Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth

by Greer Boyd

  Jerome’s import business had been doing very well, and, as Elizabeth acquainted herself with various aspects of his business endeavors, his profits began to increase substantially. She encouraged him to put a portion of his profit back into the business but also to invest a larger portion in the development of the steam engine and railways. He was convinced that Elizabeth’s business acumen and her intellect would eventually make them very wealthy, and he never ceased to tell her how proud he was to have her as his wife and business partner.

  Although the business and financial aspects of her life were very successful, Elizabeth herself had challenges of a very personal nature. While still in France, her monthly menses had begun again, just as it had always been: on time and predictably lasting for four days almost to the very hour. She had come quite shyly to Jerome in his dressing room when she had told him of her indisposition. Taking her hands into his, he pulled her into a comforting embrace, and simply told her, “Elizabeth, please do not be disappointed that you did not conceive immediately from the marriage bed. We have been married less than a month.”

  “But,” Elizabeth replied with dismay that she was unable to disguise, “My sister Jane was born precisely nine months after my mother was married to my father.”

  “Give yourself time,” was all Jerome would say, but she knew from his expression, that he, too, was disappointed.

  The monthly occurrence happened again during the time of their travels. A week after their return, as she had started to settle into her role as wife and business partner to Jerome, her monthly menses began again, just as on time and predictable as when she was a maiden. Jerome again urged patience, then hugged her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. But a tiny bit of doubt began to take hold in the far reaches of her mind. All through her life there had been only a very few things that she truly could not do and they were all because of the physical limitations of her body. “Please, God, do not let this be another one of them,” she silently prayed.

  The next month when her menses did not come, she was so deliriously happy that she could barely wait to tell her husband. “Jerome,” she called to him as she walked into his study with a spring in her step, “I have such wonderful news to tell you. I know that it is still quite early and I will have to wait until the quickening, until I feel that tiny flutter deep inside to be sure, but . . .”

  Interrupting her, Jerome asked as happiness filled him as it had her, “You may be with child?”

  “Yes, Husband,” she answered as her eyes lit with the felicity that filled her heart, “I think that I am.”

  ∞∞∞

  Soon her morning ritual included violent retching and a disdain for any type of meat. The smell of it alone would make her stomach become queasy and spasm. The only things that she could keep down for any length of time were tea, certain fruits and vegetables, and anything from Serendipity Confections. Still, even through the adverse effects brought on by the pregnancy, she was able to continue the management of her household and her business interests, and maintain her business and personal correspondence.

  A few weeks after talking with Jerome, Elizabeth had written to invite Jane to visit, in her typical open and direct fashion:

  Oh Jane.

  As much as I truly want this child, I am beginning to feel that something is not right. I need your soothing presence.

  Your loving sister,

  Elizabeth

  Since the invitation has been sent via express the evening before, Jane arrived in the early afternoon the very next day. After warmly greeting her sister, she took one look at Elizabeth’s ashen complexion and her drawn facial expression and made the excuse that she needed to refresh herself in her bedchamber. Instead she immediately and angrily headed to see Jerome.

  “What has happened to Elizabeth?” she demanded as she barged into his study so brusquely that the door slammed against the wall. “Throughout my entire life, I have never seen her look so unwell.”

  “Jane,” he said, looking helpless and as frustrated as she felt, “what can I say to you? She eats very little. The smell of food that would help her maintain her strength makes her ill, even broth. She seems to grow weaker every day. The doctor will say only that it is because of the baby and that the time of sickness should end very soon.”

  “Has Aunt Lilly been to see her?” Jane asked as she ran her hand up and down her arm trying to deflect the helplessness that she felt.

  “Yes, she comes for a time almost every day. As a matter of fact, she should be here for tea later this afternoon,” her brother-in-law answered, as he walked to her from behind his desk.

  “Jerome, I am truly sorry for speaking to you so abruptly. The sight of Elizabeth frightened me so,” replied Jane apologetically. “Will you be joining us for tea?”

  “I would enjoy that very much,” he responded with a slight smile that did not completely reflect in his eyes.

  Jane then truly did go to her bedchamber. There she rinsed her hands and wiped her face with a damp cloth before rejoining Elizabeth, who was in her study looking over a report that had been sent to her by Mr. Fleming and was related to her ship. Jane walked to her sister, gently but firmly took the report from her hands, and begged, “Elizabeth, what are you not telling me?”

  Elizabeth slumped as soft sobs shook her small shoulders. “Oh, Jane, I only have Mama and Aunt Lilly as examples, but neither one of them ever had sickness like this when they were with child. I do not know what to think other than that something is quite different with me.

  “Both the doctor and Aunt Lilly will only say ‘Time will tell,’ but you know the extent of my patience for waiting.”

  “OH, YES, Lizzy, I know quite well of your patience,” Jane acknowledged with as much humour as she could manage, “but in this case, you have no choice.”

  “And, why, why, dear Jane,” questioned Elizabeth with anguish in her eyes, “does that frighten me so?”

