Chapter 15

They agreed to take Helia and Thomas Junior with them back to Pemberly until it was time to go back to Meryton for Jane and Charles Bingley's wedding. They had no idea what would happen when Helia Kraft confronted Thomas Bennet. All Elizabeth knew was that if she believed the Kraft women her beloved papa was no more and it was a strange man who occupied papa's body. If she did not have Fitzwilliam Darcy to talk things through with there would have been no reconciling the man she grew up with to the man who would rape a girl not much older than Jane.

Fitzwilliam waited until they left the Kraft house and went back to the shopping district of Glasgow before he began talking about the visit they had walked away from. He stopped at a street vendor and bought them both an Italian Ice which they sat on a park bench and ate. After her color returned slightly he asked if she noticed the Kraft women had placed all the blame of everything on the Bennet family.

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Yes, I noticed that mother offended Winnifred with her prattle and Winnifred only provided the herbs because she would not quit. Despite the fact that Winnifred providing herbs was exactly what she did on a daily basis. Then Father punched one woman out and raped another with no provocation. I have never seen Father lose his temper with drunk tenants fighting each other- yet he just mauled these women?" She looked up at Darcy. "Dear One, I tried to react the way they wanted me to. Truly, I was horrified, but not so much regarding my family."

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy did their usual forgetting where they were and engaged in some lovely kisses which were noticed by most of the folks loitering in the square. A bobby finally walked past them and tapped his truncheon on the side of the bench to get their attention.

The trip back to Pemberly was not as cheerful as the one north to Scotland. Helia and Thomas Jr. weighed on Elizabeth's mind like fog in the low parts during the night. She could pretend during the day that all was well and the two extra passengers in their carriage were not about to change the lives of her family, but she could not just drop them somewhere and pretend she did not know about them. She was committed to taking them back home to Hertfordshire and confronting the evil. The problem was what was the evil and how bad was it?

Elizabeth and Darcy did take the time to write the whole interview out and mail it to Mr. Bennet. Lizzy had admitted that the child they were bringing home did look like Thomas as a child and there were several elements of the story which screamed the truth. She also wrote that some of the story was too pat and there seemed to be no blame placed on the Kraft home. She was thankful that Darcy had been with her when Aunt Winnifred met her and asked her to return to the Kraft residence with her to meet Thomas Jr. Darcy had already pointed out several irregularities with the story and they were quite eager to hear the rest of it from Mr. Bennet's point of view.

During the month they were at Pemberly, Wills often took the time to chat with Thomas Jr. and explain things to him. He enjoyed the bright little boy and could see the benefit of easing him into Longbourne as the heir. Thomas Jr. had been born a few days before William was. He could be placed at Longbourne and raised as the correct heir. That fact left Wills determined to talk Bennet into letting him take his son away from Longbourne. It would be the work of little trouble for the Darcy Family to correct the parish records to reflect the true facts.

Thus an idyllic month was spent at Pemberly where Wills tended to his domain and Elizabeth took over the duties as Mistress of Pemberly. It was of little consequence to begin educating Thomas Jr. on Estate Management. Wills' father had placed him in front of him on his horse and rode out to address problems around the age of five. He did the same with Thomas Jr. A good master of an estate was as much training as it was personality. Until he could get his hands on his own son he would train the one he was caring for.

Helia retreated to the Library and dove into old texts when she had free time. Elizabeth did her best to keep Helia busy with visiting tenets and helping her with Pemberly, often pulling her away from reading arcane books better lost to time, knowing she was only fracturing her mind more and more as she searched for answers only God could provide.

As the ladies went about their days, they did talk about the situation Helia faced and what the probable outcome would be. Elizabeth told her that Mr. Bennet would probably acknowledge Thomas Gorden because he loved children. Helia and Dorcas had done a good job raising Gorden. The little boy was nigh unto perfect and would not have problems being part of the Bennet family.

As to the rest of it, Elizabeth did not have the answers either. She made that fact plain as she listened and asked questions, but did not offer advice beyond what little she understood. She often told Helia it would be better if she stopped searching for answers in books and started living in the present.

