The year anniversary of Frank and Jane joining the Woodhouse household was marked with two unpleasant events.
The first had been the much unexpected –for the children – death of Mrs Knightly. The elderly woman had fallen asleep by the fire and never woke up again. John Knightly was in tears as Isabella comforted him and the senior Mr Knightly looked grim and older than ever as he watched his beloved wife being buried.
The younger Mr Knightly had barely managed to keep his emotions under control. His heart was filled with pain and a longing ache to see his mother's smile one last time. He was surprised to feel two warm small hands take his; he looked down to see Emma and Jane looking up at him sadly from either side of him. Young Frank Weston stood before him looking solemn and strangely empathic for a small child.
"We are sorry for your loss, Mr Knightly," Frank said.
"We know how horrible it is to lose a mother and if you want to cry we are here for you," Emma added with a squeeze to his hand.
"Aunt always says you should let all your emotions out," Jane finished softly.
Mr Knightly repressed the strange urge to burst out laughing as three children no older than six were trying to comfort him, a twenty two year old young man. It was highly amusing despite the terrible circumstances surrounding it. Instead of laughing, Mr Knightly merely bent down and struggled to wrap his arms round all three of the children.
"Thank you," was all he said as all three children clung to him tightly.
EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW
The first unpleasant event had been the trigger for the second unpleasant event. It was a rainy day and Mr Knightly had been ordered by his father to take John Knightly over to Hartfield for the afternoon. Upon their arrival they were ambushed by a tearful Miss Taylor and hysterical Miss Bates.
"The children are missing! Oh Mr Knightly, I do not know what to do, Jane, Emma, and Frank were supposed to be in the drawing room playing but the doors were left open and they were nowhere in sight. What if they have been kidnapped by pirates? Or the French! The French might have taken them for ransom! Or worse what if there is a slave trade for children? Oh I could not bear it if those children were slavering away in some factory or mine! I am terrified, Mr Knightly, terrified, completely terrified-"
"My dear Miss Bates," Mr Knightly said as calmly as possible, "I am sure the children have merely wandered away to explore the fields."
"But what if they fall into a ditch and break a leg? Or they get kidnapped by the gypsies, I know they are supposed to be a fairly pleasant lot but they might think they get a handsome ransom from the children. Oh what could I ever say to Mr Woodhouse if we lost little Emma? He would throw us out of the house and into the streets and I would not blame him at all!"
"You should not worry at all, Mr Woodhouse would never throw you out of the house without making sure you had a warm place to stay, what if you caught a cold?" Mr Knightly said, his lips twitching in amusement. "I will go out and look for the children; you stay here and try to keep calm. John, go and keep Isabella entertained, I will be awhile."
It took forever.
It might have been a slight exaggeration but the rain was heavy and blurred his vision and prolonged his search for the children. They were nowhere in any of the fields surrounding Hartfield and Donwell, the Martins had not seen them, nor did anyone from Mrs Goddard's school, he questioned everyone in the village and no one had seen a hair of the three children. He had eventually found them in the graveyard of all things; they were drenched to the bone and looked very tearful.
They were of course standing in front of Emma's mother's gravestone.
Without a single word he picked Emma up and held her in his arms tightly to reassure himself that she was safe while giving her some comfort. His legs appeared to have grown wider as Frank and Jane attached themselves to them.
"You three are the wildest and naughtiest children that Highbury has ever seen," Mr Knightly scolded them as he put Emma down and picked Jane up. "You have terrified both Miss Bates and Miss Taylor, I shudder at the thought of how Mr Woodhouse would have reacted if we never found you, what on earth do you three have to say for yourselves?"
"We wanted to see our mamas," Frank said when it was his turn to be held.
Mr Knightly wondered if these children were highly talented in manipulating one's feelings, for all of his anger vanished, and was instantly replaced with heartbreak and sympathy for these small motherless children. "Let's go back to Hartfield and pray that Mr Woodhouse has yet to return from his meeting with Mr Perry."
They were back long before Mr Woodhouse and were greeted with hugs and kisses from all of the older women of the household. Isabella cried into Emma's hair as she told her little sister off for wandering away, she was then pulled off by John who scolded Emma, Frank, and Jane with a superiority that a young boy nearing manhood could muster.
"What on earth could have caused you three to run off?" Miss Taylor asked as she herded the three children upstairs for a hot bath and a fresh change of clothes. "I was so frightened! You will be certain that I shall tell Mr Woodhouse about your misbehaviour."
"I'm sorry Miss Taylor," Emma mumbled, "we were just sad about Mrs Knightly and we started talking about our own mamas."
"We only wanted to see them, Miss Taylor!" Jane cried out looking wide-eyed and pale. She never liked being told off and often feared God would smite her for the smallest bad deeds. Mr Knightly knew it was a bad idea to let John tell her stories from the Bible as a bed time story. "We wanted to talk to them all by ourselves."
"Then we talked about those who were alive," Frank said eagerly, "and we decided that we wanted you to be our mother. Will you Miss Taylor, will you be our mother?"
Mr Knightly watched as Miss Taylor's stern demeanour melted and she bent down to embrace all three muddy children. He knew instantly that the three had gotten away without punishment and thought it was highly unfair. If he had played such a trick as a child he would have been given a spanking to last him a lifetime. He inwardly cursed whoever decided to group three pretty children capable of using emotions to get away with everything.
Those three were going to grow up to be impossible.
EWEWEWEWEWEWEW
"Come on Jane!" Frank called across the room. "Stop playing the piano and dance with me!"
