terrified as she gazed blindly at the audience.
"O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant...!"
The harp and the voice sounded wonderful together - Rose had heard them working on that at home, but somehow here, in the concert hall, it all gained some new dimensions, making her shiver at the way these two sounds matched.
By the end of the second verse Mina had relaxed visibly and was now even smiling slightly, nodding at aunt Georgiana as they segued into third one.
Adeste, fideles, Laeti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem!
Natum videte, Regem angelorum
Venite adoremus, venite adoremus...
Ah, so that was what they had been hiding all that time! Rose knew they must have been planning something more than just simple carols, considering the amount of time Mina spent on preparation, but she wasn't expecting Latin. Well, well, well. Probably studying Italian was of some use after all.
After two verses of that, it was again the choir's turn - Rose could only hope Teddy would shake out of his slightly dreamy focus on his ladylove in time, because he was one of the leading voices on this one. Fortunately "The Little Drummer Boy" was performed without a hiccough and again Mina took her place at the microphone, this time for "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". The choir then went on to perform "Good King Wenceslas", with the boys delivering the saint's part and girls - the page's words.
Uncle Richard took out his phone and took a number of photos of Mina, the choir, aunt Georgiana and all the stage together, all the time humming the carols being performed, to Dad's unending annoyance.
The performance progressed, with all singers taking a break and aunt Georgiana playing a few songs with Miss Yang, each at her own instrument.
Finally it was again Mina at the microphone and it was "Away in a Manger", then the choir sang "Angels We Have Heard on High" as their last song.
"And now, for the last number of this performance, Mina Darcy will sing one more classical carol and you are all welcome to join in."
Rose watched her sister as the limelights all converged on her and she stood there, gleaming and bright.
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
"That little monkey," uncle Richard whispered with feeling. "She prob..."
Swat.
The audience sang the first verse, now in English, together with Mina and the choir - and their aunt and Miss Yang. Everyone was singing, as far as Rose could see.
Including her father.
And, of course, herself.
With that amount of people making fools of themselves, she could finally safely sing aloud as nobody would notice anyway.
And then, almost too soon, it was done, it was all done and everyone was leaving and people were coming over to Dad, congratulating him on Mina's performance - as if he had had anything to do with that - and Dad kept explaining that it was all Mom's doing. And then people were turning towards Rose, asking questions that made her a little bit annoyed at the collective stupidity of grownups.
"Rose doesn't have to sing just because I do it. We are actual separate people," her sister was suddenly behind her, her tone bored yet irritated. "Is there some requirement that siblings must always do the same thing?"
The lady who had approached them froze and took a step back.
"I was just saying that with such talent... Seems a waste..."
"Rose can do other things that I can't. Am I supposed to learn them all, too?"
"Ah... I... I think my husband is waiting for me. Have a good day, Mr Darcy."
Dad sighed.
"Don't bite them, please? At least, not too hard?"
"She started it," Mina pointed out. "If she wasn't saying stupid things..."
"I know, I know. Let's get out of here, before someone else comes and I feel tempted to bite them, too."
Uncle Richard picked up his coat and Dad led them to the side door where they were supposed to meet Mom and aunt Georgiana. Who they saw however - when the crowd let them through - was Miss Yang, looking a bit frantic.
"Ah, William," she caught Dad's sleeve. "We need you back there. It's Elizabeth. There has been an accident...