Richard James, you dolt! Indeed, Lady Matlock, indeed. 🙂Â
XOXOXO
Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 10 - A Summer Shame, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Jane Bennet lounged on the chaise placed in her suite especially for her use, bundled up in a spectacular quilt of ruby red and evergreen stars. She traced the delicate stitches that bound the layers of fabric together and shivered as a maid stoked the fire.
“Thank you, Millie.”
The maid curtsied. “Anna, ma’am. I’ll be Millie all the same if it pleases you.”
Jane touched her fingers to her forehead then shook them away. “No, no, I apologize. One should never change their name to suit another. I have lived in so many houses over the last year, I confess I don’t know if I’m coming or going half the time.” Jane laughed, nodding to the wisp of a girl with plain brown features until the young girl smiled just a touch on the left side of her mouth. “There now, I’ve thoroughly embarrassed myself, but your work for my comfort is much appreciated.”
Mrs. Darcy entered the room and the young girl immediately dropped her head into a curtsy. “Please allow us some privacy, Anna?”
“Of course ma’am. Will there be anything else?” The maid asked looking to both sisters before Mrs. Darcy shook her head no. After the sturdy wooden door latch clicked, Elizabeth dragged an armchair from the far side of the suite to bring it closer to Jane by the window. Her older sister shrugged herself into a sitting position, waiting for Elizabeth to convey the reason for her presence.
After looking at her hands and wringing them, Elizabeth finally sighed and delved into the issue that was troubling her most. “Jane, are you unhappy here?”
Shocked, Jane sputtered for a moment then heartily convinced her sister she was not unhappy at all, and far from the feeling entirely.
“I only ask because I so rarely see you. At least, I never see you when Mr. Darcy is present. Last night at dinner, you barely said two words to our host, Mr. Hamilton. It is so unlike you . . . I worried that perhaps I had done something to offend. Or perhaps the staff?”
“Starvet House is a dream, Lizzie. A pure dream! The fields, the kindness, I never imagined loving another place so swiftly and deeply as I feel when I think of our own home, Longbourn.” Jane frowned and corrected herself. “Our former home.”
“I am so pleased to hear it, but still, I know we’ve been separated lo these many months. My heart is heavy for you. Was it the business with the Bingleys? Oh, that I were there for you! Had we honeymooned in London, I’m sure Mr. Darcy would not have minded.”
Chapter 10(cont'd) - A Summer Shame, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Jane’s warm hand snuck out of the blanket and she grasped Elizabeth’s. “Do not trouble yourself. What would we have done with Lydia had we not the convenience of such a grand home? No, no, our separation was painful but necessary. As far as the Bingleys . . .” Jane sighed and took a few deep breaths. “I cannot well describe my feelings towards him and his sister. It is not painful, and it is not with hate. I . . .”
“You were disappointed.”
“Yes, exactly! I think Mr. Bingley is such a kind man, and generous and amiable, but he suffers so from the influence of his sisters. It’s not always easy to stand up to one’s own relation.” Jane shrunk back as she thought about her neglect of their mother, the dozen or so letters from Hertfordshire, largely unopened, sitting in her trunk. “Tell me about you! My sister, the mistress of a home! Lizzie, I cannot compliment your skills enough to do you credit. I fear my own head would ache most profoundly under such demands as yours.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, would that you knew all of the mistakes I made! I nearly scared a poor farm boy out of his wits one morning on my early walk when I marched over to the sheep barn and asked him to explain to me what he was doing. He thought me criticizing his work, and was so nervous that the new mistress would now surprise him with visits, he requested a new assignment to the far field. The whole story, of course, made its way round to Mr. Darcy, and I sat like a guilty young girl in his study as he for all he was worth not to laugh!”
Jane and her sister enjoyed the mirth of more stories until the laughter made Jane’s eyes nearly tear up. As she wiped them, Elizabeth smoothed her skirts and became agitated once more.
“What? What is it?”
“I must go, I’m afraid, and meet with Mrs. Buchanan. There are a few candidates for Lydia’s wet nurse in the village, and we wish to begin interviews soon.”
“Is she so close to her time? I thought for sure the babe would not come until nearly October!”
Elizabeth shook her head. “The doctor and midwife both think those calculations are wrong. Lydia won’t tell me when she first started . . . relations with Mr. Wickham nor when she first missed her courses. Trying to talk to her about the babe is an exercise in futility.” Elizabeth’s stern Mrs. Darcy demeanor reappeared, and Jane realized how heavy responsibility could weigh on a person. In no time at all, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy would be the owners of matching crease lines on their foreheads from the difficulties their positions demanded.
