After his daughter had been fed by her mother, Hattie brought the newborn down to Mr Bennet’s study where her father and Frank were waiting with the new father. Edward, who was in his final year at Oxford, would be home in less than a sennight and would meet his niece then.
Bennet did not object to the name of his firstborn, but not for the reason his wife had stated. As much as it meant he needed to continue to lie with his wife after she was churched, so he could beget an heir and a spare, he had fallen in love the instant he saw his daughter. He did not oppose those names, so he decided it was not worth gainsaying his wife over the matter. He also decided he would allow his wife a few months beyond the churching before he returned to the distasteful duty of attempting to have his wife become with child again.
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In June of that year, he had begun to take his husbandly rights again, twice a week like before. It was one of the few things they saw eye to eye on, neither of them enjoyed the act with the other. His wife fed their daughter for most of the child’s first year. The more she grew, the prettier she became.
As his wife seemed to love their daughter with all of her heart, Bennet watched from a distance for the first year. That all changed before Janey, as he called her, was a month past her first birthday.
He made his way up to the nursery to visit Janey without any prior notice of his coming. She had just begun to take her first tentative steps, so Bennet wanted to see if there was any progress. He heard his wife’s voice and stopped just outside the nursery to hear what she was saying. When he heard her saythings like, “You will be just like me,” and “You could not be so beautiful for no reason,” Bennet marched into the nursery. He asked Nurse to take Janey and ordered his wife to follow him. He did not want to have Janey see what was to follow.
“Mrs Bennet, from now on you will have no contact with my daughter,” Bennet commanded when they had arrived at her bedchamber on the family floor.
“No, Mr Bennet! How can you be so cruel…” She closed her mouth with a clack at the angry look and raised hand from her husband. Fanny could not fathom what she had done to anger her husband this time.
“I heard what you were saying to Janey. I willnothave her be like you,” Bennet responded.
“But fathers do not care about daughters…” Fanny tried to say.
“This one does. I will employ additional nursemaids, and as soon as she is old enough, a governess to teach Janey. Any other children we are blessed with will not be taught by you. If I need to I will employ a wet nurse, but I require you feed each child you bear. That isallyou will do. Do not test me on this!”
As Fanny knew her husband well enough to know he meant what he said, she knew she would not be able to gainsay him.
In early August 1790, Fanny missed her courses. Before the end of October, she felt the quickening. Of one thing she was certain, this child would be the first of the two sons she needed to bear. She prayed for twins, so she would never have to have her husband’s attention at night ever again. She planned while God laughed.
Chapter 3
Had her husband’s strictures not been in place, Fanny would have done something to get rid of the dark complexioned and darker-haired, ugly thing she gave birth to on the fifth day of March 1791.
“Fanny, you are so blessed!” Hattie exclaimed. In her more than five years of marriage, Hattie Phillips had not so much as fallen with child once. And it was not for lack of trying. She envied Fanny greatly, twice her sister had become with child, and delivered a live babe after both of her lying-ins.
“Blessed!” Fanny hissed. “Because of this disobedient, wilful, and dark thing I still need to give Mr Bennet two more children. He requires an heir and a spare before he will cease importuning me twice a week. I am not blessed, I am cursed!”
“For which you have none but yourself to blame,” Bennet barked as he entered the birthing chamber. “Remember, I am not the one who desired this union. It was forced upon me by you and your late mother. Do you need me to remind you what will occur if you keep spewing that nonsense?”
Fanny looked away and shook her head petulantly.
“As you intimated that my new daughter somehow disobeyed you inchoosingher sex, I will report that to Mr Pierce. Let us see what he thinks of a parishioner questioning the will of God,” Bennet threatened. He saw the fear on his wife’s face. She was not so unintelligent to know how she would be ostracised if word that she was questioning His plan was spread around the community. “In that case, never allowme, or any other in this house, to hear that claptrap again. Youwillfeed this daughter like you did Jane, and Mrs Bennet…”
She looked at her husband with resentment pouring off her in waves. “What, Mr Bennet?” Fanny enquired.
“If you dare harm my daughter in any way when she is in your company, I will revisit it on your head ten times over, and then I will have you arrested and begin my petition to divorce you. Do I make myself clear?” Bennet demanded.
Other than a tight nod, Fanny said nothing.
Bennet looked at his newest daughter being held by her aunt. She had his mother’s colouring. He hoped that as she got older she would also have the same emerald-green coloured eyes like his late mother. “Her name is Elizabeth Rose, after my mother, who I believe she will look like when she gets older. I will call her Lizzy, and not Beth like my mother was addressed by my late father.” He left the room.
Hattie Phillips was wide eyed at witnessing the fight between her sister and brother-in-law. She was not very intelligent, but she was fully aware that what her late mother and Fanny had done to entrap Mr Bennet was not right. Frank had told her how their actions had cost Mr Bennet the woman he loved, so she could understand the level of resentment he showed towards Fanny. She loved her younger sister, but she also knew that Fanny was not a very good person and had been driven by selfishness and a desire that no one but she would be the mistress of Longbourn. She had found out the hard way that she did not always get her own way.
How could Fanny not see the birth of a second child, regardless of sex, as anything but a blessing? If He ever granted her a child, Hattie would love it with everything that she was, regardless of sex or looks. In addition to being selfish, Fanny was extremely vain. No one was considered pretty unless they looked like her.
As much as she disliked Fanny’s character, Hattie would continue to come see her, and like she had for a second time, support her during her lying-ins. Her sister was not aware, but it was not her company Hattie sought.
If she could not have her own children, then, she would pour her maternal love into Fanny’s.
The babe in Hattie’s arms began to squirm, and then she let out an indignant cry. She handed the mite, Lizzy, to Fanny to be fed. It was not hard to see that Fanny did not want to feed her daughter, but thankfully her husband’s threats forced her to comply.
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