Olivia Tavington

"I have a granddaughter?"

"Yes, madam, you have a granddaughter."

"He will be pleased."

~Lady Georgiana Tavington 1988 March 20~

~WT~

Lady Georgiana Tavington stood in the dark hallway of Tavington Hall and waited. Inside the master bedroom, her daughter-in-law had given birth to a beautiful baby girl, and everything was in an uproar. Servants ran back and worth, her grandsons were getting underfoot, and her son was behaving like a mad man.

She stood completely still for a moment. Her vigil now over, she descended the long staircase to the first floor, and went directly to the library. Once there, she went to stand in front of the massive marble fireplace, head held high.

Georgiana studied the painting that hung over the fireplace. She studied the man in the painting, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I have a beautiful granddaughter." She spoke to the man in the painting. "Her name is Olivia. Olivia Georgiana Tavington."

She had not expected the man to answer this, but was pleasantly surprised when he did just that.

"I know, Georgiana."

She turned from the painting to see him standing near the long windows looking out into the gardens. He turned his head slightly, and smiled at her.

"I did not expect you, Colonel. She was just born only moments ago."

Colonel Tavington nodded.

"I know, my dear. I was there to hear her first cries." He smiled again. "She is beautiful, Georgiana. Just like her grandmother."

Georgiana laughed.

"You will make me blush, Colonel!"

"Is that such a terrible thing, my love?"

"No, of course not. It is never a terrible thing to hear you, William." She smiled warmly.

Tavington moved away from the windows and towards her. When he was within reach of her, he reached out and pulled her to him. She melted into his embrace.

"This is a wonderful day, Georgiana! Another female has been born into the Tavington family…"

Georgiana sighed softly.

"There have been others…"

He snickered.

"But none since you, my dear. Olivia is the first full-blooded female to be born into our family. You were the last, until now. She is exquisite!"

Georgiana laughed again.

"That she is! She is perfect in every way…I am hoping she does not take after…"

William put a finger to her lips.

"Her parents?"

Georgiana nodded.

"Yes, I do not want my granddaughter to take after either of them! They are worthless fools! I cannot believe I gave birth to that horrid monster of a man!"

William hugged her tightly to him, smoothing her hair back and hushing her with a quick kiss. She sighed deeply.

"He is a Tavington male, and of course he is a monster! Even I…"

"No!" She hissed at him. "Never say that, William! You were never a horrid man! If you were, would I entrust my beloved granddaughter to you? Would I have entrusted myself to you? You were the only male to come out of this family, who was not a disgrace to it!"

"I died, so therefore I had not a chance to disgrace it, Georgiana! What of your grandsons? Are they too, a disgrace?"

"It is too early to tell, William. They are only twelve and seventeen. Time enough to see how they will turn out. One can pray that they will not take after the rest of the males in this family, especially, their own father. As for Olivia, I intend to raise her myself. I will not allow those two fools to rear her into one of them…"

"Yes, my dear…" William said.

"I would rather drown her now, then to let them have anything to do with her." Georgiana snarled.

"Tell me, how will you take her from her mother? Will she not fight for her child?"

"No." Georgiana said.

"And you are certain of this?"

"Vivian will not fight me on this, William. She knows better than to go up against me. As for my son," Georgiana's face went dark, "He has no say in what happens to his child. Even if he did…"

William studied her for a second.

"Your son does not want his own daughter? He is indeed, a foolish man not to want such a beautiful creature!"

Georgiana ignored this.

"When Olivia comes of age…"

"We shall marry, of course." William stated.

"Indeed so. It is a day that I hope to live to see! But before that…"

"Yes?"

"Your first child will have been born."

William smiled slowly at the thought.

"By the time Olivia is of age, when she is twenty-two…our child will be just three years of age. We will marry soon thereafter."

"This has been a very long time in coming, William. It is a moment I never thought I would see."

He nodded curtly.

"Yes, I never imagined I would see it, either. When you were the last Tavington female born…no, I never thought I would see this day."

Georgiana smiled thoughtfully.

"I never thought I would live to see you."

William chuckled softly.

"And now that you have, what say you about it?"

"Such a wonderful moment when you first came to me. Mother always told me about you. About our illustrious ancestor, Colonel William Tavington…"

"What else did she tell you? Or, should I say, failed to tell you?"

Georgiana grinned.

