Page 107 of A Life Diverted
Once the Carringtons arrived, Mrs. de Bourgh asked if she could meet with all of the adults and the younger set from Miss Mary upward. As soon as everyone was seated, Catherine made her sincere, heartfelt apologies to everyone in the room she had wronged.
The longest was the public one she made to Anne.
She had apologised to Anne in Kent but felt that she owed her daughter an apology with all of the family present as well.
She fully acknowledged who she used to be and told them all how happy she was to be who she was now.
When Catherine was complete, Anne was the first to tearfully hug her mother, and then each person present fully forgave Mrs. de Bourgh for any transgressions against them.
The last person to hug her and tell her proud he was of the way she had changed her life was Robert Darcy. He reiterated that his late Anne would have been proud of her, as were he and his children were.
After her apologies and her family’s acceptance, Catherine de Bourgh felt the last vestige of the weight of her former misdeeds lift from her shoulders.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Before entering the meeting where Catherine made her apologies, the Carringtons were waylaid by the other parents and the Prince.
After a short conversation with the Prince, Darcy, and the other two sets of parents, the Carringtons agreed that it was time to tell Elizabeth the truth.
It was decided that while Elizabeth and William were meeting with the parents and the Prince, Andrew, Richard, and Jane would sit with Jamey, Anne, Cassie, and Mary in a separate sitting room.
The four youngest children would be informed by a group of their parents on Saturday morning.
Elizabeth could tell there was a certain tension in the atmosphere on Friday, but she had no clue what the source was and from what she could tell, William was as clueless as she.
Assuming it was due to having Mrs. de Bourgh with them, she assessed the woman carefully, but it did not take her long to warm to Aunt Catherine.
Elizabeth had met the lady only once, at Pemberley just after Aunt Anne passed away, but she was able to tell that Aunt Catherine had won approbation from all those she trusted when before she had garnered naught but disdain.
From Catherine’s perspective, she was drawn to the smart as a whip, sometimes impertinent, young lady with a rapier wit.
She could not image hearing better musical talents than those of the Bennets and her niece Gigi.
When she asked who taught them, she was told that Signore da Funti would return with the voice master after Twelfth Night, and that if Aunt Catherine was in residence, she would be welcome to take lessons with the Signore too .
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Once dinner was over, Bennet told everyone there would be no separation of the sexes and requested Mrs. de Bourgh, Elizabeth, and William to join them for a meeting.
Having no clue as to what they were being called to discuss, William and Elizabeth followed the group of parents, the Prince, and Catherine to the family sitting room.
Biggs was stationed outside the door in the hallway.
It made Catherine feel warm all over that she was to be included in an intimate family discussion.
Elizabeth was asked to sit on a settee between her father and Uncle Freddy, while William and Aunt Catherine sat on another with Robert Darcy.
The Fitzwilliam and Carrington parents found seats close to Lizzy.
There was a short silence, followed by a knock on the door, and Mrs. Nichols entered the room.
“Lizzy, no matter what you hear or read here, you must know that you have been, and always will be, a most beloved daughter to your father and myself. I want you to hear this clearly, that no matter what, you will be loved as much tomorrow as you are today,” Fanny began, her voice tremulous.
“Mama, what are you saying? I am starting to worry,” Elizabeth asked nervously as she felt her father take one hand and Uncle Freddy the other as each gave her a reassuring squeeze.
“I need to tell you the tale of the day you were born, Lizzy,” Fanny stated. “Mrs. Nichols is with us now because she is one of the few others that attended your birth. I have told you—all of my children—many times of my sister of the heart, Lady Priscilla, have I not?”
“Yes, Mama, she is the lady who gave us Netherfield,” Elizabeth verified.
“Correct, and we will return to the topic of Netherfield later in our discussion,” Fanny confirmed. “You know Uncle Freddy was married to Priscilla and his father the King forced them to divorce for a political alliance with Prussia.” Elizabeth and William both nodded.
“What has that to do with why we are here, Mama?” Elizabeth asked cautiously.
“It has everything to do with it, Princess ,” Fanny used the now rarely used term of endearment.
