I don't own Pride and Prejudice.
Elizabeth would have been glad to see the season come to an end had they been returning to Pemberley for the summer. However, that was not to be the case. Instead they were retuning to Hertfordshire for a few weeks for Janes wedding to Mr Bingley.
Elizabeth considered her first season to be quite the success, having made many new and influential friends. Even better, was the fact that they had avoided causing anymore scandals. She didn't count the issues with her husband's family as a scandal caused by them as they had come out looking as the victims, and were praised by many for their kindness and generosity to Sophia, as well as their fierce protection of Anne and the rest of the young ladies in their care.
Reaching over, she took Mary's hand in her own to stop the poor girl from destroying the handkerchief she had been ringing in her hands. "If Mother is too much for you, we shall return to London until the wedding." Mary tried to smile, and Elizabeth was proud of Georgiana and Kitty for how well they pretended to not hear the conversation.
"Oh no, Lizzy, I truly want to be there to help Jane prepare for the wedding." Mary was quick to reply. "I just don't want Mama's desire to be rid of me to spoil everything."
"It shall spoil nothing but her own expectations if she lets it. Either way, that will be on her! You are in my care now, and therefore have no reason to care whether she is happy with anything related to you. All you need to worry about is enjoying yourself, that is all I require of you...of any of you." She glanced at the two younger girls, who smiled brightly back at her. After that the atmosphere was much more relaxed as they finished their short journey back to their childhood home.
Of course all good this must come to an end, and the calm Elizabeth felt turned to dread when she saw her mother and Lydia waiting to greet them with a baby held in her mother's arms. "Stay in the carriage girls." She instructed as the door was opened by her husband, who had ridden alongside the carriage, and he handed her down.
"Jones, take the ladies to Netherfield, at once." Fitzwilliam spoke, his face hard.
"At once sir!" The driver bowed, and the carriage was on it's way. Elizabeth noticed that her father had sent Jane along with Lady Catherine and Anne, who had all ridden with him.
"Wait, what is going on? Mr Bennet, where are the rest of my girls, they need to meet their brother! Finally, Longbourn has an heir! At last, we are saved!" It was hard to miss the sour look on Lydia's face as their mother spoke.
"Mrs Bennet, hand the child to Elizabeth this instant." Her mother complied, and the second the baby was safe in her arms, her father took her mother and younger sister by the arm and marched them into the house.
"Hill, would you mind taking the baby up to the nursery?" Elizabeth smiled at the housekeeper, and handed the baby over to her. "I will come to you when I'm done with Papa and have you fill me in on what you know." The older woman smiled, and with a curtsy was off.
"What is the meaning of this Mrs Bennet?" Her father raged at her mother, who actually cowered away from him.
"You are not pleased to finally have a son?" Her mother's voice trembled with fear.
"Were he my child I would be thrilled, but you and I both know that he is not." He glared at her and she was instantly tearing up.
"Please Mr Bennet, Marcus could be our son, he could be the answer to our prayers for the estate." Marcus, after her grandfather Bennet. Clearly her mother had thought this through.
"George, his name is George!" Lydia stomped her foot like the petulant child she was.
"Hush child!" Her mother turned on Lydia. "Please Mr Bennet, just think, when you die, I will be safe. I will not have to leave my house. Mr Collins will never inherit, he will never be able to turn me out."
"And should word get out that he was not my son we would all be charged with inheritance theft." Her father spoke icily to her mother.
"Please, no one will ever know Marcus isn't yours." Her mother apparently knew when to drop the charade. "We can raise him as our own..."
"No you can't!" Lydia shouted, "You can't raise Baby George as your own, because he isn't yours! He is my son, and his father will come for us once he receives the letter I sent to him, telling him about our child!" Elizabeth had to sit down, the shock of this all too much for her, her husband rushing to her side.
