Chapter 5 #3
She had tried, and failed spectacularly, to exert her influence over her daughter, but Mrs Jenkinson would have none of it.
When her mother had suggested some restorative tinctures for Anne which would have made her ill and, in her mother’s twisted mind, ensured she was under her influence, the servant had the temerity to gainsay her!
She desired to poison Mrs Jenkinson as she had done her late husband, but she never had a chance to dose the food as there was always a servant nearby and no one would believe that she, the great Lady Catherine de Bourgh, would want to convey the repast of a servant.
In fact, soon after she had tried to get her daughter to take the laced tincture, Mrs Jenkinson had removed Anne from Rosings to her brother’s household in London during the season.
As the lady sat and stewed about the disrespect that she was being shown, she was alone and so her mind started to hatch grand plans of revenge.
She was furious that her daughter was once again in the company of that low-born mongrel that her brother had accepted as his daughter, shaming all of the family by doing so.
She knew that if she hied to Town her brother would send her home, and if she attempted to reopen de Bourgh House, the interfering Reggie would immediately be informed!
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
George Wickham decried his banishment from the great house and the park.
He was about to turn twelve and no matter how his father had tried to point out that it was he and no one else that had caused the trouble he was in and that he was the cause of Mr Darcy withdrawing as his godfather, the boy kept hearing his mother’s voice in his head.
After all, Jim Wickham was not his real father so why should he listen to him?
The jealousy that once had been a small flickering flame was now a full-blown bonfire.
Even though Jim Wickham, the man that claimed him as a son, as well as George Darcy and the Earl had all told him that he was not George Darcy’s son, he clung to that belief as a way to justify his feelings of anger at being ill done by them.
The fulcrum of that anger and rage was Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam.
In George’s mind it was as if the little brat was the source of all of his problems, for she took the attention and materialistic advantages that was his due.
It was only after she joined the family that Mr Darcy stopped believing his lies and became immune to his charms and attempted manipulation.
He did not know how, but he would get even with the interloper.
He should be recognised as part of the family, not the foundling!
Worse than Mr Darcy repudiating him was the fact that his banishment was known by all, so he did not have the Darcy name as a weapon to cow others any longer.
In the past the shopkeepers in Lambton had believed him when he made small purchases and charged it to the Darcy account, but that avenue too was closed to him, and his father gave him a pitiful allowance of one pound a month.
What was he, a son of George Darcy to do with such a paltry sum?
George had heard talk of men winning a fortune in a single game of chance.
He had heard that most lost far more than they won, but he chose to ignore that nugget of information.
He started frequenting the Big Bull Inn a mile or two out of Lambton and offered his services to the men in the gambling rooms to be at their beck and call so that he could learn all there was to know about gambling.
Unfortunately for George, the quality of men and their abilities who played games of chance at the Big Bull was far less than adequate, so he learnt it was true, but learnt how to be a bad player and how to cheat only moderately well.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As promised, the Darcys arrived on Friday, travelling in two sleighs, each pulled by a team of four draft horses.
Lizzy stood with her family to welcome the arrivals to their home, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.
She loved all four of the Darcys as well as she loved her Fitzwilliam family.
An added bonus was that Anne de Bourgh had arrived with the Darcys.
What Lizzy did not know was that one of the things to be discussed while the family was together at Snowhaven was Anne’s future living arrangements.
To Lizzy it meant that she would not be outnumbered by boys.
She excitedly hugged Gigi, who would be three in March, and Anne, who was now ten.
Anne was not one of those girls who thought that playing with a five and almost three-year-old was beneath her.
In fact, she loved spending time with both—especially Lizzy, as one never knew what she would say or do at any given moment.
Anne knew that although the petite girl was half her age, that she was far more intelligent and accomplished than she was and was constantly a source of pleasure to watch her understanding of things grow when challenged with something new.
Her mother had always intimated that because she had not learnt a musical instrument there was no reason for Anne to learn to play one.
That had all changed once she had been a charge of Mrs Jenkinson.
The more time she spent with her Aunts Anne and Elaine, the more Anne learnt, and the more she was around the whirlwind that was her cousin Lizzy, the more outgoing and confident she became.
After everyone had changed from their snowbound sleigh ride, the two men made their way to the Earl’s study, the three boys led the three girls to don their warmest outerwear and go play in the snow under the watchful eyes of a tutor and two governesses.
