This chapter posting is dedicated to new member, Kitty! Thank you for all of your comments! I took yesterday off and came back to all of your nice words. THANK YOU!
XOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 10 - A Winter Wrong, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Trepidation fluttered in Elizabeth Bennet’s heart as she called on the Darcy town home on Bond Street, alone, for the first time. She rolled her shoulders back as the carriage lurched to a stop and reminded herself that her nerves were completely baseless. Of course, she could call on her friend, Georgiana Darcy. In fact, after the tea invitation, shopping excursion, and lunch at Georgiana’s aunt’s home, a call was most severely owed.
After what appeared to be a longer time than usual for the door to open, Elizabeth slid the curtain to see what was happening outside. With a charming smile, Mr. Darcy himself was making long strides down the walk and stopped to open the door. After she took his hand to step down, she looked up at him and felt her world shatter. A warm sensation spread through her body as she sighed and took his proffered arm to walk the path back towards the front door where the youngest Darcy family member stood with her companion, Mrs. Annesley.
“Brother said you would come! It is so nice to see you, Miss Elizabeth.” Georgiana clasped Elizabeth’s hands in greeting and ushered the woman directly into her favorite room, the same solarium where they had taken tea. The warmth of the room, even in the dead of winter, surprised Elizabeth and she was overjoyed to see refreshments being laid out by the servants.
“Now I thought we disposed of this Miss business. Should I call you Miss Georgiana?”
The young girl shook her long mane of blonde curls and made a snarky face with her lips poised in a strawberry kiss. Then she broke out into a laugh. “Sometimes I’m too proper for my own good!”
As the ladies took a seat, Mr. Darcy begged their forgiveness as he had business matters to see to in his study, but perhaps if the sun remained cooperative, the three of them could take a turn in the park across the way.
“You know my weaknesses, Mr. Darcy, it’s not fair. I would dearly enjoy a healthy ramble as London has not been kind to my favorite pastime.”
“I thought reading was your favorite hobby?” Georgiana asked, interrupting the tete-a-tete between her brother and friend.
Before Elizabeth could answer, Georgiana marveled as her brother gave a rare smile and responded. “Miss Elizabeth takes pleasure in many things.”
Elizabeth blushed with the reference to her stay at Netherfield Park and busied herself with straightening the lace border on her left glove. With her brother gone, Georgiana once more pounced on Elizabeth to inquire as to her opinion of her brother.
“Georgiana! You are a little meddler, aren’t you?” Getting the famous Darcy stare from the feminine version, Elizabeth let out a laugh and smoothed her skirt. “I may have been very mistaken in the kind of man I first thought him to be, but I am still coming to know him. And I think in time we might be very good friends.”
Georgiana smiled and winked at Elizabeth. “I may be young, but I don’t think friends is your future.”
Utterly shocked, Elizabeth gasped for breath. The idea of marrying Mr. Darcy, or any man for that matter, made her stomach retch as her first concern was that her father was not going to be there to walk her down the aisle. Tears stung the edges of her eyes and Elizabeth tried to take a few calming breaths. She became frustrated it was always little trifling details that suddenly stirred up her father’s loss to the forefront of her mind.
“Oh, dear, Elizabeth I’m sorry. I thought, that is, I thought you liked him.” Georgiana looked to her companion sitting in the far corner of the room, but Mrs. Annesley gave a gentle shake of her head. Georgiana needed to learn how to smooth over situations on her own.
“No, no, you said nothing truly shocking I suppose, no worse than any tease my own sisters would jibe at me.” At the implication of that statement, Elizabeth began crying even harder, but laughing at the same time as her emotions flooded her senses. Seeing Georgiana look completely helpless, Elizabeth used one hand to dry her face and reached the other hand to grasp the hand of her young friend. “I cannot describe to you how much I feel like a boat in rough waters. Just as I think I can get a bearing, the waves crash, the boat falls, and I’m at a loss for what happened.”
