Prologue

1791

E dward Gardiner ran his fingers through his hair. “Harriet, you cannot be serious. She is your niece. I cannot countenance the idea of her being taken to an orphanage.” He looked down at the dark haired, chubby child who sat near his feet happily playing with the toe of his boot.

Harriet Phillips, Edward’s eldest sister, primly placed her teacup on its saucer before answering. “Do not be silly, Edward. Of course she must go. There is no room for her here. Jude’s business has done well, but I cannot be expected to keep both of Fanny’s girls. I will raise Jane as a remembrance to my sister, and Elizabeth must be taken away. It is a shame, of course, but it is the only solution.”

Edward paced the length of his sister’s parlor. “It is not the only solution. You have three empty bed chambers. Surely there is room for both Jane and Elizabeth.”

Harriet shrugged. “Perhaps there is physical space, but it is very costly to raise a daughter. I admit I always wished for one, but dresses and dance masters do not come without a cost. No, my mind is made up. I will not keep the baby. She is young enough that some desiring couple will snatch her up right away. I do not worry that she will be made to live in the orphanage for long.”

Edward came to an abrupt stop, his eyes locking onto his sister with a look that bordered on disbelief. “Think of our sister. She would not have wished her youngest to be put to a home. If Fanny had lived, she would have done everything in her power to protect these girls. Both of them. She would be very disappointed in you.”

Harriet scoffed. “Hardly! She did not like Elizabeth at all. She was gravely disappointed when another daughter was born. They expected a son, you know. I believe Fanny would have given the girl away herself if it were not for Thomas. He insisted no child of his would be put from their home.”

Edward did not doubt the veracity of his sister’s claims. His youngest sister was as silly as his eldest and would have thought little of demeaning her second daughter, though he doubted she would have truly given her away, no matter what her claims may have been.

His feet took him back to the table where Harriet sat eating a small cake. Sitting in the chair nearest his sister, he leaned forward and took her hand in both of his. “Harriet, I beg you. I will assist with the cost for both girls, but I am not currently in a position to bring her into my home. My business is going well, but it is not yet in a situation where I can take on an infant and a nurse. I still live in the back rooms of my warehouse. That is no place for a child.”

Harriet patted his hand with her free one. “Of course it is no place for a child. That is why I did not suggest you take her. But she cannot stay here.”

Edward released a frustrated sigh. “If you can only raise one, then allow me to take Jane. She is older and will be easier for me to care for. Elizabeth cannot yet crawl.”

His sister laughed at the proposal. “Do not think me stupid, brother. I know you only wish to take the pretty one. It will not work. Jane is the spitting image of her mother. I will not be stuck with the homely child.”

Edward looked to where the girls sat. Jane, age three, quietly held a small teacup to her sister’s lips and offered her a drink of imaginary tea. Elizabeth, surrounded by multiple pillows, gurgled and smiled and attempted to take the cup into her chubby hands. Harriet was correct, Jane was a replica of her mother, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. But Elizabeth was nearly an exact copy of her elder sister, only dark where Jane was light. It rendered her no less lovely. And though she was only seven months old, the child gave every indication of growing up to be a beautiful young lady.

He looked back to his sister. “I am ashamed of you, Harriet. Our father and mother would be ashamed of you, too, if they were alive to witness your selfishness. Send the maid to gather the girl’s things. I will take Elizabeth with me.”

Harriet had the audacity to appear affronted by her brother’s words, but she did as he commanded. “Mary,” she called over her shoulder to the nurse who sat near the girls, “gather Elizabeth’s things, she will be leaving with my brother.” Then turning to face Edward once more, she added, “When you find it is too difficult to care for a baby, do not return her to me. I will have Jude send you the name and address of the facility. You can take her directly there. I will have him transfer half of her mother’s dowry to you, as well.”

Edward stood and walked to Elizabeth. She raised her arms to be lifted and offered him a gummy smile. He obliged her by picking her up and placing her on his hip. “Do not bother. Elizabeth has been my goddaughter since birth, and now she is my true daughter. I will see to her needs very well. Being raised by someone as crass as you, Jane will need all the dowry she can get if she ever wishes to find a husband.”

Edward’s anger did not lessen when he walked from the house, nor when he entered the carriage. His sister was as selfish a creature as he had ever met, even more so than Fanny had been, though it felt disrespectful to compare them since Fanny’s life had ended three weeks ago in a carriage accident. She had died alongside her husband, leaving two young girls at home in the nursery.

