Prologue #2
Once Fanny had beseeched God to help her, she rose to a standing position with great effort, and then made her way back to the house. It was far more difficult a journey than her walk to the church, but she had to reach her chambers as soon as possible!
Her progress was so much slower it was frustrating; her pains were increasing in intensity and frequency and the ache in her back was more severe now. Her trek to and from Longbourn Church worsened her labour pains.
She was forced to stop many times to catch her breath and to wait until a contraction was over. Her pains kept intensifying during her odyssey back to the house. Her focus had shifted from beseeching to birthing and she feared for both the life of the babe she was carrying and for her own life.
She made her way into the foyer, throwing her pelisse and gloves unceremoniously to the floor. She saw the nursemaid for her four daughters, Miss Anita Jones, as she stepped from the drawing room.
“Miss Jones, please have Hill, the midwife, and Mr. Jones called,” she gasped with her remaining breath.
For an instant, Miss Jones froze like a doe in a hunter’s gunsight as her mouth dropped open in surprise after her mistress spoke to her.
She recovered her equanimity when she realised Mrs. Bennet’s state and moved quickly to call Longbourn’s housekeeper, Mrs. Jenny Hill.
Hill had held her position since before Mr. and Mrs. Bennet married, and would know what to do.
Hill took one of Mrs. Bennet’s arms and a maid took the other to assist her upstairs.
While doing so, Hill barked orders to the maids not assisting her with the mistress to ready towels and hot water.
They scurried to comply with her orders.
Mrs. Hill did not understand why Mrs. Bennet had not informed her that her labours had begun earlier, or why on earth she had been walking outside.
Mrs. Hill told her husband, Longbourn’s butler, to send a groom to fetch Mrs. Abigail Richardson, the local midwife. Miss Jones was dispatched to fetch her uncle, the apothecary, who was in Longbourn’s servants’ quarters, seeing to an unwell servant.
Mrs. Richardson arrived within a half hour. Mr. Jones, the only physician and apothecary in the area, arrived as soon as his niece summoned him; he was waiting for the midwife in Mrs. Bennet’s chambers.
Normally she did not need a physician to assist her with the birthing process, but Mrs. Richardson decided, due to the lady’s size, she wished Mr. Jones to be nearby just in case.
She made for the birthing chamber, glad to see Mrs. Hill had the foresight to have hot water and towels ready for her.
The midwife shooed a visibly nervous Mr. Bennet out of his wife’s chambers.
To ease his worries, Bennet headed to the nursery to comfort and be comforted by his daughters.
Two hours later, after an early dinner and bath, Miss Jones had settled the four Bennet daughters, who had fallen asleep for the night, with their father looking on indulgently.
The ever-present pain in Fanny’s back grew nearly unbearable after her waters broke. Her pains were coming so frequently she knew the enormous babe within her was about to enter the world.
She prayed silently one more time, just in case it might help: Oh Lord God and your son Jesus, please grant me a son. If you see fit to call me home to you after this birth, please save my babe.
After that, Fanny finally let out the scream she had been holding in and kept on screaming. Mrs. Richardson knew the birth was approaching fast. She too prayed that Mrs. Bennet would survive this birth.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
No one in the house slept through Fanny’s screams. In the nursery, Miss Jones was pacifying the girls, who had been awakened by the sounds emanating from the floor below theirs.
Whilst his wife was getting ready to birth what he was sure would be another daughter, Bennet sat in an armchair in the nursery with his daughters, wincing each time his wife screamed in pain.
All four girls were concerned for their mama, even though Mary and Kitty were too young to understand exactly what was happening. The noises made them cry; they were frightened, believing something was hurting their mama to make her scream so.
The two older girls knew Mama was going to give them a baby sister, but they did not understand why she was screaming.
To calm and comfort Kitty and Mary, they were given hot chocolate with a drop of brandy in it and their favourite biscuits, followed by a warm hug from their father, who assured them their mother would be well.
Miss Jones soon settled them, and they returned to the arms of Morpheus. The oldest Bennet daughter, Jane, had lived through her mother’s three previous confinements.
