Chapter 41: Aftermath
Lord Anderson sat in the carriage with tension and agony, and the temperament of the rest of the members in his company was no different. Lady Anderson and her daughter sat with contempt, unable to digest the announcement at the ball. They had expected to see Darcy during breakfast, but to their irritation, he was absent and had met them briefly to send them off as they left for Ashton Park. Lady Martha decided to leave later, along with Elizabeth and stayed behind.
Lady Anderson was enraged to see that Darcy was utterly indifferent to her daughter's status and beauty and had offered for a governess; as for Miss Anderson, she had to control her tears, understanding she could never be the mistress of Pemberley. Both mother and daughter were so occupied with their feelings that they overlooked the discomposure on Darcy and Lord Anderson's faces.
As the carriage entered Ashton Park, Lord Anderson finally realized that he had to disclose the secret he had held in his heart for over twenty years to his wife and the rest of the world, the aftermath of which he could not comprehend.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth sat in Georgiana's room that morning after a traumatic night; Georgiana sat beside her and urged her to eat.
I wish you could stay here, Lizzy; I also asked Fitzwilliam. He wishes the same, but Lady Martha insists we allow you to leave with her."
"I understand, honestly; I do not know what to expect at Ashton Park."
"If you feel uncomfortable, please do not go. Anyway, we plan to leave for London soon."
"I must face the truth, Georgiana, however bitter it may be. But I cannot digest the thought of seeing Lord Anderson again."
"It is not my place to say this, but there must be an explanation. Lord Anderson's story does not add up, and if he married your mother, what convinced him to think she married someone else."
"I will know once I read those letters, and however horrific it is going to be, I must endure the pain to prove my mother's innocence. You have been truly wonderful to me; I cannot thank you enough for the compassion you have shown me since yesterday."
"Lizzy, you are my sister now, and even before I learned about your relationship with Fitzwilliam, you were very dear to me."
"You do not have to declare your affection for me; I am well aware of your regard."
"Everything may look grim and complicated now, but Fitzwilliam is certain you both can sail through this together, and he cannot wait to marry you."
"Did you meet him this morning?"
"I did, and he is impatient to see you; he is waiting for you in the library."
"Is Lady Martha with him?"
"I assume not, but I will stay with you both as a chaperone."
Elizabeth smiled at Georgiana, grateful to have her support and affection. The reserved young girl she had met months ago had become a confident woman rising to the situation. They headed to the library, and Darcy was waiting impatiently for them.
It took a lot of resolve on his part to meet the Andersons as they left Pemberley that morning. He knew Elizabeth was to stay in Ashton Park till they departed to London; with the shocking developments since the ball, Darcy was uncertain when that trip would be. He realized that the man responsible for Elizabeth's misery was not of great temperament either, as Lord Anderson's eyes expressed sorrow, guilt, and agony in equal measure as they departed. He stood by the window contemplating their situation and felt distressed at the thought of Elizabeth staying in Ashton Park.
How can she face everything alone, even if Lady Martha is on her side? She would have to read those letters, and I need to be with her.
His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Georgiana and Elizabeth, and Darcy felt a little relieved as Elizabeth smiled at him.
Georgiana immediately left them, and headed to the other side of the library, and sat down with a book, facing away.
Darcy did not lose an instant in pulling Elizabeth into his arms.
"I don't have the courage to ask you whether you slept last night. How are you feeling?"
"I am all right, and now I feel better as I am with you. I know this moment will not last long, and I want to relish it."
"Do not say that, even if you are leaving for Ashton Park; I plan to be there every day until we leave for town. We are facing this together; please remember that."
Elizabeth did not reply; she held on to his coat tightly, engulfed in the protection and warmth in his arms, and finally, they moved away from each other, but Darcy refused to let go of her hand.
"Lady Martha insists on taking you to Ashton Park; you must understand I do not want you to leave."
"I understand."
"Promise me, you will take care of yourself."
"I will."
"I do not know how to say this, but Lord Anderson wants you to read those letters, and I know the amount of torment that would cause you."
"I have no qualms in reading them, whatever his accusation is of my mother; if he thinks those letters will act as proof, then I am willing to read them, not to give him the benefit of the doubt or understand why he chose to abandon her and marry someone else, but to prove my point that he was in the wrong all the while. I do not trust a word he says, and whatever those letters state, I will prove to him how utterly wrong he was with his actions. If I have to endure his presence and reasoning to prove my mother's innocence, I will do it; please do not worry about my welfare in this."
