Love this series! Here is the last chapter of A Winter Wrong and I will start posting A Spring Sentiment soon! Thank you so much for reading! And tell your friends, we’re going to post all the books here! It’s fun! 🙂
XOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 13 - A Winter Wrong, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
The morning after the ball, Elizabeth Bennet’s first thoughts were complete jubilation that she was engaged! And not just to any man, but the one man she esteemed above all else, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.
“Jane, Jane, wake up! Is it not a marvelous day?”
“Mmmm, let me sleep, Lizzie.”
But Elizabeth could not. She bounded up from the bed to wash her face and listened to birds chirping outside the window. Of course, the birds would sing on a day like today, even it was only the warbling of a fieldfare.
Dressed in one of her finest morning gowns, Elizabeth spent most of her time after breakfast sitting in her uncle’s study, pretending to read, but watching the street out front. Her uncle had taken the day off from work expressly so he could accept Mr. Darcy’s visit.
“I wonder what is keeping him so long,” she said with a sigh.
Edward Gardiner did not look up from his letter. Although he was taking the day off, he had a considerable amount of work to do with three vessels scheduled to arrive next month.
“Lizzie, it’s only ten in the morning. Not all have the stamina you possess after an entire night of dancing,” he gruffed.
For another fifteen minutes, she remained calm and went back to reading, until the bell rang and she jumped up.
“I’ll answer!”
“For heaven’s sakes child, sit down!” her uncle said with a laugh. Laying his pen on the blotter, Edward Gardiner pushed back from his desk and had the courtesy to rise for the door to his study. However, upon opening it, Kline merely handed him a message. There was no Mr. Darcy.
Chapter 13 (cont'd) - A Winter Wrong, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Elizabeth was at her uncle’s side, trying to see over his shoulder, for the missive must be from her fiancée. In those few moments where he turned left and right in response to her prying eyes, she imagined all sorts of terrible accidents that might have befallen Fitzwilliam in the few short hours since she left his company.
Uncle Gardiner walked away from Elizabeth and sank into his desk chair, still reading the express in his hands over and over again.
“Uncle, what is it?”
The study door still open, Kline announced Mr. Darcy and the man strolled in with nothing but smiles for his intended. Elizabeth greeted him and then quickly frowned.
“What? What is it that upsets you, dearest?”
Elizabeth pointed to her uncle. “If you’re here, then the terrible news can’t be about you!” She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her uncle. “Please, what has happened, Uncle?”
Edward Gardiner folded the letter and placed it on the desk behind him, before rising to shut the study door. With a heavy sigh, he poured himself a brandy and began to drink. Sitting on the couch with Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth began to tremble that her uncle would need spirits so early in the day.
“If I can be of any assistance Mr. Gardiner, please know that I shall happily do anything for a family member of Miss Bennet.”
“Oh, I think in this case you might not be so keen.” Edward Gardiner spun his chair to face the sofa and took a seat, taking a moment to smooth his vest. “It would appear that your sister Lydia has been abandoned by Lieutenant Wickham.”
“No!” Elizabeth gasped, and she felt Darcy place an arm around her.
“My last letter to your mother asked for him to come to London to seek my blessing, and apparently your visit did not fall on as deaf of ears as you might think.”
Closing his eyes, Mr. Gardiner’s mind raced as he tried to think of how he could have acted any differently to save his niece’s future. “My sister, though she may seem silly at times, never leaves her daughters’ futures to chance. When she inquired into Lieutenant Wickham’s reputation about town, she was most displeased to learn he was heavily in debt.”
Elizabeth began to sob with her head hung low, and shrugged off the arm of Mr. Darcy. Pounding her fists into her thighs, she vented her anger out at Lydia. “Stupid, stupid girl! It’s all lost.”
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 13(cont'd) - A Winter Wrong, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Confused, Mr. Darcy looked to Mr. Gardiner, who shrugged, and then back at Elizabeth.
“Miss Elizabeth, what? What is lost?”
Sniffling, she accepted the handkerchief offered by Mr. Gardiner and dabbed her eyes. With a deep breath, she tried to stop her tears, but they just kept coming. Finally, she decided it didn’t matter.
“You. I have lost you,” she sobbed.
