Darcy and Fitzwilliam: A Tale of a Gentleman and an Officer

“But, Mummy, look. Mrs. Darling has wet the carpet. Will she be in trouble? Oh, I hope not. She’s not well. Will Mr. Darling make her sleep outside like Grandmama makes Ruffles?” His eyes were wide with concern, and he placed a protective hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. Again, he shouted into Elizabeth’s ear, “ I say, will you be in trouble? Please do not be afraid. I shall protect you.” He lowered his voice and turned back to Amanda to plead for leniency. “I don’t think she meant to do it, Mummy. You see, she is not feeling at all well. I think she must be very old, poor dear.”

“Oh fiddles.” Amanda had not heard Harry’s rather rude comment about Lizzy’s advanced age. Amanda had been staring where her son was pointing, at the large water stain on the carpet. She looked back at Elizabeth.

“Mary,” she called over to the maid. “Go downstairs and get someone from the household up here immediately. Look everywhere. Please take Harry into the next room. Harry, you will remain in the sitting room, and you will behave like the wonderful boy you are, all right, my angel?” The maid grabbed Harry’s hand but remained motionless, staring wide-eyed as Lizzy struggled with her growing fright.

“Mrs. Darcy, I am afraid that, early or not, your baby is coming quite quickly.” Amanda helped Lizzy off with her wet underclothes then to lie back on the bed, placing pillows beneath her head. She ran to a cupboard and grabbed sheets from within.

“After you bring someone up here, I want you go back downstairs and wait for Colonel Fitzwilliam. Mary, do you understand? Are you listening to me?”

The maid began backing out of the room. “I’ll just take Sir Harry with me now, mum.”

“No!” Amanda felt a sudden apprehension. “Please just settle Sir Harry into the adjoining sitting room and leave him there, where I can see him.” At her maid’s raised eyebrows, Amanda almost succumbed to the urge to shout. “Give him that Mother Goose book from my valise to read and then go and wait for the colonel downstairs. Harry, you will wait in the next room and read aloud to Mrs. Darcy and me. That will help Mrs. Darcy very much. Do not stop reading—read very loudly, Harry, until the colonel comes for you!”

When she looked back down into Elizabeth’s eyes, they were bright with terror. “Mrs. Darcy, please listen to me. There can be only one of two things happening here. Either your physician has made an error in your delivery date, or”—she hesitated with the second, knowing it was the most dangerous of the two for the child—“or the baby is coming early. If it is the former, I will be perfectly able to assist you. I have assisted in many births at my father’s hospital in Boston.”

Elizabeth fought off her panic. “What if it is the latter?”

Amanda swallowed. “I don’t really think it is.”

Elizabeth looked straight up at the ceiling and nodded.

After waiting patiently through a few minutes of quiet counting, Elizabeth squeezed Amanda’s hand. “Mrs. Fitzwilliam, I have heard that extreme stress or shock can bring on labor. Is that true?” Amanda dampened a cloth in cool water and gently wiped Elizabeth’s forehead then used her fingers to tenderly comb her hair back from her face.

“I have heard that also, and it may be possible, although my father never mentioned that. Why do you ask?”

Elizabeth stared intently back at her. “I received a letter that upset me to such an extent that I initiated the fight with Mr. Darcy and drove him to walk out.” Another pain shot through Elizabeth, and she gripped Amanda’s hand convulsively. “He is really such a good man. He looks so calm on the surface but is in actuality more like a duck. All the turmoil is going on beneath the surface.”

Amanda smiled, holding Elizabeth’s hand. “You must love him a great deal.”

“I love him more than my life.”

***

It was nearly twenty minutes later, and the contractions appeared to have abated. As Lizzy relaxed, her curiosity returned. “So I am now wondering whether my husband was aware of your coming here this evening. He never informed me.”

Amanda sat beside Lizzy, holding her hand and dabbing a cool cloth across her forehead. “You know how men are. I mean besides the general lack of imagination or patience on their part, they are really quite unable to deal with more than one situation.” She wrinkled her nose. “It is best when they are presented with one problem at a time, you know. Anything more than that seems to muddle their thinking.”

“I agree with you completely. The bigger picture is all they see, and they never concern themselves with small details like packing or servants or food. The most terrifying words I ever hear William utter are”—Lizzy dropped her voice several registers and sounded very aristocratic—“All that is required, Elizabeth, is…’ After he makes that pronouncement, I know it will probably be up to me to get the impossible accomplished.”