{"id":2722,"date":"2019-08-26T10:58:38","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T14:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/?p=2722"},"modified":"2020-01-08T15:23:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T20:23:56","slug":"chapter-2-an-autumn-accord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/readingroom\/chapter-2-an-autumn-accord\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 2 An Autumn Accord"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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So tough to read… but I love seeing the beginnings of Graham Hamilton’s regard for Jane \ud83d\ude42\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

XOXOXO<\/p>

Elizabeth Ann West<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Chapter 2 - An Autumn Accord, a Pride and Prejudice Variation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jane Bennet opened\u00a0the nursery door of Starvet\u00a0House humming a soft lullaby as the nursemaid, Sarah, sat on a stool with her own babe nursing from\u00a0her bosom. Jane tiptoed into the room to peer in the basket and spy her wide-eyed nephew gazing up\u00a0at her with a smile on his\u00a0face.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cHas he nursed?\u201d Jane\u00a0asked.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cAye, Miss Jane. I always feed Master Robin before suckling my own. If I let little Henry eat first, there may be none left for the babe,\u201d Sarah chuckled, beaming down at her son who was many months older than the newest addition to the Bennet\u00a0family.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Scooping her nephew into her arms, Jane naturally swayed back and forth, rocking the babe against her chest. His little fist pushed out from his swaddling and Jane knew his purpose. She happily obliged by offering her smallest finger for him to hold. The young man wasted no time in moving his aunt\u2019s finger to his mouth to suckle in\u00a0comfort.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cI believe Master Robin and I shall take our daily walk\u00a0now.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The nursemaid nodded, not that she held any\u00a0authority to tell Miss Jane otherwise. She was pleased to see at least one\u00a0member of the family treating the boy with affection. It\u00a0was all a poor, motherless, bastard child could hope\u00a0for.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Jane carried Robert Bennet down the hall and to a spare room on the far end of the third story. She suspected at one time it was likely a suite for the nanny employed to care for any children of the\u00a0home.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

A rocking chair rested in front of the windows with the most beautiful view of the Scottish moors. Taking a seat, Jane watched the day\u2019s sun diligently burn off the morning fog spread across the land. She sang softly to young Robin and as the babe\u2019s eyes fluttered closed, she gently kissed the top of his\u00a0forehead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cYour mama would have loved you at first sight and never given you up,\u201d she whispered to the sleeping babe she rescued the night of his horrific birth. The same night had taken the life of the youngest Bennet sister, Lydia. \u201cAnd neither shall\u00a0I.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cWe discussed your\u00a0attachment\u2026 \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The voice of her sister startled Jane slightly in the rocking chair, but she maintained her composure so as not to jostle the baby\u00a0awake.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cSsh, he\u00a0sleeps.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Elizabeth Darcy joined her sister, standing over the chair to gaze down at her nephew\u2019s innocent sleeping form. Seeing him suck on Jane\u2019s finger reminded Elizabeth of Lydia\u2019s same habit until she was taken away to be nursed and not returned home until weaned of a mother\u2019s milk and toddling around. Even in her early childhood years, young Lydia would always handle her fears and trepidations by sucking her thumb. Elizabeth marveled that such a habit would follow naturally to her nephew without him ever knowing his\u00a0mother.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cYou know the Watsons will be here at the end of the month to take Robin away. We must hold fast to\u00a0the plan, hard as it may\u00a0be.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cThe plan did not include Lydia dying in childbirth,\u201d Jane said as her voice\u00a0caught.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Elizabeth Darcy rubbed her temples. Since the day after Robert\u2019s birth, she had been caught in a tempest of wills between her husband Darcy and her sister Jane. Surveying the room, Elizabeth carefully lifted the dust-covered sheet covering\u00a0what appeared\u00a0to be another chair. She was rewarded with an ancient wooden specimen, embellished with\u00a0intricate hand carvings. Dragging the chair to the window, she felt the wooden legs wobble and protest over the movement and hesitated to trust the furniture to hold her. Ultimately, she took a seat. A firm discussion\u00a0was long\u00a0overdue.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u201cYou are so altered from when last I saw you.\u201d Jane opened her mouth to protest, but Elizabeth held up her hand. \u201cI noticed it before Lydia . . .\u201d Elizabeth swallowed at uttering her sister\u2019s name. \u201cUpon your arrival, truthfully. I am not leaving this . . . this\u201d Elizabeth glanced\u00a0around to find an adequate word to describe their dwelling, but finding none, continued \u201cthis room until you tell me plainly the events\u00a0since my wedding.\u201d For good measure, Elizabeth crossed her arms and sat back in the chair, ignoring the additional wobble she felt beneath\u00a0her from shifting her\u00a0weight.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Jane gazed out at the fog barely holding onto the fields and trees, nearly decimated now by the sun\u2019s powerful rays. She took a deep breath. If she told Lizzie everything, Jane was certain her sister would understand and support her position to take care of the family business in the manner she had always planned. At the moment, there was nothing she would not risk for the handsome infant boy in her arms.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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