“Thank you, Mr. Bennet, I too have thought of you as family for many years. See, Mother, I knew about the Bennets since I actually listen when others talk,” Anne replied before her mother could form one, no one missing the disdain for the woman that had given her life but had never been a mother to her except in name.
“Not that it matters to me as they have already proven their character is far superior to most you expect me to interact with, but they do have many connections in the upper echelons of the first circles, besides our relations you see here. And it is also true they have many times more wealth than we do.”
Anne paused, ordered her thoughts, and held her hand out for no one to intervene as she meant to continue. “As you well know, although you refuse to acknowledge the fact, I have been the true mistress of Rosings Park since I turned five and twenty over six months ago. I have allowed you the illusion that my estate was yours, though it never was. From this day on, I am reclaiming what is mine and I hope my family will advise me and help me find ways to reverse the damage you have done to my inheritance.” Anne did not need to look around, the vocal yeses were from every quarter and repeated in some that were not yet her actual family, but soon would be.
“You cannot do that Anne, Rosings Park is mine,” Lady Catherine denied with a rising sense of panic she could not hide.
“I can and I have!” Anne said with such firm resolve it again silenced any reply that might have been given by her mother. “My solicitor, who was retained to worry about my interests, not yours, is here and I have already signed all of the documents that make it a fact just before you arrived.
“Uncle Reggie, as father’s appointed executor, witnessed and approved all. You are now cut off from any estate accounts and management needs. You have wasted far too much of my money on needless, truly gaudy items to try to impress no one but yourself. The first thing I will do is have all of those sold,” Anne announced, feeling liberated but on some level also sad it had come to this. This was her mother, after all.
“On the subject of my betrothal. I have never desired to be married to William, and similarly, he did not desire to be married to me. I, like everyone in the family, knew it was a fabricated lie you spun in an attempt to get your fortune-hunting hands on William’s money and drain it away as you drained Rosings Park’s funds.”
Lady Catherine looked around for support she did not find in any quarter, not even those youngest in the room whom she was sure were under her thumb, as Georgiana stared her straight in the eye and did not hide as she usually did. Seeing no one intervene with Anne’s intentions, she again looked at her daughter.
“How can you treat your mother thusly?” Lady Catherine demanded.
“You brought me into this world, but you were never a mother to me. I was another possession for you to use and abuse as you saw fit. You paraded me about as sickly to control me, and I know the quack you tried to pass of as a physician was giving me medicine to make me ill by your command!” she announced.
Her Aunt Elaine gasped at this, her eyes filling with tears and Uncle Reggie’s shoulders fell. This was a scenario he had not allowed himself to believe despite Richard’s and Darcy’s attempts to get him to look into Anne’s supposed sickness and demand real physicians from town.
“Mrs. Jenkinson helped me years ago to stop taking the poison you were forcing on me, and ever since then I have felt normal and healthy, but we hid the fact from you because we knew as long as you thought your little scheme was succeeding you would not try anything else,” Anne continued. “If I had kept taking it, I would have been dead by now! Was that your aim mother? To have me die so you could claim Papa’s estate as your own?” Anne pushed, not looking around despite the gasps of horror from every quarter.
“Anne, I am so, so sorry,” the Earl choked out. “Had I but known, I would have removed you from her custody. I did not want to believe my sister was such a vile person when Richard and William shared their suspicions with me, it shames me that I did not investigate to learn the truth of the matter. You knew I am the executor of your father’s will, and as such I could have removed you from your mother’sso calledcare and offered you the protection that you deserved.” Lord Matlock desperately wanted to know why Anne had not contacted him with the information directly.
“I wish I had known sooner Uncle Reggie. It is only recently that I saw a copy of my father’s real will, not the fiction my birth mother tried to feed me. She had hidden the real will and tried to pass a forgery off as genuine. I only found the one my father actually signed four months ago,” Anne stated, the anger she was trying to swallow tasted of bitterness.