The two sisters-in-law remained in the drawing room.
Once they were alone and the door was closed, Elaine turned to Anne.
“You are glowing Anne, could it be…?” she let the question hang in the air.
Lady Anne Darcy fairly glowed with transcendent joy and simply nodded her head while tears of joy sprung from her eyes.
When she had set herself to rights, she took Elaine’s hand.
“I felt the quickening two days before we set out to visit you,” she shared her pleasure with her closest friend.
“After my troubles before Georgie, I never thought that I would be with child again, and here I am, blessed with my daughter and now the chance for another son or daughter.”
“I am so very happy for you, Anne,” Elaine said earnestly. “Has it been confirmed, and when should you enter your confinement?”
“It was confirmed a month ago after I missed my third courses,” Anne relayed. “The doctor estimates that if everything proceeds as it should, I should enter my lying in around May or June of next year. Before you ask, I feel as hale and healthy as I did while I was carrying Georgie.”
“Mayhap that is a sign that you are having another daughter, Anne,” Elaine teased and they both giggled like schoolgirls.
In the study the two men looked sombre. Reggie had hoped that the restrictions that he had put in place would have convinced his sister to change course, but there had been no change in her behaviour and her seeming belief that everyone had a duty to take her pronouncements as gospel.
“There is no choice,” Reggie said to his brother-in-law. “Anne will not be going back to Rosings to live with her mother; she will become part of my household and she will never be alone with her mother again.”
“Will you allow her to maintain the illusion that she is still the Mistress of Rosings, Reggie?” George Darcy asked.
“No, I believe that it is time for my sister to move to the dower house,” Reggie sighed in resignation. “I will release her dowry to her, and she will have to manage it and live off it.”
“Will the one thousand per annum cease?” Darcy wondered aloud.
“Yes, she will be reduced to five hundred per annum from the estate,” Reggie stated. “The will was clear, the one thousand was only while she lived at the main house and did not cause any problems.”
“Sir Louis knew your sister well,” George Darcy opined.
“Yes,” Reggie agreed, “yes, he did.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
For the first year since Lizzy had been taken from him, Thomas Bennet was genuinely enjoying Christmas at Longbourn.
In previous years, he had to put on a good act to not drag the family down into his maudlin moods.
It was not that he had stopped missing Lizzy, he never would; it was rather that all the good in his life had tipped the scales and now, after more than four years since Lizzy had been taken, he allowed happiness to rule him rather than the pervasive sadness which had ruled him for far too long.
Tammy Bennet could not have felt more joy, and not just because of Christmastide.
With the love that she shared with Thomas, she could sense the change in him.
She had not pushed him, had supported him as needed, and now they were at a point where he was happy which extended beyond moments when he was alone with her.
Both parents loved all of their children.
Jane was the consummate big sister, always looking out for her younger siblings.
Jane also remembered that she had a sister named Lizzy, but unfortunately not much else about the sister that had been gone for over four years by that point.
At the ripe old age of five, John Manning had appointed himself protector of the three younger ones, being that he was the oldest son.
Aside from the Bennets’ brood which had grown significantly, the Gardiners were yet to be blessed with children, and Hattie and Frank Phillips had been gifted a daughter in December 1794.
She was named Francine after her late grandmother Gardiner and called Franny.
It was the first year Christmas had been celebrated at Netherfield rather than Longbourn, as the reconstruction of the manor house proceeded apace, although not much was done during the height of the winter as there had been more snow than was normal for Hertfordshire that year.
If all went according to plan, the family would be back at Longbourn by the following Christmas at the latest.
When the Gardiners arrived, Bennet met with his two brothers-in-law and signed a new will that would leave Bennington Fields to Tom, and John would have Netherfield Park, regardless of his last name.
Bennet had set a legacy of twenty thousand pounds for his nephew who had integrated fully into the family with ease now that he had been shown love and guidance rather than fear.
William still called them Aunt and Uncle, but there was no question that he was treated as another son.
It had been many months since young William would cower and jump as soon as anyone raised their voices.
The bruises he had arrived with had taken but a month to heal; the emotional scars had taken much longer and would be the work of a lifetime.
Ned Collins was never mentioned, but Jane Collins was talked about often and in those moments, he knew peace.