Elizabeth curtseyed to each and smiled. Lord and Lady Carlisle only nodded, while Lady Melburn graced her with a shallow curtsey. Elizabeth had gathered from Darcy that he was closer to this relation than the others and hoped she would get a chance to speak to the grand lady at some point in the evening.

Lady Catherine was absent, as expected. Lord Carlisle’s sons were present, Viscount Linley, the firstborn and heir, then Mr. Michael Fitzwilliam, a rector near his maternal uncle’s estate, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam whom Elizabeth had already met in Kent, and who bowed deeply and kissed her hand with a wink, and Mr. John Fitzwilliam, the youngest brother who was a barrister in town.

Elizabeth smiled and greeted them all, then moved on to Lady Constance’s children. The eldest son was not present, but his younger brother, Henry, was, as well as Darcy’s cousins Angela and Amelia.

“I hadn’t realized your family was quite so large,” she whispered to her betrothed as he led her away from his relations.

“Only these two families have four children. As you know, Lady Catherine has only one daughter and my own family is just Georgiana and myself.” She nodded and sat on the settee he’d led her to. “My Aunt Gibbons and her husband are not yet here, and they also have only one son and daughter.”

“She is your father’s younger sister, correct?”

“Yes. Lady Constance is his elder by one year. They were all very close when I was young. Aunt Gibbons, her given name is Amelia—my cousin is christened after her—still lived at Pemberley when my parents were first married. She was very close with my mother.”

The pre-dinner hour proceeded without event. The Gibbons family arrived and was treated to the Bennet family lineup while Elizabeth searched Darcy’s aunts for traces of similarities. The Fitzwilliam family was obviously where Georgiana got her lighter coloring. As she understood it, the late Mrs. Darcy had been fair-haired like her brother and his children. But Lady Constance and Mrs. Gibbons, the late Mr. Darcy’s sisters, were both dark haired and blue-eyed, with defined jaws and perfectly straight noses that came to a soft point at the end, more feminine versions of her Mr. Darcy’s.

My Mr. Darcy, when did I start to think of him like that? It is just as well. I am marrying the man tomorrow! I should have begun thinking of him as My Mr. Darcy long ago!

Dinner was smooth and easy, mostly anyway. Lady Constance was acting as hostess for the evening and Elizabeth couldn’t help thinking her ease was flawless and utterly superior to anything she could do herself. She hoped she could one day be as effortless in turning the conversation from a difficult topic and seeing that everyone had an enjoyable evening, but at the moment she felt far from that ideal.