by Jayne Bamber
“Pah. I ought to be thanking you. Lady Olivia is... difficult, to say the least. I was most impressed to see how civil she was with you.”
“She was very civil indeed – do you mean to say that this is out of the ordinary?”
The earl studied Mr. Gardiner, twirling the cigar in his hands as he considered his answer. “If I was to say yes, would you think any less of her?”
“I do not know, sir. I suppose I should prefer to judge her based on what I have seen of her, rather than what I hear from others, though I mean no disrespect. I respect the value of your advice, of course, however….”
“Come, come, you need not stand upon ceremony with me. Let us drink until you stop thinking so much of rank.” The earl reached for the brandy and refilled both their glasses.
“Very well then – might I ask what all this is leading to?”
“Ha! I should bloody well hope you’d come to the point of it! I am asking you to marry her.”
Mr. Gardiner downed his glass of brandy and stared at Lord Matlock in disbelief. “What?”
The earl laughed, puffing thoughtfully at his cigar. “I must surmise that you do not know about Lady Olivia.”
“Your sister hinted that there was something in the papers, but I have been too occupied with my family to think of such things.”
“Yes, your halo is quite radiant,” Lord Matlock drawled. “Well, I suppose I ought to tell you the truth. My father-in-law, Lord Abingdon, is one of the oldest peers in England. I fear he has outlived his ability to control his children, his youngest daughter in particular. To put it plainly, she is with child, and she must marry quickly.”
Mr. Gardiner set down his drink and reeled for a moment at the shock of the earl’s casual revelation. “And the father of this child?”
The earl smiled wryly and sipped at his brandy. “An Englishman, whose name I serve the crown best by concealing. He is engaged to a certain lady of Brunswick, and soon to be wed. Olivia was not best pleased by his dismissal, but if we can keep her quiet about it, out of his sight and away from court and Carlton House... there may be a knighthood in it for you.”
“If she would have me,” Mr. Gardiner said with no little incredulity. “I cannot imagine a tradesman of little standing and a fortune still yet to be made would be high on the list of suitable fathers for a child of this nature.”
The earl guffawed again. “I like you, Gardiner. In all honesty, you are far from the first man I’ve asked. I have already spoken to six of the most eligible, Tory bachelors here tonight, and they have all turned me down flat. However, just because you were not my first choice, it does not follow that you are not a good choice. She is still my sister by marriage, after all, and I am confident that you would be good to her. Your fortune is of less importance to me; as you say, it has not been made yet. If Olivia behaves, there may yet be some provision made for the child in that regard, and I was quite serious about the knighthood, you know. It would not be the first time such a thing as happened. But it would be the first time such a thing has happened in this family, and that is something I will absolutely not allow. Olivia will marry, from this house, as soon as a special license can be procured. I understand if your answer is no, after all that you have been through this year, but I will hope you will give it some thought – and quickly.”
Lord Matlock sipped at his brandy before refilling the glass. “She is not an ideal choice of bride, of course, but she could be the making of you, and you may yet be happy together. She has an active mind that turns wicked when it is not occupied, but she can be loyal and even pleasant when she wishes it. As you are one of only a few in attendance tonight that she has not been astonishingly rude to, I would say you stand a fair chance of happiness with her.”
Mr. Gardiner let out a heavy sigh and gestured with his empty glass toward the bottle of brandy – the earl poured him another drink, and he took a long draught of it. “Lady Anne, no doubt, has made you aware of what transpired with Miss Fisher?”
The earl nodded. “I was damned sorry to hear it, Gardiner. For what it’s worth, your face is looking a lot better.”
Mr. Gardiner touched his fingers to his face, where one of the bruises had actually burst open and bled – Doctor Johnson had said it would require stitches, but he had refused. The black eye had begun to fade, but the scar would remain. “And what does Lady Anne know of our conversation here? I saw you exchange a look before. I have no doubt Mr. Darcy must have understood your intentions when he introduced me to Lady Olivia, but I should like to know what his wife thinks on the matter. Or the dowager, for that matter.”