Elizabeth tried to remain calm and collected when they spoke of Mr. Bennet, but she knew Helia wanted to hear that Mr. Bennet was the bogey man. Lizzy pretended the life shift had already been made and she could no longer connect with him as a father figure. Helia wanted Lizzy to say Thomas Bennet had become a monster that lived in the Library at Longbourne. His actions might have been penance for driving Elizabeth to sacrifice herself on the alter of Longbourne's hedgerows by his casual cruelty of his family, the general neglect of his wife…any number of things came to mind and only made him seem more steeped in shadows as she considered whether life would have been so intolerable before William's birth if he had been a true husband and father.

The trip south was tense. As she became more comfortable around Darcy and Elizabeth, Helia had taken to mumbling and writing in a journal which looked suspiciously like a book of shadows. Very little pulled her out of its thrall except Thomas Jr. asking questions about where they were going, who they intended to make the acquaintance of, and any number of questions regarding his new family.

Elizabeth held Wills' hand and let the youngster talk to his mama. When Helia would not answer his questions, she and Wills did their best to keep the little one interested in his new family. She knew Wills was keen to get hold of his own son and dealing with Thomas Jr. was a way of easing his anxiety. She had set him down a few days ago and gently told him he needed to back off from parenting Thomas Jr. Raising unrealistic expectations of how he would be treated by his papa was not going to help.

Darcy had given her a sweet smile before touching her stomach, "I can no more let a child begging for parents go about his way. I want more with you, Dearest, and cannot wait until we have a nursery full for us to raise to love and fear the Lord our God."

She had pressed his hand against her stomach and gave him an achingly sweet smile. "I shall do all I can to give you your heart's desire, My Beloved."

"Helia, why are you so wrapped up in studying your journal?" Elizabeth finally asked on the third day of their journey south. "I see you ignoring your son at times while you flip through it while mumbling in Latin and Greek. You do realize that Wills and I understand both languages and I am not impressed with the idea that you want to commit sins against God in your quest to acquire retribution against Mr. Bennet."

Helia's eyes flew open wide as she lifted her head and stared at Elizabeth in horror. "Oh! I did not consider your level of education. I do apologize." She finally managed to choke out. Elizabeth noted that Helia had not been sorry that she was caught out, only that Elizabeth understood her.

Darcy calmly reached over and removed the book from her trembling hands. "What you fail to realize is you do not need to exact life extinguishing vengeance to destroy the man. The fact that you are returning to Meryton with your son is going to be enough to cause division in the house."

"How so?" Her eyes narrowed and the desire to destroy the man was obvious as the sunshine pouring in the glass windows of the coach.

Elizabeth choked out a hoarse laugh. "The very fact that Mother is not going to accept his excuses when she learns of Thomas Jr.'s birth can quite possibly cause an apoplectic fit. She knew something had happened before she felt the quickening with Victoria. He denied any problems, but Mama is not as stupid as he thinks she is, and she knew something significant happened to make his basic character change so drastically. She is going to exact more than a pound of flesh before she forgives him. If she forgives him at all."

Neither Lizzy nor Wills had the heart to tell the wretched woman that Mr. Bennet had already appraised Mrs. Bennet of the situation regarding Thomas Jr. They had talked through the situation when it first occurred and again when the Darcys had sent him the letter after meeting the Kraft family in Glasgow.

Wills did not want to relinquish the book to her. "Helia, please do not do anything else to aggravate the situation. Please?"

Despite their council to wait and let the scene play out where Bennet was confronted with Thomas Jr. and provided the evidence that Thomas Jr. was his child, Helia reached for the book and took it from Darcy's hand. "I will take your council under advisement. You have been nothing but kind to me up until now and even now you want only what is good for me. I respect that, but plans have already been put in motion to see justice done."

Elizabeth's green eyes lost their shine although the sheen of tears still held them to be bright. "There is a huge difference between justice and vengeance. You intend to end the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. I can see it. We welcomed you into our lives, believed you when you told us of the circumstances of Thomas's conception. You are not blameless in this travesty, are you? What did you do when Bennet confronted Dorcas? Is it all more of the grand plot to lay waste to a whole family in order to gain satisfaction for Dorcas being rejected?"

