A bride must know what will happen no matter what!

Chapter 52: Pemberley Pre Nuptials

Derbyshire, Pemberley, Saturday the fifteenth August. Eleventh day.

Elizabeth sighed.

She knew that what was going to happen would be a challenge.

Would she be able to be serious till the end?

She doubted it. It would be so weird.

But then it was tradition, wasn't it?

And not doing it would have been as if they would have confessed her "sin". And that was even more impossible.

A maiden she was and a maiden she would be till tomorrow evening...

Meanwhile she would have been a wife and after their first night together she would be a woman.

Today as was tradition, she was a maiden!

And a maiden needed to be... Informed?

She sat up as her mother, her aunt and Mrs. Reynolds came in the room. They were -was it on purpose?- wearing gray and their faces were more than serious. Grave...

Well, here she was, the maiden facing her elders who would, finally, give away the advice she needed to be prepared for the wedding night.

She smothered a smile. She was sure that they had nothing to teach her. Her teacher had been Fitzwilliam and his teachings have been much more lively and adequate than all the words in the world.

And she could even already be pregnant...

She didn't know why but she had that gut feeling that there were more people present than Elizabeth Bennet, her mother, her aunt and Mrs. Reynolds.

But the tradition was the tradition and so, she was sitting before her three relatives with a face like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

A well placed mirror gave her confirmation that her air was quite perfect.

She was there showing a face between perfect innocence and bewildered surprise that was quite a master work.

She knew she was, once more, in debt to her sisters.

Jane, being the eldest had had the honor of discovering the technique but it had been Lydia who had perfected it. And now, looking at the mirror she was exactly as Lydia would have been in the same situation.

Open eyed, a little nervous smile on her lips and surprise showing with each of her movements.

Yes, indeed, she was perfect.

She had to smother the smile that was threatening to burst out of her face and take over her lips...

Serious and shy... You must be serious and shy...

She tried the little fluttering movement with the eyelashes that was Kitty's secret weapon.

She was amazed with the result.

Yes, it was really efficient. She really looked as if she was totally brain dead.

Amazing, really amazing...

Her mother shot her a dark glance.

"Elizabeth, stop it immediately. We know perfectly well that you're no longer the perfect innocent lamb you're portraying. And Kitty's eye fluttering is much too conspicuous..."

She placed her hand on her bosom and gave them a perfect interpretation of bewildered innocent surprise.

The whole thing was beginning to be fun.

That got her an irate glance from her aunt.

Act two: time to be penitent! Eyes down, now...

"Elizabeth, please, we're not here to give you the opportunity to show us all your marvelous talents at pretending. We're here to..." She hesitated and Elizabeth immediately filled in the gap.

She looked up and frowned.

That peculiar frown was Mary's. It was natural with her but Lydia had soon mastered it and it was always handy to convey curiosity and surprise.

"To?"

Her aunt and her mother looked at each other and a knowing glance was silently exchanged. After a few seconds her mother nodded and leaned forward.

"Dear, we're here, as the eldest married woman of the family in order to give you..." She hesitated. "To tell you what you'll have to face tomorrow night..."

Elizabeth couldn't help but utter a rather convincing "Oooh?" that granted her three angry frowns.

Back to act 2. Eyes down...

That one came directly from Lydia. Always look down and contrite and you'll never get really punished.

It must have been true because she couldn't remember Lydia being really punished.

And if she was honest she couldn't remember any of the Bennet daughters having been really punished.

Nothing more cruel than an afternoon bedroom arrest... Ever...

She felt herself overwhelmed by an odd feeling of gratitude.

Yes, her life has been a happy life. Never ever had she or her sisters lacked anything.

Yes, those twenty-two last years had been full of love and care and joy. She felt a tear running down her cheek... She would miss them all. She would miss her mama's hysterics and her papa's mocking remarks.

She felt that nothing would ever be the same but she also knew that her past happiness nobody could ever take away from her.

She heard Fitzwilliam's name and forced herself to listen to what her mother was saying.

"...You have not been the most serious betrothed that we would have wished..."

Time to look up.

"...And so, we have no idea of what you still need to know!"

She smiled at her mother and for the first time in years she felt herself happy to be in the same room as her mother. They looked each other in the eyes and both knew without words that they were just satisfied to be in each other's company.

As for what she still needed to know...

Not much probably.

And that was not only because of Fitzwilliam but also because Jane had always had that fascination for pregnancy and birth.

So, of course discreetly, Jane had spent a lot of time with old Mrs. Wilkins, Meryton's midwife. She had even assisted her with some births outside of the Meryton area where nobody knew that the midwife's aide was Mr. Bennet's eldest daughter.

And so Jane had learned quite a lot about the female body and contrary to their mother who never spoke a word about that, she had told them everything...