Lord Matlock smiled with bemusement. “You wish for a second opinion? I will tell you candidly, you’ll not receive a sterling character reference from either of them. Shall I send for my mother? I am sure she would love to have a drink with us and tell you exactly what she thinks of Lady Olivia.”
“No, I am sure that will not be necessary, though I have no doubt it would be edifying to say the least.”
“I understand you may need to think it over. The knighthood is a near certainty, in my opinion, and I am sure in time there would be some financial provision for the child, though likely no public acknowledgment. Spend some time with her tonight, if you can. She is not ignorant of my actions on her behalf tonight, and you are one of the only options I can imagine her being amenable to, after seeing you together.”
Mr. Gardiner finished his drink and the glass when the earl offered another. With a heavy sigh, his thoughts drifted back to London – to some improvements he made in the front parlor of his house on Gracechurch Street, the vision he once had of Madeline writing her letters there, sitting with their children there, or jumping up from the window seat to give him a kiss whenever he stepped in to surprise her with flowers for her writing desk. The image faded as he watched the thick smoke curling around his cigar, and the earl looked expectantly at him. “I need no time to consider – how could I say no? If you will assist me in the arrangements, I would be happy to marry your sister.”
Lord Matlock grinned. “Excellent! I shall speak to Abingdon, and we can proceed. I suppose you must wish to speak to Olivia yourself now.”
“Truth be told, I cannot imagine telling a lady she has been effectively bartered off to me. I never imagined such a thing would happen, my marriage a business transaction. Perhaps she ought to hear it from her father. I shall speak to her after... after she has had some time to process the news.”
“Ha! Smart man!” The earl guffawed. “You are going to make a most amusing brother-in-law, Edward.”
“There is one thing more,” Mr. Gardiner said, panicked that it had not occurred to him to ask sooner. “Will this change anything about the arrangement with my nieces?”
“I do hope not. My sister would be deeply disappointed, for she has grown attached to your nieces these six months. However, they are your nieces.”
Mr. Gardiner understood completely, and gave a firm nod of his head. “I cannot imagine that Lady Olivia should desire to take on three young girls, especially in light of her current condition. I suppose it is better that we begin a family of our own, and make no alteration to the current arrangement.”
“Very good.” The earl extended his hand for Mr. Gardiner to shake. “Well then, Edward, let us go and speak with Abingdon. If all goes well, we can make a formal announcement tonight, and have something put in the papers directly.”
5
Derbyshire, December 1804
Lady Anne looked about her drawing room and let out a sigh of contentment as she cast her eyes about everything before her – everything she had ever wanted. The Yule log her husband had collected with their son and young George Wickham was blazing brightly in the fireplace, and Mary and Elizabeth were hanging up garlands of holly with little Rose Gardiner and their Fitzwilliam cousins, who were bearing up cheerfully on their first Christmas without their mother. George was turning the sheet music for Jane as she practiced at the pianoforte she had been giv
en for St. Nicholas’s day, and the sound of the traditional carol, mixed with the crackling of the fire and the laughter of her children, was sheer bliss.
Upstairs, the rest of her recently arrived relations were settling in from their journey; Catherine, Sir Lewis and Anne, the earl, dowager countess, and Phyllis Gardiner – soon to be Phyllis Fitzwilliam – would join them soon. Sir Edward Gardiner ambled into the room with a broad smile, and Anne patted the sofa beside her.
“How are you this evening, Lady Anne?”
“The same as I am every Christmas – incandescently happy.”
“I am glad to hear it,” Sir Edward replied, seating himself beside her. “That is just what I love about visiting Pemberley. This place is always full of happiness and laughter.”
“It is, is it not?” Anne gazed at her daughters and smiled. “I suppose I owe a great deal of that to you, my old friend. You have given my husband and I three very good reasons to be happy. I only hope that you are half as contented as I am.”