Helia gave her a benevolent smile. "That is a question that should have been asked some time ago, do you not think?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, that question should have been asked before we began this journey. However, to determine when the journey began is part of the problem. What you fail to understand is that your family called me to you. I have not given you any provocation to believe you are being mistreated by my husband or I. We have, in essence, shown you nothing but kindness. I would warn you that since you are behaving as the enemy you are reaping coals upon your own head."

"Oh, that is rich." Helia smirked. "You may quote all the bible you want. I will extract my vengeance."

Darcy looked at the woman and realized, not for the first time, that she was mentally unstable. "Might I remind you madame, that vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord."

Thomas Jr. had spent the last month with the couple across from him and realized that they were chastising his mama. "Mr. Darcy, Sir, why are you upset with Mama?" He asked plainly.

Darcy did not want to say anything else to upset the fragile truce between the carriage's occupants. "Son, I am trying to keep your mama from making a horrible mistake that will affect you and her for the rest of your lives."

"Oh. You should listen, Mama." The little one guilelessly offered. "Mr. Darcy is ever so clever. He knows lots of things that are useful."

Helia smiled at the little boy. "And you think Mr. Darcy is right to tell me not to make someone pay for the wrongs they have committed?"

Thomas Jr. was a very bright young one. He had also spent the last month being cared for properly, disciplined gently, and introduced to the concept of religion. He liked the idea of a God who loves him, who forgives him for his bad decisions, and he wondered why his mama and the rest of the family had not told him about how wonderful the love of God was for everyone.

"Mama, I know you and Aunt Winnifred are angry with my father. But will you let me meet him before you do anything bad to him and my brothers and sisters?" His little face was totally serious, his Bennet green eyes full of emotions too complicated to decipher at a mere glance.

Helia gasped as she looked from her son to Darcy. "You have done the unforgiveable, Mr. Darcy. How could you take a child and turn him against his family?" Her voice shook with fury. "Mother and Aunt Winnifred are his family. Not a bunch of Bennets. I will never let him be at peace with that family."

Elizabeth shook her head. Darcy understood that she was telling him not to respond to Helia's ramblings. They both realized in that instant that her mind had been damaged well beyond fixing a long time ago.

"Were you the sacrificial lamb in this scheme to make Bennet pay for his wrongdoings?" Elizabeth spoke gently, doing her best to keep her facial muscles from revealing any emotion. "Was it Dorcas or your Aunt Winnifred who built this elaborate scenario where you and your son would pay the price for Bennet not honoring the understanding between him and Dorcas?"

Helia yanked her grimoire open to a page close to the front. "It has all been faithfully recorded here. The whole sordid tale of how the gentry always takes what they want while destroying whatever gets in their way."

Darcy looked out the window. He spoke as if from a point far away. "Maybe you should read this story to us. If we understand what is happening in your life, we might be able to help you better."

Elizabeth shrugged at the look of disbelief on Helia's face. "Wills, it is a waste of time trying to understand the Kraft Family point of view. Something tells me that this is one of those long games that will be played out sooner than we would like."

Darcy turned to look at Elizabeth. "Why do you think that, Dearest?"

Elizabeth frowned as she stared at Helia. "It occurs to me just now that I interrupted you reading that book you are clutching so carefully to your bosom a few days ago. You made reference to your Aunt Winnifred setting events in motion where you and Dorcas would be alone with Mr. Bennet. Did she put something in the tea where you three would imbibe the contents of the teapot and become unstable?"

Helia snarled. "I should not have been there. Aunt Winnifred shoved me in the room with him after he fought Mama's advances off. I do not know what was in the teapot but after he drank from the cup she gave him he acted like an animal in rut. But it was he who hurt me, not Aunt Winnifred."

Darcy snorted. "It sounds to me like it was your aunt who set the whole scene up and now she is trying to make you and the rest of your family pay for her evil deeds. The question you might want to ask yourself is; why did she dose you and your mother with an aphrodisiac when your mother had already admitted that she was perfectly fine with Gerald Kraft as a husband."

Helia felt like she had already been through the ringer. She might as well answer the question. "Aunt Winifred wanted a child. It is tradition in our family for the women to marry close relatives. Father was the only available candidate for matrimony as far as she could fathom. He did not want to marry his sister though, he wanted Mama."