  The sisters hugged one another for several long minutes until Elizabeth pushed away, dabbed her eyes with her pocket square, and stated firmly, “Enough.” Standing and smoothing her hands down her gown to remove the wrinkles, she adopted a resolute tone: “I believe that Aunt Lilly said that she would be coming for tea this afternoon.

  Shall we go to the sitting room and await her arrival?”

  The sisters walked arm in arm down the stairs to the sitting room and were quietly talking when Jerome entered the room accompanied by Aunt Lilly, her hand on his arm. “Do you mind if we join you ladies?” he asked, studying each face in turn.

  “Of course not, Husband. You bring us such good company,” laughed Elizabeth with a cheerful smile. As an afterthought, she asked, “Would you ask Susan to bring tea, please?”

  It is already on its way,” he answered, squeezing her shoulder.

  When the maid brought in the tea and settled it on the small table in front of Elizabeth, she immediately stood to serve and had just handed a cup to her aunt when she suddenly gasped, clutched her back, and fainted silently falling to the heavily rugged floor. She awoke about a quarter hour later to find herself in her bed and in excruciating pain. As soon as the pain subsided, she felt hot fluid flow from her body and immediately knew that she had lost the child. “Good God! Please NO!” she cried mournfully, moving her head slowly from side to side as she grasp handfuls of the duvet covering her. Her aunt knew with surety what had happened.

  After calling for bathwater for her mistress, Mrs. Upton efficiently took charge, enlisting Elizabeth’s maid and another to help clean the bed thoroughly and change the bed linen. Once Elizabeth had bathed, Jane helped Aunt Lilly dress her in a fresh nightgown and robe. Seeking to provide what comfort that she could to the no longer mother-to-be, Aunt Lilly recounted how Jerome had carefully lifted her from the floor and immediately carried her up to her bedchamber, calling over his shoulder for Mrs. Upton to summon the doctor.

  The doctor had arrived within the hour and could only confirm what everyone already knew. “Y
ou will have a heavy flow similar to your monthly menses that will last for a few days,” he explained, “but after you begin to have your regular monthly cycle again, you should be able to resume all normal activities.”

  True to what the doctor had predicted, the bleeding lasted for only three days. One week later, on the same schedule as her monthly menses had always arrived, they began again. “Almost as though nothing had happened,” thought Elizabeth. “How could it be so easy for her body to recover? Did it not know how desperately she wanted a child?”

  Aunt Lilly’s description of her own miscarriage, before she became pregnant with the first of her now four children, placated Elizabeth somewhat, but she still could not think of herself as anything but a failure. Four months later, when she realized the possibility that she was again with child, she did not immediately go to Jerome with the news. Only when she started becoming violently ill in the mornings and had almost completely lost her appetite did she decide it was time.

  He had been visiting at the docks and warehouse earlier that morning. When he came home for afternoon tea, Elizabeth approached him. Hands clasped tightly in front of her and, barely raising her eyes to meet his, she inquired, “Jerome, may I speak with you?”

  “Of course, Wife,” he replied watching her demeanor carefully. “Will the sitting room be satisfactory, or do we need go to the study?”

  Sighing, her hand held high up on her throat, she responded, “The study, please.”

  Warmed a bit by the sun that streamed through the window and dappled the rug, she began. “Jerome, I had thought to delay telling you, after what happened last time, but I have not had my menses for the last two months. The sickness each morning is as bad, or worse than before. Although I so much wish it otherwise, I fear for the fate of the child.” Soft sobs followed as her head bowed and her shoulders shook slightly.

  “Elizabeth,” soothed Jerome, as he brought his arms around her shoulders and held her close, “you and I both know it is in God’s hands as it always is.”

  As she left his embrace, she stated flatly, “After tea, I will notify Mrs. Upton and my aunt, although I sense they both already suspect.”

  Fate repeated itself early the next week. Elizabeth had just gotten out of bed and, as she felt a wave of nausea sweep over her, everything went dark. Fortunately, her maid had been preparing the bath, when she heard the muffled thud as Elizabeth crumpled to the floor. She hurried into the bedchamber and found her mistress unconscious, lying in a pool of blood. Knowing immediately what had happened, she pulled the bell cord and had the housekeeper summoned.

  Mrs. Upton and two maids worked silently to bathe Elizabeth, redress her in a fresh gown and dress robe, and, after laying her in the bed, gently pulled the duvet up over her. She awoke only minutes before the doctor arrived, followed only minutes later by Jerome.

  Having now miscarried twice during her first year of marriage, she began to feel that the very thing she desired most of all would never happen. She would never have a child to love. But, before she would let fear take hold, and to soften the disappointment she knew Jerome felt as well, she sought his face, “Husband, let us not despair. Next time he will stay.”

  The couple soldiered on, tending to their business interests both joint and individual, discussing investments, socializing with their friends and business associates, and joining one another in their bedchamber. Elizabeth went to his as often as he came to hers, so that it was a rare thing for them not to awaken each morning beside one another.

