Page 93 of A Life Diverted
“It will be important for William to visit on his term breaks and holidays while Gigi is with us,” Fanny pointed out. “Now that there is no longer tension between him and Lizzy, I feel he will enjoy coming to our home to visit Gigi as often as he is able.”
The ladies allowed one another to read their letters from Anne as she had not asked them to keep what she wrote confidential. Not a few tears fell among them. They could each hear Anne’s voice in their heads as they each read each other’s letters.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The five fathers, along with Andrew, Jamey, Richard, and William were in the dining parlour still, each with a snifter of brandy, except Bennet who preferred his port. He would drink brandy or cognac if there was no choice, but when there was, it was port for him.
“I know it has been but a few days, but I still hear my Anne’s voice echoing in the house; I can smell her lavender scent in our chambers,” Robert Darcy stated reflectively as he swirled the golden-brown liquid in the snifter he held.
“It has been thirteen years since my beloved Priscilla died,” the Prince stated pensively, “and I still imagine I see and hear her, and it is not only because of my daught…” At that moment Prince remembered there were four younger men present who had no idea about his daughter.
He saw four pairs of eyes staring at him in question, and four others who shook their heads almost imperceptibly.
“Do you have a daughter, Uncle Freddy?” Richard asked as he gave the Prince a questioning look.
“Do you know of a daughter of mine, Richard?” Frederick deflected.
“I have often dreamed of my Cilla still being alive along with the son who was buried next to her. In my dreams we have a daughter too, one who looks and sounds just like my late wife. In my melancholy, as I thought of my beloved, I misspoke.”
“No Uncle, I know of no daughter of yours,” Richard answered, but his suspicion was aroused. Andrew, Jamey, and William thought nothing of it, but Richard knew what he heard, and the Prince’s explanation just did not add up.
“We are returning to the drawing room,” Andrew stated as he led the other two young men out of the dining parlour. Lord Holder and Robert Darcy followed the younger men and closed the door behind them.
“Your Highness, who is your daughter?” Richard suspected who it was.
He remembered the way his Aunt Anne and his mother both had stared at…
Lizzy! By their bearing and professionalism, he recognised men from the royal guard imbedded in the footmen and outriders the Bennets employed.
He looked at the Prince, his father, and Mr. Bennet all watching him as his mind wrestled with the problem.
“Do you have a question you need to ask, son?” Lord Matlock asked.
“Mr. Bennet, Lizzy is not your daughter is she? She is the daughter of His Royal Highness from his first marriage. Oh good Lord, William called a princess ‘riffraff!’” Richard concluded.
“Lizzy does not know,” Bennet owned. “We need you to swear under pain of death you will not disclose what you have stumbled on to anyone until she is told when we feel she is ready.”
“Is it not treason so keep a royal in your household, Mr. Bennet?” Richard worried.
“No, Richard, it is not, as I have given the Bennets royal indemnification to keep and raise my daughter…” Frederick gave Richard an abbreviated explanation of why Lizzy was being raised by the Bennets.
“So Mr. Taylor is there to make sure Lizzy is healthy, not to see to you when you visit?” Richard asked.
“That would be correct, except he would take care of me as well, were I to fall ill when at Purvis Lodge or Netherfield Park,” the Prince cleared up.
“Aunt Anne, may she rest in peace, and Mother found out eight years ago at Holder Heights. They would never keep secrets from you and Uncle Robert, so you have known since then, have you not Father?” Richard puzzled out.
“Yes, Son, but you understand why it is imperative to keep this knowledge to yourself?” Lord Matlock asked his son.
“You cannot act any differently than you always have around Lizzy. This knowledge is a burden you will have to bear on your own for the next five years, and, as you know, you are now one of Lizzy’s protectors. ”
“Netherfield Park was Lady Priscilla’s, was it not?” Richard asked.
“Yes, and now it belongs to Lizzy, or it will when she turns one and twenty,” Bennet explained. “That is another thing which is kept secret, Lizzy’s wealth—which is vast—for obvious reasons.”
Richard was almost sorry he pushed the point, for he was quickly seeing that the knowledge was a burden.
He could not talk to Andrew, Jamey, or William about it; no one outside of the small circle who already knew.
Lizzy, a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Richard just shook his head, wishing it would shake the knowledge back out of his consciousness.
“When we have absolute privacy you may talk to any of us, including your Uncle Robert and Lord Holder,” the Prince assured Richard.
“Swear to me, Richard Fitzwilliam, swear to me as your Prince that you will not reveal what you have learnt to another; we have five years to get through before it is to become known.”
“On my life, I give you my vow of secrecy,” Richard swore.
“Think of this as good practice for the army, Lieutenant,” Frederick stated.
“Yes Sir, Field Marshal, Sir,” Richard snapped off a smart salute. He often forgot Uncle Freddy was one of the highest-ranking military officers in the realm, and now he had sworn his oath to both personas as well as his trusted uncle, and it was a vow he would keep.