Chapter 6 #3
"Ella's daughter did not die. My father gave her to one of our tenant families to raise," Mr Bennet explained.
"Thomas, we cannot allow your niece to suffer such a fate. Your father does not know that our daughter was stillborn. Bring Ella's baby home, and we shall raise her as our own."
Mrs Bennet was often foolish and capricious, but she knew that the right thing to do was to care for her niece. The poor child would also help ease the pain of losing her own daughter.
"Fanny, I believe this is the first time I have ever agreed with you completely."
Thomas saddled his horse and rode off in search of the little girl. A few hours later, she was presented as the second daughter of Mr and Mrs Bennet. Fanny named her Elizabeth, after her own mother.
◆◆◆
When Marcus finally returned to London, more than a year had passed since his departure. He was awarded several medals for his bravery. Thanks to his actions, the lives of more than a hundred civilians had been saved. Yet none of it mattered to him. All he wanted was to see Ella.
"Marcus, I sent her a letter informing her of your death, and another when we finally learned that you were alive.
Then I sent a third explaining our plans to secure your release.
I never received a reply from her or from her family.
The only thing I have is this letter she sent you about six months after you left. It is all that remains."
"Thank you, Reginald. If you will excuse me, I must read it at once."
Marcus was afraid to open the letter. After months of fighting and captivity, even a man as cheerful and optimistic as he had once been had lost all joy.
If Ella had written to tell him that she no longer loved him, he did not know how he would bear it.
The memory of her and of that rainy afternoon had sustained him through the darkest moments of his imprisonment.
When he opened the letter, he discovered that her father and brother had hidden all of his letters in an attempt to convince Eleanor that he had abandoned her.
But when he read that she was begging him to find her because she was carrying their child, he felt overwhelming joy and utter panic at the same time.
At dawn the following morning, he set out for Longbourn.
He rode as though his life depended on it, praying that everything would be well.
He intended to obtain a special licence, marry Ella immediately, and take her and their child away with him.
To spare her any scandal, he planned to request a transfer to the north of England, where no one would know them.
If she still loved him, everything would be all right.
As he approached the house, Eustace intercepted him.
"You are not welcome here. Leave at once."
"Where are Eleanor and my child? We shall be married tomorrow," Marcus replied firmly.
"Ella died from complications following childbirth, and her daughter was stillborn. You have your answer. Now leave."
"That cannot be true," Marcus said, praying that this was merely another of Eustace's lies.
He rode straight to Meryton to speak with Mr Fleming.
The bookseller confirmed that Eleanor had suffered a terrible accident and, after lingering for three weeks, had died.
Naturally, Mr Fleming knew nothing of her pregnancy or of the story Eustace and Thomas had spread—that Eleanor had died from her injuries.
Marcus returned to London and sank into a deep depression.
His superior officers and his family knew that he had been tortured while in captivity in an attempt to force him to reveal military information, and they all assumed that his condition was a consequence of that ordeal.
Reginald brought him to live at Rockwell House so that he could look after him.
It was not unusual for Marcus to spend days in a drunken stupor.
He was consumed by guilt. In his own mind, he had caused the deaths of his wife and little daughter.
By yielding to the overwhelming passion he had felt for the woman he loved, he believed he had destroyed them both—and with them, the innocent child they had created together.
He lived like that for almost six months, until his nearly four-year-old niece, Claire, began to seek out his company.
Her father cared for little beyond work and the pursuit of wealth, while her mother devoted scarcely any time to her.
The innocent affection of that little girl slowly brought Marcus back to life.
Yet he was never the same again. He became a reserved and solitary man, content to live with the bare minimum and devote himself entirely to his military career.
When he returned to life, it was only in body; his heart and soul had been buried alongside Eleanor and their daughter.
From that day forward, he no longer looked to the future.
He merely waited for the day death would reunite him with his family.
Perhaps, in the next life, the three of them would finally be together.