“My friend was weak; she had a broken heart. She knew Uncle Freddy had no choice in the matter of their divorce and he had to do as the King commanded. Priscilla’s family name before marrying was De Melville.
She was the eldest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Jersey.
Even though the divorce was through no fault of her own, they disowned Priscilla and cut all ties with her.
I believe it was their callous action that completely destroyed Priscilla’s will to live. ”
“How can anyone do that to their own child?” William asked indignantly.
“That is a question we have all asked many times over, William,” his father agreed.
“Your father was visiting Uncle Paul and Aunt Edith when both Priscilla and I entered our final confinements. As I have told you, she died from complications of the birth; all of that is true. What was not true was what we told everyone the sex of the baby we each bore was,” Fanny said the last slowly.
William was quick to apprehend what Aunt Fanny had just said.
His father placed his hand on his arm to stay any words from his son.
“Mama, what are you telling me?” Elizabeth asked.
The shock was sketched clearly on her face.
She understood what was being said but she wanted to hear her mother say the words.
She felt anger bubble under the surface for a reason she could not yet comprehend.
“You are too intelligent not to understand what I am telling you, my Lizzy,” Fanny told her second daughter. “Here is a portrait of your birthmother.” Fanny handed the portrait of Priscilla to her daughter.
Elizabeth was about to protest it was a portrait of herself, one she did not remember sitting for and where she looked older, until she noticed the date: 1798.
“I had an artist paint that of my beloved wife shortly after we married,” the Prince stated softly.
“If Uncle Freddy is my father, why did I live with you and not him? Did he not want me?” Elizabeth asked in alarm. She was doing all she could to regulate the anger that wanted to burst forth.
“That could not be further from the truth, Lizzy,” the Prince told her firmly.
“Lizzy, your birthmother wrote a letter to you, one I swore to her on her deathbed I would give you when you were ready. She suggested eighteen, but we all feel you are ready now,” Fanny told her daughter.
“Who else knew about my true parents?” Elizabeth asked with some asperity showing.
“Do you remember in 1795 when we went to Holder Heights after Uncle Edward’s wedding, and you asked why Aunt Anne was staring at you?
” Fanny reminded her and Elizabeth nodded.
“Until then, beside Mrs. Nichols who was at your birth, I was the only one who knew the truth. Your birthmother’s letter will explain her reasoning for asking what she did.
“When Aunt Elaine saw you she, like Aunt Anne, recognised your birthmother in you. The Darcys and Fitzwilliams were unmoved in their belief that I needed to tell your father, and I did when we returned to Netherfield Park. It was only then your birthfather was informed he had a daughter, and after reading the letter from his Cilla, he agreed to allow us to continue to raise you, but he wanted to be part of your life, and he is, though as your Uncle Freddy.”
“Here is the letter from your mother; we will all sit here while you read it. We will answer any questions you have when you are finished.” Fanny handed her daughter the letter from Priscilla.
“Before I read, I saw William’s face, he was as shocked as I was. He did not know, did he?” Elizabeth wanted to know.
“No Lizzy, I knew nothing,” William confirmed.
27 February 1790
To my dear son or daughter,
If you are reading this, then you have been raised by Fanny and Thomas Bennet as the worst has come to pass; I have been called home by God.
I implore you not to be angry with your adoptive parents.
If Fanny has shared the truth of your birth with Thomas—as I suspect she has—before you are eighteen or whatever age my sister Fanny decides to disclose all to you, remember that you are loved.
If you are a daughter, I will name you Elizabeth Sarah.
Elizabeth is for my late maternal grandmother Beth, and Sarah for my mother.
Before you say it, yes, their breaking with me has cut me to the quick, but she is still my mother.
If you are a son, then you are named for your father—who I love more than there are words to describe—and your grandfather, my father for the same reasons as I would use your grandmother’s name if you were a girl.
If you are a boy your name will be Frederick Cyril.
“I will not bear the name of the woman who rejected my mother,” Elizabeth told no one in particular. “I want my middle names to be Priscilla Francine and not Sarah!” The anger she had been feeling was now directed at the grandparents who had hurt her birthmother so badly.