Sir Edward smiled sadly; he must have known what she was really saying, and the question she could not bear to ask. “I am well enough. Rose is a delight, in her own way. She is every bit a little princess, you know, and stubborn like her mother.”
“Is Lady Olivia well?”
“She will be, after her confinement. She sends her regards, of course. I think she really would have liked to be here this year. It is my hope,” he confided in a low voice, “that after the babe comes, she may yet return to her former self. There are still traces of it about her, at times....” He sighed and broke off.
Anne looked away, recalling her attempts, all of which had been in vain, to dissuade him from the match that had brought him wealth and a title, as well as a decade of misery that he had not been able to conceal. Fond as she was of Sir Edward, she had often been forced over the years to remind herself that he was a grown man, capable of making his own decisions. She had long felt little but doubt at his attempts to assure her, whenever Lady Olivia acted up, that he had made his peace with his marriage, if not his wife.
“I have given some thought to your last letter,” he said. “If you wish to formally give the girls the Darcy name, I have no objection to it. I think it would be better if I were with them when you and George tell them about it, if only to assure them that they need not feel any uncertainty about the matter.”
“Oh, Edward, thank you. Truly, it means the world to George and me. And of course it will be a fine thing for Jane, too, with her going off to school in the new year. She is so very shy, and I think the Darcy name might help her make friends in spite of her reserve.”
Sir Edward regarded his eldest niece and smiled warmly. “She is nearly a woman grown, is she not? The years certainly have flown by. She is a fine young lady, and I appreciate your influence on her.”
Anne swatted at him. “And what of the other girls?”
“Lizzy is still all Thomas, and I daresay she ever shall be.”
“I could not wish her any different. She gives me the most trouble of the three, but between you and I, I confess I rather adore it.”
“And little Mary, how she diverts me! I should never have imagined Fanny having a daughter who would be so very serious, and so bookish. She rather reminds me of your William. I see his influence in her, as much as your own.”
“And dear William is entirely his father, as I am sure you are aware.”
“He has got a good head on his shoulders, and is every bit the gentleman.”
Anne smiled to herself as her eyes drifted over to her son. Her husband had shaped William into a fine young man indeed, and she was tremendously proud of him. She only wished that he might, in time, grow closer with the girls. She supposed it was a great disparity in their ages, and the fact that he was already of an age to begin schooling so soon after the girls first came to them, that must have produced this reserve she sensed from him. He was certainly not as outspoken as young George Wickham, their steward’s son, but he was easy and open enough with Richard and John Fitzwilliam.
“I think he is rather mortified by Catherine’s new notion of his marrying Anne someday,” she felt herself blurting out. “He shows the same reserve to poor Charlotte as well.”
Sir Edward chuckled. “They are all of them far too young to be thinking of such things yet, but given how time does tend to fly, I am sure we must all be thinking of such things ere long. Soon it will be our girls.”
“Perish the thought!” Anne shook her head teasingly, and was on the point of changing the subject entirely when her mother swept into the room. She greeted her family warmly, saving Anne and Sir Edward for last.
“You are looking well tonight, Daughter,” she said cheerfully as she took a seat nearby. “And how are you, dear Edward? I hear you have left Lady Olivia in London on this visit. Tell me, how does your charming wife?”
Anne could perceive the barb by the turn of her mother’s smile, and suspected Sir Edward could as well, but he only replied, “She sends her love.”
“Oh yes, I am sure. Well now, Anne, I suppose the rest of our party will be down soon. Have you asked him?”
Sir Edward quirked his eyebrows knowingly, and Anne laughed. “Well Good Heavens, Mamma! I suppose if I had not, you would have quite muddied the waters, putting him on edge by making such a speech!”
“Yes, well, I like to keep my beaux on their toes, you know.”