Waiting a few moments for her friend to gather her composure, Georgiana turned away until Elizabeth took one final breath through her nose and then turned to look at her with a clear, firm smile. Very quietly, Georgiana imparted the only wisdom she possessed. “In time, the pain and confusion lessen, and you learn to rely on yourself.”
Chapter 10 (cont'd) - A Winter Wrong, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
The matter was dropped between the two ladies, and they turned to the more established pattern of discourse by discussing the upcoming ball. Georgiana would not be permitted to attend, but she did her best to describe some of the relations and society gossip that she knew from her limited exposure to her cousins and ladies like Miss Bingley.
“Although, any intelligence from Miss Bingley I confess I take with a grain of salt as she doesn’t seem to always have the correct interpretation of what transpired,” Georgiana pronounced in a very matter-of-fact tone.
Elizabeth nodded and did not add she wouldn’t trust a single word out of the woman’s mouth, but with Jane so very nearly engaged to her brother, discretion was the better part of well, discretion.
“By the by, where are Miss Mary and Miss Jane today?” Georgiana asked.
Elizabeth set down her cup and gave a bright smile to convey their unfortunate regrets. “Mr. Bingley and Miss Bingley called this morning, and Mary is serving as a chaperone, so I was free to call here.”
True to his word, Mr. Darcy arrived shortly after that and helped the ladies bundle up in their wraps for a stroll. The winter sun reflected brightly on newly formed ice sheets on the pond, and the park was nearly deserted due to the chilly temperatures. The stroll began with Georgiana and Elizabeth each taking an arm of Mr. Darcy, but a quarter of the way around, Georgiana elected to fall back and walk with Mrs. Annesley, pleading that she needed to discuss her lessons for the afternoon.
For a few moments, Darcy and Elizabeth were silent, simply enjoying the natural beauty around them and the amiable company.
“I must thank you for taking such a special interest in my sister. She is very shy, and there are many who would use her as a means to get closer to me,” Mr. Darcy stated.
The bottom of Elizabeth’s stomach felt like it had suddenly fallen. Was he saying that he had no interest in her? “I can honestly say that my friendship with Georgiana comes from my esteem for her and her alone, Mr. Darcy.”
More versed in the subtleties of Elizabeth Bennet, Darcy immediately picked up on the coldness of her tone. He worried as he tried to work out how he had offended her, then realized she took his meaning to accuse her of being another Caroline Bingley.
“Be that as it may, I am grateful for your attentions and I hope that the next time you visit, I may enjoy more time in your company as well.”
Elizabeth looked up to a robin chirping away on a branch above them. As they neared the three-quarters mark of the path, she could feel Mr. Darcy’s arm stiffen. Ignoring the bird, she tried to determine the source of his changed countenance but could find none.
“Miss Elizabeth, I know that I insulted you many times early in our acquaintance, and I would dearly like to remedy those insults with a chance to pay you the compliments and courtesy you deserve. May I call on you at your Uncle’s home?”
Elizabeth couldn’t believe her ears, and she too mirrored her admirer’s posture by standing up straighter and tensing her shoulders. “I—I,” she stopped in her walking and looked behind her to see that Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley were only near the halfway point of the pond’s circuit. Biting her lower lip, she looked up to find Mr. Darcy’s face looking so nervous that she couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for the man.
“Mr. Darcy, my opinions of you were very wrong from nearly the start of our acquaintance. While I am working on re-evaluating my previous assumptions, I am not sure about how I feel about your request.”
“I suppose I should thank you for your honesty, though I wonder if you might have been kinder had I been another,” he spat.
“No, sir, I can assure you my heart is not touched by another, though how that is any of your business is beyond me. I can say that as my entire life has changed these last few months in every imaginable corner, you might have some compassion for my position.” Elizabeth removed her hand from his arm and began to walk on. Of course, the high-handed Darcy returned the second he was denied his own petty desire! Elizabeth was so angry with herself for ever questioning her own reasoning that the speed at which she was walking forced Mr. Darcy to nearly jog to catch up.