"You have suffered so much, and I cannot see you in pain. Promise me, if you want to leave Ashton Park at any point, you must tell me, and I will bring you here; nothing takes precedence when your welfare is in question."
They left for the parlor, where Lady Martha waited for them, and Georgiana stayed behind, sensing they may need privacy. Lady Martha felt relieved to see Elizabeth and was very anxious about her well being after the discovery.
"Did you sleep, my dear?" she asked.
"Yes, I did," Elizabeth replied.
"I know the circumstances have changed since we last discussed this. I want to take you back to Ashton Park as planned; please trust me; I will be on your side, as your aunt, supporting you in this matter."
Elizabeth nodded.
"Fitzwilliam, I spoke with my brother before he left. I am ashamed to state this, but this is the truth. He did not annul the marriage with Elizabeth's mother."
Elizabeth and Darcy stared at her in shock.
"Do you mean to say that his current marriage with Lady Anderson is illegitimate?" Darcy asked.
"Yes! Mark informed me that he was very depressed after ending his relationship with Sarah, and he never wanted to marry again. But after my mother's passing, he was forced by our father to marry Augusta, stating that it was my mother's only wish on her deathbed. I questioned why he did not get an annulment; he said they were married over an anvil, and the only witnesses were Francis and Mrs. Lewis. As illogical as it sounds, he declares that Elizabeth's mother wanted nothing to do with him or make the marriage public, and getting an annulment would have brought the marriage into light; at that point, he did not act towards the annulment."
"Ridiculous!" cried Elizabeth.
"I cannot disagree with you, but he states no one knew about their marriage except my father, Francis, and Mrs. Lewis. He does agree now that he made a mistake; had he tried to annul the marriage, things might have been different today. He chose to believe those letters, and I feel something was wrong about their communication after your mother returned to London."
"I cannot wait to read them," Elizabeth said, suppressing her anger.
"Does his wife know anything? Is she aware that he was married before?"
"No," Lady Martha replied with shame.
"Does she know now?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not yet, but I am certain she will know today."
"Lady Martha, I hope you understand my concern in this matter. I cannot stand anyone hurting Elizabeth after the truth is out, and I believe Lady Augusta will be livid with anger, which I do not want to be directed at Elizabeth."
"You think very less of me, Fitzwilliam, to accuse me of caring less about your fiancé. You must understand even though we became aware of the relationship only last night, she is my niece, and come what may, I am here to protect her. I will not have you insult me thus," she cried angrily.
Elizabeth immediately held Lady Martha's hand.
"Please do not be upset; I do not think he meant to hurt or accuse you. I do not have any inhibitions in returning to Ashton Park; you have protected me there since the day I set foot as Miss Smith," Elizabeth pleaded.
"Forgive me if my words hurt you; you have supported us in our relationship, and I understand your love for her. I am only concerned at the repercussions of this becoming public and want to protect Elizabeth," Darcy said with guilt.
Lady Martha composed herself; with every passing minute, she felt pressurized by the situation; as much as she liked Elizabeth, she did not hate Miss Anderson and understood very well that her brother's family would be enraged by the truth.
"I assure you, Fitzwilliam, if Elizabeth's welfare is in question at any point under my care, you can bring her back. But I am certain there is no room for that; our family has to face the repercussions of my brother's actions. However, I will not allow anyone to get hurt because of it, especially Elizabeth, considering everything she has already been through."
He nodded, and they left Pemberley, leaving an anxious Georgiana and Darcy behind. Darcy assured her he would join her that evening when he handed her into the carriage and Elizabeth was glad to have the children in their carriage, and the twins were a welcome distraction to her restless mind.
She realized no one in the family knew the truth yet and wondered how Lord Ashton would react to the news, as she was his cousin now.
The house was strangely silent as the family returned. Lord Ashton was confused about why his uncle's family had left earlier than them, and he wondered if something was wrong.
Elizabeth hurried upstairs to her room, not wanting to see Lord Anderson at that moment. She understood she had to see him and read the letters written by her mother.
Meanwhile, Lord Anderson and his brother awaited Lady Martha's return and met with her in the study.
"Is she here?" Lord Anderson asked bluntly.
"Yes, your daughter is here, although Fitzwilliam was reluctant to send her with me," Lady Martha replied dryly and noticed a stack of letters on the table.
