Chapter 3 The Miracles of Marriage

Charles Bingley’s lease on Netherfield Park would end in October after an emergency extension was agreed to by the parties. Jane Bingley stared at the long list of tasks left in her charge. Even with the extension, it would be a difficult feat to accomplish. The list ranged from a final inventory of the furnishings to help her uncle close out the property to convincing Kitty that some of her larger works of art should remain behind in the attic. They were painted in residence after all. With so many between the Bennet and Bingley families set to leave the area, the number of wagons and carriages that could carry their belongings was finite. Jane’s husband had offered to take responsibility for many of the items left to tackle, apologizing that both of his sisters had left so soon after the baptism of their twins. But Jane remained resolute to her duties.

Truthfully, the excuse of preparing to depart Netherfield offered Jane one of the few breaks in her busy day as a hostess to a full house, including her displaced family. Tears, with no inclination as to their reason, brimmed at the corner of her eyes. She looked away from her impossible list to accomplish and gazed out the north-facing window. The long road stretching beyond the woods remained defiantly empty as it had for days that she earnestly expected her sister Elizabeth’s arrival. The last message had indicated an imminent homecoming, but until she saw the express rider that typically preceded Mr. Darcy’s travels, Jane tried her best to stymie her hope.

The small parlor she used as her personal office was not decorated to Jane Bingley’s tastes. Most of the furnishings outdated her by decades, upholstered in maroon velvets that were worn and the gilt framing long faded. Still, it was furniture that she and her husband did not own. 

Jane sighed and picked up her quill to add another notion to the section of her parchment that included her goals for once she and Mr. Bingley chose a house to purchase. Very carefully, she inked: furniture for my study.

A familiar, slightly uncomfortable ache began to plague her bosom, and Jane took one last look out the window before admitting to herself that her solitary time needed to end. Her daughter and son were due for their late morning feeding, and though their family did employ a wet nurse, with two mouths to feed, Jane still provided much of the babes’ sustenance as well.

But when Jane reached the nursery, she was hindered in her efforts to reach her children by the presence of her mother.

“I knew I would find you here. I’ve just come from your father’s room, and he is much improved. I am certain with just one more week here at Netherfield, we shall be able to move into the Stevens’ home and see to the rebuilding of Longbourn come spring.” Mrs. Bennet renewed her ridiculous idea that opposed all of the plans the Bingleys held for the Bennets.

“Mama, please not this again,” Jane pleaded as she walked around her mother, blocking her path and picked up little Lynnie from her bassinet. Jane cooed at her daughter who was far more docile and temperament than her brother, Charlie.

“I do not see why you always feed her first. You should not play favorites among your children,” Mrs. Bennet advised, though it was a piece of advice Jane had never seen her mother honor.

“Little Charles is still asleep. I feed the child that is awake when it is time to feed them, nothing else. When you say Papa is much improved, what do you mean?” Jane carried her daughter over to the rocking chair and allowed her specially sewn gown to fall at the bodice. Lynn wasted no time latching on and curled her little fist right around her mother’s pinky. No matter how vexed Jane Bingley felt with her mother and her two sisters, Mary and Lydia, who also objected to moving so far away from Hertfordshire, comforting her children always brought her joy. She looked up at her mother expecting an answer, and Mrs. Bennet faltered.

“Why would you trouble me with such a question? I have known your father for over two decades, and I know precisely when he is about to make a turn for the better. Mark my words, he shall walk again.” Mrs. Bennet’s words were shaky as she voiced them, and Jane reached up to stroke her daughter’s cheek as the babe fed.

Jane gulped before she braved telling her mother about the expected arrival of the Darcys that very day.

“But with the distance being so far, it also could be tomorrow or the next day,” Jane tempered the news so her mother did not fall into a fit. “Once Lizzie arrives, I am certain that we can determine an appropriate solution for all. You know Papa would wish for us all to remain together, Mama. There is just no house available in the nearby countryside large enough to house all of us.”

“If we rebuilt Longbourn . . .” Mrs. Bennet trailed off as though she liked to get her own way, even Fanny Bennet was intelligent enough to reason Longbourn would not be large enough to house two families. And it would never pass to Mr. Bingley, so there would be no incentive for him to reside there and take up the reins. 

So instead, she changed her mind entirely. 

“But Pemberley is so far!” Mrs. Bennet complained, loudly enough to wake up her grandson. 

The nursemaid immediately stood up from where she was folding laundry in the corner and picked up the child to see to his needs, but Mrs. Bennet intervened. “No, no, go take Lynnie from Mrs. Bingley,” Mrs. Bennet stated as she picked up her grandson and brought the child to her daughter.

