Page 59

He nodded, and they left Pemberley, leaving an anxious Georgiana and Darcy behind. When he handed her into the carriage, Darcy assured her he would join her that evening. Elizabeth was glad to have the children in their carriage, and the twins were a welcome distraction to her restless mind.

She realized no one in the family knew the truth yet and wondered how Lord Ashton would react to the news, as she was now his cousin.

The house was strangely silent as the family returned. Lord Ashton was confused about why his uncle’s family had left earlier than them, and he wondered if something was wrong.

Elizabeth hurried upstairs to her room, not wanting to see Lord Anderson at that moment. However, she understood she had to see him and read the letters written by her mother.

Meanwhile, Lord Anderson and his brother awaited Lady Martha’s return and met with her in the study.

“Is she here?” he asked bluntly.

“Yes, your daughter is here, although Fitzwilliam was reluctant to send her with me,” Lady Martha replied dryly, noticing a stack of letters on the table.

“You can read these. I am unable to forget her, our relationship, and everything I did for love; I have had these letters in my safe for the past twenty years. I am uncomfortable sharing these with anyone to prove a point, but she leaves me with no choice. You can read all the letters, the ones Sarah wrote to me before our marriage and after she returned to London, after our wedding. Sarah never wanted anyone to know about our marriage, especially her family, once she ended the relationship with me. I was devastated by her actions; you can ask Francis. I was not myself; I was coming to terms with losing the love of my life, thinking she cheated me for money. But I still do not understand why she wrote to me about marrying him when she was with my child.”

“You state you heard from common friends that she married Thomas Bennet; how could that be true?”

“A couple of friends from London wrote to me when I did not return there as planned. You must understand none of them knew of my status or original identity. They wrote to me about general news in town in my absence, which is how I became aware of her marriage. I had given them an address to one of our unoccupied tenant’s houses in our estate. ”

“Did they write to you stating that Sarah Gardiner married Thomas Bennet?”

“No, they mentioned Miss Gardiner had married Thomas Bennet.”

“Don’t you see it, Mark? They must have mentioned her sister, and you misunderstood that.”

Lord Anderson looked lost, understanding that everything he had believed in was wrong.

“How could you live with this, Mark? Whatever your reasons were, you have betrayed two women, Mark; one is dead, and I am certain the other will wish she was dead once she knows the truth about Elizabeth.”

Lord Anderson was silent

“You plan on telling her today, don’t you?”

There was no reply from Lord Anderson.

“Tell me, or am I looking at a man who cannot own up to his actions, even after an innocent woman’s death?

You must let the world know that Elizabeth is your daughter, and I understand that declaration would devastate your current family.

But if we try to cover this up to protect your wife and daughter, it will be a larger crime than what you did twenty years ago. ”

“I no longer want to hide it. I have carried the burden in my heart and mind all these years, not even aware that I had a daughter with Sarah, and I want to end the agony. I am prepared for the worst; after last night, I know nothing is in my control.”

Lady Martha nodded and agreed to be present during the conversation.

She sat down to read the letters, and it took almost an hour to read all of them.

She reread all the letters written by Elizabeth’s mother demanding money and informing her of her marriage with Mr. Bennet.

Lady Martha finally realized how shallow her brother’s actions were, even though he had acted at the request of Elizabeth’s mother.

Every word in the letters was faithful to the story he had related, and there was no difference in the writing of all the letters to conclude that they were forged. Lady Martha finally got up.

“I must give these to Elizabeth; she is not ready to see you now. But once she reads the letters, she will have questions. I do not know what to say, Mark; how could the same woman who loved and married you change so suddenly? Why didn’t you think about it?”

"I did, and you can see in some of the letters I wrote demanding answers, and she replied stating that our marriage was a mistake and her father’s business was more important to her.

She stated that I took advantage of her and described our union as a sin.

Martha, whatever happened between us that night was out of love; I know it is easy to state this and not take the blame.

But I truly loved her, and that is why I married her.

When she accused me in such a way, I could no longer bear it and finally realized Father was right.

But now, I do not understand why she did not marry Thomas Bennet and never informed me that she was pregnant. ”

“Maybe since she was pregnant, he refused to marry her and married her sister?” Mr. Anderson asked.

“If that were the case, she would have written to me, rightfully claimed a place in society as my wife, and she was with my child. None of this makes sense, and I know Elizab…,” he paused, “Miss Smith may object, but I need to go with them to London. I must know the truth,” Lord Anderson said with resolve.

Lady Martha agreed and wondered what they would find in London.

***

Elizabeth trembled as she looked at the letters on her desk. A servant had brought her a parcel some time ago, stating it was something important that Lady Martha wanted to hand to her. She opened the parcel in a hurry and found the letters.

Finally, the moment is here.

She mustered courage as she opened the first one, and the moment her eyes fell on the letter, she froze.

***

In the same house, Lady Anderson was confused about why her sister had requested her presence that morning.

She entered the study, preparing all the points she would put forward regarding Darcy and Elizabeth’s engagement, assuming the discussion was about the same.

She could not bear the distress of her beloved daughter, who had cried herself to sleep the whole night.

