Regina Jeffers - Christmas at Pemberley

Keeping with the Darcy family tradition, early on, he and Elizabeth had agreed to bestow their firstborn son with his mother’s family surname. He was Fitzwilliam Darcy because Lady Anne was a Fitzwilliam . Young Bennet would maintain the tradition. Elizabeth’s family name would live on after her father’s passing.

Repeating the name, Winkler officially certified it. “Bennet Fitzwilliam George Darcy, I baptize thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” And the clergyman immersed the child in the water, and the congregation said the requisite “Amen,” over the boy’s verbal protests of being jarred awake.

Elizabeth took young Bennet from Winkler and quickly wrapped him in a large thick cloth, which Georgiana handed her. “I have you,” she whispered to the boy and pulled him closer. “You are God’s child, now.” She kissed the dark curls on the boy’s head, and he quieted immediately.

Darcy looked on in satisfaction as Winkler recited the next passage from The Book of Common Prayer . “We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christ’s flock, and do sign him with the sign of the Cross. In token hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end.”

After that, Darcy heard little of what remained of the service. His mind remained on the Madonna-like image of his wife and child. Yesterday, they had received a detailed letter from Mary Joseph describing the three-month-old William. Elizabeth had read it twice, and even he’d delighted in her oral recitation. Soon, she would mimic Mrs. Joseph’s epistolary style and send volumes of newsy letters of their son’s accomplishments: the boy’s first tooth, first word, his first steps. Just as Mrs. Joseph had predicted, many momentous occasions would follow this day.

The most surprising part of Mary Joseph’s letter wasn’t the final passing of her husband’s mother, but the news of Mary’s reconciliation with her father, who was none other than Edgar Parnell.

“Did you know of Mrs. Joseph’s connection to Parnell?” he had asked Elizabeth after reading the businessman’s letter, in which Parnell had agreed to partner with Darcy in a shipping venture.

“Of course, I didn’t know,” she had protested. Then Elizabeth smiled widely before saying, “If so, I might have withheld my services until the dear lady promised to speak to her father on your behalf.”

Darcy had laughed at her and then chased his wife about his study. It was the first time they had made love since she had delivered their child some three-plus weeks prior. Afterwards, as they had lain, wrapped in each other’s arms, on the animal rug before the hearth, he had nuzzled into her hair and whispered, “Thank you, Lizzy. You’ve given me a perfect world.”

“My heart has been transformed by your love and by God’s grace.”

Darcy had brushed the hair from her face. “Our last Christmas changed our lives. We befriended the Josephs and will be forever connected to them. Georgiana and Kitty have chosen men to complete them. Anne knows family, at last. You and my aunt have resolved your differences, and we’ve both come to know the grace of God in our child’s face.”

Elizabeth kissed him briefly. “I had looked for God in all the wrong places. He’s not found among the dead, not in the cemetery. I looked so hard for Godly things that I nearly missed God’s grace when it presented itself. I’ve come to understand that a person needs God’s love the most when he sees the need the least.”

“An infant is a speck of Heaven that God allows us to experience. I wish to fill this house with Heaven’s smallest specks. Will you join me, Lizzy?”

“I can think of no better paradise on this earth. I love you, Fitzwilliam Darcy — with all my heart.”

“And I love you, my dearest Elizabeth. Forever and ever.”

When most people consider a Regency Christmas, they are really envisioning a Victorian Christmas. The Regency Christmastide began with Christmas Day and ran through Twelfth Night. There are few references to Christmas celebrations in Regency literature other than the occasional wish for a “Happy Christmas” among story characters and real-life accounts.

English Christmases of the time were entrenched in religious observances. One must remember that in the 16th Century, to prevent subversion, the government banned Christmas celebrations. According to the Jane Austen Centre Magazine , “We have accounts from early 19th Century journals of Christmas days where the writer mentions the holiday but makes absolutely no fuss about it. Likewise, there are records of newspapers, published on December 25th that do not even contain the word Christmas .” (http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/index.ihtml?pid=387&step=4; June 17, 2011).

The gathering of greenery — rosemary, holly, laurel, and mistletoe — to decorate the household appears often in period literature. As for the mistletoe/kissing ball, it became quite elaborate during the Victorian Period. However, many believe the tradition remained below stairs in the servants’ quarters during the Regency Period, but who is to say?

A Yule log to burn throughout the festive days would have been common, as well as the “Christmas candle.” Groups of performers — mummers — date back to the Middle Ages. They sang and performed short plays, and because of their lower class, they often mixed bits of history with the British Napoleonic heroes. Of course, Saint George remained a staple of these plays.

Parlor games entertained houseguests, but there were no caroling or stockings or Christmas trees. Gifts were limited and often took the form of charitable acts by the aristocracy.

With all this in mind, in this story line, I tried to capture the “Christmas story’s lesson,” without all the hoopla of which we nowadays partake. Plus, I took the liberty to add a bit of romance, hope, and intrigue.

In this tale, I have taken some factual liberties in Beauford Manneville’s story. Here are the actual facts of Princess Charlotte’s “indiscretions.” In the spring of 1812, George IV tried to pique his daughter’s interest in William, Prince of Orange — a move which would have strengthened England’s alliance with the Netherlands. William had lived in exile in England and had even been educated in Oxfordshire. At first, Princess Charlotte refused the connection, but the Regent persisted, and at an arranged Carlton House dinner party on December 11, 1813, Charlotte accepted her father’s wishes.

However, the Princess had second thoughts upon discovering that William would expect her to live half of the year in Holland. Part of the problem was that Charlotte feared her mother might follow her to Europe and then Prince George would use his wife’s desertion as grounds for divorce. If so, the Regent would be free to remarry and possibly produce a male heir to the throne. Thus, Charlotte would lose her position as the future queen.

During this time, Mercer Elphinstone was Charlotte’s chief confidante and aided the willful princess with her liaisons.

Charlotte’s next tendre was for Prince Frederick, the King of Prussia’s nephew. In Frederick’s case, Miss Cornelia Knight, one of the princess’s ladies in waiting, arranged several discreet meetings and acts of correspondence. Charlotte’s relationship with Frederick ended in January 1815, when he returned her portrait and informed Charlotte that he had found another.