"You can read these, unable to forget her, our relationship, and everything I did for love; I have had these letters in my safe for the past twenty years. I am uncomfortable sharing these with anyone to prove a point, but she leaves me with no choice. You can read all the letters, the ones she wrote to me before our marriage and after she returned to London, after our wedding. Sarah never wanted anyone to know about our marriage, especially her family, once she decided to end the relationship with me. Father wanted me to get an annulment, and I wanted to, but he did not know that we had consummated our marriage, and everything was so complicated then. You can ask Francis; I was not myself; I was coming to terms with losing the love of my life, thinking she cheated me for money. But I still do not understand why she did not marry him."
"You state you heard from common friends that she married Thomas Bennet; how could that be true?"
"A couple of friends from London wrote to me when I did not return there as planned. You must understand none of them knew of my status or original identity; they wrote to me about general news in town in my absence, which is how I became aware of her marriage."
Lady Martha was silent; somehow, she felt something was amiss.
"Martha, I am not saying what I did was right. Everything that I did was to protect Sarah; she did not want our marriage to be made public, and I know it was wrong to marry Augusta without an annulment."
"How could you live with this lie? You betrayed two women, Mark; one is dead, and I am certain the other will wish she was dead once she knows the truth."
Now, it was her brother's turn to be silent.
"You plan on telling her today, don't you?"
There was no reply from Lord Anderson.
"Tell me, you plan on telling her, or am I looking at a man who cannot own up to his actions, even after an innocent woman's death? You must let the world know that Elizabeth is your daughter, and I understand that declaration would mean that Beatrice is not. If we try to cover this up to protect your wife and daughter, it will be a larger crime than what you did twenty years ago."
"I no longer want to hide it. I have carried the burden in my heart and mind all these years; and want to end the agony. I am prepared for the worst; after last night, I am well aware that nothing is in my control."
Lady Martha nodded and agreed to be present during the conversation. She sat down to read the letters, and it took almost an hour to read all of them. She reread all the letters written by Elizabeth's mother demanding money and informing her marriage with Mr. Bennet. Lady Martha finally realized however shallow her brother's actions were; he had acted at the request of Elizabeth's mother. Every word in the letter was faithful to the story he had related, and there was no difference in the writing of all the letters to conclude that they were forged. Lady Martha finally got up.
"I must give these to Elizabeth; she is not ready to see you now. But once she reads the letters, she will have questions. I do not know what to say, Mark; how could the same woman who loved and married you change so suddenly? Why didn't you think about it?"
"I did, and you can see in some of the letters I wrote demanding answers, and she replied stating that our marriage was a mistake and her father's business was more important to her. She stated that I took advantage of her and described our union as a sin. Martha, whatever happened between us that night was out of love; I know it is easy to state this and not take the blame. But I truly loved her, and that is why I married her. When she accused me in such a way, I could no longer bear it and finally realized Father was right. But now, I do not understand why she did not marry Thomas Bennet and never informed me that she was pregnant."
"Maybe since she was pregnant, he refused to marry her and married her sister?" Mr. Anderson asked.
"If that were the case, she would have written to me, rightfully claimed a place in society as my wife, and she was with my child. None of this makes sense, and I know Elizab…," he paused, "Miss Smith may object, but I need to go with them to London. I must know the truth," Lord Anderson said with resolve.
Lady Martha agreed and wondered what they would find in London.
Elizabeth trembled as she looked at the letters on her desk. A servant had brought her a parcel some time ago, stating it was something important that Lady Martha wanted to hand to her. She opened the parcel in a hurry and found the letters.
Finally, the moment is here.
She mustered courage as she opened the first one and the moment her eyes fell on the letter, she froze.
Meanwhile, Lady Anderson was confused as to why her sister had requested her presence that morning and entered the study, preparing all the points she would put forward regarding the engagement between Darcy and Elizabeth, assuming the discussion was about the same. She could not bear the distress of her beloved daughter as she had cried herself to sleep the whole night.
That girl has nobody to support her in this; if I convince Lady Martha, she can somehow stop the marriage. How could he marry so low? Maybe she compromised him; if I send her away, everything is solved. I am certain Mr. Darcy will marry Beatrice if Martha insists.
She was surprised to find all the siblings in the study and wondered why Mr. Anderson was there.
"Good morning, Augusta," Lady Martha said to her sister.
"Good morning. I do not understand why Mr. Anderson needs to be here for this discussion," she said with irritation, saying she had never liked her brother.
"You do not understand the reason for us summoning you here; it is a matter of discussion we must have as a family."
