Chapter 1 #2
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July 1791
By late July and much to her parents’ delight, Lady Bethany Osborne’s eyes had changed and were the same emerald-green as her mother’s.
That was one of many changes in Bethie. Near the start of the month, even before the Darcys and Fitzwilliams returned to their own estates, Bethie began to roll from her back to her belly and back again.
Less than ten days later, she was pushing herself up with her arms and then two days past the little dear had begun to sit up on her own.
To say that she was the apple of her parents’ eyes would have been a rather huge understatement.
Like their friends who had been hosted at Kiveton Park for a month, Leeds and his duchess did not ascribe to the school of thought that claimed that children should be raised by nursemaids and governesses.
Following their friends’ examples, they would be involved with Bethie, and she would never be used as something to display to friends and then sent back to the nursery.
It would be some years before she would need a governess.
Even then, they intended to make sure that their daughter would never doubt how loved and wanted she was.
Amelia was very happy with those who worked in the nursery, and she had not regretted that Francis had insisted on a wetnurse to help her during the night.
The first three months, Bethie had needed to be fed two to three times during the night and being able to sleep without interruption had been greatly appreciated by her.
For the last month, Bethie was sleeping through the night, so they had dispensed with the wetnurse’s services with their thanks and a healthy bonus.
Amelia was not sorry that she was Bethie’s sole source of sustenance now.
It could be said that it was because Bethie was her daughter, and Amelia was seeing what she wanted to, but she would swear that her daughter’s eye shone with intelligence.
She knew that it would still be some years before her theory was proved correct, so until then, she would keep her opinion on the subject to herself.
Her mind returned to the subject of those looking after Bethie in the nursery.
A fortnight past, one of the nursemaids had left her employment with only a note saying she had to go care for her sick grandmother.
Thankfully, in her note she had recommended a cousin of hers to take her place.
So far, the new nursemaid fit right in with the rest of those working with Bethie.
One thing Amelia had noticed was how Bethie gurgled with pleasure when she was in her perambulator being pushed in the park or among the stands of nearby trees.
Francis joined her to push their daughter outside whenever he was able.
On the rare occasions when both of Bethie’s parents had things they could not put off, one or two of the nursemaids, with a footman following, would push Bethie in her perambulator.
One thing that was evident was how much Bethie liked to laugh. She was an extremely happy babe.
On this day, Bethie was being pushed by her parents. They were following a gravel path running between the formal gardens. When they reached the rose garden, Bethie’s giggles and gurgling increased, as they always did when she was surrounded by the riot of colours and scents.
“Francis, God has been very good to us to grant us the blessing who is Bethie. Being with her makes me feel like a young girl again. I could not be happier than I am at this very moment,” Lady Amelia enthused.
“Me as well, my love. Being with our daughter makes me feel like I’m a young buck again. I agree, He has shone His beneficence on us,” Leeds responded.
They kept walking until Bethie grew fatigued, lay down, and fell asleep in her perambulator. The happy parents made their way back to the mansion. This house would always be associated with the joy of Bethie’s birth.
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“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sir Lewis verified.
He was not comfortable with being responsible for the death of anyone, never mind an innocent babe, but he knew there would be no living with his wife unless he indulged her in this.
Not only that, but she had promised—threatened—him that she would accompany him to London on all future visits and other than his club, she would be with him at all times.
That meant he would not be able to visit his mistresses, and Sir Lewis was not willing to risk that.
“Of course, I am sure! Why would I not be? This whelp is trying to rob us of the title we so richly deserve. It is not a question that she has to be gotten rid of. Everything is in place, is it not?” Lady Catherine demanded.
Sir Lewis did not want to bring up their daughter again.
She was only four, and if they were executed for treason, all of the de Bourgh lands, properties, and fortune would be forfeit to the crown.
Anne would be put in an orphanage or worse, a workhouse.
His wife had insisted her plan was too good to be discovered, Therefore, there was no reason to discuss something which would never occur.
“In that case, I will send the order to execute the plan,” Sir Lewis agreed.
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On the final Saturday of July, James and Henry Bennet went to St Albans to acquire some items they needed for the estate.
They would remain there for the Sabbath and return on Monday or Tuesday.
Less than ten miles northwest of Meryton, the road climbed the side of a hill, with a sheer drop into a ravine on one side.
As he always did, the coachman had the pair of horses pulling the carriage increase speed to make it easier to negotiate the incline. At the top of the rise was a sharp turn to the right, for which the driver began to slow the horses.
At the exact wrong moment, the axle snapped close to the left rear wheel, which caused the wheel to fall away, tipping the conveyance to the left.
As it happened so fast, the coachman had no chance to try to free the pair of horses before they were all tumbling down the steep embankment into the ravine below.
It was not until the next morning after church services before the wreckage was spied, and the morning of the next day before the two Bennet widows discovered why their husbands had not returned as planned.
Beth and Penelope Bennet were devastated and overcome by their grief; hence, the Gardiner parents and the Phillipses stepped in to help.
It was Hattie Phillips who dispatched the black-edged notice to Fanny and Thomas in Grantham.
The express rider was given more than double his normal fee to get the epistle to the recipients as speedily as possible.
Even with that, it would be at least three days before the rider reached Fanny and Thomas.
“Penelope, dear,” Beth said softly two days after her husband and eldest son had been taken from them, “is there a chance you are with child?”
“N-no, Mother,” Penelope managed. “My courses began the day before we heard this horrendous news.
She paused as she cogitated. “You remember my parents have been gone for more than two years, do you not?” She saw her mother-in-law allow it was so.
“If your younger son does not have a place for us in his household, I will open Netherfield Park for us.”
“Thank you, Penelope dear,” Beth responded as she dried her eyes for the hundredth time this day.
“However, Thomas and Fanny will never ask either of us to vacate this house. Knowing Fanny’s kindness, she would allow me as much time as I require to move out of the mistress’s suite.
I will not put her in that position so I intend to move the day after the funeral. ”
Due to the condition of the mortal remains retrieved, there had been no viewing of the bodies for the family. Also, with the heat of summer, the bodies in their coffins were being kept in Longbourn’s icehouse.
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On the fourth day of August, the day the express rider would arrive in Grantham, it was not only the Bennets residing in that town whose futures were changed in ways they had never considered possible.