The storyline, new character development, new events, and new characters are my intellectual property. Glorioux

A/N Like to listen from you be patient. All will be clear- a little slow right now. I was back home for a month. Not enough time. A long c

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Thomas Bennet- Lizzie's father's story

Twenty-three-year-old Thomas Bennet was broken. He had just found out that his young wife, the one he gave up much for, loved someone else. Nobody told him, he had witnessed the betrayal.

Fanny had gone out with their three-year-old Jane to meet her sister. He offered to accompany her, but she said there was no need. Maybe twenty minutes later, he went for a stroll when he heard voices, his wife and a man were talking. Something told him to stay back, and there, he saw his wife sitting on a small bench next to the hunting lodge. Quickly, he stopped to hide behind a tree.

Thomas saw a recently arrived officer, handsome, rather short, sitting next to Fanny. The officer had one arm around her shoulders while holding Jane on his lap, "Don't cry, my love. How I wish I had the freedom to love you. I met you too late, already married to my odious, ugly wife, chosen by my parents. Do you love him? He is very handsome; all the ladies say so, including my wife. They say he looks like a nordic god and only has eyes for you. They admire his height, hair, and looks. I am jealous, so I hope you don't love him." The man pouted like a spoiled child.

Thomas held his breath. He couldn't breathe. He could hear his heart beating loud and fast, waiting for her answer, feeling like he stood at the edge of a precipice.

"No, my dearest, I don't love him. My husband is a boring, scholarly man. But l had no choice but to marry him, and you know why. Remember you were already married, and you left. He is a good man, a very handsome gentleman, but not you." Fanny said, crying.

Thomas's heart ached; he felt awful. Was Jane his child? No telling what she meant, but Jane had his mother's eyes. No matter if Jane were his, or from his loins or not, he would never give his beloved child up, let her try. He walked fast, deep into the woods, dropped by a tree, and sobbed, feeling desolate. It was getting dark when he heard a husky, accented female's voice and felt a soft hand, smelling of flowers, touching his face. "You must be Ilsa's son," his mother's name was Ilsa. "You look like her. I felt your sadness. Why are you so sad?" He didn't question how she felt his sadness or knew his mother, not at that time.

He stopped crying, looked up, and saw a tall and beautiful young woman next to him. Her long curly hair, the color of brass, wasn't tied but for two braids, threaded with colored ribbons, forming a wreath across her forehead. Her clothes were foreign; she wore a sleeveless tunic made of gold thread embroidered fabric, with several belts decorated with jeweled metal plates wrapped around her torso, and her arms and cheeks were painted with symbols. She was barefooted and carried several satchels and a sword.

She sat next to him and held his hand to comfort him. Somehow, he felt at ease and told her about Fanny. She shook her head, "Your Fanny is a foolish mortal, an ignorant one choosing another over you. She doesn't know how lucky she was." Her words didn't register until much later when he also realized her face and arm paintings were probably tattoos.

They talked for a long time, and she offered him buttered bread, jerky, and cheese, along with a drink, from a flask she carried in a satchel. The drink was a sweet liquor, smelling of flowers. After a few sips, he felt better, and his heart stopped aching permanently. When she kissed him, he kissed her back, and soon, they were naked, loving each other with unbridled passion, healing any lingering pain. He must have fallen asleep because, the next morning, he awoke on a small sofa in his office.

As to how he got there, Thomas Bennet had no idea, though. He knew he hadn't imagined her. Moreover, she had tied a leather strip with a small coin engraved with an unknown rune around his neck. He also found two long brass-colored hairs on his hand, which he put inside a small locket. He put the locket and the coin away for many years. Furthermore, her sweet scent was all over his skin. The scent aroused him, making him wish to lay with her once more, but he never saw the stranger again, nor he knew her name.

He wrote to his mother weeks later, telling him about the forest lady and insinuating he had slept with her. His mother wrote back and said if his wife were with child, what he needed to do and to be by Fanny when she gave birth. But said nothing about the lady's identity or her name.

Around nine months or so after that night, Fanny had a difficult childbirth. Thomas suspected the child wasn't his, but he reckoned he would love the baby anyway. The midwife came out of the room and said the baby wasn't breathing, but the next second, they heard a baby crying. They went in, and the baby was naked, hollering, cold and hungry. The midwife looked confused, "I had two deliveries today; I am tired. I thought it was a boy," she didn't finish and blinked. "Sir, I must go. She is asleep, and I am very tired." She shook her head, confused.

Finally, Thomas understood his mother's cryptic letter; he held his precious baby; her hair was the color of brass, standing up, and her eyes wear almost aqua. He named her Elizabeth after a queen he had admired. Fanny didn't like the baby's hair or eyes, saying it was unnatural, but he argued that it was his mother's hair color. Fanny was forever critical of Lizzie's disposition and her looks. Lizzie was taller than the other girls, with long-limbed, slightly slanted eyes, plump lips, lithe, adventurous, studious, and a rebel. In the spring, she ran on the grass without shoes and climbed trees, making Thomas smile. She accompanied her father everywhere he went; she was his joy.

