This is my first story! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think...maybe an idea about a title! ~Liz~
All charcters belong to Miss Jane Auten not me!
Prologue
8 May 1813
Oak Grove Plantation
Near Charleston, South Carolina
My Dearest Brother,
I know it has been years since we have last spoken and unfortunately our parting was not pleasant. I fear that the two of us have let our father's vengeance come between us. I pray that you and your family are in good health and Longbourne is prosperous. There are many things I regret and one of them is our parting and subsequent lack of communication. I know I have no right to ask this of you, however, I would like to ask it of you just the same.
Five and twenty years ago I left Longbourne to make my fortune in the former colonies, as you well remember the fights between father and I over this. I arrived in New York the summer of 1789 then went south in the spring of 1790, it was far too cold in New York during the winter! There I fell in love with the wilds of South Carolina. I purchased land and began farming. Oak Grove, as it is now called, is but a few miles southwest of Charleston. After a particularly prosperous crop I went to Charleston to invest some of my profits. There I met the most beautiful woman I have ever be held. The women at the gentleman's clubs held no candle to her. Her name was Maylee Randolph, the daughter of a very prosperous plantation owner in Virginia. We were married in March of 1793. We had a happy life, the following January, the 6th to be exact, she gave me a daughter. She was beautiful at birth and now is even more so. We named her Elizabeth Anne Bennet. She has mother's wit Thomas, and grandmother's eyes. The following year my Maylee died in childbirth trying to bring my son in to the world. The boy, Thomas, after you, died from fever three days after Maylee.
So now it is just Elizabeth and I. Unfortunately, the city of Charleston and its surrounding areas have been under attack from a silent killer. Yellow fever has come back to this area with a vengence. The doctor here says that this is the worst outbreak he has seen in almost thirty years. I must ask of you to help me save my daughter. She is so full of life and I know is meant for bigger things. I hope, nay I beg of you, please Thomas help. I will leave everything I have to her. I will have you named as her guardian until she reaches five and twenty, if she is not married by then. I also have willed you a tidy sum both as my penance and as payment for your health. I fear that my time may be coming to meet my maker. I pray this letter reaches you swiftly and you respond accordingly. I have also enclosed the documents needed for my daughter's well being and an official copy of my will. There should be a record of my will at my London solicitor's office, Anderson, Brown And Company.
I will only add that I am truly sorry over the past and please never forget that I never stopped loving you as my older brother. You were my role model as a child, my best friend as an adolescent, and now hopefully the protector of my only daughter. Until we meet again, brother.
Your brother,
Jonathan Daniel Bennet
September 1813
This would be the thousandth time Thomas Bennet had read his younger brother's letter. Each time he pursued its contents conflicting emotions would pass over him. Each emotion was as strong as the next and they never lessened. He would go to being angry, with his father, then angry with himself, to joy from hearing from his brother, to sadness knowing that his life was hanging in the balance. Thomas Bennet had sent a long reply to Jonathan eventually stating that he would welcome his niece with open arms.
Thomas sat in his study and decided to pour himself a glass of port. He was about to take a sip when he suddenly smiled, lifted his glass and said, "Here's to you little brother, my Nate."
What Thomas did not know was that earlier that morning his brother received his letter. With Jonathan's heart at peace knowing his daughter would be cared for, he sent his man to purchase to tickets to England, one for Elizabeth and one for her companion, Simi. He knew that Simi would never leave Elizabeth, faithful to her charge. Simi had once been a slave, but Jonathan saw how she was with the motherless little girl. Simi cared for her as her own; apparently the young girl had just lost a baby. After a while Simi proved her love to Elizabeth, so Jonathan freed her and gave her the job of Elizabeth's nanny, then companion.
When his man returned he asked for Elizabeth and Simi. He explained to them both the situation and when they were supposed to leave. Elizabeth cried and told her father she would do as he asked. When Elizabeth left to have her things packed, Simi swore her loyalty to the young girl. Jonathan smiled all would be well. He decided to go lay down for a while, he knew that the fever had spinning its web.
What the brothers would never know was that at the exact moment Thomas toasted his brother, Jonathan took has last breath. He finally found peace knowing he could surrender his daughter into good hands.