Her innate serenity caused her to lie in her bed, showing no outward sign of her fear for her mother’s life.
At this young age, she already excelled at hiding her feelings, which was remarkable for a girl of six years. She understood a bit more about what was going on below the nursery than her sisters.
Even though the sounds coming from her mother’s chambers did not concern her quite as much as her sisters, since she was accustomed to Mama’s nerves and high-pitched voice, it nevertheless caused her to worry, all the while hiding her concerns behind a mask of calmness.
Jane had been there to see Mama return to full health after each of her prior lying ins that she remembered, so she hoped it would be the same this time.
She was looking forward to teaching her new baby sister how to be a proper little lady.
After all, it must be a sister because Mama and Papa had decreed that it would be.
She was not Lizzy to gainsay her parents.
Lizzy was intelligent and had a quick mind.
She possessed and unquenchable thirst for knowledge greater than any of her sisters.
She wished to know what was going on around her and was worried about Mama’s wellbeing.
That worry engendered an interminable string of questions for her father, because she wanted to know if Mama would be well.
Normally, Bennet indulged his sharp-as-a-pin daughter, who at four years of age was fast becoming his favourite.
He had indulged her whenever she wanted to expand her knowledge, but not on this night.
He was exhausted and frightened for his Fanny.
She had never screamed, certainly not at this volume, or for so long, during a preceding birth.
He was shorter and more irritable than was his wont when replying to Lizzy, trying to get her to go back to sleep and stop asking questions. Lizzy was a bit put out and pouted; Papa had never dismissed her in this fashion before.
Bennet felt guilty; he knew his behaviour towards his wife, his daughters, and his estate was not as it should be.
Although he had difficulties dealing with Fanny’s so-called nerves, her constant complaining about the entail, and what would happen to her and the girls if he died without a son and heir—he loved her.
He realised he had become the worst kind of estate manager, doing little more than the minimum required of him. How many times had Fanny Bennet’s brother, Edward Gardiner, begged him to invest with Gardiner and Associates? It had seemed too much like work for Bennet to bother with it—so he had not.
He felt guilty he had not saved for his family’s future with Gardiner, who always achieved excellent returns on investments. He still loved his wife, but embittered and disappointed after the birth of each new daughter, he had withdrawn from her and from the world.
Why should he make Longbourn more profitable if someone else would reap the benefits of it after he passed to his eternal reward? He had—conveniently—forgotten funds earned before his passing would be his and his family’s; they would not become part of the entailment.
He was ashamed because he had jested about Fanny’s nerves.
Her nerves were nothing more than an expression of her worries for their family’s future.
Instead of addressing her fears, even sans an heir, he had chosen to do nothing.
He should have saved to provide for his wife and daughters so they would never have to worry.
What had he done instead? He had made sport of her! Rather than assuage her fears he turned to sarcastic, sardonic, and caustic comments about her Then he had hidden in his study. How could he do such things to the only woman he had ever loved? He blamed himself.
Bennet was convinced God was punishing him for his transgressions, and this guilt was the main reason he had withdrawn.
To add to his sins, he used sarcasm to cover up the guilt and shame he felt.
He was wracked with regret he had led his beloved Fanny to believe she was the only one who suffered fear and guilt because there was no heir to break the entail on Longbourn.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
He recalled when he first met the bright, vivacious, beautiful Fanny Gardiner. She was an intelligent woman, not just a pretty face, which was more of an attraction for him than it was for most men. She was a good person.
Fanny cared about the wellbeing of others, and Bennet knew should he offer for her even though her father was but a solicitor, she would be a caring mistress for his estate and his tenants.
A month after meeting her at one of the monthly assemblies in Meryton, Bennet had asked Miss Gardiner for a courtship.
She had agreed, and that same night her father had granted his permission.
The young couple courted for six weeks. Thomas Bennet had been convinced he loved Fanny Gardiner and was as sure as he could be she returned his affections.
They shared many interests, and she had a sharp wit when she chose to display it.
Although she could be as silly as any girl of seventeen years and became nervous under stress, Thomas could see beyond that to the real Fanny Gardiner.