"I need to practise and if I dance with you, who shall dance with Emma?" Jane said calmly.
"Never mind me, I can practise while you dance with Frank," Emma said running across the room to join Jane at the piano. "It's only fair, isn't it Miss Taylor?"
"Indeed Emma," Miss Taylor said with a smile.
It was a sunny but cold afternoon and to keep the restless now eight years old children entertained Miss Taylor began dance lessons. Jane was a little shy and fumbled while Frank and Emma picked it up and were instantly graceful and talented on the floor. However Jane was incredibly talented at playing the piano and could play complicated tunes beyond her age. Miss Taylor tried to encourage the pair to swap pursuits so they can broaden their horizons.
"Do try to stay in tune, Emma," Frank teased, "we do not want to miss a step because you played the wrong key."
Emma saucily replied by sticking her tongue out at him. "Emma!" Miss Taylor scolded.
"I cannot promise to play exceptionally well," Emma said primly. "However I shall do my best to imitate the talents of Miss Fairfax."
Jane flushed with embarrassment and pride. "You are talented as well, Emma," she said timidly. "You paint beautifully and I can never capture a landscape or a person's likeness as well as you can."
Emma grinned. "We are two very beautiful and talented ladies while Frank is a horribly dull little boy."
"I thought I saw a large ego on my way in."
"Mr Knightly!"
The children ran to greet Mr Knightly with excited chatter and a babble of questions demanding to know why he had come to visit.
"I had thought to see how Hartfield was flourishing, it has been a while since I visited since I no longer need to escort John here," Mr Knightly said loudly over the children's loud voices efficiently silencing them. "I have not realised how long it had been since John had left to study in London."
"Will you join us, Mr Knightly?" Emma asked. "We are learning to dance!"
"Please do, Mr Knightly," Miss Taylor said, "they have yet to practise dancing around other dance partners. I can play piano while you take one of our young ladies out on the dance floor."
"I get to dance with Jane!" Frank said instantly as he snatched Jane's hand into his. "I have danced with Emma for an hour now so it's Jane's turn to dance with me."
Emma turned to look at Mr Knightly pleadingly. It was obvious from his hesitation that he did not want to dance but she did not want to be left alone while Jane and Frank danced together. She did not want to be rejected.
Mr Knightly bowed and held out a hand to her. "Miss Woodhouse would you honour me with this dance?" he asked gallantly.
"Yes!" she squealed in delight and immediately dragged Mr Knightly out onto the dance floor beside Jane and Frank.
"Remember Emma, it is the man that leads," Miss Taylor called from the piano before she began a tune.
By the time they were finished Miss Bates, Mrs Bates, and Isabella had come to watch and applauded them before herding them into the drawing room for some tea and praise. It was a very pleasant afternoon and Emma was glad to recount Mr Knightly's wonderful dancing skills and how he had let her stand on his feet as they waltzed together to Mr Woodhouse later that evening.
EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW
John had returned for the summer while Jane and Frank left. It was a strange switch in emotions for the Woodhouse sisters. While John had gone to London, Isabella had become withdrawn and did not smile as much as she used to and now that he was back she could not stop smiling and was talking to everyone. Emma, however, was silent and withdrawn throughout the summer despite her normal sunny nature. The moment Jane and Frank had returned though Emma was back to her usual self and celebrated their return with a game of weddings.
Of course everyone had to watch as Emma married Frank to Jane.
"Girls cannot be priests, God forbids it," John pointed out once the wedding was over.
"Well I can hardly play any other part, can I?" Emma retorted.
"You could marry Frank for once while Jane performs the ceremony," John suggested.
"Well that would beat the objective of not having a girl playing the priest," Frank said cheerfully, "besides I could never marry Emma now, she has a groom in mind and it is not me."
"Oh, who is this mystery groom?" Mr Knightly said joining in the conversation as Emma's face turned bright red and Jane hissed "be quiet, Frank, we promised not to tell!" to have the children at odds at one another over a little thing was highly amusing and Mr Knightly was curious to see which boy could cause a little dispute between such strong friends. "I think John and I should know so we can find out this boy's intentions."
"Can you actually question y-OUCH! That hurt, Emma!"
Frank dramatically crumpled to the ground as he held his leg. Jane giggled and Emma looked rather proud of herself for causing someone so much pain from such a light kick in the shins.
"Emma! Apologise to Frank straight away!" Miss Taylor scolded.
"Sorry Frank that you cannot keep a secret in your life and I had to silence you," Emma said brightly.
"I can keep a secret!" Frank cried as he stood up. "One day I shall keep such a big secret that it will surprise everyone in Highbury and you will eat your words!"
Jane, the ever peace-maker, took Frank's and Emma's hands into her own. "We have not seen each other for so long," she said softly, "let's go to the music room and practise our dancing."
The adults watched in admiration as Jane successfully quietened Frank and Emma and the three children left to their own devices.
"I do not know how they will cope when they are separated forever," Mr Woodhouse sighed. "Emma becomes so withdrawn when Jane and Frank are away at the summer. I do not think she can cope when they leave us forever in that terrible thing called marriage. Nor can I think how I would cope when she leaves us for this mystery groom."
Isabella laughed. "Oh, Father, it will be a long time before the children are ready for marriage. Even then there is no guarantee that Frank and Jane would marry one another and Emma with her mystery boy whoever he might be. In fact there is no guarantee that they will marry at all!"
"I do hope you are right, my dear, I do hope so."