Chapter 14 #2
For this journey, when the Bennet parents departed Longbourn three weeks previously, it had been sans any daughters. All five were expectantly waiting for news at home with the governess and companion.
“Our sixth daughter?” Fanny managed while one of the nurses was working on delivering the afterbirth.
“No, Fanny! This one is not a daughter. You have been blessed with a son!” Hattie exclaimed excitedly. Seeing that Fanny was not ready to accept the truth yet, she looked to their sister-in-law.
“Fanny, it is true; Hattie did not err, you have a son,” Maddie confirmed.
Hearing the words she thought she would never hear, Fanny burst into tears. She lifted her eyes to the heavens and gave thanks, wondering if the reason God had so blessed them now was because she and Thomas had finally repaired the relationship between them.
With her eyes dried, she was helped out of the bed by Hattie and Maddie’s housekeeper. The latter helped Fanny change into a fresh nightrail. As soon as a maid had the bedding changed, Fanny climbed back into the bed.
There was still a shred of doubt in Fanny’s mind until Maddie placed her son in her arms. Determined to see for herself, Fanny pulled the swaddling back and then the babe’s napkin. It was irrefutable proof. How good had God been to them that he allowed them a son who would break the entail one day!
She knew that according to the entail documents, her son needed to reach the age of eighteen to break the entail with his father.
Even without the knowledge of the land Thomas had purchased and the dower house being built there, this babe secured the Bennets’ future and ensured that a Collins would never be the master of Longbourn.
“Thomas?” Fanny asked tremulously.
“I will go and ask him to come see you,” Hattie volunteered.
She made her way down the stairs to the office where her husband, brother, and brother-in-law were waiting to hear the results.
On entering, she gave Thomas a nod, and he was out of his chair and practically running up the stairs before she said a word.
“They have a son,” she informed her husband and brother.
Bennet took the stairs two at a time as if he were a man of twenty again and not in his mid-forties. He saw Sir Frederick exiting the birthing chamber as he arrived.
“Your wife and babe are as well as any I have seen,” Sir Frederick reported.
Rather than ask about the sex of his child, Bennet entered the chamber and saw his wife holding a swaddled babe, sitting against and propped up by large pillows.
“Come meet our son, Thomas.” Fanny beamed.
“Son! We have a son! How well you have done, Fanny.” Bennet had a thought and grinned. “My cousin, Clem Collins, will not be pleased by this.”
“I care not for that brute,” Fanny insisted.
Fanny handed their son to his Papa. Bennet did the same thing Fanny had to see visual proof it was a son. This time, however, the babe had had enough of inquisitive people; so he loosed a stream of urine. Bennet managed to replace the napkin just in time before the liquid hit him.
“What are we to name him?” Bennet queried.
“Thomas Elias,” Fanny suggested. “Thomas for you, your father, and the Bennets who came before him, and Elias for my late father. I propose we call him Tommy unless you object.”
“I do not, to either of the names nor the diminutive you have chosen.” Bennet lifted his son until he was close to his face. “Welcome to the family, Tommy.”
“How well that sounds. Will you compose an express to the girls to tell them they have a brother, and that he and I are both well?” Fanny requested.
Just then the newest Bennet expressed his displeasure.
She held her hands out, and Thomas returned Tommy to her.
As quick as may be, Tommy was hungrily suckling at his mother’s breast.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Three weeks later, three Bennets and one Phillips returned to Longbourn.
Frank Phillips had left London the day after Tommy’s birth to be at work once again.
Fanny would be churched by Mr Pierce, parson at St Hugh’s, the church in Longbourn Village.
The rector would have the pleasure of christening Tommy Bennet in about two weeks.
All five daughters were waiting for the carriage to come to a halt; the Hills, Mrs Annesley, and Miss Firth stood behind them.
As much as they wanted to go directly to their mother and look at their new brother, especially the two youngest Bennets, the five sisters waited and greeted their parents, following them into the house like proper ladies.
Thankfully, their parents and Aunt Hattie went directly to the main drawing room, where their mother sat, holding their sleeping brother.
It was then each sister had a chance to admire their new brother before mother and son were helped upstairs.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bennet had written to his illiterate, nasty cousin the next day, announcing the birth of a son. The return letter was rather abusive so Bennet read very little before depositing the offending epistle into the crackling fire in his study.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
In November 1806, Louisa Hurst felt the quickening for her second increasing. She had told Harold two months previously that she was with child again, and now it was confirmed.
Mother and Father Hurst were very happy at the prospect of a second grandchild. Although at a little more than two and a half, Arthur had no idea what it meant to have a brother or sister. Using the words he had mastered, he babbled incessantly and seemed to be rather excited.
That Christmastide, Charles and Caroline joined them at Winsdale. To keep the truth of the Hursts’ situation from the two youngest Bingleys, they received the Bingley siblings in the dower house, which was not tiny but far smaller than the manor house.
Thanks to the distance, a hill, and a stand of trees, the mansion was not visible from the dower house.
Charles had graduated from Cambridge a year previously, and Caroline had completed her schooling at the finishing school in Scarborough.
The two had come without Aunt Hildebrand and Uncle John, as they were spending the season with some of the family who were all in trade, so Caroline was only too happy not to be with them.
It was approaching three years since the Bingley parents had been taken from them, and neither Charles nor Caroline had changed in essentials.
The latter behaved around her guardians so she would receive her allowance, but out of their company, she was as bad as she ever was.
She complained about everything at Winsdale, especially that Mr Darcy had not joined them.
The years of not seeing him had not dimmed her desire to be the next Mrs Darcy.
During the time over Christmastide, Bingley approached his brother-in-law to request more funds from his late father’s estate. When pushed, Bingley admitted it was for Caroline to buy a new wardrobe, as she wanted to go to London and partake in a season.
Harold refused the request, and no amount of haranguing from Caroline changed anything. Whenever she was near, he pretended he was foxed and needed to sleep.
When the two youngest Bingleys departed after Twelfth Night, those at Winsdale were not sorry to see them go and were happy to move back into the manor house. A few days later, Leticia and Hurst travelled to London.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Leticia Hurst returned in mid-April for her daughter-in-law’s lying-in. Louisa’s labours began just after midnight on Monday, the thirtieth day of May 1807.
As they had promised each other, they had the services of a midwife who did not demand that the father vacate the birthing chamber, so Harold was with Louisa, allowing her to squeeze his hands as she needed to throughout her labouring.
At just before four that morning, a daughter, with an extremely healthy set of lungs, entered the world.
Like they had promised they would for their first daughter, she was named Leticia Mary. Her grandmamma could not have been more pleased to have her granddaughter named for her and Arthur’s only complaint, he was almost three, was that Mamma had not given him a ‘bruver’.