Chapter 25

Emily, Sed, and Julia Rhys-Davies arrived at Netherfield Park as a cadre of footmen were offloading a line of familiar looking coaches.

“That is Mother and Father’s equipage!” Sed exclaimed as he stepped down from the coach to hand his wife out and then ready himself for their squirming one and a half year old ball of energy to be handed to him by the nurse.

“And my parents’ conveyance ahead of them. I also see one with a Matlock crest, why…” Emily began to ask but ceased when she noticed Jamey and their two fathers approaching. “Papa, Father, what brings you here? I thought you would still be enjoying your time with Rosie. Had we known you were not remaining with Belle and Andrew, we would have visited with them before coming into Hertfordshire.”

“There is a good reason for us to be here,” Bedford stated as he reached for his granddaughter who held her arms out to one of her grandfathers. “The housekeeper will show you to your suites. As soon as you are washed and changed we will be in the main drawing room. This little mite will be with us.” Bedford nuzzled his nose against Julia’s tummy causing much squirming and giggling from the toddler. As soon as she noticed Grandpapa Paul, she held her hands out for him.

Holder was only too happy to relieve his co-grandparent of the lively little girl as they walked back towards the manor house. Any distraction before the impending pain for either he and his wife or Rose and Bedford was most welcome.

Over the two day journey into Hertfordshire the two mothers involved had gone from complete denial to acceptance of the possibility something had occurred which caused a mix-up the night they and Mrs. Bennet gave birth at the inn. By the time they arrived, they and their husbands had begun to mentally prepare themselves for possible devastating news.

“It must be something particular to bring all of you here from Hilldale,” Sed observed.

They arrived at the front doors where Mrs. Hurst and Mrs. Nichols were waiting for them. “Sed and Emily, this is our hostess Mrs. Louisa Hurst of Winsdale in Surrey and the housekeeper Mrs. Nichols,” Bedford made the introductions, “Ladies my son, Lord Sedgewick Rhys-Davies, Marquess of Birchington, and our daughter, Lady Emily Rhys-Davies, Marchioness of Birchington. This little mite is Lady Julia.”

The two ladies curtsied to inclined heads by the arriving couple while their daughter was chattering to her grandfather Holder. “My Lord and Lady, if you will follow me,” Mrs. Nichols suggested. The two nodded and she led them up to their bedchambers.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

By the time the younger Rhys-Davies returned downstairs, the coach and carriage from Pemberly had arrived. Emily and Sed passed the Darcy parents on the stairs as they made their way down to the drawing room. Seeing Aunt Anne and Uncle Robert only increased Emily’s feelings that something life changing was occurring.

On entering the drawing room Emily was pleased to see her little brother seated next to her mother. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the look of sadness on her mother’s countenance. When Emily noted the wan smile her mother gave her even though Julia was on her lap jabbering away as a toddler is wont to do, her sense of impending bad news increased exponentially. Normally when her granddaughter was with her, Mama was alight with pleasure.

“As soon as the Darcys join us, we will talk about why we are all here,” Matlock stated. He was well aware two of his brothers and sisters were about to be separated from those who they thought were their sons, as well as one couple would hear the news they had lost a child they never knew existed.

“While we wait, I must let you know you will have to forgo the pleasure of Miss Bingley’s company,” Richard grinned at his sister and his cousins. Seeing the questioning looks from the newly arrived couple as well as those who had arrived a few hours before, he explained why Mr. and Miss Bingley were no longer at the estate.

“Even though Jamey would have never submitted to her compromise, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the Hursts, twice over it seems,” Matlock stated after his younger son had told all. Like his brothers and sisters, he very much wanted to speak of the Bennets and the revelations which had caused them to rush to this estate. He knew the wait was soon to be over as he heard Anne’s and his brother-in-law’s voices in the hallway approaching the room.

Anne went directly to Cilla and hugged her, then did the same to Rose, before she greeted her own children or anyone else. Regardless of which of them would not gain a daughter, losing young men who had been their sons for more than eighteen years would cause pain only another mother would be able to comprehend.

Once greetings were made and the Darcy parents seated themselves near their children, a footman closed the door, and Jamey stood up. With the aid of the others who had been at the assembly he related in detail what they had experienced that first night when they had met the Bennets.

“Does Miss Elizabeth really look very much like Elaine and me?” Rose verified. Those who had met the lady in question nodded their heads emphatically.

The tale after the night at the assembly was told up to Miss Elizabeth noticing the birthmarks while trapped at Netherfield Park and the subsequent ride to, and discussion at Longbourn. Lastly the report regarding what the former heir presumptive had, at first, inadvertently, and then, thanks to Johns and a Bennet footman named Biggs encouraging him, had told all about his late father’s threats to the midwife.