“Miss Elizabeth, please, please.” He called out, but Elizabeth pretended to not hear him. When she reached the end of the park, she crossed the lane on her own and begged the carriage master rushing around the corner of the drive to see to the approaching Mr. Darcy.
“Please ask your staff to ready my uncle’s carriage.”
Mr. Darcy nodded to Simmons who immediately retreated to the rear of the home. As they waited for the carriage, Mr. Darcy didn’t try to talk to Elizabeth again and instead waited for her to start a conversation, which she never did. When Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley approached, Elizabeth disguised any discord between them with a wide smile and farewelled both women enthusiastically.
“Don’t forget you promised to attend the theater. Brother, may we all go to the show tomorrow evening?”
Mr. Darcy stammered, and Elizabeth recovered the situation by promising she and her sisters would be ready for the entertainment. A weak smile was all Elizabeth could give to Mr. Darcy before she boarded her carriage to return home to her relations on Gracechurch Street with even worse anxieties than she had when she arrived. The more she tried to sort through her feelings, the more difficult her situation seemed to become as she so desperately wanted to talk to the one person who would help her reason all of this out, but her father was gone.
* * *
WHAT A DEAL!
A kiss at the Netherfield Ball . . .
Three Dates with Mr. Darcy is a bundle of: An exclusive story, Much to Conceal, a novella that imagines what if Elizabeth confessed to Jane in London that Mr. Darcy proposed in Kent?
A Winter Wrong, the first novella in the Seasons of Serendipity series that imagines what if Mr. Bennet died at the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice?
By Consequence of Marriage, the first novel in the Moralities of Marriage series that wonders what if Mr. Darcy never saved his sister Georgiana from Wickham’s clutches?
Elizabeth Ann West’s Pride and Prejudice variations have enthralled more than 100,000 readers in over 90 countries! A proud member of the Jane Austen Fan Fiction community since the mid-2000s, she hopes you will join her in being happily Darcy addicted!
Chapter 10(cont'd) - A Winter Wrong, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
While Jane was more than comfortable spilling her turmoil over Mr. Bingley with their Aunt Gardiner all afternoon as the ladies readied themselves for the theater, Elizabeth was not as keen to discuss her heart’s trouble.
“It’s just that we have courted for two months and he’s less…I’m not sure what the word is, Aunt.”
Madeline Gardiner patted the shoulders of the eldest Bennet daughter but kept a keen eye on the second eldest who was pretending terribly hard to appear she wasn’t listening. “Have you felt yourself drawing away, feeling that perhaps you do not care for Mr. Bingley as you once did? It’s perfectly reasonable Jane, many a romance formed at a highly stressful time in our lives cannot survive the monotony of mundane routine.”
Jane fell quiet, and Elizabeth turned to her own thoughts. Had she perhaps conducted the opposite reaction to the stress of their father’s death by shunning and hardening her heart against the only man to step up to protect her interests aside from her uncle? Placing a single canary colored feather in the elegantly styled braid just above her right ear, she tried to imagine readying herself like this every night to join Mr. Darcy on the town or for some top shelf dinner. Giggling at the reflection of a sophisticated woman she didn’t recognize as herself, her thoughts were interrupted by the maid entering the room and asking her to see her uncle in his study.
Dressed in a golden yellow, Elizabeth descended the stairs with the utmost grace commanded by the snug fit of her gown. As fabric pooled at her feet in the latest styling, a familiar face awaited her at the last step. Intense jubilation rose in her breast as she fluttered her eyes at Mr. Darcy until her uncle came to stand behind him from his study and the situation became quite clear to her. Purposely pinching his hand that he offered as assistance on the last few steps, Elizabeth released Mr. Darcy’s fingers to follow her uncle into his study and was thankful when he closed the door without admitting Mr. Darcy.
Sitting in the short-backed chair next to her Uncle’s desk, Elizabeth muttered many angry thoughts against the man she had explicitly asked just yesterday for time to consider her position. “I cannot believe he ignored my wishes!”
