Something About Lizzy: Family Secrets Post-Pride and Prejudice (Sofia-Elisabete #5) by Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi

Author:Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi [Kobayashi, Robin Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Others POV, Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Read, Sequels
ISBN: 9781736786673
Goodreads: 213196670
Publisher: Robin Elizabeth Kobayashi
Published: 2024-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.

—Jane Austen

SOME FEW DAYS LATER my step-mamma, Aggie Fitzwilliam, responded to my urgent request to solve the riddle of baby Henry. I had asked her in my letter: What caused the child’s death, and why was Darcy not at home then? What of Emilla Jane’s intimation that Lord Scapeton had accompanied Mrs. Darcy to the funeral service? For I dared not ask the Darcys, you know. As my father once said, “No, no, we never speak of Henry.” And so, I begged my step-mamma, “Please, please help me understand, Aggie, for you are the only one who can. I am sorry if it causes you pain, but I must know what happened.” This was her solemn answer:

My dearest dear Sofia,

I have spared you from explanations for too long. Let me enlighten you at once of what I know, and have done with it, though it make both of us weep.

Dearest, sweetest Henry had a lively disposition and was beloved by all. No one could explain why the child stopped breathing of a sudden. There had been no inflammation on the chest, no infectious fever for Mrs. Darcy to be alarmed about. The child merely closed his eyes, smiling in his dreams, and took flight to a happier world. He died in her arms, just weeks after celebrating his first birthday.

Prior to this tragedy, Darcy had embarked on a lengthy journey and his steam-ship was well out at sea—too far and impossible to be reached. By the time he received word on the Continent about Henry’s death, he had been absent for some weeks, attending to his affairs. Meanwhile, at home, Mrs. Darcy had seen the little one laid to rest. You can imagine her distress to be obliged to act alone in this: a very sorry business, indeed, with the father out of the country.

My nephew Charles attended the funeral and burial. (Unfortunately, he went up to London yesterday, and I am unable to ask him more.) At the time of these sorrowful events, the colonel suddenly took ill, and I kept him at home. I never heard a word that Lord Scapeton or even Mrs. Darcy attended the funeral service. Perhaps Emilla Jane has imagined this? She can be a rather dreamy child.

Your loving step-mother,

A.F.

At the bottom of her letter was a note to me in the colonel’s hand:

Mind that you don’t speak about Henry. It saddens the Darcys. Be kind, my girl, as I know you will.

F.

The mystery deepened the more I pondered over it. Kitt soon remarked on my distracted mind, worrying that I was out of sorts or that my being in the family way had something to do with it. I confessed to him what I had learned of the complicated events concerning baby Henry’s death. I thought for sure Kitt would say it was none of my concern. But he didn’t.

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