Fanny may not have wished for Elizabeth, but Thomas Bennet had loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her. Edward sighed. Thomas had been his best friend since childhood. He had praised his youngest daughter who had all the good looks of her mother, but with his own beloved mother’s coloring. She will be a great reader, Thomas had written in his last letter to Edward. I can see the intelligence in her eyes. Do not laugh at me, friend, I know she is but a babe, but I have great hopes for this second daughter of mine.

Elizabeth’s fleshy fingers grabbed at his shirt and tugged, pulling him from his reverie. He offered his thumbs, which she clutched in her pudgy hands. With his help, she stood on his lap and bounced while singing a happy baby song that translated to no words but indicated her contentment. A bump in the road caused her to fall forward onto his chest where she rested her head. Her hands had come free of his thumbs, and she placed her plump arms around his neck. Edward placed his much larger arms around her small body and hugged her close. This tiny child had already wiggled her way into his heart.

“It will be difficult for us both, my dear, but I promise your life will not suffer. I will be as good a father to you as Thomas would have wished. And I will buy you every book in London. Together we will build a happy life together.” Elizabeth snuggled her small head into his chest and soon fell asleep.

∞∞∞

1795

“Gardiner, after giving it much consideration, I have decided it is my best interest to invest further into your business.”

Edward schooled his features. It would not do for the Earl of Effington to know how thrilled he was to receive the additional funds for his business. In the past four years, profits from Gardiner Imports had grown more than five hundred percent, but these additional funds would allow him to take on another ship. Within two years he predicted the profits would double from where they were today.

“I am pleased to hear it, my lord. These funds will allow the business to grow substantially. Both you and I will turn a very nice profit.”

The earl smiled. “That is exactly what I anticipate. My man of business and I — ” His words were cut off when a small child entered the room. “Who is this, Gardiner? I did not realize you had a child.”

The girl stood next to her father’s chair and looked at the earl with big, blue, unblinking eyes. “Is this your ‘vestor, Papa?”

Edward lifted the child onto his lap. “This is Earl Effington, Lizzy. Where is your nurse?”

“Sleeping,” she replied.

From his chair, the earl sniggered. “My daughter does the same. Lays down with the nurse in the afternoon, and as soon as the lady’s eyes close, Susan sneaks away to find me or her brother. But tell me, I did not realize you were a married man.”

Gardiner stiffened, understanding the implications of the man’s words. No matter how many times he offered the truth, men and women alike often assumed Elizabeth was his by-blow. Would the earl choose to believe him?

“I am not married. My sister and her husband were taken in a tragic carriage accident when Elizabeth was but a babe. My remaining sister raised the oldest child, and I took Elizabeth. For the past four years she has been as good as a daughter to me.”

The earl’s eyes moved from Elizabeth to Gardiner and back again. The girl smiled prettily at him from her father’s lap. There was a similarity in looks, but as the child’s uncle, she could just as likely carry a resemblance as she would if he were her father. “I thought, perhaps, you were a widower, as I am. My Susan is of a similar age. Come to my house in two days to sign the paperwork. Bring your daughter. Susan would love a playmate. We might as well introduce them now. I expect we will be in company often.”

And so they were. Edward Gardiner and Paul Corwell, the Earl of Effington, became great friends as well as business partners. When Elizabeth was six, the Earl, whom Elizabeth affectionately called “Uncle Paul” agreed to be godfather to the child.

Their daughters, taking their cues from the men, followed suit. Lizzy and Suzy, as the girls came to know one another, were together often. The servants at Effington House knew Elizabeth Gardiner nearly as well as they knew Lady Susan. The servants at the Gardiner’s home on Gracechurch Street, and later at their mansion on Brook Street, were as likely to take biscuits to Lady Susan as they were the master’s own child.

The duo both served as flower girls when Edward Gardiner married Madelyn Brown in 1797. The new Mrs. Gardiner served as mother to Elizabeth and surrogate mother to Lady Susan, who was as often at the Gardiner’s home as she was at her own.

Lizzy and Suzy celebrated their tenth birthdays in Ramsgate in 1801. And they both made their come outs in 1811. Both had anticipated coming out the year before, but Elizabeth had been traveling home from India with her parents and did not return in time. Lady Susan refused to do anything without her dearest friend, and so, at the rather advanced age of nineteen, the girls entered the ballroom, each on the arm of her respective father, to much applause and many smiling faces.