Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth

by Greer Boyd

  Between the mothers and wet nurses present, the feeding of the two newborns could be easily managed for the short term. Thankfully, Mrs. Milchland, the Quartermain wet nurse, was scheduled to arrive within the next three days.

  The newborns nursed again mid-morning, but by early afternoon, Mrs. Quartermain had developed a sudden and quite high fever. She had now been unconscious for nearly two full days. At the onset of the fever, Darcy sent two of his footmen to bring a small block of ice from the nearest ice house. The sisters, the aunts, and Mrs. Reynolds, all ran cooling cloths over her body throughout the evening, but just before midnight, her fever went even higher.

  Darcy sought Dr. Crawford and found him slumped in the maid’s chair in Mrs. Quartermain’s bedchamber. “I had ice brought to the house earlier. If some chips were placed in cloths and laid along her sides, do you think that would help?”

  “It certainly could not hurt. Her fever is dangerously high, and she has not shown any sign of regaining consciousness.”

  From midnight to nearly seven o’clock the next morning, the ice was placed along her sides until it melted completely. After that the cool cloths were run over her face, chest, arms, and her unbound leg. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the fever was gone. The wound to her head had been re-bandaged several times to check for infection. Fortunately, none had occurred. Still she did not respond to any stimulus, even when Dr. Crawford pricked her finger with a needle.

  He began to suspect that there would be some permanent injury, but he would not know more until she awoke.

  Elizabeth was beside herself with worry. Darcy held her and ran his warm hands over her arms and back, trying to give her hope. Mr. Quartermain sat behind his wife and held her upright each time as Mrs. Reynolds or one of the sisters gently coaxed broth down her throat, which was several times a day. This went on for days. Charlotte and Georgiana and all the other cousins began taking their turn reading and talking to her. There were usually two people and sometimes three in the room carrying on a conversation, which always included her as though she were an apt participant. These exchanges were interspersed with the sessions when they were reading to her.

  Mid-morning on the eighth day, Georgiana was in Mrs. Quartermain’s room. She picked up a book that Mr. Quartermain had been reading to his wife and had left on the bedside table. As she read the title, she was more than a little curious, Eclipse, the father of the Arabians. She began to read aloud of a magnificent Arabian stallion, of his undefeated racing career, of his speed, and of the tremendous number of foals that he sired.

  As she laid the book aside to reach for another, she thought she saw Mrs. Quartermain’s lips move. At first, she thought that she might be simply seeing things. She squeezed the woman’s fingers gently without receiving any response. But a few moments later, Georgiana was certain that her lips moved again. Georgiana put her ear very close to the prone woman’s mouth: “Race? Had Mrs. Quartermain just whispered the word ‘race’?” she asked herself.

  She pulled the bell cord and almost immediately the maid entered the room. “Find Lady Elizabeth and Mr. Quartermain and ask them to come here immediately; then, locate Dr. Crawford and tell him that he is needed.”

  “Right away, Ma’am,” replied the maid, hurrying from the room.

  Within minutes, the three entered the room, followed closely by nearly every other adult in the families. She hurriedly explained to the doctor, “Doctor Crawford, she did not respond when I squeezed her fingers, but I am certain that she whispered the word ‘race.’”

  “Oh, thank the good Lord,” cried Mr. Quartermain, as he rushed to his wife’s side and quickly took her hand. “I am here Sweet Fanny. Race is here.”

  Looking as the stunned faces of those in the room, he laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “She simply hates the name Horace, so she calls me ‘Race’ instead.”

  Then he, too, saw her lips move. Putting his ear close to her mouth, he almost sobbed then kissed her tenderly on those dry and cracked lips. “Race is here. I will be right here by your side.”

  As Elizabeth watched the tender scene, she felt almost as if she were an intruder. Her mother had cared a great deal for her father, much as she herself had cared for Jerome, but there had not been love for either of them. That her mother had finally found love and that it was equally returned made her heart thrill.

