Thinking back on everything he had heard about his new cousin, Elizabeth, he felt almost silly for his original thoughts on her. The day Georgiana had come to him and told him she had met the much talked about Beth, was the day someone had finally done what he had feared would happen since becoming more active in society. His greatest fear was that one of the grasping ladies of the Ton would befriend his sister, then use her as a means to get to him. He did not want to see his sister hurt like that, so had been careful to guard her when the two were out together.
Then she had come to him, beaming at having met the wonderful Beth, and how if Aunt Catherine and Uncle Lewis would agree to it, he should marry her. From all he could get from her, this idea was cemented after one brief meeting with this paragon, and seemed to all be based on the simple fact that she was kind to her.
It was this that brought him into his father's study to discuss Georgiana going to school. He thought it was high time the child start interacting with children her own age, and make friends to combat the loneliness he was starting to realize plagued her. His father had also been in agreement, and had gotten Georgiana accepted into one of the best finishing schools in all of London. As such, it was decided they would take a trip to visit his aunt and uncle before she was to be off to school, and Fitzwilliam would finally meet the elusive Beth.
To his surprise, Beth and her friend were barely more than children themselves. Both girls, at fourteen, were still a few years away from being presented to society, and to his relief seemed to really care for his sister. They had been quick to draw her into their circle with a promise of practicing duets, teaching her to embroider, and taking walks and picnics outdoors. More than once he would watch his sister play a duet with Miss Caroline, and make a mistake, only for the older girl to suddenly hit a wrong key, or Miss Elizabeth's voice would crack as she sang, making all the girls burst into fits of laughter.
It was clear very early on that non of the young ladies had set their cap at him, which allowed him to focus on another important issue, George Wickham. His once friend had fallen in with a bad crowd while they were away at school, and had become a man he didn't recognize. More than once he had found himself spending his own money to bail his father's godson, for he no longer considered him a friend, out of a jam, wether it be gambling, seducing the wrong woman, or racking up debts he would never be able to pay. It had gotten so bad that he had gone searching for a connection to someone in trade so that he could invest the allowance his father gave him while he was at school in the hopes it would grow enough to cover Wickham's debts.
That was how he met Charles Bingley. He had heard the man's father had made a fortune in trade, and sought him out for in introduction. Charles was a few years younger than him, but such a charming and pleasing man, he found himself becoming fast friends with him. However, the friendship was sealed when Charles introduced him to a Mr. Edward Gardiner, rather than the young man's own father. It turns out Gardiner had a reputation for being discreet, which was why many of the wealthy members of the Ton invested with him, as their reputations would be damaged of word got out they had their hands in trade.
Mr Gardner had earned him a tidy profit on his allowance, which in turn allowed him to cover Wickham's debts. The man also advised him to save all the receipts, as he never knew when they would come in handy. He had also tried to convince him to tell his father of Wickham's carrying-on, and he had seriously considered it, even going so far as to almost knock on the door of his father's study to tell him.
However, his father was not alone, Mrs. Wickham was there. He had thought that she was coming to discuss what she was to do since her husband had just passed and she was now on her own. He knew he shouldn't have listened into the conversation, but he couldn't seem to drag himself away from it. What he heard had shaken him to his core...there was a chance that George Wickham was actually his half brother.
It had taken him a while to put the whole story together, as he'd had to ask many different people what they remembered from that time, but also only ask each one bits and pieces so that they wouldn't put together the pieces as he had eventually done. His mother had apparently started bleeding very early on in her pregnancy with him, and everyone was sure she had lost the baby, just as she had the many before him. His father, devastated at yet another loss, and fearing that he would never be able to father an heir for Pemberley himself, had gone to his steward's wife, and having momentarily given leave of his senses had slept with her. Now the woman had been married to her husband for years, and never conceived a child, so the two figured that would be the case for them, and went about their lives. However, she had fallen pregnant, and he told her that should his wife be unable to give him an heir, he would recognize her son as his heir. While Pemberley and all it's income would pass to Mr. Darcy's brother and his family, her son would inherit all his personal wealth, and be well cared for. To everyone's surprise, Darcy's own mother felt the quickening in her womb just a few weeks later, and the next day the doctor confirmed that his mother's pregnancy had not been lost. All of this happened a week after Mrs. Wickham told his father of her suspected pregnancy. The two had made a pact never to tell anyone what they had done, so as not to dishonor their spouses, and old Wickham rejoiced at becoming a father.
Mrs. Wickham had decided she couldn't handle being a mother, and had walked out on her husband and son when young George Wickham was just six months old. Feeling sorry for the boy, Lady Anne Darcy had come to care for him along side her own son, and she and her husband were a great help to the boy's father, helping him to raise the child. It had been a huge blow to all of them when the Lady died bringing her daughter into the world. Thankfully, the men as well as the boys adored the baby, and doted on her, raising her as best they could without a mother. Though, George Wickham grew distant from her as he and Fitzwilliam grew further and further apart.
However, once both of their spouses were gone Mrs Wickham had shown up in his father's study, demanding he marry her and recognize his son. His father had flat out refused, noting that her son did not look a thing like him, had none of his features, not even his height, which both of his legitimate children had or were showing signs of. He told her she would never see a penny from him, but that he would continue to love her son and treat him as he always had, out of the love he had for the boy, as well as the boy's father. He had asked her if she wanted to see her son before she walked out of his life once more, to which she just stormed out of his office and their lives once more.
He knew his father blamed himself for Wickham's mother's abandonment, as well as for the bullying the boy received as a child for being the son of a mere steward. It was for this reason his father spoiled him, and as Wickham's ability to charm became more refined, his father favor for him grew, to the point where it blinded the man to all his faults.
This is why, when Wickham blamed him for the seduction of his aunts maids his father believed the other boy. Wickham had filled his father's head full of lies, saying he was the one who had fallen into the bad crowd at school, one filled with the entitled sons of the titles gentry. How he was a known seducer, gambler, and spendthrift, going so far as to produced forged letters from acquaintance to corroborate his story. After all, why would a future clergyman seduce a maid or gamble, or take part in any dissolute manners.
He had never seen his father as disappointed as he was when he was called to the man's office to discuss "his" behavior. He had tried to defend himself, even offering to produce his receipts, but his father told him to stop lying, that the proof was all there. He then told him he needed to grow up because his health was fading, and he needed to be a man and take care of his sister and Estate.
His father spoke of the plans he had put in place for Georgiana, making him and Wickham her guardians. Fortunately he was able to convince him to change the second choice of guardian to his cousin Richard, by pointing out that having a steward's son as a guardian could damage her respectability in the eyes of the Ton.
Hearing this had also put an end to his trying to tell his father what Wickham truly was. Instead, he decided to let the man live out his last days in ignorant bliss.