"Mother told me everything about you. Granted, in telling the story of the Tavington family, she just had to tell about you! How you lived, your military career…" She lowered her eyes slightly and sighed. "How you died. That when you did, it left a huge gap in our family. You were to be the one to raise our family from the ashes of what Alistair did to the family."

William nodded.

"Yes, I know I was to be the one…I never meant to die, but one cannot help what happens in war."

"Bah!" She spat defiantly.

"Georgiana…" He began.

"Damn those American rebels!"

He smiled.

"Really Georgiana! There are Americans in our family! They are not all bad, are they?"

She stared oddly at him.

"Did you know, William Tavington, that Benjamin Martin's widow, Charlotte married one of our cousins?"

He looked truly surprised by this.

"No, I did not know. Which cousin?"

"Franklin Tavington. Such a lovely man. He actually wooed her while Martin was still very much alive! They sent letters back and forth for years. Then Martin passed, and Franklin asked for Charlotte's hand in marriage. He sent for her to come to England. They married not long after she arrived."

"Children?" William asked.

"None. By that time, she was well beyond her childbearing years. Her children with Martin were already grown and had families of their own. I believe they just wanted a companion in their old age! I always thought it rather odd, that the widow of the man, who killed you, would marry into your family!"

"How did Charlotte feel about this?" Tavington motioned for Georgiana to sit. He helped her over to the chaise, and once she was seated, he sat down beside her.

Georgiana smiled pleasantly.

"From what my grandmother said about Charlotte, the poor woman spent her remaining years seeking the family's forgiveness for her late husband killing you. I think, while she was married to him, she grew to despise him. By that time, of course, she had been corresponding with Franklin. I am certain he had quite a bit to do with how she felt."

The Colonel grinned at this.

"Are you telling me, my dear Georgiana, that Charlotte Selton actually grew to like me? I killed two of her nephews! I would think she had reason enough, to hate me."

Georgiana shook her head.

"What I am saying, William, is that she understood, why you did what you did. I am not saying she approved of it. I very much doubt she ever approved of something like that, but she grew to understand that it was a time of war, and in war, those things do happen. Unlike her late husband, Benjamin Martin, that is. He seemed to have forgotten his own atrocities that he committed during his time spent in the French Indian war. The men, women and children he had killed were pushed back into the darkest recesses of his mind. He made Charlotte believe he was not capable of such things. Poor woman not only believed him, but actually forgave him for it!"

William laughed.

"Well, at least she finally came to her senses about Martin."

Georgiana nodded in agreement.

"Yes, she did. There is one of her journals in the family vault. You really should read it, William. She spoke often of you in it…"

"Most likely it was harsh?"

"Oh no, she spoke kindly of you. She seemed rather sad, that she had to meet you under such horrid circumstances. In fact she wrote had the two of you met under different circumstances, she would have…"

Georgiana's words trailed off. William watched her for a moment. There was something she had wanted to say, but was unsure of how to say it.

"What did she say, my dear?"

"She said she would have married you."

William blinked.

"Oh? I did not have anything against her, other than that, she harboured Benjamin Martin's children. Needless to say, I died by the hand of her husband."

"She was not your intended, William. Fate had far different plans for you." Georgiana replied coolly.

He nodded. A soft smile curled at his lips.

"Olivia Georgiana is my intended, and the future mother of my children. I was not meant to marry before this time."

Georgiana contemplated his words. She wondered if he knew more than what he was telling her. If the Colonel could see into his own future and that of his bride to be, what did he actually see? Was she not privy to her granddaughter's future?

"Will the painting be passed down to my granddaughter?" She asked after a moment.

Tavington nodded.

"It will be her's by right. Just as I sent it to you, she will possess it, as well."

"But, it hangs over the fireplace!"

"Yes, and it will remain where it is, my dear. When she comes of age, it shall belong to her…"

"As well as the Hall?"

"Yes." The Colonel said dryly. "Until that time, you are Mistress of the Hall and the painting."

"And?"

He sighed deeply.

"Once Olivia and I are married, it will be ours."

"You will finally be master of Tavington Hall. After all these years…"

"Olivia will be the Mistress…she will not be deprived of her rightful inheritance, Georgiana."

"My fool of a son thinks he is Master of the Hall!"

Tavington sneered coldly.

"Perhaps, Colonel Tavington, you should set him right about it? He could direly use a lesson in the rules of war."