"Hush now, you foolish, stupid child!" Her mother, of all people, was the the one to speak up against Lydia. "Marcus could never be yours, not without destroying the respectability of this family. It is high time you start listening to me, lord knows you didn't the whole time you were with child. It is your fault we are no longer welcome in polite society, what with your refusal to stay home. But that will all change now that Jane is to be married, this will set us right back on top." Her mother preened at the thought, while all Elizabeth felt was dread.
"You mean to tell me your daughter was dumb enough to venture into public while carrying her lover's bastard!" Her father was more angry than she had ever seen him.
"Now Mr Bennet..."
"No Mrs Bennet, you have gone too far this time! You have ruined the Bennet name, and it shall never recover! Not when the two of you still bear it!" She could see her mother was crying now. "I should have put you and your bastard daughter out the moment she was born, but I was weak then. Not any more madam, you will both be out of my house by the end of the day."
"But Mr Bennet, I am your wife, this is my home as well." Her mother's voice trembled as she fought back tears.
"Not any more." Her father had never looked so cold towards anyone. "While I was never ask for favors from friends, I saw fit to just this once." He pulled a stack of papers from somewhere, Elizabeth hadn't seen where though. "These are divorce papers madam, stating that I am divorcing you on the grounds of infidelity and neglect of my children."
"Neglect..." her mother sounded so confused.
"A little clause my mother slipped into the contract, the men just overlooked it, for what mother doesn't love her children..." Elizabeth had known her grandmother to be a strong and intelligent woman, but even this impressed her. She could see her husband was already planning on entering such a clause into the marriage contracts for their own children, as well as their sisters.
"I've never neglected my girls..."
"You forced Lizzy to marry an man we knew nothing of, and didn't even try to find out his character. You then try to force Kitty and Mary to marry a man we have since learned to be the worst kind of villain. You neglected the studies of all our children, leaving them ill prepared for the future. But worst of all, you sent Mary all the way to London by herself with no protection what so ever."
"As for the infidelity, before you even try to deny it, I was able to prove that by showing documentation from a doctor I saw shortly after my riding accident just before Kitty was born. It was then that I was told I would never be able to father any more children."
"So then I was a miracle baby." Lydia preened, while her mother looked about to pass out.
"It means, that you are not truly my child." Her father turned hard eyes to her. "If I had to wager a guess, you are the child of one of our old servants."
"You knew, you knew all this time. It was why he was let go." She had never seen her mother so deflated.
"I would not allow him to make a fool of me, by remaining on my staff."
"But then, what about Marcus? Surely you won't turn us out with a baby to support." It would seem her mother knew the battle was lost.
"He is of no concern if mine." Her father spoke coldly, "Though I am not heartless, and shall find a good and loving home for him."
"He already has a home. I am his mother, and when my darling Wickham gets my letter, he will return for us, and we will be a family." Lydia exclaimed happily.
"If you believe that then you really are a fool." It was the first time either one of them had spoken since they arrived. Her husband actually looked at Lydia with pity in his eyes, "Wickham will never return for you, just like many other women from his past you have been abandoned."
"Even if it were true that he wanted to marry you, it would never be possible. You see, he has a wife and a daughter he abandoned at Pemberley. My father caught him with the daughter of a poor gentleman in the neighborhood and forced them to marry. After my father's death he abandoned her. I gifted her with a small cottage and stipend to care for her and her daughter."
"You...you're lying!" Lydia exclaimed, "He told me you have always hated him. He was so angry that you married Lizzy. You see, he already considered us married, we had been laying together as man and wife for weeks, he was just saving up some money before we could actually get married. He almost called it off as he didn't want to be your brother, but he loves me more than he hates you." Lydia was furious.
"That man loves no one but himself. The militia left months ago, has he written you even once?" Elizabeth asked gently, "He is a smart man, you found a way to get a letter to him, don't you think he could have gotten one to you?"
"But...but...he said he loves me...he wanted to marry me..." Lydia was finally starting to see the truth of the man she loved, and Elizabeth's heart broke for her.