"There are things a girl must know," she had said. "Unseemly and untoward have no say in this matter. You must know what awaits you and you must know it as soon as possible."

Her first pupil had been Lizzie –immediately after she had learned it-- and then just after their first bleeding she had taught everything to the other Bennet girls. And her mother never suspected anything.

So it was very clear to Elizabeth that her mother would learn her nothing this morning.

And it was also clear that, if she was not too far away, she would send her daughters to aunt Jane to get all the knowledge they needed to become confident mothers.

She could probably have done it herself but she had been very happy to get this information from Jane. She knew that it would have been difficult, even at the age of fourteen, to accept that her parents were normal people with normal behaviors.

With luck she would be able to save, for Fitzwilliam and herself, that little aura of infallibility parents have, even a little longer than for herself.

No, it would be Jane who would teach them and it would be for the best.

She would do it for her nieces.

But, as for the moment, that was not what was important, what was important was the link she felt between her and her mother. The link that was their common heritage.

It was now her turn to create a family, to give birth and to raise children. Being here with her and Aunt Gardiner and Mrs. Reynolds was more than a teaching moment, more than a tradition.

It was her acceptance in that very mysterious group of people who had the most sublime duty of all, that of giving birth...

And if it had to be wrapped in a silly meeting to be done, so be it.

She let a smile adorn her lips.

But it was a smile full of pride and joy and love for those women who were doing her the favor of accepting her into their midst.

There was a silence and within that silence she was sure that everybody in the room had grasped what had just happened.

Now they could go back to the show and to the tradition.

It was aunt Gardiner's turn to ask.

"Have you?" she hesitated and looked at her sister. "Has he?"

Since it was show time, Elizabeth looked at them with surprised eyes and fluttering eyelashes.

She quite liked the lack of understanding her face showed.

It was even almost believable.

If one forgot to look at her shining eyes.

Mrs. Reynolds was the next coming into the fray.

"No traces having been found we can probably believe than nothing definite happened..."

That remark brought a little blush on Elizabeth's cheeks.

It could be accepted as the result of having understood a little too much of what had just been alluded.

But Mrs. Reynolds would not be so easily convinced. She decided to ask a direct question.

"Fitzwilliam did join you in your bedroom, didn't he?"

Here the show is ending, decided Elizabeth. They took me in and they deserve the truth.

"He did..."

They looked at each other.

"Was it the reason you went to see the reverend?" asked Mrs. Reynolds.

"Of course not," answered she. "He never touched me at..."

She stopped when she saw their faces light up.

She was even sure to hear them sigh in relief.

They were really relieved and she would not destroy their visible joy by ending her sentence.

She had not lied and they were sure that nothing definite had happened.

Best to let it be where it was.

So they spoke with her about what would happen that infamous night.

And what was revealed was that there was no absolute truth in that delicate matter. Each person experienced it differently and it was no surprise to Elizabeth that it was Aunt Gardiner who was the most positive of them.

For her mother it was a difficult passage giving access to a new world of pleasure and for Mrs. Reynolds it was nothing more than a way to beget children.

The meeting soon came to an end and Elizabeth could only smile at what could have happened if she had confessed her night in the grove.

Was it because of the grove or because of Fitzwilliam?

She wouldn't know but it was evident that neither of them had witnessed the bliss and ecstasy she and Fitzwilliam had lived through during that precious night.

She decided it must have been Fitzwilliam even if the following nights had never reached the same heights.

"How was it?"

He had been waiting and as soon as she was alone he was at her side.

Ten seconds later they were in each other's arms.

"Funny," answered she. "They never really dared the direct questions."

"But they knew..."

It was no question but she answered it nevertheless.

"Of course they knew, Fitzwilliam. The whole household knows. But they don't know everything. They still have their illusions and I did not destroy them."

He sighed.

"I know it's not gentlemanly but I regret nothing."

"Neither do I," whispered she. She leaned back to look into his eyes.

"One day left, Fitzwilliam. One day and tomorrow we will be married."

He smiled and brought her back into the embrace of his arms.

"Indeed, my love. Tomorrow you'll be Mrs. Darcy."

She chuckled.

"And whose bedchamber will we use as husband and wife?"

"Which one would you choose?"

She glanced at him.

"We could try it in your bed, couldn't we?"

"Of course we could, but why? Your bed is much better suited than mine. I bought it for exactly that reason..."

She nodded her approval.

"I don't doubt it, dear, but there's one point on which your bed is superior to mine."

He glanced suspiciously at her.

"Which one?"

"If we do it here we will be able, without lying, to pretend that we just went through a complete new experience..."

He nodded and they both laughed heartily.

"You have a point there, you have a point there..."

Next chapter: Pemberley Tigers