Jane groaned, but not wishing to have another argument, she kissed Lynn’s forehead and surrendered her to the wetnurse. Adjusting her gown, she accepted her son from her mother and offered him her other breast. Jane thought to point out to her mother that her insistence on her feeding both children doubled her work while sparing the nursemaid, but truthfully, Jane did not mind. The difficult part would be traveling so far with the children so young. Her Aunt Gardiner had given her more than a few horror stories of how messy traveling with babies business it could be.

Once little Charlie was settled, though Jane had to adjust her position since her son did not prefer to nurse in the same attitude as his sister, she remembered her mother’s objections.

“Derbyshire is a good distance from our neighborhood, but Charles has assured me the home is more than adequate to provide all of us the time and comfort we all need. Papa will have a suite organized for his specific needs and convalescence. And think of how you will get to help Lizzie plan the entertainment and dinner parties only a home of that scale can provide.”

Mrs. Bennet crossed her arms as both children were being tended to, there was little employment for her to find. There was not an extra chair in the nursery, and she saw the interview with her eldest daughter as unsatisfactory.

“All of this is Lizzie’s fault.”

Jane startled her son by jerking her head up to glare at her mother’s outrageous accusation. Charlie began to cry as Jane offered the child a soft apology and helped him settle once more.

“Mother, if you are going to say such upsetting things, I beg you to please leave the nursery.” Jane was firm in her words, reflecting on the reminder from her husband that if she did not wish for her mother to trample all over her, she had to assert herself as mistress in the household.

“But I am speaking the truth, surely you can see that,” Mrs. Bennet said, regulating her voice to a lower volume.         

Jane’s emotions began to sour as Charlie’s feeding efforts pained her. The boy was likely working on his first tooth, and often gummed her delicate skin when it was time to feed. Jane shuddered at the shock of the pain and jostled Little Charlie to distract him from his aims of soothing his gums and return him to the task at hand. 

“Because I know you will explain your ridiculous logic, I will humor this discussion. But if I find it to be without merit, you will not say such a statement to Lizzie or Mr. Darcy when they arrive.”

Jane’s small allowance was all the opportunity Mrs. Bennet needed to air her grievances.

“If Lizzie had married Mr. Collins, as your father and I instructed her to do so, Longborn would never have caught fire,” Mrs. Bennet explained as though the trail from one statement to the next was entirely linear and well reasoned.

Jane shook her head. “That makes no sense at all, Mama.”

“Does it not? If she had not upset your father so, there would be no discord in our family. You married Mr. Bingley, you were the obedient daughter. But not Lizzie! And even when she was confronted with the folly of her choices, she still ran away. How do we even know they are wedded? An elopement to Scotland! Your father had it on good authority that they went back to Pemberley and no further.” Mrs. Bennet charged as Jane once again winced as Charlie misbehaved. Finding her patience to be at an end, Jane lifted her son to her other shoulder to burp as she looked over at the wetnurse with Lynn. Her daughter appeared to be finished, and Jane carefully stood to swap the children. Lynn happily gurgled in her mother’s arms, as Jane began the necessary task that all babies required after feeding by changing her napkin.

“For heaven’s sakes, call another maid!” Mrs. Bennet again insulted her daughter’s care of her own children, and Jane ignored her.

“Have you forgotten how viciously Mr. Collins beat Elizabeth in Kent? I saw her injuries, Mother, and I, for one, cannot agree with you that my sister should have married such a brute.”

Mrs. Bennet walked over to the pile of laundry the nurse had been folding and selected a clean gown to bring to her daughter for little Lynn.     

“Do you think that if Lizzie had married Mr. Collins, your father would’ve allowed her to move to Kent with him? Oh no, Janie, such an event would not have even occurred. No, your father intended for them to live at Longbourn and for Mr. Collins to give up his position with the Church.”      

 Mrs. Bennet explained the plans for her least favorite daughter and did not add that she had been opposed to her husband’s wishes. It would have fallen to her to allow Lizzie to help her with the day-to-day running of the household. Now, thanks to her headstrong daughter’s ways, Mrs. Bennet did not even have such a home to run.

As another maid did appear to help tend the children, Jane shared a glance with the wetnurse that conveyed the woman would not carry tales elsewhere. A permanent position with the Bingley family depended upon her discretion.

“Mama, let’s retire to my parlor down the hall.” Jane paused in placating her mother to kiss her children a temporary farewell. She and Charles always saw them before dinner. “I will call for refreshments, and we can discuss your concerns more thoroughly.” Jane ushered her mother out and left Mrs. Bennet no choice but to physically retreat towards the door.

“You see? I knew you would understand,” Mrs. Bennet smugly left the nursery with her head high, confident that her eldest daughter would support her.

For Jane, she prayed that she could provide her mother with enough time to vent her spleen before the Darcys arrived and warn Lizzie of the lunacy before Mrs. Bennet offended others.