6 April 1817
If anyone in Hyde Park questioned why there was a huge picnic set up off Rotten Row near a random bench in Hyde Park, especially given the ranks of those involved, not a single person remarked about it aloud.
To mark the five and twenty year anniversary since Jamey had led his parents to discover Jane, Lizzy, and Mary in the shrubs behind the bench, the whole of the extended family as well as various close friends had come to celebrate the day the three girls became part of the Carrington family.
The Gardiners and Phillipses, and with Jamey’s marriage to Charlotte, the Lucases were long time members of the extended family. It had expanded with the addition of the Chamberlains, Bingleys, and Huntingtons.
Lawrence was now nineteen and in his second year at Oxford.
After graduation, he would live in Devonshire for more than half the year to learn how to manage his future inheritance he would receive from Grandpapa Morris one day.
The latter was getting on in years and pleased he would be able to teach his grandson how to manage the estate.
He was hopeful that Lawrence would take over managing it sooner rather than later.
Edith sat next to Elaine, Anne, Sarah Lucas, Leticia Chamberlain, Maddie, and Agatha as they watched their sons and daughters walk towards the Serpentine with the large group of older grandchildren.
One of the grandchildren was Jane and Richard’s second son, Thomas Richard, who would be the master of Longbourn once he reached his majority.
Some of the children were carrying bags of bread to feed the waterfowl majestically gliding back and forth on the surface of the water.
Thanks to Jamey, Jane, Lizzy, and Mary, between them they had fourteen children; the older ones were in the group.
Lizzy’s newest, only seven months and her fifth, was on a blanket in the shade under the watchful gaze of her nursemaid.
Next to her was Mary’s third son, a month younger than his cousin, with his own nurse attending him.
Nearby was a group of toddlers being entertained by some of the grandfathers, with nursemaids close by if needed.
“Edith, can you believe it was a quarter century ago today that you found the girls abandoned in the park?” Lady Anne mused. “If I did not know how you discovered them, I would never have suspected they were not born of your body.”
“Over the years, I have said many times that His hand guided Jamey to the girls that day. It still makes me shudder when I remember the piteous state they were in and how weak Mary was from lack of eating. Once I allowed her to suck milk from the cloth, she began to recover.” Edith paused as she looked at those walking toward the Serpentine.
“Now I look at the wonderful women they are today, and I remember that was one day in their lives, and from that fateful day forward, they were happy and loved girls.” Edith felt a deep contentment when she thought of how He had put them on the path to discover the daughters for whom she had always prayed.
“Jane’s eldest daughter, Anne, asked me how anyone could have done what her mamma’s birth mother did by leaving her and Aunts Lizzy and Mary in the park in that way,” Elaine reported.
“I told her that the then Mrs Bennet had been misguided and ultimately realised she had done wrong and atoned for her mistake. Although she is not eight yet, Anne understood what I was saying.”
“Ben was angry on his mother’s behalf, and no less so for his aunts’,” Lady Anne added. “Now that he and the rest of the children understand that the anniversary is a celebration, he let go of his upset about what happened here.”
“To think of what could have happened to my girls had we not taken that early morning walk on that fateful day.” Edith felt a cold chill travel down her spine.
“Fortunately, that is not what happened. I am pleased to report that had they not been told about how they were abandoned right there,” she inclined her head toward the area behind the bench, “they would not know they were anything but our daughters.”
“That, Edith, is what they have been for five and twenty years,” Maddie stated. “You could not have been a better mother to my nieces had they been born of your body.”
The other ladies seated close by nodded their heads in emphatic agreement.
She looked towards the Serpentine, where her grandchildren and their cousins were throwing bread towards the ducks, geese, and even the swans, all fighting for what they could catch. Then, Edith turned to where Paul, Reggie, and Robert were entertaining the toddling grandchildren.
‘God has been good to us, and things are exactly as they should be,’ Edith thought with her eyes to the heavens.
~~~The End~~~
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