“Settle down, Lizzie, you can save the dramatics for the drawing room.” Mr. Gardiner took his normal chair at his desk and swiveled it around, so he was face to face with his niece. “Mr. Darcy did not ask me permission to court you if that’s what you’re afraid of. He merely felt that as your guardian and nearest living male relation, that he should explain to me all that has passed between you two out of respect.”
“His respect should be for my concerns, not him throwing a fit because he simply didn’t get his way,” Elizabeth scolded.
Mr. Gardiner smirked as he watched Elizabeth blow out a breath and cross her arms in frustration. His niece was positively smitten with the man and didn’t realize it yet. Had she felt less for Darcy, this conversation would have her laughing at the folly of the situation.
“Careful my dear, you are still of a minority age.”
Her eyes slanted and she looked at her uncle. “I thought you said we did not need to marry, that the funds set aside for us are ours even should we become sisters in spinsterhood!”
Mr. Gardiner held up his hands and chuckled, making Elizabeth’s face turn a deeper shade of red. “Peace, Lizzie. Peace.” Leaning forward, he reached for his niece’s hand and waited her out as she tried to resist the attempt. Eventually, she caved and permitted him to grasp it to show she wasn’t truly angry with him. “Be careful that you do not succumb to feelings which are not your own because you have convinced yourself they are more justified. Mr. Darcy is a good man, and you are attracted to him whether you admit it or not. I am only asking that you try to keep an open mind, just as your father would have asked you to do. He would never have wanted his passionate, fiery Lizzie to live a life alone.”
Stricken, Elizabeth’s face betrayed her dilemma, and she sat in the chair shell shocked by her uncle’s words. He released her hand and promised her a few moments to collect herself, but reminded her that it was nearly time to leave if they wished to see the opening acts.
Staring out at the black night in the window beyond, Elizabeth suddenly closed her eyes and tried again to see if she could hear her father’s voice. Instead, all her mind could conjure were her own dreams of a loving family that didn’t play favorites among the children, a happy home where money wasn’t a looming threat at every month’s end, and a husband she could love and respect. And as her dream of the future played in her mind, her husband’s voice was no longer a mysterious voice, and his face was no longer clouded in shadow.
Her eyes flying open, Elizabeth rose from the chair and checked her appearance as best she could in the stark reflection of the darkened window. She opened the study door, and across the foyer there he stood. Without thinking, she glided past Mr. Bingley and Jane, and even ignored Colonel Fitzwilliam entertaining her aunt and sister Mary with an anecdote about a horse. She only stopped when she reached Mr. Darcy and snaked her arm into his, looking up at him with a new expression he had not yet seen before in her eyes: joy.
You’ve been reading A Winter Wrong
A Winter Wrong, Book 1 of the Seasons of Serendipity
a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: July 17, 2014
33,000 words, ~177 pages in print.
When Jane Bennet’s illness at Netherfield ends up not being just a trifling cold, but an epidemic that sweeps through Hertfordshire, the lives at Longbourn are turned upside down. Elizabeth Bennet finds herself lost without a cherished loved one and the interferences of one Fitzwilliam Darcy most aggravating. Combating the bombastic behavior of Mr. Collins, Elizabeth runs to London for the protection of her aunt and uncle. But acquaintances and introductions bring Mr. Darcy back into her life and Elizabeth discovers he might just mend her broken heart.
A sweetheart romantic novella, A Winter Wrong is the first in a series of seasonal episodes following the Bennet family after the loss of their patriarch. Winter explores the feelings of grief and loss we all have experienced, while still retaining a silver lining for that dark cloud.
OVER 100,000 copies of this book have reached readers in over 100 countries around the world! Thank you for your support, Gentle Reader. You rock!
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
Keep reading more by clicking below!
I had to write Darcy getting it wrong at first . . . he’s a bit of a bumbling suitor. 🙂 But still so handsome…what girl could resist?
XOXO Elizabeth Ann West
A Jane-of-all-trades, mistress to none! Elizabeth Ann West is the author of 8 novels and 11 novellas, 18 of which are story variations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.