Elizabeth turned an interesting shade of green. "So, if Winifred wanted a child it made sense to set up the situation where a child would be created." She looked out the window pensively before adding, "I do not like the idea of her using other women to get what she wanted. Why did she just not lie with a man and have done with the cruelty she has inflicted on you and Dorcas?"

Darcy shook his head in distaste. "It is rather like the Ton, darling. So many of them are inbred that the elite is as far from healthy mentally or physically."

"Helia, you have the chance to stop this travesty. I will never view my father the same way ever again because of the incident that created your son. However, the way he is introduced to the Bennet family will determine whether he becomes a Bennet or remains a little boy raised by evil in the ways of evil."

"What is in all this for me if I let you take my son from me and integrate him into your family?"

Darcy let Elizabeth lead the discussion. He whispered that whatever she wanted he would support.

Elizabeth drew in a deep breath and centered herself. "I cannot guarantee that what you want can be achieved. At this point I do not know exactly what it is you want. You will have to tell me of your hopes and dreams so that we can start building toward that."

Helia looked down at the book in her lap. "You said you read both Greek and Latin, yes?"

"Yes. We both do." Darcy wanted to grab the book and throw it out the window rather than read it. He knew instinctively that the book contained witchcraft, some of it not fit for human eyes.

Elizabeth reached out and took the book as it was extended to her. "We will read the book. Please know that there will be things we do not want to know or understand. I honestly want to hold off reading it until Bishop Darcy has had a chance to perform a purification ceremony on it."

Helia grinned. "I want you to read it right now. I want to see your face as you comprehend what has been planned and has already come to pass." Her smile was not the smile of a happy woman.

Elizabeth had Wills smirking as she looked straight at Helia and spoke the words he had jested over just a few months ago. "Get thee behind me, Satan." Was all she uttered before opening her reticule and pulling out a silk square to wrap the book in.

"Give me back my book if you are not going to read it." Helia snapped.

"Oh, I fully intend to read it." Elizabeth refused to give the book back. "I simply will not read it until all the negative energy that has been imbued into it has been dispelled and it is naught but a journal once again."

Helia lunged at her. Elizabeth was used to her sisters lunging at her. Her fist came up and connected with the side of Helia's jaw. The older woman crumpled to the floor.

Darcy's eyes widened in shock before settling on a wicked grin. "Madame, I am amazed at you."

"Why?" was asked drooly. She knew quite well that her husband indulged in fisticuffs with other gentlemen at their gym.

"I have never seen you be less than a perfect lady in all the months of our acquaintance. The breadth of your knowledge astounds me."

Elizabeth giggled. "There are fundamental differences between your sister and my sisters. With five of us old enough to be out there is oftentimes friction between us. Lydia is the one who discovered a good fist to the jaw calms one down quite nicely."

"Oh, which one of you hit her?"

This time Elizabeth could not hold in the mirth. "Actually, it was Mary. Lydia thought it would be great fun to take her sheet music and hide it. Mary showed her the error of her ways just so it would not happen again."

Thomas Jr. looked down at his mother crumpled on the coach floor and started to cry. Elizabeth could not abide the tears of the little one. "Come, Thomas, sit with me and we shall play a game while your mama takes a nap. She has not been sleeping well and needs her rest. When we get to London I will wake her up and we shall have a lovely time going through the shops and finding sweetmeats to nibble on, yes?"

"You did not hurt mama, did you?" He was quite determined to be a responsible son like Mr. Darcy told him a real gentleman should be.

Elizabeth hugged the little boy as he moved to her. "Her jaw might be a little bit sore tomorrow, but I think her being able to rest right now will make up for the bruise she might retain." Thomas Jr. accepted her explanation and they began the game of Let's find this.

Darcy picked the sleeping woman up and placed her on the coach seat so she could continue her nap in comfort. He did not want to tell Elizabeth that he felt dirty touching Helia. He knew that the woman was mentally unstable, what he did not know was how bad the fractures in her mind penetrated. Was she stark raving mad, brainwashed, or redeemable? The questions just kept piling up. Thankfully, they were entering London proper. After spending three days in a confined space with her, he was more than ready for her to be out of his, and by extension, his wife's life. He just hoped Bishop Darcy was in residence and available to help them with this mess.