Page 36 of Miss Gardiner
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That evening, in their rooms on the third floor, Jane and Elizabeth were quiet after discussing Mr Darcy’s reaction to the news from Hertfordshire. In typical Jane fashion, she stated that Mr Darcy would resolve the matter with the help of his cousin. Then she asked, “Lizzy, do you think Mr Darcy is in love with you?”
“I…I hold him in high regard,” Elizabeth replied, and Jane snickered.
“Really? High regard? Is that all, Miss Elizabeth Bennet!” the older sister asked from her chair in a teasing manner.
Rather than joining in her sister’s teasing, Elizabeth took Jane’s hands in her own and asked, “Jane…if I am…if he does love me…will you forgive me?”
Now Jane’s face expressed her surprize but then she smiled; the wonderful, graceful smile that caused smiles on the faces of everyone who saw such.
“Lizzy, oh my dear Lizzy,” Jane said with a single tear falling down her cheek. “If he loves you and you love him, nothing will make me happier. Your happiness cannot be affected by my situation.”
“But Jane,” Elizabeth mourned. “How can I be happy if you are not?”
Jane took Lizzy’s hand and guided it to her growing belly where despite the gown, she could feel the baby moving.
“He’s dancing this evening,” Jane said. “The midwife said that every babe is different, but it seems that my son is very healthy and will love to run.”
“A son?”
Jane nodded, “I dreamed that it will be a boy with my blonde locks and his father’s personality. I shall name him Charles and love him… Lizzy, I love my babe already.”
Mrs Gardiner entered the room with her four children at that moment, and the two sisters were swept up in boisterous play for many minutes. Nanny followed behind and pulled out her mending while the children played with their cousins and mother.
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Chapter 10.Jane’s Happy Days
Jane Bennet stared out the window on Gracechurch Street. It was a lovely spring morning and there were families walking toward a nearby park; in her imagination she saw Charles Bingley standing beside her, holding her hand, as their son ran ahead of them, turned back and grinned at his parents with a toothy smile.
Wistfully, she stepped back and sat heavily in a chair. Soon she would deliver her babe and then she would have to begin again. Her uncle and aunt had provided her with sanctuary for many months; safe, warm and well-fed, Jane’s confinement would allow her child to be born in a safe place.
She had worried for many days about the future beyond the day that ‘Charles’ was born. Growing up in Meryton, Jane knew fallen women were never mentioned more than in whispers about them dying in the hedgerows after short and miserable lives spent as wanton women, preyed upon by men. And the children born to fallen women–the ‘bastards’–were sent to foundling homes where most died of neglect.
Hugging her belly, Jane swore her babe would not suffer and she would make any sacrifice to save him. The previous evening, her child’s salvation came as Jane sewed swaddling clothes. At the usual time, Elizabeth returned to their parlour with Uncle and Aunt Gardiner following close behind.
“Jane, we need to talk with you about your future…and the future of your child,” Uncle Edward said as gently as possible. Nodding without saying anything, Jane took Elizabeth’s hand and held on tightly.
“When we hired Miss Spencer as our nanny, I checked her references closely,” Uncle Edward said. “Her origins are similar to yours; her father disowned her when she was discovered to be with child and her suitor disappeared.”
“I did not know…” Jane whispered.
“She is very private about the matter,” Aunt Gardiner replied. “Once she was made aware of your condition, she came to me and urged me to find some family that wanted the babe, not to allow anyone to take your child to a foundling home. Her babe…the midwife took the babe to the foundling home the same night it was born, and she never saw it or knew…”
Now tears fell freely from the eyes of both sisters as well as Mrs Gardiner.
“Nanny worked as a chambermaid in houses like the home where she had been raised before having the chance to step into the nursery as Nanny,” Uncle Edward continued the story.
“My baby will have to go?” Jane asked before she hid her face in Elizabeth’s arms.
Aunt Gardiner stepped forward and said, “Jane, my dearest girl, let me see your face.”
Lifting her head, Jane met her aunt’s eyes and heard Madeline Gardiner say, “Your uncle and I will be mother and father to your child. When he is born, we shall put our names on the registry as his parents. For all the world know, Edward Charles Gardiner will be born of my body.”
“How can this be accomplished?” asked Jane.
“When your aunt first told me of the idea to make the babe ours, we immediately planned to conceal her figure this spring. We have not gone to any assemblies or dinners,” Uncle Gardiner explained. “Our acquaintances assume that my wife is remaining private this season with anticipation of the birth of our fifth child.”
