Chapter 39
It was late afternoon when the carriages halted in front of the manor house at Janet’s Well.
The door was adorned with a black crepe bow with lengthy ends that extended almost down to the top step.
Tim was dressed in black breeches, waistcoat, and jacket with a black armband on his right arm.
He waited with his housekeeper, head footman and the newly hired steward Mr Harrison Steveton for his family to alight.
The servants too were attired for mourning to honour the late master.
As soon as Helen’s feet touched the ground, in a flash of black bombazine she was in her brother’s arms and was crying on his shoulder and Tim did not try to keep his tears in check as he was with the one person now who understood.
The remainder of the party held back as no one wanted to disturb their grieving siblings.
Once they gathered themselves, Tim asked if his sister would like to visit their father’s grave, as he had been interred the day before.
When she answered in the affirmative, he held his arm for her and all their family stepped in behind them to pay their respects.
The group made the short walk to the small cemetery and stood at Mr Jacobson’s fresh grave. Bennet assumed that Tim had used some of the dividends from his legacy to commission a marble headstone for his father and a new matching one for their mother; and he was glad to see it.
Brother and sister stood next to their Father’s grave supporting each other while the rest of the family stood back a few steps to allow the Jacobsons time to grieve privately.
“You were the best Papa in the world and now you are with Mama in heaven.” There was complete silence from all as Helen said her goodbye to her Papa.
Her voice quivered as she fought for the strength to say what she wanted to.
“I am glad that you no longer suffer Papa, and I pray that you and Mama look down on us with pride until we join you in God’s Kingdom one day.
“Papa, I am so very sorry that I was so bad after Mama passed. I know that you would have never sent me to Dark Hollow if it were not for my behaviour. You did what you had to in order to help me even while it hurt you to send me away. As much as I railed against your decision at the time, what you did for me was good, no, the best. I matured, learnt many valuable lessons, and it is where I met Lydia and the rest of the Bennets. Papa, I know it hurt you to ask them to let me join their family, but you always wanted to protect me. You shared me because you knew I loved my sister Lydia, and they have welcomed me into the bosom of their family with as much love and care as any of my other sisters. I am fortunate to have had two of the very best families as my own.”
“They have also welcomed Tim as part of the family just like they welcomed me. You can rest in peace with Mama; we are well taken care of and have a very big family with which to share our life. I love you and will miss you so very much.” Helen was emotionally spent and felt weak in the knees.
She was supported by her brother on one side and Lydia on the other as they walked back to the house.
‘I never noticed how handsome Helen’s brother is,’ Lydia thought as she blushed. ‘Lydia Hannah Bennet! This is not a time to be looking at my sister’s brother! He has just buried his father and he is in need of our healing love, not some school-girl crush!’ she chastised herself.
That evening the Ashby’s came to pay their respects.
Anne Ashby looked better than either of her cousins had ever seen her.
She had a pink glow of health and had filled out nicely, she even had a figure and curves and was truly womanly in every aspect of her appearance, beautiful inside and out.
She and her Ian were obviously content together and despite the sorrowful reason for the visit, Darcy and Richard had never seen such a welcome sight as this version of Anne.
The next day Tim took the men with him to view some of the new parcels of land that he had purchased to augment the size of Janet’s Well.
Luckily Steveton was a very capable steward and had advised his new master very well on which properties to buy and which ones to postpone or were not good buys; so far, their efforts increased the size of the estate by about one third.
Two tenant farms had been demarcated on the new tract and the houses were well on their way to being completed.
Two new tenants and their families had been awarded the leases.
The added land would increase the estate’s income by a minimum of one thousand pounds a year.
Tim enumerated his plan to eventually double the size of the estate, but he wisely said that they would not move forward with adding more land until his new tenants were installed.
The men were impressed that one so young was not impetuous, but was expanding his estate carefully and methodically.
Tim tried to put up a brave front, but none of his companions were insensible to his feelings, especially Darcy who had first lost his mother followed some years later by his father after an illness.
While not as bad as the cancer that took Mr Jacobson, his father’s weak heart had taken a toll for a long time, so Lord Pemberley understood just how alone the younger man was feeling.
When they returned to the house, they found all of the ladies sitting with Helen as she accepted condolence calls from the neighbourhood.
Her father had not been among the principal landowners in the area, but he had been very well liked and respected.
Georgie sat on one side of her and Lydia on the other.
Like Darcy, Georgie could empathise with their new brother and sister.
They were now orphans as were she and William.
Darcy requested that Tim join him in the study.
It was Tim’s study now, but he was not ready to make that claim yet; it had been his father’s until less than a sennight ago.
Helping him claim the study as his own was the best kindness Darcy could offer.
Having to walk into his father’s domain and claim it when he had been alone had been one of the hardest things that he had ever had to do.
After they sat and each had a glass of port, he looked at the sad faced young man of almost one and twenty and saw the same weight on Tim’s shoulders that he had felt placed on his own after he became the Master of Pemberley before he was ready.
He also saw the same sadness that others had seen in him after he lost his father.
“Tim,” hearing his name his head jerked up as if being woken from a stupor, “I can understand what you are feeling now. I was only fifteen when my mother passed and barely two and twenty when my father was taken from us. Like yours he knew what was coming and did everything to prepare me to take over the running of the estates and all of our interests.”
“Y-your estate is so much larger and you had family to help you, I have no one,” the younger man choked out. He angrily wiped the tear away, almost embarrassed that it escaped in the company of another man.
“Firstly, there is no shame in mourning your father in any way that you see fit. I too cried after my dear father was called home by God. Secondly, no matter how much family was with me, just like you do right now, I felt so very alone because I thought that I had to take everything on my own shoulders.” Tim looked up at Darcy in surprise.
What Darcy said resonated with him on many levels.
“There is only so much a man can take on alone without bending or breaking under the weight if he will not accept help from those who are there to help.
“I almost broke after my father passed. I had my Uncle Reggie,” Darcy smiled thinly when the young man looked at him questioningly, “the Earl of Matlock, his sons Andrew and Richard, an excellent steward, and good friends. I tried to take it all on myself as I felt that is what my honoured father expected of me. I believed that I was the only one who could take on that duty. Like you are wrong about being alone, so was I.” Darcy took a draw on his glass of port, drained it, and then he stood and refilled his glass.
He offered the young man a refill but Tim shook his head.
“Think back to the conversation that we had when we visited before the weddings. What I told you is as true today as then.”
“You have more people wanting and willing to help you than you realise,” Darcy stated quietly after he sat back down.
“There is my father-in-law, Richard, and me, and like I had at the time, you have a good steward. You do know that Lord Longbourn accepted the charge from your father to help you as needed. He did not have to provide you with the legacy that he did, but he wanted to.”
“A man does not let others perform his duty!” Tim exclaimed, knowing how hollow his words sounded as they were uttered.
“A man knows when to ask for help. No one wants to do your duty in your stead; we are here to help when and if you need it.” Darcy leaned forward and their eyes locked.
“Do not repeat the mistakes that I made when I had similar wrong-headed ideas. None of us can or will try to replace your father, but we can help share your burden which will make sure that this experience helps you grow in ways your father would be proud of, rather than in ways that would bring your father shame as some of my actions surely did.”