I must say that the day I lost my three very worthy nieces to marriage may well have been the happiest day of my life, and it remained so until my Anne married her Thomas two years after Lizzy; although the day Anne's little Margaret was born might have ranked quite highly, and the day her George was born was not to be disdained either… but back to my point.
With only one day to prepare the wedding, I did the only thing a woman with my extensive experience and much celebrated good sense could do; I assigned the task to all the nieces who were not presently engaged to be married, and retired to my parlor to enjoy the company of those that were. Of course, with the way things were proceeding in Kent in that Spring, there was no guarantee that any members of the former would not join the ranks of the latter before the day was out, but we all hoped for the best.
The girls dusted out the ballroom for the ceremony. It had not been used in years, but with five girls to be introduced to society the next season, I imagined it would have to reclaim some of its former glory. The girls, in a frightening breach of the usual rules of propriety, invited everyone who worked at Rosings to witness the ceremony; apparently believing that the three marriages were so farfetched they would need to be certain of as many witnesses as possible.
And so it was that the three loveliest ladies I knew entered the ballroom together at ten o'clock Monday morning, the 19th of April in the year thirteen; and they all walked past everyone who could be stuffed in from the stable boy to the butler.
They all, every one of them, glowed with happiness, and I imagine I could describe their dresses or their hair or their other fripperies in agonizing detail, but to be candid, I mostly saw only the happiness.
Elizabeth, resplendent in a blue dress with the long sleeves that hid the scars on her arms and would no doubt grace her arms for all but her husband for the rest of her life just like Anne, had her hair up with two onyx combs holding it in place. They made me practically weep, as the last time I could clearly remember seeing them was when my sister Anne walked down the aisle wearing them to marry George Darcy. My nephew had clearly brought them from Pemberley with an agenda in mind… clever boy, my Fitzwilliam.
Jane was wearing a light yellow dress, and her hair was held up with some combs that belonged to Anne. Her beau would have ridden to London for his mother's jewels with only another day to wait, but the suggestion would have sent all the men practically into hives, so Jane would have to make due. Jane had a look of serenity about her face that had been absent these long months, and I thought it may well be a reasonably permanent fixture. Her husband to be seemed a most amiable gentleman, solid as a rock and a credit to his sex. He had made a point of telling me he had not always been so, to which I naturally replied by rapping his knuckles with my fan. I knew what he had done.
Charlotte was the type of woman that other mothers would try to call 'plain', but that was only because there was a feeling of solidity to her that others may have lacked, and she certainly had her fair share of beauty. She wore a green dress, deliberately tight across the middle under her bosom, simply daring anyone to criticize her. She had taken a level of censure that only Elizabeth, Betsy or I in this house could truly understand, and had set her own path using her own means; and she had not forgotten to bring young Betsy with her… make that six girls I needed to introduce into society, although Betsy's turn would not come for some years.
Elizabeth's Uncle Gardiner performed the office of escorting her to her waiting betrothed. A flurry of expresses had brought him along with his wife on a Sunday afternoon which would ordinarily have been considered bad manners at best, but he did what he liked. Sergeant MacDonald, not looking the least bit repentant that he had not kept a closer watch on the miscreant Collins on his last day on this earth stood up proudly with Fitzwilliam, while his wife stood as witness for Elizabeth. I had invited them both to live above stairs at Rosings, but they were perfectly content where they were so I simply resolved to keep a watchful eye on them from afar.
Richard's brother, the viscount stood with him as witness, and his father, the Earl of Matlock gave away Charlotte. The way his wife Beatrice was hovering over the poor girl, I suspect it was only considered a temporary handoff, as they would be whisked off to Matlock before she could take a breath, and all those clothes the girls had made while watching Elizabeth may or may not survive the ordeal. Charlotte would do well, and I was proud to know her. Betsy was to stay with me as my ward along with the rest of the Bennet sisters, and all were happy with that arrangement; or at least they would be until one of the sisters got antsy and 'borrowed' them for a month or a season. Having no shortage of woman to stand up with Charlotte, the Bennets all drew straws for the honor, and Mary won the privilege.
As anyone who knows them would expect, Lydia stood up with Jane, and much to the assembled crowd's amusement, Fitzwilliam took a small diversion from his duties as groom to give her away. Everything was done strictly according to protocol in my home, I can assure you of that. He had far more influence and protection in her life than her father ever had. Mr. Bingley had a man named Mr. Stockton to stand up with him, although he was slightly cagey about exactly what the relationship was. Mr. Stockton was a very gentlemanly man, that I was certain would do very well for one of the other Bennet daughters, but matchmaking was not my business, so they could work it out for themselves.
And so it was that I had three lovely ladies standing up next to three very worthy gentlemen, and all was right with the world. Certainly there would be trials and tribulations and vexations and pain and birth and death and enjoyment and… just life. The fates had tested all six, and eventually but not without some real difficulty found them worthy. These men and women had not only rescued themselves, but they had rescued me and I would be forever in their debt.