Chapter 24
They arrived at Pemberley the evening of the next day. It was still light enough for Elizabeth to see the landscape, and her eyes devoured it eagerly. They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road wound with some abruptness. It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills – and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned, unlike Campton Manor.
Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste.
"It is beautiful, Fitzwilliam," she breathed.
"Just wait until you see the inside of Pemberley House," said Georgiana proudly.
"I look forward to it," Elizabeth replied with a smile.
When they drove up to the front doors, Elizabeth was greeted by all the staff, lined up waiting for their new mistress. Darcy introduced his wife to the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds. The older woman curtseyed.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Darcy," she said.
Mrs. Darcy – how well that sounded! Elizabeth delighted in it. Every time someone addressed her as Mrs. Darcy, she felt a warmth fill her heart. She really was Fitzwilliam's forever.
She went down the line of servants, trying to remember everyone's name, and aware that she would not accomplish it this evening.
She was tired and Ethan was asleep in her arms, so Darcy led her to the nursery to see him settled with his nurse. He had rejoiced in seeing his son for the first in a year, and marvelled that he had grown so much, as well as feeling sad that he had missed observing that growth.
"I had Mrs. Reynolds set up the nursey weeks ago," said Darcy. "He can sleep in the cot that I used when I was a babe."
Elizabeth smiled at the thought.
After they had left Ethan for the night, Darcy led her to the mistress's chambers. "Of course, I will only ever use this room for when I am tired or indisposed," she said to her husband with a mischievous wink. "Otherwise, my husband will have to suffer having me in his chambers."
"What a heavy burden I must face," Darcy teased back. "Let me order you a bath, my love, and then we can retire there together."
Elizabeth agreed to that plan, and after they had both had baths, Darcy made love to his wife, Mrs. Darcy the mistress of Pemberley, in the master's bed.
The next day, Darcy took Elizabeth on a tour of the house. She was delighted especially to see the portrait gallery and the library. Darcy showed her paintings of his mother and father, and Elizabeth could see the resemblance between George and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Lady Anne and Georgiana. "I wondered where Georgiana's blonde hair and blue eyes could have come from," Elizabeth said. "She looks just like your mother."
The library surpassed her wildest expectations. After having spent so much time with a nearly illiterate brute who limited her access to books, she could revel in whatever literature she liked. She and Darcy spent the remainder of the afternoon in the library, looking through books and reading together.
They joined Georgiana for dinner and then listened to her play the pianoforte in the music room afterwards. Elizabeth agreed to play for them also, and then she and Georgiana sang a duet. Elizabeth looked across the room to see Darcy watching with a relaxed pleasure she had not observed in him before. Their circumstances had changed so much. She almost could not believe that a year ago she had been the unhappy possession of a brutal lord. Now she was the beloved wife of a gentle and honourable man, who loved her more than life, and whom she loved in the same way.
She hardly felt guilty anymore for the way Vincent had died. She had admitted to herself that she had killed him; but it had been in self-defense. Darcy had assured her of that when she had admitted her guilt to him. She had been afraid that Vincent was going to kill her or the baby. She had done the only thing she could have done to save herself and her child. Everyone else seemed to agree, or they would not have covered up the murder as they had.
She was happier than she ever could have imagined possible. And it was all due to the man sitting across from her, smiling as she sang.
Darcy had suggested inviting the Bennets and Gardiners to Pemberley for Christmas. Elizabeth eagerly agreed, knowing that this would be the best Christmas she had ever spent. She remembered the year when she had been lonely and miserable, resigned to spending Christmas alone, when Darcy had unexpectedly sent the Gardiners and Jane to her. What a wonderful man he was!
Mary and her husband were unable to attend, since she was six months along with her first child and could not travel at this time; but Kitty and Lydia had time off from school to enjoy Christmas with their family. Kitty, indeed, was going to finish her term there soon, and Elizabeth and Darcy had decided they would bring her out at the same time as Georgiana. Elizabeth was privately hoping that when they brought Jane to town for the season in the spring, that they would meet Mr. Bingley there again. Jane and the amiable gentleman had got on so well together at the wedding, that Elizabeth could not help but hope for a happy match for her most beloved sister. Especially since Mr. Bingley had sent his sister Caroline away to live in her own establishment.
Elizabeth had planned a special Christmas dinner not only for her family, but also another one for the tenants and servants of Pemberley. The tenants had taken to the new mistress of Pemberly with alacrity. Elizabeth had started delivering baskets to the different farms mere days after she had arrived at Pemberley, and all agreed that she was a kind and generous mistress, just as their master was.
Ethan had grown by leaps and bounds in the sixteen months since his birth. All Elizabeth's female relations cooed over him, and he was passed from woman to woman, spending all of his time in someone's lap. Darcy declared jokingly that he would be so spoiled, that when they all left he would go into a decline.
Indeed, Ethan was such a healthy, happy baby, that the Darcys were pleased to see the changes in him as winter melted into spring. At twenty months old, he was running everywhere, and climbing onto chairs to stand on them. He was quite articulate for a boy of not yet two years, but he had two intelligent parents after all.
In March, they took Ethan and Georgiana to London, picking up Jane along the way. Elizabeth had been right about the attraction between her sister and Mr. Bingley. At the very first ball where they met again, Bingley asked Jane for two dances, and they seemed inseparable after that. After only a few weeks, Bingley had asked for a courtship, and by the end of the season, Jane had accepted his proposal of marriage.
Bingley had not yet purchased an estate with the funds his father had left him, and he and Jane decided they wanted to settle in Derbyshire, where the sisters and two friends could live close to each other.
"I have always wanted for us to be brothers," Bingley said to Darcy, clapping him on the back.
For that purpose, Darcy began looking around the neighbouring estates, to see if one would suit the Bingleys, who had married that summer. Jane and Charles came to live with the Darcys at Pemberley, until they were able to move into Hazelwood Manor, the estate that Bingley purchased only fifteen miles from Pemberley.
It was at this same time that Elizabeth found that she was increasing again. When she told her husband what she suspected, he lifted her up and twirled her in a circle, kissing her in his delight.
"I am so happy, my love," he said.
Ethan at this time was a mischievous, happy child, and when they informed him that he would soon be a big brother, he clapped his hands and crowed in delight.
Elizabeth still could not believe they had come so far. When she had met Darcy at the house party three and a half years ago, she could never have predicted such an outcome for herself. At that time, she had simply been trying to survive from day to day, never imagining happiness would be hers.
She bowed her head every day to thank God for His blessings. She never could have dreamed the goodness of her husband Fitzwilliam in that dark time. And Darcy said the same thing to her often.
"God has brought us so far, my love," he said.