  When her mother moaned deeply and slowly raised her hands to her head barely whispering, “Head hurts. Leg hurts,” Elizabeth almost jumped for joy. She did not want anyone to have to endure the pain that awaited her mother, but the fact that she could feel it warmed her heart.

  Mrs. Reynolds attempted to press a cup containing laudanum mixed in a quantity of wine to her lips, but Mrs. Quartermain whispered as loudly as she could and tried diligently to turn her head away from the cup, “No laudanum please, broth only. I have had a child. I can bear the pain.”

  Hearing what Elizabeth’s mother had spoken, Georgiana started to giggle, and then burst into almost uncontrolled laughter. Everyone in the room looked at her as though she had lost her mind. “What is so funny that it brought on such laughter at a time like this?” asked Darcy, as a frown brought a deep furrow to his brow.

  She caught her breath and tried to rein in her laughter. “Oh, Brother. That is almost the exact same thing that Elizabeth said when she finally awoke after her accident. Lizzy, apparently you and your mother have similar strengths.”

  Elizabeth pulled Georgiana into a warm sisterly embrace. “Georgiana, this is truly the first time that anyone has ever recognized strength of any kind in my mother.”

  As she found Mr. Quartermain’s eye, she looked at him with growing affection. “Thank you for helping Mama to find that quality within herself.”

  Mr. Quartermain’s broad smile lit his face as he leaned down close to his wife’s ear, “Truly Fanny. You have borne a child; as a matter of fact, you have borne two very recently.”

  “Two?” Although her voice was still very weak and quite hoarse, the questioning was quite evident.

  Squeezing her hands tenderly between his own, he explained, “Yes, my love. You have given me an heir and a spare. The heir I named Benjamin, and his younger brother Simon. Perhaps you would like to help me complete their names.”

  Bending close to hear her whispered words, he smiled brightly. “Then, that is what they shall be named: The Honorable Benjamin Gardiner Race Quartermain and The Honorable Simon Race Bennet Quartermain.”

  ∞∞∞

  Before the end of the next week, Elizabeth’s mother had improved so much that Dr. Crawford and Mrs. Jolly each came to Darcy and told him of their need to return to London as they handed the care of Mrs. Quartermain over to Dr. Seal. All three had been rewarded handsomely for their services over the last several months. After the reward that Darcy and Elizabeth had given each of them, combined with that of the senior Lord and Lady Fitzwilliam, and each of the new families, Mrs. Jolly could now easily afford to buy a small house and retire to Bath if she wanted. Instead, all three turned their reward over to Mr. Gardiner to be invested.

  Richard had also established a settlement of £15,000 for Mrs. Hedgeley, the Lambton midwife, which Nathan and Uncle Edward would invest for her until she decided to retire and beyond if she so desired. It would be given to her for her benefit alone. A like amount was given to Dr. Crawford. Either Mr. Grove or Mr. Georges would visit him on their next trip to London to inform him of the gift of thanks and gratitude from The Earl of Rosings.

  Soon after the doctor and midwife left for London, each of the new fathers came to Darcy one by one. They told him that they truly did not wish to be a burden and felt that they should leave to go to their own homes. One by one, Darcy told them all the same thing. “If you feel it is absolutely necessary that you leave, then Elizabeth and I will wish you a safe journey. But, we truly desire that you would remain with us at least from Michaelmas through Twelfth Night.” Without much more persuasion than that, each family agreed to what
they truly wanted to do anyway: to stay until Elizabeth’s baby was born.

  Since to Elizabeth’s great pleasure everyone would be staying through the Twelfth Night celebrations, she turned the planning of the upcoming festivities over to her new cousins, along with Jane, Mary, and Georgiana. She and Aunt Eleanor would assist them if asked, but all of the preparations for the Michaelmas dinner to the Christmas ball to the Twelfth Night celebrations were in their very capable hands.