With a quiet voice, Jane asked a question, again returning her inspections to the beautiful stitching of her quilt. “Lizzie. What if . . . what if Lydia?”
“We will not discuss that. She has the best care and nothing will happen. The Lord shall protect her and us. We will not discuss that.” Elizabeth repeated herself, lost in her own thoughts and fears. Blinking her eyes a few times, she refocused on Jane. “You are truly well? Happy?”
With the broadest smile she could muster, Jane Bennet lied to her sister, not remembering the pain caused the last time she tried to hide a burden. “I am exceedingly well, and enjoying the quiet.”
Elizabeth nodded and left the room, leaving the door open on her way out. She hoped the gesture would indicate how much she wished Jane would join them downstairs but did not wish to force the invitation. As Elizabeth walked quickly with purpose down the grand staircase to meet with Mrs. Buchanan, it never dawned on her that she had not invited Jane to join her in the interviews. It did dawn on Jane, cutting her heart to the quick.
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 Summer Shame, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
* * *

Mary’s mood still hung like a dark cloud over Gardiner house on the eve of Kitty, Georgiana, and Mrs. Bennet’s arrival back to London. Though she planned to remain at the Gardiner household, Mary had visited Darcy House at the request of Mrs. Kensington to help with the preparations for the reopening the townhome for the few weeks Miss Darcy would be in residence.
The housekeeper peppered her with pointed questions about Mr. and Mrs. Darcy’s months-long holiday in Scotland. The search for specific details of who traveled with the Darcys now and when they planned to return made it clear to Mary that the woman did not entirely approve of Miss Darcy being left so often to the care of tutors and companions.
As she exited the grand house, Mary took one last look up at the elegant facade, thinking that once her aunt was safely delivered, she would take Jane’s example and leave London for a quieter life at home, with her mother. Just as she was about to board the carriage, another carriage with the unmistakable Matlock crest on the door arrived. Cursing her bad luck, Mary shifted from foot to foot, utterly caught between wishing to hop in her own carriage and disappear and greeting the Fitzwilliam family member that had arrived.
Please be Robert, please be Robert. Anyone but Richard, she thought hard, closing her eyes.
“Miss Mary, how lovely to meet you here.” Her hand was taken and kissed by the velvety lips she still dreamed about most evenings.
“Colonel. I really must go; I’m afraid, my aunt is expecting me.”
“Nonsense, we shall send a note.” Lady Matlock alighted from the carriage, stretching her tight muscles in a most ladylike manner. “I find it so lucky we should meet.”
Mary’s face paled, accepting the Colonel’s arm to return back to the home, under the harsh gaze of Mrs. Kensington. Her feet echoed on the beautifully stunning patterned parquet flooring and Mary listened as Lady Matlock began discussing details with the housekeeper. As the Countess agreed with all of the arrangements Mary had made, despite Mrs. Kensington attempting to suggest other plans, suspicions began to grow in Mary’s heart there was no luck about her meeting the Fitzwilliams at all. She decided to test this theory.
“I apologize for taking the liberty of making such arrangements. I had not known that Miss Darcy would not be alone these weeks in London.”
“My niece is never just left to her own devices if that is what you are insinuating. My son is her co-guardian.” Richard puffed his chest slightly at the mention of his responsibility.
Mary stuttered. “No, no, I did not mean that at all. Mrs. Kensington asked me to visit and had a myriad of questions about my sister and brother-in-law’s plans, and . . .”
“Did you tell her anything private?”
Mary shook her head. She knew little details of the situation with Lydia and preferred that status as opposed to the alternative. Dark thoughts of Mrs. Younge’s lifeless body falling to the carpet at her feet flashed in her mind, and it took Lady Matlock additional attempts to regain Mary’s attentions.
“Hmmm, I do not like this development. Richard, do you think that Mrs. Younge has designs now that Wickham is dead? Might she come after the family for some twisted sense of recompense?”
Mary’s lip trembled. “But she’s dead, she can’t come after us!” Mary blurted out, for her own sake, not the countess’s, then remembered her manners. “Your Ladyship.”
“She’s dead?” The Countess whirled around on Richard who physically shrank away from his mother. “And when did you plan to impart that salient point, son? And why does Mary know of this before me?”
Mary cleared her throat and looked at Lady Matlock with a firm countenance. “Because I was there, your ladyship.”