"I am well aware of the reason; I hope you learned from your brother the amount of distress the ball caused Beatrice. We were invited there and insulted last night. How could he have done that to my daughter? His announcement broke her, and you must fix this for your niece. Send that girl out of Ashton Park; I am certain she compromised Mr. Darcy; otherwise, why would he marry a servant."
"Enough Augusta! Elizabeth is not a servant; please watch your words. I will not have you insult her thus," Lord Anderson cried without thought.
"Elizabeth? You address her by her name; what happened to you, Mark? Your daughter is still crying upstairs, and you support that girl?"
"He is right; I will not have you say a word against her honor. You have no idea about their relationship, and they are not indebted to explain anything to you. They are to be married, and she will be Mrs. Darcy. If you thought the reason for requesting your presence here was to discuss the engagement, then I am sorry, the matter is nothing concerning that. You must allow us…" Lady Martha was interrupted.
"Whatever that relationship is, you must end it. She has no one here; send that governess away and convince Mr. Darcy to marry Beatrice. Won't you do this for your niece? Mark, how could you sideline your daughter's wishes? She has wanted to marry him since the time she met him, you know that. Are you not her father? My father did it for me; he fulfilled my wish to marry you; how could you not do this for Beatrice?"
Lord Anderson struggled to compose himself and did not know how to reveal the truth to his wife.
"Augusta, I hope you understand that Fitzwilliam will never marry anyone else, come what may. You are completely oblivious to the truth. I can understand if Beatrice is irrational; she is young, but you are a mature woman; how could you ask such a thing? I beg you to listen to the matter we need to discuss. It concerns Elizabeth's identity, and you must know this from my brother."
Lady Augusta was perplexed.
"What are you saying?" she asked in confusion.
"Elizabeth is my daughter," Lord Anderson confessed, having no other way to state the truth, and the three siblings watched the shock on Lady Augusta's face.
"What?" she cried in shock.
"Yes, she was born due to my marriage with Sarah Gardiner. We were married in Scotland and ended our relationship due to circumstances; I did not know she had my child."
Lady Augusta felt unwell and could not stand; she sank into the chair, unable to process the revelation. She had always known that her husband did not love her, and he had his reasons, according to her. Lady Augusta had known him since childhood and had been in love with him for a long time, and their families were responsible for their marriage. She knew he was in love with someone else before marrying her, but Lord Anderson's father had informed her that it was mere infatuation and nothing else, and she never knew the truth that he was married. Lady Augusta fought hard to compose herself as memories from the past haunted her, and she finally realized why he could never love her. She had assumed all those years that he did not love her because of the nature of their marriage and something else known only between them, but now she had a whole new picture of why he married her.
Lady Martha was concerned about her sister's silence. She took the opportunity to briefly explain the nature of the discovery the previous night and also provide painful details about why her brother had ended the relationship with Elizabeth's mother.
Lady Augusta listened with horror to every agonizing detail and finally understood that her marriage with him was not legal.
"Who else knew about this?" she asked bluntly.
"My father knew; he assumed I had the marriage annulled, but…"
"But you did not, why?"
Lord Anderson explained how things ended between him and Elizabeth's mother.
"So you wanted to satisfy the request of a woman who left you for money and hid the marriage and married me. How could you, Mark? You have ruined us; how will we face society now?"
"I know I have done something unpardonable, and I do not want to apologize and trivialize your distress. You must understand, Augusta, however bitter the truth is Elizabeth is my daughter now, just like Beatrice."
"Damn it! I knew it; everything makes sense to me now; you married me out of guilt, and all these years I thought you had…" she stopped abruptly, "I need to speak to my husband in privacy. Can you both leave us alone?" she cried.
Lady Martha and Mr. Anderson left the study in despair.
"Martha, I am truly sorry," Mr. Anderson said to his sister as she stood outside the study.
"No, you are not; everything was easy for you both just because we had the status and wealth. Mark did not care about anything and married another woman, and you were a witness to everything. Don't you have any guilt?"
"I do, and that is the reason why I never married. I could see how brother struggled with his marriage; he could never be happy with Augusta and he lost the love of his life."
"Do you expect me to sympathize with you, Francis? You must be jesting. I have nothing but disgust for both of you," she cried.
"I can understand that we failed you."
"No, you did not fail me; you acted just like how men ought to. I am ashamed to be your sister, and I finally understand that you and Mark are no different from father; wealth and status were always his priority, and you both used the same to safeguard all your faults," she cried and headed up the stairs.
Mr. Anderson finally realized the truth in her words and wondered if his sister would ever forgive him.
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