Page 10 of The Governess of My Heart
Both her parents were silent.
“Why are you silent? I know the answer. You will never allow Jane or any of my sisters to marry him. Then why me? Why should I bear the ill fate of marrying that man because of our financial woes? Why me? Answer me?” she cried.
She saw her father startle, and Elizabeth continued.
“All these years, you have become deaf to my concerns. Anything I do is subjected to scrutiny. What have I done wrong? Why do you consider me below Jane and my other sisters? Why does my welfare not concern you? I need an answer for this kind of agony you are trying to inflict upon me. Am I not your blood? Why do you care less about my welfare?”
“Yes, you are not my blood,” her father said spitefully.
“You were born to someone else. Is this answer enough?” Mr. Bennet asked her with a deadly look on his face.
Elizabeth’s world froze for a moment as she stared at her father in shock.
No! This cannot be true!
Chapter 5
Elizabeth stared at her father in horror as his words shattered her belief in life.
This cannot be true! This is all falsehood.
“You are lying. I do not believe you,” Elizabeth said, shaking.
“No, we are not. You were not born to us. We took you in with a kind heart, and what have you to give us? Nothing. We must have sent you with the maids,” her mother said with disgust.
Elizabeth felt dizzy.
“No! No! You are lying. Why are you doing this?” she asked, unable to believe them.
“I am not, and it is the truth. All these years, we have withheld this secret to give you a decent living just like the rest of our daughters, and now I realize that you are as ungrateful as your mother. “
My mother?
“Whom are you referring to? If I am not your daughter, then who am I?”
“You were born to my sister Sarah. Do not rejoice in the discovery. Nobody knows who your father is, and you were born out of wedlock, and your birth is a disgrace.”
Elizabeth looked at her mother in shock. She somehow knew Mrs. Bennet spoke the truth; the anger and sincerity in her eyes confirmed it.
She felt her whole world collapse, and all those years of questioning why her mother hated her had a simple explanation: Mrs. Bennet was not her mother. She looked at her father with tears; and all she could see in him was anger.
“Do not look at me like that. You would have been shunned by the world if not for us. But you have lived happily under ourprotection for so long, and I never thought you would disobey me. But now I realize you can never belong to our family.”
“Stop it! Stop it! Who asked you to raise me? You could have given me away instead of making me a commodity for your financial needs. Where is my mother now?” Elizabeth asked in agony.
Mrs. Bennet let out a low laugh.
“You had plans to see your mother? She died soon after you were born. I am certain she was ashamed to see your face, you were a disgrace.”
Elizabeth could not bear it anymore and collapsed to the floor crying.
Her father reached her and dragged her to face him.
“Listen to me. We are not your parents, and your mother was a characterless woman who brought shame to the Gardiner family. Your uncle also knows this and wanted us to raise you and give you a good life. He didn’t want to do anything with you. Fanny was pregnant with Jane while your mother birthed you. We moved from town to Hertfordshire to raise you without any societal scrutiny. Despite such a horrible past, we gave you a family and a respectable life. But now I realize none of our sacrifices have rendered fruitful. You have the same disposition as your mother and do not care about anyone around you. You are selfish and insolent.”
He held her so roughly that Elizabeth’s arms hurt from his grip.
“So be it. Call me whatever name you want to, but I do not care. You say you have given me a good life. What for? To trade me for your well-being? You may have given me a house to live in, but you know you never loved me. All these years, I never understood why. Thank you for enlightening me on this subject.”