Without thinking about Mr. Gardiner’s presence, Mr. Darcy pulled Elizabeth into an embrace. He closed his eyes as the woman he loved buried her face into his chest and wondered why the two of them couldn’t go just one day without the entire world conspiring against them.
As Mr. Gardiner cleared his throat, after all, they had yet to even discuss his niece and her beau, Mr. Darcy reluctantly released Elizabeth. But still, he tipped her chin up so that he could look at her and give his firmest declaration.
“There is no man or woman on this earth that can stop me from loving you. As long as you consent to become my wife, there is no worry that our wedding will not take place. Agreed?”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around him again, to which Mr. Gardiner stood up to turn his back on the couple and looked out the window.
“Well, I suppose there isn’t much to talk about in your corner, Elizabeth. Your Mr. Darcy neither needs or requires my blessing, but he has it anyway.”
Giving the couple a minute more, Mr. Gardiner finally turned back around to see that Mr. Darcy was still tenderly regarding his niece.
Clearing his throat, Mr. Darcy stopped his whispers and stood up to address Mr. Gardiner directly.
“I believe, sir, that the best solution will be for me to ask my friend Bingley to reopen Netherfield Park. With Elizabeth’s and my return to the neighborhood, I suspect we might be able to make tongues wag in another direction.” He gave a grim smile to Elizabeth who returned a sweet one of her own.
“Are you quite sure what you are volunteering for, son?”
Mr. Darcy nodded. “I doubt the mothers and drawing rooms of Meryton can rival the metaphoric undressing one can undergo here in London.”
The two men laughed, and Elizabeth blinked as she sat on the couch. She had never considered how society might have treated Mr. Darcy in the past, and thinking him to be the object of every scheming momma made her somewhat jealous. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t completely mind the conversation about her, until her uncle addressed her.
“Would you tell Jane that you and she will be joining your mother, while I think it best that Mary remains here.”
Elizabeth shook her head, “I’m sorry, but how will any of this help Lydia? Even if we rush to dazzle all of Meryton with our engagement, Mr. Darcy, there’s still the problem of tracking down Wickham.”
Darcy held a hand out to Elizabeth to help her off the couch. Placing both of his hands just below her shoulders, he looked deeply into her eyes.
“Leave that up to my cousin, Richard. The man is part bloodhound. Once he tracks Wickham down, we can consider our options.”
Elizabeth once more took a step forward and breached propriety by hugging her intended, causing Mr. Gardiner to actually speak out.
“Enough of that, you two, or I shall drive the carriage to drag you to Gretna Green myself!”
Elizabeth laughed and curtsied as she left her uncle’s study to once more pack her trunks. It would appear that her engagement to Mr. Darcy would mean a springtime in Hertfordshire, and she took a deep breath at what an ordeal that would be.
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 . . .
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The end…. until the next book. 🙂 If you feel up to leaving an honest review on your favorite ebook retailer, like Apple or Kobo or Google or Amazon or Nook, I would truly appreciate it! Honest reviews help new readers find books they will love.
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.
I am a Pride & Prejudice junkie and love the various scenarios written by Elizabeth Ann West.
Thank you 🙂 I too am Mr. Darcy addicted 🙂
I understand that this is one of the older books in the series, but I am just reading it for the first time and enjoying it tremendously. Thank you.
Oh Lydia, you always have perfect timing to ruin a perfect moment. I wonder just how much friendly she got with Wickham, should we be worried about that?… I guess I must go to the spring to find out.
Thank you for sharing your stories for free with us dear author (I promise once I’m not utterly broken I’ll go kindle shopping). I know I’m late to this party, but better late than never, right? 😉
Oh, thank you for reading! And everyone supports authors in different ways. I post what I can, and people’s comments and encouragement always help. There’s also always reviews and sharing/recommending books to others. Buying a book is wonderful, do not get me wrong. But it’s not the only way to support and author’s work and I think the readers of JAFF are some of the best supporters of writers there are!
And you’re not late to the party, you showed up just as it was fashionable! 🙂
I love your books on ODC. I am totally addicted to Pride and Prejudice. This will be my second time reading this series. Thank you for making it available for us retired folks.
Oh my days your books still make me swoon! I randomly remembered this series and went to re-read and I’m so happy I did. Thank you, Elizabeth!