Her jaw tightened. “We married, nonetheless. In a Catholic ceremony.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened.
“And when I conceived,” Lady Catherine continued, “the truth came out.”
The room seemed to grow colder. “My father was furious. My brother worse. I was sent away until you were born, then married to Lewis de Bourgh.”
“But if you were married—”
“It was not considered legal. Besides, your father had no idea where I was at first. It was hopeless—until one night, he showed up on a ladder outside my window. My brother’s men had found him and beaten him, but he still managed to sneak onto the property. He begged me to leave with him then with him.”
“So why did you remain?”
Lady Catherine sighed heavily. “By the time your father found me, you had already been born. If I had left then, run away with you, they would have followed us, killed Freddy, and sent you to a workhouse. I could not allow that.”
Elizabeth felt a chill run through her. “No,” she whispered.
“I sent you away with him before they could act,” Lady Catherine said. “It was the only way to keep you both safe. I named you Elizabeth, after Freddy’s mother.”
Elizabeth pressed her hand to her temple. “Then how—how did I come to Longbourn? How did I become—”
“Thomas Bennet’s child?” Lady Catherine’s mouth tightened. “That, I am afraid, I do not know the answer to. I never saw you or your father again. ”
Elizabeth looked at her, searching her face, trying to reconcile the woman before her with everything she had ever believed about herself.
“This is madness,” she said faintly. “It must be.”
“And yet,” Lady Catherine said, her voice low and steady, “your father has just tried to prevent your marriage at any cost, no?”
Elizabeth stilled.
“And he named my family as the reason,” Lady Catherine continued. “Did he not?”
Elizabeth’s breath caught, and the memory came rushing back.
Elizabeth simply cannot marry Fitzwilliam Darcy. I will not allow it. I would rather her hate me forever than be connected to that family.
Her heart began to pound. “Why?” she whispered. “Why would he say such a thing?”
Lady Catherine held her gaze. “Because he knows exactly who you are:mydaughter.”
Silence fell. Elizabeth sat very still, her world shifting beneath her once again. For the first time since awakening, she felt something colder than fear begin to take hold.
Doubt.
∞∞∞
Darcy had eaten quickly—far more quickly than was his usual habit—and with very little attention paid to what was on the tray before him.
The moment he had finished and his valet had pronounced him decent for company, he made his way back to the Rose Room. When he neared it, however, his footsteps slowed as he heard Lady Catherine speaking to Elizabeth.
“…because he knows exactly who you are: my daughter.”
Darcy did not pause to consider. He pushed through the half-closed door and demanded, “What on earth is going on?”
Both women turned.
Elizabeth sat upright in the bed, pale but composed in a way that immediately told him something was very wrong. Lady Catherine remained seated, her posture as rigid and commanding as ever.