That girl has nobody to support her in this; if I convince Lady Martha, she can somehow stop the marriage. How could he marry so low? Maybe she compromised him; if I send her away, everything is solved. I am certain Mr. Darcy will marry Beatrice if Martha insists.

She was surprised to find all the siblings in the study and wondered why Mr. Anderson was there.

“Good morning, Augusta,” Lady Martha said to her sister.

“Good morning. I do not understand why Mr. Anderson needs to be here for this discussion,” she said with irritation since she had never liked her brother.

“You do not understand the reason for us summoning you here; it is a matter of discussion we must have as a family.”

“I am well aware of the reason; I hope you learned from your brother the amount of distress the ball caused Beatrice. We were invited there and insulted last night. How could he have done that to my daughter? His announcement broke her, and you must fix this for your niece. Send that girl out of Ashton Park; I am certain she compromised Mr. Darcy; otherwise, why would he marry a servant.”

“Enough Augusta! Elizabeth is not a servant; please watch your words. I will not have you insult her thus,” Lord Anderson cried without thought.

“Elizabeth? You address her by her name; what happened to you, Mark? Your daughter is still crying upstairs, and you support that girl?”

“He is right; I will not have you say a word against her honor. You have no idea about their relationship, and they are not indebted to explain anything to you. They are to be married, and she will be Mrs. Darcy. If you thought the reason for requesting your presence here was to discuss the engagement, then I am sorry; the matter is nothing concerning that. You must allow us…” Lady Martha was interrupted.

“Whatever that relationship is, you must end it. That governess has no one here; send her away and convince Mr. Darcy to marry Beatrice. Won’t you do this for your niece?

Mark, how could you sideline your daughter’s wishes?

She has wanted to marry him since the time she met him, you know that.

Are you not her father? My father did it for me; he fulfilled my wish to marry you; how could you not do this for Beatrice? ”

Lord Anderson struggled to compose himself and did not know how to reveal the truth to his wife.

“Augusta, I hope you understand that Fitzwilliam will never marry anyone else, come what may. You are completely oblivious to the truth. I can understand if Beatrice is irrational; she is young, but you are a mature woman. How could you ask such a thing? Please listen to the matter we need to discuss. It concerns Elizabeth’s identity, and you must know this from my brother. ”

Lady Anderson was perplexed.

“What are you saying?” she asked in confusion.

“Elizabeth is my daughter,” Lord Anderson confessed, having no other way to state the truth. The three siblings watched Lady Anderson’s face tremble as she absorbed her husband’s statement.

“What?” she cried in shock.

“Yes, she was born from my marriage with Sarah Gardiner. We were married in Scotland and ended our relationship due to circumstances; I did not know she had my child.”

Lady Anderson felt unwell and could not stand; she sank into the chair, unable to process the revelation.

She had always known that her husband did not love her, and he had his reasons, according to her.

Lady Anderson had known him since childhood and had been in love with him for a long time, and their families were responsible for their marriage.

She knew he was in love with someone else before marrying her, but Lord Anderson’s father had informed her that it was mere infatuation and nothing else, and she never knew the truth that he was married.

Lady Anderson fought hard to compose herself as memories from the past haunted her, and she finally realized why he could never love her.

She had assumed all those years that he did not love her because of the nature of their marriage and something else known only between them.

But now she had a whole new picture of why he married her.

Lady Martha was concerned about her sister’s silence. She took the opportunity to briefly explain the nature of the discovery the previous night and also provide painful details about why her brother had ended the relationship with Elizabeth’s mother.

Lady Anderson listened with horror to every agonizing detail and finally understood that Elizabeth was legally his daughter.

“Who else knew about this?” she asked bluntly.

“My father knew; he assured me that my marriage was annulled. But…”

"But what?”

Lord Anderson explained that his father never got the annulment.

“How could you hide this for all these years? You could have killed me for doing this.”

“I know I have done something unpardonable, and I do not want to apologize and trivialize your distress. You must understand, Augusta, however bitter the truth is, Elizabeth is my daughter now, just like Beatrice.”

“Damn it! I knew it; everything makes sense to me now; you married me out of guilt, and all these years I thought you had…” she stopped abruptly, “I need to speak to my husband in privacy. Can you both leave us alone?” she cried.

Lady Martha and Mr. Anderson left the study in despair.

“Martha, I am truly sorry,” Mr. Anderson said to his sister as she stood outside the study.

“No, you are not; everything was easy for you both just because we had the status and wealth. Mark did not care about anything and married another woman, and you were a witness to everything. Don’t you have any guilt?”

“I do, and that is the reason why I never married. I could see how brother struggled with his marriage; he could never be happy with Augusta, and he lost the love of his life.”

“Do you expect me to sympathize with you, Francis? You must be jesting. I have nothing but disgust for both of you,” she cried.

“I can understand that we failed you.”

“No, you did not fail me; you acted just like how men have always acted. I am ashamed to be your sister, and I finally understand that you and Mark are no different from father; wealth and status were always his priority, and you both used the same to safeguard all your faults,” she cried and headed up the stairs.

Mr. Anderson finally realized the truth in her words and wondered if his sister would ever forgive him.