From there on, he tolerated Fanny. She was pretty, ran a good house, and was good in the marriage bed, but he knew she didn't love him. He had someone he loved, his children, and more than all the others, his Lizzie, only because she was the result of a wonderful encounter. Fanny's lover left but came back some months after Kitty was born. This time, he was a widower with no children. Thomas was at home when visitors came to warn him.

Thomas Bennet paid attention. He waited for her to be back from visiting the Lucas. He called her into his office, sat across her, while drinking a glass of cognac. His hand was nearly crushing the glass. Fanny sensed a difference, so she sat holding her hands. He observed her, but she kept her eyes down.

When he started talking, his dry tone alarmed Fanny Bennet. His voice was harsh, "Earlier, when you allegedly went to see your sister, I saw you in Meryton, talking to the new regiment commander in an intimate tête-à-tête. Someone warned me of your rendezvous since it wasn't the first time. I believed it because I already knew about him and you." She tried to interrupt him.

Thomas shook his head and continued. "Before you say anything, I could care less if he fathered Jane because she is my child, mine; nobody will take her. But if you have relations with him or had since he arrived, I will leave you with my four daughters. Hopefully, you are not increasing since you have not allowed me in the marriage bed for several weeks; now, I know why. However, if so, you must leave my home. Moreover, I don't want any men from the regiment around this house while he is here, nor will we go to any socials. From now on, at all times, I will accompany you whenever you step out of this house. I will do so until I hire a lady to accompany you. Finally, we never had any problems in the marriage bed; you enjoyed it as much as I did, so you won't refuse me any longer." He had never been that firm with her.

Fanny cried, calling him a liar, fainting, and so on. Thomas ignore her drama, did not argue, or say anything else; as far as he was concerned, all that had to be said was said. She ran to her sisters, who refused to help her, afraid they would have to take her under their roof. Both came to see him and said, "Fanny is our sister, but you know we are on your side." The two had already told him to keep an eye on her. They were the ones who came to warn him. One said, "Fanny must be blind, looking elsewhere when she is your wife, a position many envy."

A cousin of Sir Lucas was looking for a position as a governess or a lady of companion. Thomas wrote to his mother, who sent him the necessary funds to pay for one, and for the children's education. Thomas had never asked his mother for money. He knew his mother was a noble in her homeland and still very rich, but he refused help before. In this instance, he was determined not to be cuckolded once again. One of his reasons, he told himself, was the fear of diseases. The other was the pain of knowing she didn't love him. He might no longer care, but he had not forgotten how much it hurt. If he closed his eyes, he could still hear her saying she didn't love him.

When she announced her pregnancy with Lydia, he told her, "You best hope she is my child. I will know from the dates."

Lydia was his child; she looked like Fanny but had nearly white-blond hair, like Mary's, darkened with time, and she had his eyes. Besides, when he put the medallion on her, something Fanny didn't know, the central gem in the medallion glowed for a second. His mother told him it would happen the first time the medallion went around her neck, to pay attention. His mother wrote that before Lizzie was born, to put the medallion on the newborn, before a night had gone by. She said it was old in the books she had left for him. He could take them off until they were a little older. He did it with his other children, but not with Jane. Fanny hated the medallions. She said they were witchcraft, how could they be so light? Thomas duly ignored her.

After Lydia was born, he moved to his own room, staying away from Fanny. He no longer cared; his life's love was his daughters. Always hoping he might see the lady from that day once again, so he never took lovers. Now, he hoped she was somewhere and would help him to keep Lizzie from disappearing.

Whose Daughter - Lizzie

For a second, Lizzie remembered George and his uninhibited ways, teaching her, making her happy and laugh. His image went away when William asked, "Would it be tolerable if I take my nightshirt off?" He wouldn't take anything she wasn't willing to give; he wanted to touch her, to kiss her everywhere, to taste her, but only if she accepted it. Indeed, he wanted to lick every inch of her body. His body burned, and he knew she could see how hard he was. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, looking at her intensely. He wanted to be deep inside her, to show her how much he loved her. His look made her want him. His breathing was labored, obviously aroused. She wasn't sure George had ever looked at her with such longing. William was better looking than George, much better and seemingly loyal and faithful.

Lizzie raised her eyebrow, noticing he had white trousers, like pajama pants. "Of course," she trying not to laugh, so sweet, asking for permission to undress. He raised his arms and undressed in a blink of an eye. He was slender but well-built. She held her breath remembering his naked body that she had avoided looking before. He kneeled on the bed.

The wind was howling outside. Biscuit remained by the door, not sleeping, keeping watch.

William stayed kneeling on the bed, wearing thin linen trousers. "Darling, may I take your gown off?" He could barely talk, her kiss and new willingness made him want to be her lover, the one she wanted. He didn't have a lot of experience, it was like he had waited for her all his life. He waited for the only woman he had loved, it seemed as if forever.

2022-Lizzie wasn't shy; she seemed to be the one in control, except for some memories. But she felt shy for a few seconds. "Maybe you could help me?" She was still dizzy when she moved too fast. Her headache came on and off

William quickly moved to her side; he could see her golden body, the one when she was with George. The day she had her back bare; the gown she wore in the dark place, a club, yes, that was the name, she had a dark gown, short. That day he knew she was for him, the only one.. Thinking about it, he moved towards her, finally, she would be his.

"Darling, move your arms." William said wished the lighting was better.