"Do not worry, my love, he will receive one in due course. However, for now, allow him his stupid dreams. Olivia Georgiana is my priority. She is my heart, my soul…my world. The man, who sired her, is of no great importance."

"And never has been of any great importance." Georgiana said ruefully. "I have despised my own child from the very moment he was born! Is that terribly wrong of me?"

He shook his head.

"No, Georgiana, it is not such a terrible thing. I have watched him, and I can see how you feel this way. As I said, he is of no great importance to me."

"What am I to do about him, William?"

"Send him away if you must. You said you would not allow him to come near Olivia. After he has spent this evening with his wife, they are not to be near her again! You said yourself, they are fools, and fools will not raise my future wife! And," His eyes glittered coldly, "I will not have fools for grandparents to my children…if anything should happen to Olivia or me…."

"Who would raise the children then?"

"I have already seen to that, my love. Captain Borden and his wife will raise them if anything should happen to us."

"They have agreed to this?"

"Yes. The Captain and his wife are quite capable to raise my children. I trust no one else in this."

She grinned thoughtfully.

"I can only assume by that time, I shall have passed on, myself?"

"Oh my darling you shall live to be quite a lovely age!"

Georgiana laughed delightfully.

"I do hope so! I dearly wish to see my great-grandchildren!"

"You will, my sweet." He kissed her temple lightly.

She looked at him for a moment. His usually icy blue eyes now glittered warmly in the dim light of the library. How handsome he was. Had she not married Tobias…

"You would have married someone else, Georgiana. You know that you were never meant to marry me. That was not what Fate had decided. We would have been foolish to go against what was already a determined destiny."

Georgiana nodded sadly.

"I know, William. You cannot blame me for wishful fantasies."

He smiled gently at her.

"No, I shall begrudge you that. Still you were quite happy with Tobias, were you not?"

"Yes, of course I was happy with him…"

"Leave well enough alone, my love."

Georgiana sighed.

"Fine, I shall leave it be."

Again, he smiled at her.

"Be happy for your precious granddaughter. The day will come soon for us to marry. Be happy for us."

When she did not reply to this, he hugged her tightly to him, and then let her go.

"Be happy for us, Georgiana. If not out of your love with both of us, but knowing she will be well protected from any who seek to harm her. From now until she is finally my wife…"

"And after she is? Will that loving protection of yours end?"

He glared sternly at her.

"Of course it shall not end! Do not be a fool, Georgiana Tavington! I have protected this family for well over two hundred years! I have waited for Olivia to finally be born! I will not allow anything, or anyone, to harm her! You would be utterly stupid to believe I would allow such a thing!"

Georgiana glared back at him in much the same way he had. She had never been afraid of the Colonel, but sometimes, he simply pushed her beyond all reason.

"I never meant for you to think such things, William Tavington! I would willingly give up everything, to see that both you and Olivia are happy and well protected. I am not like the other Tavington females…I am not ignorant, nor am I stupid. I inherited my intelligence from you! Why would I even begin to throw that away?"

The Colonel shook his head slowly. How stubborn she was.

Just like him.

Would Olivia be like them both? Or, would she simply be like her mother? He hoped the child would grow to be like Georgiana. Her beauty was renowned among the family members.

"She will be as beautiful, if not more so, then I." She smiled knowingly.

"Of that, I am most certain, my lady."

He turned from her and walked to the windows once more.

"I must go and see my granddaughter…" She said.

The Colonel nodded absently.

"When will you see her again?" Georgiana inquired.

"When all have retired to their beds. I will go to see her in the nursery."

Georgiana grinned slowly.

"Of course. It would not be a wise choice to visit Olivia when that fool who sired her is about."

Tavington chuckled coldly at this.

"A lesson in the rules of war…remember that, my lady."

An icy sneer curled at the corners of Georgiana's mouth.

"Never, William. He deserves the lesson. But," She moved towards where he stood gazing out at the night. "Do be careful around Byron. He may be a mere fool, but he is a dangerous one."

Colonel Tavington sneered.

"He can do me no harm, Georgiana. I, however, can harm him."

"Regardless, William, do be careful. Think of Olivia…"

"I am, and I shall. She is my heart, my soul and my world. She is a Tavington."

Georgiana smiled.

"Yes, that is quite true…"

The Colonel waved this away.

"And, she is mine."