As the story was completed Emily was the first to speak. “I care not of blood; Philip will always be my little brother!”

“The same way I feel about Saul,” Sed added.

“I just remembered something!” Elaine exclaimed. “Rose and Cilla, were you given something to drink right after you delivered that night which led to your falling asleep?”

Rose and Cilla looked at one another. Each nodded. “Yes, but until you raised this now I thought I had succumbed to sleep after my strenuous labours,” Cilla stated. “What makes you ask that Elaine?”

“One of the midwife’s daughters offered me a drink right before you two delivered. It was a little bitter and when I awoke I was told you each had a healthy son,” Elaine reported.

“It seems the midwife’s fear of retribution from Mr. Collins overrode her sense of decency,” Darcy barked. “If she had spoken to one of you,” he looked at his brother and two good friends, “you would have been able to protect her, and had that criminal arrested.”

“After the fact it is easy to say that,” Anne stated, “but at the time, when the woman feared for the life of her daughters, I am sure she was not thinking logically.”

“What now? How do we proceed?” Bedford demanded.

“The Bennets and the three eldest girls will join us for dinner on the morrow. Then I suggest some of us make the journey to Lancashire to find the midwife and her daughters so we can know what occurred with certainty,” William stated. He turned towards the two sets of parents who would be affected by what was occurring. “I am certain the Bennets will no more try and keep you from maintaining contact with Saul and Philip than you would bar them from Miss Elizabeth.”

“In fact, our birthparents gave us that assurance without us asking,” Saul stated. Neither he nor Philip missed the winces when he mentioned birthparents.

“We are getting ahead of ourselves,” Elaine stated knowing of the distress her sisters were experiencing. “Let us wait to meet the Bennets. Even then, until we speak to the midwife, we know nothing for sure.” As she said the words she knew they were hollow, but she hated to see the sadness in her sisters, especially knowing for one of them it would be a double blow.

For the two sets of parents whose lives would be irrevocably changed, they were very thankful they would have the young men, they had believed were their sons with them, if only for one more day.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Even though he understood it was his father and not himself who had been responsible for the situation the Bennets and two noble families found themselves in, by Friday morning Collins decided it was prudent to travel back to his cottage next to St. Etheldreda’s in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

He had used the last two days to examine the documents his cousin held and had come to accept what his father and grandfather had told him was fiction. He had learnt the truth from the Bennets who were nothing like his late father had described to him. Collins wondered if there was any truth in anything his father had ever told him. He was no longer suspicious about his father having murdered his late mother; he was certain.

On Friday he had gone to see Mr. Philips and asked to have his name changed back to what it should rightfully be—Bennet. After his epiphanies about his father and those who had come before, he did not want to be associated with the Collins name any longer. That name ended with his criminal father.

Even for a man of modest intellect, it was easy to see the way the Bennets treated their children and compare that treatment to the way his father used to beat, humiliate, and deride him. His late father’s way was all wrong and had nothing to do with parental love, but it was the abusing of his power and exercising his control.

When he returned to Longbourn from Meryton as William Bennet, he had dropped his late father’s name as his middle name as well as shedding the name Collins, he conveyed his decision to his hosts. With the momentous meeting on the morrow, Bennet did not discourage his cousin from leaving, but he did decide to make his journey home more comfortable.

“Our carriage will take you to your cottage in Buckinghamshire. The coachman will remain in Amersham overnight and return on Saturday morning,” Bennet told his cousin.

The former Collins did not know how to respond. He was not used to being the recipient of kindnesses, and certainly not from a male family member. “I thank you, Cousin. That is most generous of you,” the younger Bennet stated gratefully.

“If you work on some of the things I advised you about, I may be willing to prefer you to the Longbourn Village living when Mr. Pierce retires in a year or two,” Bennet offered.

Bennet had gently pointed out that no one enjoyed a bootlicker and had steered his cousin towards furthering his education while working towards being the type of clergyman a parish would be pleased to have serve them.

William Bennet’s face lit up. This was far more than he dared to hope for. Not too long after, the Bennets stood in the drive and waved their cousin farewell.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Jamey, Richard, and William were joined by Sed as they stood in the drive to welcome the Bennets. Sed was still somewhat sceptical that Saul and Philip looked like Mr. Bennet and Miss Elizabeth looked like his mother and aunts. No matter how much his brother and cousins had confirmed it was so, he wanted, no, he needed, to see for himself before he would allow his mother and aunt to experience the impending loss of a son.

He watched as a man alighted from the carriage and with his back towards himself, the gentleman handed down an older lady then a slightly younger one.