As Anne was speaking, Lady Catherine eyed a knife with the refreshments near her. With a mad look in her eye, she grabbed the knife and held it pointed at her daughter. “You ungrateful wench, you will not have what is mine! Do you think I dispatched your miserable father so you could steal what is mine?”
Lady Catherine lunged toward her daughter with a demented, murderous look in her eyes. Before she could get close to Anne or anyone else, Biggs had her in a steel trap-like hold and the knife dropped harmlessly from her hands.
Lady Catherine’s avarice, jealousy, and greed, coupled with the realisation she had no power to order the world as she saw fit, had finally made her snap. The last vestiges of the bonds between reason and madness were irrevocably severed. As she descended further and further into her mania, Biggs held her so she could not move at all, merely spout vitriol no one wanted to hear.
“Unhand me, you brute! Do you know who I am?” she demanded, the madness becoming more evident as she tried to break free.
“Lock that murderess, who tried to harm one of her own blood while my guest, in the coal cellar, Biggs. Make sure you keep the door locked and well-guarded in pairs, if you do not mind.” Fanny Bennet stood as she issued her instructions, having had enough and aghast at what she had seen and heard.
“Yes, Mistress,” Biggs replied calmly then carried the clearly deranged Lady Catherine away as if she weighed nothing, her rants and screams ignored by all within the sound of her voice.
“Fanny, you are of course, correct,” Lord Reggie sighed sadly. “We have always tolerated my sister’s insane pronouncements, thinking she was no danger to anyone. On seeing the demonic and murderous look in her eyes, I now know my sister has crossed the line from our reality into insanity. We had suspected she had a hand in hurrying Lewis’s death, but there was no proof. She had no idea he had a heart ailment that would have taken him by natural causes without her intervention.
“She should, by rights under the law, receive the same punishment, as her late parson received, for trying to murder her daughter her part in Collins’ crime, and the death of her husband,” the Earl stated sadly, waylaying the protests of all. “But besides it being abhorrent to me that a lady swing from the gallows, she is no longer sane and needs to be in Bedlam. At least that way, there will not be the scandal of a trial and she will be where she can never hurt anyone again. Anne, I am so very, very sorry I did not step in to protect you sooner.” He went to her and took her hand in his, holding it tightly.
“I wrongly chose to keep the reality of my situation from the family, Uncle Reggie,” She reminded him.
“Your aunt knew,” her uncle sighed, again glancing at his wife who was struggling to maintain her countenance.
“And I could have confided in my cousins when they had their obligatory visit each Easter, but I did not. Therefore, there is nothing for you to apologise to me for. I am saddened to find out she murdered Papa, but not all that surprised,” Anne admitted.
“I agree with you, Reggie,” Bennet offered sadly. “However, I think whatever we decide to do with your sister, we need to get Anne’s approval. She is, after all, her daughter and the true mistress of Rosings Park.”
“Whatever you decide is acceptable to me, Uncle Reggie, Mr. Bennet,” Anne stated, then she turned to her soon to be cousin, Elizabeth. “Miss Elizabeth, I beg your forgiveness above all. What Lady Catherine said to and about you and your family was beyond the pale and I am equally embarrassed and sorry.” Anne looked Elizabeth in the eyes as she rendered the apology for her mother, shame staining her cheeks.
“We are to be cousins, so please call me Elizabeth or Lizzy like most here do.” Lizzy smiled, the encouraging look from William appreciated. She reached out and squeezed Anne’s hand, shaking her head slightly. “Not only did you warn us so we would be prepared for the storm heading toward us, but, someone who shall remain nameless,” she looked pointedly at William with a smile, “has been told we judge each person by their own actions, not those of others including those who intend murder or even those bent on theft, be they relation or a long acquaintance. Please do not try to take the blame for that which is not yours. It took William a while to accept the truth of that, I pray it will not take you as long.” She squeezed Anne’s hand to support her words.
“Thank you, Lizzy. And I want to wish both you and William joy as I can see you two are perfect for each other. Please do call me Anne.” She squeezed Lizzy’s hand in return.
“Welcome to the family, Anne,” Elizabeth said warmly.
