“No, Brother,” Catherine replied emphatically. “That title used to encompass my identity and led to my wrongheaded ideas about the distinction of rank. In the last three years without it—without all the finery I used to have—I have been happier than I have since I was a little girl, before I allowed jealousy to rule me. Now I choose to see my self-worth as being tied to how I behave and the good deeds I try to do rather than title or rank. I never want to go back to how I was.”
“From what we saw at the school, Aunt Catherine,” Andrew interjected, “there is no possibility of your returning to who you used to be, with or without the honorific. The pleasure of what you were doing was radiating from your whole expression as you taught the children.”
“Mother, we want you to be part of our lives again,” Anne told Catherine as she held her hands, “and I have news. I am being courted by Jamey Carrington, and Richard will be my brother as he is courting Cassie.”
“Do not forget me,” Andrew added, “I am betrothed to a wonderful woman, Miss Jane Bennet.”
“Anne, if you are happy with him, then I am happy for you.” No one missed that there were no effusions about Anne becoming a future countess or talk of the Carrington wealth.
“Thank you, Mother,” Anne gushed, “we love one another.”
“As much as I want to be with all of you, I cannot just leave all of my responsibilities in the area,” Catherine informed her relatives, in yet another confirmation of the changes which she had undergone.
“We have a solution, Catherine,” Lady Elaine informed her sister. “You remember Mrs. Jenkinson?” Lady Elaine motioned for the aforementioned lady to come forward as Catherine nodded. “As Anne will have you with her until she marries, Mrs. Jenkinson will take over here. She will have funds at her disposal to continue all of your good works here and will teach the classes you would normally teach.”
“Are you saying I am to return to the bosom of my family?” Catherine asked with trepidation. She received nods from all five family members looking at her. “Even after all of my atrocious behaviour?”
“Cathy,” Lord Reggie took his sisters hands from his niece, “none of us can change what we did in the past. We can, as you have done over the last three years, change the present and the future. I leave it to you to make your amends to others, but weallknow that the steps you have taken have changed your life—and the lives of those around you—for the positive.”
Mrs. Catherine de Bourgh was finally able to accept that her family wanted her as a part of it again, and more importantly, that her daughter wanted her as a mother.
Chapter 21
Andrew arrived at Netherfield Park before the midday meal, and after greeting the family and Uncle Freddy, he answered Tommy’s many questions—those expected from a boy of ten years—about his ride and how his horse fared. Andrew then requested a little time with Jane.
“It was not the same without you, Jane,” Andrew told her as they sat in the east parlour with Elizabeth and Mary as chaperones. “You will want to get married from Netherfield Park, will you not?”
“The wedding breakfast will be here, but as we still attend the church at Longbourn, it is my choice to marry from there and not from St. Alfred’s in Meryton,” Jane related to her betrothed.
“That is completely understandable,” Andrew acknowledged. “Please tell me you do not require a lengthy betrothal.”
“While you were away, I spoke to my mother,” Jane informed him. “She has left it up to us, as long as for propriety’s sake the date is one month or more from the date of our betrothal.” Jane paused. “Mary dear, will you retrieve the calendar on Papa’s desk for us?”
Mary returned and handed the calendar to Jane. “The fifteenth day of December would be good, would it not?” Andrew suggested after the two examined the month of December. “It is a Monday.”
“Yes, the fifteenth will suit, and it is just past a month, so Mama will have no complaint,” Jane enthused. It made her betrothal that much more real now they had selected a date. “Let us inform my parents and the rest of the family. Elizabeth and Mary followed their sister and soon-to-be brother to the drawing room.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“This is my daughter’s estate! Do you know who I am?” Lord Jersey spat out in frustration.
Things had grown so bad socially for the De Melvilles that the Earl decided the only way out of their problem was to humble themselves before their eldest daughter and beg her assistance in alleviating the situation they now found themselves in.
His wife secretly prayed they would be allowed to see Priscilla. She would tell her daughter the truth, that she never wanted what her husband had forced on her. She knew it would engender her husband’s wrath, but she was willing to take that chance if she were able to see her daughter.
Their coach was halted at the gates of Priscilla’s estate, and no matter how much he blustered, the men guarding the gates would not allow them to pass. The Earl did not notice a groom riding swiftly down the drive from the gates towards the house.
Andrew and the three eldest Bennet sisters had just entered the drawing room when Mr. Nichols entered and handed his master a note, which Bennet handed to the Prince. “I think I need to see these people,” Frederick stated as he gave the note to Fanny. Both Bennet parents nodded their agreement, and Frederick followed Mr. Nichols out of the drawing room.
“Is there a problem, Mama and Papa?” Elizabeth asked. “Uncle Freddy did not look happy.”
“There are some people who are connected with Uncle Freddy demanding entrance to the estate,” Bennet stated, not one word of which was false. “Your uncle is going to inform them they are not welcome and why.”
Elizabeth would have preferred to know who the people were and why they were not welcome, but she decided if her father and mother desired to share more information, they would in their own time. Her mind returned to more pleasant thoughts as William would arrive in a fortnight, and there was now a wedding to look forward to before Christmas.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Lord and Lady Jersey saw a coach approaching and the last man the Earl wanted to see at that moment stepped out of it. “Your Royal Highness,” Lord Jersey intoned as both he and his wife inclined their heads to the Prince.