The countess collapsed onto the sofa in the small parlor, Richard immediately tried to tend to his mother, but she swatted him away. Margaret Fitzwilliam needed a moment to connect all of the pieces of the puzzle. As she looked at Mary and Richard, back and forth, she began to see how the breach between them came about.
“You dolt, Richard James! Taking a lady to apprehend a criminal!” Lady Matlock held her hands out beckoning for Mary to attend to her on the sofa. Still shocked by the vulgar language of her superior, Mary complied without giving her movements a second’s reflection. “And you, poor dear, what horrors did you see?”
Finally, Richard spoke up to tell his mother the entire story, leaving out the part about the kiss in the carriage. Mary began to giggle at the end of his somber tale.
“And what have I said to make you laugh, sweet Mary?” The Colonel’s face appeared bemused and still, his blue eyes flirted shamelessly with her.
“Only that I had to explain the same situation to my uncle and he was not happy with you, sir, not at all.”
The Colonel’s face whitened as the blood drained away. “Does he, does he demand satisfaction? Shall I go see him?”
“Of course you will go see him! This very afternoon! And if you were not too old for me to take a switch to your bottom, I would make sure it was painful for you to sit!” Lady Matlock rose and smoothed her skirts. “I shall make arrangements, and you,” she pointed to her son, “you behave!”
With the door wide open, the two young people left behind fidgeted at the sudden privacy afforded them. Mary could no longer look at Richard, feeling a dreadful pain in her belly as she realized how disappointed Lady Matlock would be when her uncle told of the way she had let Richard kiss her. Not recognizing her anguish was so real, her slight moan of despair was all the encouragement that Richard needed to ride into a battle of Cupid’s making once more.
“Mary, Mary, please speak with me, we have a precious few moments. I had no way to know how deeply I hurt you, and I missed you every day you were in London.” He gently sat on the edge of the sofa, making Mary instantly stand up.
“Please sir, I do not wish to place you in any further danger.”
“Danger?” He laughed. “What danger?”
“For your mortal soul!” Mary looked at him as if he were daft. “I know I am not good enough for an earl’s son, I shall not reach beyond my stars. But my attraction to you and attentions have bewitched you and I am firm in my resolve to tempt you no further.”
Richard Fitzwilliam tucked his bottom lip under his upper to hold his first comments back. The woman of strongest mettle he had ever seen paced the rug in front of the large windows without pause. Realizing she was genuinely agitated, and as afflicted as he, it still did not change the fact that he was practically penniless in his own right.
Small clanking of the bits of metal in his uniform alerted her he was rising, and she froze, like a frightened deer as he approached. “It is I who am not good enough for a daughter of Bennet. But mark my words madam, after our interview with your uncle, I shall leave my mother here and find a way to be otherwise.”
Mary’s heart lurched to a stop as she held her breath. Had he just declared himself? Was he about to? Before she could remember how to form words again, Lady Matlock reappeared in the doorway.
“Come, come! I have sent a note ahead, and a new team of horses has been rigged.” She pretended not to notice anything amiss, but Margaret Fitzwilliam did not mistake the blooming blush of a woman in love spreading on the cheeks of Miss Mary Bennet. As the grand lady turned around, expecting the couple to follow her, she began to make mental notes on all that she still had to teach the woman she hoped to be her first daughter-in-law as soon as may be.
You’ve been reading A Summer Shame
A Summer Shame Book 3 of the Seasons of Serendipity
a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: November 23, 2014
33,000 words, ~162 pages in print.
The third novella in the Seasons of Serendipity sees the Bennet sisters divided by countries, not counties. Still struggling to find family stability after the death of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth joined with her new husband, Fitzwilliam Darcy, converts her honeymoon in Scotland into a mission of hiding Lydia’s scandal. Jane Bennet, under the wing of Lady Matlock, learns that taking on the mantle of family champion comes with tight corset strings attached. Saving face in soirees with the Ton, Jane must fend off the talons of society’s climber and discovers she has a much deeper decision to make about her own future.
A Summer Shame is the third book in a series planned to chronicle 4 years of the Darcy-Bennet-Fitzwilliam families. Death, marriage, changing fortunes, and politics test Jane Austen’s wonderful characters in an alternate universe where the girls have not the protection of their father.
“I could not put this novel down! This book has a refreshing storyline that is interesting, amusing, surprising, and vivid.” – Amazon.com 5-star review on A Summer Shame
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
Keep reading more by clicking below!
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.