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Luckily for Bennet, his wife fell with child in the first month of their marriage, so he was able to stop the distasteful and infrequent visits to the woman.

Once her state was confirmed by Mr. Jones, the young new physician and apothecary that had recently started practicing in the area, Bennet had his trunks packed and left to be with his brother and sister at Birchington.

He left her in the charge of the Hills and Longbourn’s servants with instructions to make sure that she stayed in the house or walked no farther than the park and to summon him when she was ready to enter her confinement.

As the dust settled from his conveyances and the attendant outriders, a furious virtual prisoner was left behind.

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

Eight months later…

As their father had succumbed to his illness two months prior, the newly minted Duke of Hertfordshire started the dreaded trip back to Longbourn, which was now his, along with the other estates and massive fortune that he had inherited.

He had a month of full mourning left, but there was no getting around having to return to her as the Hills had informed the Duke that she was inordinately large and had entered her confinement period.

In addition to his honoured father, the solicitor with no honour, the one that had supported his daughter when she entrapped him, had shuffled off the mortal coil a few months after his exodus from Longbourn.

His Grace the Duke of Hertfordshire was welcomed back to Longbourn with all the reverence due to his exalted rank.

Not only was he a duke, but they were cousins to the royals through his late, beloved mother.

When he entered his house, he heard caterwauling that he had never imagined ever hearing.

He was informed by his butler that Mr. Jones and the local midwife were attending the woman.

After he changed and washed the road dust off, Bennet repaired to his study to read Plato and have some port.

He was not sure when, but after a while, he noticed that the house was blissfully silent.

It was not long after that Mr. Jones knocked on his study door, and after his Grace bid him enter, he took a deep breath, bracing himself to say what needed to be said

“I have good and bad news sir.” Mr. Jones met the Duke’s eyes.

“Well, out with it man!” Bennet demanded, not in the mood for a protracted conversation, his annoyance obvious.

“I-I am pleased to inform you that you are the father of two of the most beautiful identical twin girls that I have ever seen,” the man paused and took a deep breath, “I am however loath to inform you that your wife did not survive. There was too much bleeding…” Before Jones could go on, Bennet interrupted him.

"Mr. Jones, this may sound callous, but both pieces of news are good news!” Bennet looked at him with the most animation Mr. Jones had seen since he had learned his wife was pregnant.

He was again hearing Sarah’s prophetic statement and was for the first time in over a year feeling happiness as they could soon be together.

Jones could not understand the look of unadulterated joy that spread across the man’s face.

“I know that you are new to the area, but did you know that the woman entrapped me? If I were not a man of honour, I would have run the other way. I was, and still am in love with another woman. I was but days of asking for her hand, and she stopped our betrothal with her despicable actions. That is why I look happy, Mr. Jones. I do not wish death on anyone, regardless of what they have done, but I will not reject this gift from God.” As an afterthought, he added, “My name is not Mr . Bennet.”

“Are you not Thomas Bennet, master of this estate, and is not the lady that passed away upstairs not your wife?” asked a very confused apothecary.

“Yes, all of that is true. But as I said I am not Mr. anything , I am his Grace, the Duke of Hertfordshire!”

“Your Grace, please forgive me. I did not know.” A mortified Jones said as he genuflected to the Duke.

“There is nothing to forgive, Mr. Jones. Neither you nor anyone else in the area knew, which was by my design. I never wanted her to know the truth about my family or my title. Hill!” he called through the open door knowing that the butler was waiting just outside the study.

“Yes, your Grace?” Hill could not help but smile when he said it.

“Did Mrs. Hill, your ever-capable wife, retain a wet nurse and a nursemaid?” Bennet grinned.

“Yes, your Grace, she did.” Hill grinned with him, the relief of being free of that millstone was felt by all in the house.

“Please inform her that she will need to retain one more of each as I have twin daughters.” Bennet’s grin widened, not that anyone would know it was possible.

The butler bowed and exited the study to comply with the Duke’s command.

Bennet stood and followed Jones up to the nursery to see his daughters.

He did not hear as much noise as would be expected for two babes.

When he entered, he saw that the physician had not exaggerated; before him were two of the most gorgeous babes he had ever beheld.

Like their dead mother, they had blond hair and the deepest blue eyes.

One seemed very serene and the other was more vocal.

The serene one had a light blue ribbon on her wrist. When he asked why she had the ribbon, the midwife, just packing up the last tools of her trade, informed him that the ribbon denoted the firstborn and a way to tell them apart as they were identical.

He sat in a chair and requested that his first born be passed to him.

Once he held her, he knew that he was forever lost. She had stolen his heart with a look.

He named her Lady Jane Ingrid Bennet for his beloved late mother.

Jane was returned to her cradle, and he was passed his second daughter who he could swear was looking at him with inquisitiveness.

She was not crying, but she was making baby noises where Jane had been almost silent.

He named her Lady Marie Janet Bennet using a combination of his maternal and paternal grandmother’s names.

He would not allow the Gardiner woman to be buried on any Bennet land.

He sent an express to Gardiner, and he and his sister moved the body to the undertaker in Meryton where she was interred next to her father and mother.

In death, she was with the tradespeople who raised her.

Her name was never mentioned again by the Bennet’s, or their family and friends.

Within a week, his brother Sed and sister Rose, now their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, arrived at Longbourn to be with Bennet and meet their nieces.

They were followed within days by Lord and Lady Jersey, and with them came Lady Sarah and her brother Lord Cyril.

As soon as Hertfordshire saw her, he knew that the feelings on both sides were as strong as ever.

He invited Hattie and Frank Phillips and Edward Gardiner to come see their nieces.

Given that he had forged a friendship with both honourable men, he would not stand in the way of them being uncles and aunts to the girls.

To say that the Phillips’ were shocked that Bennet was part of those Bennet’s and a duke, was an understatement.

The girls thrived surrounded by a loving father and family.

As soon as the deep mourning for his late father passed, Thomas Bennet proposed to the love of his life, Lady Sarah De Melville.

It was no true surprise that her father quickly approved with true affability.

When they were married but a month later, the prophesy that Sarah had made on that terrible day Bennet had to tell her about his entrapment came true.

Their nuptials had been delayed, but their love never waned.

If anything, the trial, and separation had seen it strengthened.

His girls had a mother, the only one that they would ever know, and they were never treated differently by either the Duke or his Duchess.

No one in their circle would hold the actions of a fortune hunter they would never call mother against them.

The Duke of Hertfordshire was happy, indescribably, and incandescently happy, and his love for his beloved duchess and all their children grew daily.

The King and Queen showed their support for their cousin’s wedding very publicly.

If there were any in the Ton that dared to criticise the Duke for marrying while he was in half-mourning, they would have been severely dealt with in society, so much that those who had thoughts of censure were wise enough to keep them very private.