  About three months later, Elizabeth awoke with an almost ravenous appetite and a slight bit of light-headedness when she stood up quickly. The following week her monthly indisposition did not come. Could she possibly be with child again? She waited for the violent nausea to begin, but it, too, did not come. Neither did the loss of appetite. If anything, her craving for food increased. Yet she waited another week before she spoke to Jerome. Catching him in his study late one evening, she said with great cheerfulness as she spritely strode across the room, “Husband, I have some news.”

  “And what might that be, Wife?” he responded, with a bit of fake formality.

  She stepped behind his desk to place one hand on his shoulder and the other under his chin as she raised his face to hers and gently kissed him on the cheek. “I am with child again, and everything is so different this time.” She explained missing her monthly menses, her increased appetite, and her slight lightheadedness. “I know that he will stay this time. But, I do not wish to say anything to our family until I know for sure . . . not until I feel his tiny movement . . . not until I truly know.”

  “Wife, I will say nothing as you have requested, but I am afraid that you cannot keep me from hoping,” he responded, with genuine pleasure in his voice and a glint of joy in his eyes.

  “Then,” she stated succinctly as she kissed his lips softly before turning to leave the room, “let us hope together.”

  ∞∞∞

  The next week saw Elizabeth in Madame Claudine’s early one morning. “Gabby,” she laughed as cheerfulness exuded from her every pore, “I hope that you might have a few extra minutes for me today.”

  “For you, you know that I will make time.” As the seamstress looked at her friend with a bit of questioning in her voice, she asked, “And, just why are you so happy?”

  “JANE,” answered Elizabeth practically dancing with joy as she took Gabby’s hands. “Jane has met a young man that she likes very much.”

  “Oh. Lizzy, tell us all,” proclaimed the three sisters as they gathered around her and directed her to a small private sitting room off to the side.

  “Well, as I understand it, he is a young gentleman who has taken the lease of Netherfield, the estate that joins Longbourn. His roots are in trade, and he is said to have about £5,000 a year. Although, I suspect it is truly more,” Elizabeth enthused, as she warmed to her subject and leaned toward the other women in a conspiratorial manner. “She mentioned that he is to give a ball in August, so I would like to have a very special gown made for her to wear. I know you already have her measurements from the last time she was here. Something extremely beautiful and elegant, I should think in a pale blue to match her eyes, but the rest I leave to your very excellent taste. I would like to also commission ten muslin gowns for her for daily wear and five gowns in silk for evening activities, dinners, and country dances.”

  Gabby reached over to take Elizabeth’s hands into her own and squeezed them gently. “I am so happy for Jane. She is so beautiful and has such a sweet and caring personality. It is a pleasure to dress her.”

  “My younger sisters will be coming to town soon. I will schedule a time for them to come when you can take their measurements and make gowns for them to wear to the ball as well,” sighed Elizabeth almost in exasperation as she puffed her cheeks and blew air through her lips. “I will warn you ahead of time that the two youngest can be quite a handful, but of that you are already aware.

  “Lastly,” she sat back in her chair and tried to contain her excitement as she spoke, “I would like for you to make several dresses for me . . . in different sizes.”

  Before she could say another word, the sisters all looked at one another and then back at her. Gabby grasped her elbows, “Could it be true? Are you enceinte (pregnant)?”

  Elizabeth’s face beamed as she hugged Gabby fiercely. “I do not know for sure, but I do feel in my heart that it is true. I should feel the quickening in July with the child to be born in late January. But . . .” she said leaning forward, lowering her voice, and placing the back of her hand at the edge of her mouth, “I have told no one but my husband, so please do not say anything until we know for sure.”

  “Lizzy,” replied Bella pressing her hand close to her heart. “You do not have to ask. If a dressmaker is anything, she is discreet.”

  With that being said, all the ladies burst into laughter. To celebrate, they asked Lizzy to stay for tea, which she was most willing to do.

  All of t
he dresses, with the exception of the ball gowns, were made quickly, and Elizabeth had them sent by carriage to Jane. A move she felt particularly good about when Charles Bingley paid them a visit only a few days later. She, Jerome, and her Uncle Edward met with the young man, who was very careful to tell them that he had not yet formally asked Jane for the courtship but intended to do so at his ball. Elizabeth and Jerome nodded their heads in agreement, already having decided they would wait until after the announcement of Jane’s courtship to air their good news. Elizabeth had felt the baby move only a couple of days before.

  Since she and Jerome were going to Longbourn two weeks before the ball, Elizabeth had gone back to Madame Claudine’s to retrieve the ball gowns for her and her sisters. Her sister Jane’s was the most beautiful gown that she had ever seen, and she knew that Jane would look exquisite in it.

  Gabby and Bella held the gown between them, much as they had that first gown they had presented to her. They could not contain themselves when Paulie told her what they had done. “Lizzy, we have started on Jane’s wedding gown and have made the beginnings of her trousseau.”