  ∞∞∞

  Darcy watched over Elizabeth with the greatest of care. In fact, if the truth be known, the entire household did. As November had given way to December, she had grown so large that Darcy had reestablished the practice for expectant mothers and had two footmen accompany her everywhere she went. At first she had refused, but when she turned quickly one day and knocked a small stack of envelopes from her desk, she understood his concern. Her dimensions were even greater than she herself realized. With six more weeks to go before her due date, Darcy had the doctor and midwife already ensconced at Pemberley House. Only a few days later, Elizabeth woke with a familiar pain in her lower back. “Katie,” she called as she heard her maid in the dressing room.

  “Yes ma’am,” Katie replied. When she came into the room and saw the distressed look on Elizabeth’s face, she immediately pulled the bell cord and dispatched a young maid: “Quick Patty, please get Mrs. Reynolds and His Grace.”

  Mrs. Reynolds arrived so quickly Elizabeth thought that she might have already been in the hallway. Darcy, the doctor, and midwife were only a minute or two behind her.

  Things moved quickly from there as her water broke and Darcy took his place behind her and refused to leave the room. Soon the entire household was waiting in anticipation of the pending birth. Aunt Eleanor had suspected twins, since Elizabeth’s girth had grown so immense so quickly, and by noon, she had been proven correct. On December 10, 1820, after less than four hours of labor, the Darcy heir, The Marquess of Pemberley, Lord Alexander William Bennet Darcy, was born, quickly followed by his brother, Lord Julian Piers Bennet Darcy. They were small, but not much smaller than the size of a small single baby.

  Alexander had a head full of golden curls and eyes almost as dark as his mother’s, while his brother had curls that were a dark mahogany and eyes as bright blue as his father’s. Darcy and Elizabeth both cried when the babies were laid in their arms, but their tears were tears of happiness.

  Twenty Years Later

  Entering her five and seventieth year, Aunt Eleanor, the Dowager Countess of Matlock, had trained her daughters well and now the Ladies Annabel, Mary, and Charlotte lead the women of the peerage much as Lady Matlock herself had done throughout her lifetime and in no small part still did.

  ∞∞∞

  Elizabeth’s holdings in shipping, railroads, mining, steam engines, and her plethora of other investments soared in value, making her one of the wealthiest, if not, in fact, the wealthiest, woman in all of England, and the greater part of the Continent as well. But this was a closely guarded secret. Darcy’s investments grew to almost unfathomable levels; and, though some suspected that they knew the exact amount, the speculation was so very far below the actual value that Darcy could only smile. Both Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s solicitors were paid somewhere on the level of Croesus to keep their confidences.

  ∞∞∞

  One day as Elizabeth and Anne Elizabeth strolled through the smaller flower garden behind Pemberley House, Darcy quietly stepped behind Elizabeth, gingerly slipped his arm around her waist, and softly whispered into her ear. “Oh Wills. Yes - - peez,” she replied, smiling as she slowly turned in his arms and reached up on tiptoe as far as she could before gently tugging on the lapels of his dress coat until he lowered his head enough for her to gently nuzzle his neck with her lips. As they laughed together, Darcy swept her up into his arms and swiftly carried her into the house and up to their bedchamber.

  Anne Elizabeth laughed softly, bringing her hand to her mouth in an effort to hide her humor as her “parents” disappeared into the house. Through the years, she had grown quite accustomed to such scenes. The woman, that she had always regarded as her “mama,” and her papa loved one another deeply; and, after all the tragedies they had faced, she knew they would never hide their love from anyone. She continued to chuckle to herself as Thomas quietly stepped behind her just as the man that he regarded as his “papa” had approached his mama. Slipping his arm around her waist, he softly whispered words of love into her ear. “Oh Tummus, my darling husband,” she cooed, smiling as she quickly turned in his arms. As his mama had done, she reached up on tiptoe, gently tugging on the lapels of his dress coat until he lowered his head so she could nibble his neck before kissing him passionately on the lips. They both burst into peals of laughter as he swept her up into his arms and swiftly carried her into the house to their bedchamber, just as his “papa” had done with his mama.