Jamey leaned close to his brother-in-law and cousin. “Mr. Bennet handed his mother and then his wife out,” Jamey related quietly. “The beauty he handed out now is Miss Bennet, the one being courted by Richard.” Jamey inclined his head to their cousin. “Next is Miss Mary, and lastly, Miss Elizabeth.”

As much as Sed wanted to see her, the lady who could be his sister was obscured by the man who had handed her out. The first thing he saw was her hair, the same colour as his mother’s and aunts’ before they gained streaks of grey. Then the man turned and walked towards them with his family. Sed had to fight to keep his jaw from dropping to the drive. As much as he wanted to, he could not deny the resemblance between this man and Saul and Philip. They had a passing similarity, not even that much if he was honest to himself, to late Grandpapa Saul, but nothing in comparison to the man before him. His eyes locked onto the emerald-green eyes of the most diminutive of the ladies. Her look, hair, face, and especially her eyes looked just like the portrait of his mother taken on the occasion of her engagement to his father. He had no doubt he was looking at a sister, or at the very least, a cousin. It was sure, his mother’s or Aunt Cilla’s heart was about to be broken. One would gain a daughter while both would lose a son.

“Do I look that much like your mother?” Elizabeth asked impertinently seeing the way the Marquess was staring at her after the introductions.

All Sed could manage was to nod. It was then he noticed a huge footman, somewhat bigger than the Carrington’s Johns, carrying a rectangular object covered by a piece of fabric.

Jamey and William led the Bennets into the house while Richard stood close to his cousin. “We did try and warn you. Even without everything else we know, when you see them all together it is impossible to deny the truth.” All Sed could do was nod wordlessly.

As soon as Jamey and William entered the drawing room, all conversation within ceased and everyone stood. The three Granger sisters were holding onto one another’s hands for support with Anne Darcy on Cilla’s other side, holding her hand closest to her. Their husband’s took up station behind their wives.

When the two men stood aside it revealed two older ladies, one somewhat older than the other, followed by two very pretty blondes. Elaine had been told by Richard he was courting Miss Jane Bennet and by his description, she was the taller of the two. When the final two Bennets entered the room ahead of Richard and Sed there were collective gasps from those who had not seen the two before.

Rose and Elaine stared at their younger self on the arm of a man who was an older version of Saul and Philip. With Emily, who had joined her aunts, they had tears running down their cheeks as they began to accept the difficult truth…there had not been an error.

When Cilla saw the young lady she knew. She was Rose’s daughter, not hers. Her babe must have died, because just before she drank the tincture and slept, she remembered she had heard the mewling of a new-born…but it had been very weak. With her husband holding her from behind and Anne on one side and Elaine on her other side, Cilla began to cry plaintive, racking sobs for the babe she was now certain had been lost to her that night.

Elizabeth was frozen to the spot where she had entered the drawing room. Regardless of how many times she had been prepared and told how much she looked like the twin sisters, and resembled the younger one as well, she had not been prepared for the reality. It was not a passing set of similarities, there was no question, she was the daughter of one of these ladies. She would have to wait for the introductions to know who was who. As soon as she saw the one lady’s pain. She knew that one was not her birthmother and was mourning the babe she had never met. Elizabeth willed her legs to work and approached the taller lady and threw her arms around her and hugged her, a lady she was sure was an aunt.

As she wiped her tears, seeing the compassion in the eyes of the young lady who was her niece, Cilla was able to bring her emotions under regulation. “Thank you for your warmth and kindness…”

“Elizabeth, your Ladyship,” Elizabeth provided.

Bedford looked to Bennet. “Bennet will you introduce your family please?” Bennet acquiesced and did the honours.

As soon as the introductions were completed, Rose approached the girl she and her sisters knew was a daughter of her body. Elizabeth stood still as the Duchess gently took her face in her hands and looked into her eyes. Both saw her own eyes looking back at her. She took Elizabeth by the hand and led her to a settee and patted the space next to her once she was seated.

Elizabeth sat without a word. Saul sat on the Duchess’s other side while Philip took a seat next to the woman he had called mother for as long as he could remember. Soon enough everyone was seated and Anne Darcy rang for tea. Although the Hursts had been invited to join those in the drawing room, they had elected to remain in their private sitting room, hence Lady Anne was acting as hostess.

After gaining permission to do so, Bennet nodded to Biggs who uncovered and turned the painting he was holding to face those seated in the drawing room. There were collective gasps from those who had not seen the portrait previously. If there had been any residual doubt regarding who Saul and Philip’s father was, seeing the painting removed it.

It did not take long before Mrs. Nichols was supervising a maid and footman who placed the before-dinner tea. The housekeeper left the room after the footmen and maid, and pulled the door closed after her.

Beddford broke the thick silence. “I think we have to speak.” No one disagreed with him.