“We have spoken of it, Lady Eleanor,” Sir Edward said with humor in his tone. “I have given my hearty approval to the girls taking the Darcy name.”
“I am glad to hear it. I was quite your supporter, I shall tell you that. I told them how it would be, that you would think it the most natural thing in the world, and most advantageous. You are a fine uncle indeed! Now then, when shall we tell the girls?”
“Oh, I do not know,” Anne sighed. “To own the truth, I am rather nervous. George assures me I am making a fuss over nothing, but I worry about Lizzy.”
As Sir Edward gave her a nervous look, her mother harrumphed. “Yes, well, I worry about all thirteen-year-old girls. It is a difficult age!”
“I hardly know – Jane was not like this, two years ago. Jane and Mary are both so sweet and gentle. Sometimes I think Lizzy is so very clever that it causes her to worry overly much about everything. I do not know how much of the accident she remembers, but I wonder if this proposing of a name change might cause some distress for her.”
“She has never asked questions about... the past, not as far as I am aware,” Mr. Gardiner replied, and Anne nodded her agreement. “Well then, if she has any questions now, we shall simply answer them.”
“Edward knows what he is about, my dear,” the dowager said. “Your husband is quite right that all shall be well. Lizzy is only a little jumpy because Jane is going off to school in the new year, but she shall settle down. Let us get through the holiday first. You are hosting Twelfth Night this year, and Henry and Phyllis’s wedding breakfast – let us wait until after the ball to broach the subject.”
Anne shook her head at her own foolishness. “Oh, you are both quite right. I am sure it will turn out well.”
***
A few days after the arrival of her relations, Elizabeth found herself wandering the halls of Pemberley in want of some occupation. She and Mary would have been content to spend the day in the library, but for William occupying it with their older cousins. The drawing room was strictly off-limits, as her mother and aunts were making final preparations for the wedding, and her mother’s favorite parlor was full of flowers, fabric, and a flurry of activity.
Mary had decided to make herself a nuisance by following Jane and George Wickham into the orangerie, and so Elizabeth went off in search of her cousin Charlotte. Though they were three years apart in age, the two had always been thick as thieves whenever they were together. Eventually, she found her cousin lurking outside the music room, her ear pressed against the door.
Instantly curious, Elizabeth hastened toward
her as Charlotte motioned for Elizabeth to keep quiet. “What are you doing,” Elizabeth whispered.
“Shh. Spying, of course!”
Elizabeth grinned. “Who is in there? Is Sir Lewis fighting with someone again?”
Charlotte snickered. “For once, no. It is Miss Gardiner and Uncle Edward, only I am not sure if they are quarreling or not.”
“We cannot spy on Uncle Edward!”
“I can if I wish it! She is to be my Mamma, and help me with my come-out next year. And I want to hear what she is saying about my Papa, so hush!”
Charlotte gave Elizabeth a gentle nudge, and Elizabeth considered a moment before her curiosity got the better of her. If Charlotte wished to know what was happening, it must be something worth hearing. Standing beside her cousin, she leaned her ear against the wall, which was thin enough that she could hear every word spoken within.
***
Sir Edward offered his sister a handkerchief, and she dabbed at her eyes with it. “Oh, Edward, this ought to be the happiest time of my life – why must I feel so wretched?”
“It is only natural for you to feel some agitation on the brink of marriage, I am sure.”
“Did you?”
“I was marrying a woman I had known less than a fortnight – you have known Henry these ten years. Surely you can imagine what I felt, but it does not signify, Phyllis. This is not a patched-up business transaction – he loves you very much, and I suspect he has for quite some time.”
“I know he does. He is such a dear man. I love him so very much, but that is what distresses me so! I feel so terribly guilty for being this happy.”
Sir Edward took his sister’s hand in his. “Henry has nearly finished his year of mourning, and I am sure Lady Margaret is in Heaven, and not begrudging either of you this happiness.”
“It is not that,” Phyllis whimpered. “It is Fanny.”