10/25/2017 In the summer of 2014, I learned a long-time friend and mentor had passed away months ago and I was one of the last to know because my family is military and moves. 2 friends each thought the other had told me. So when I found out, I was not only devastated to lose a woman who helped bring me to church, but I felt like I had somehow been cheated a part of my life once again by the fact that I have been a Navy dependent (child and spouse) my entire life. I was angry! I was bereft… And that channeled into what if the same thing happened to Elizabeth Bennet?
Out of my pain and loss came one of my favorite series to write. I am working on Book 6 as we speak.
XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 5 - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
The first week of Graham’s absence washed over Jane a great melancholy and thoughtlessness to her daily tasks. A letter from her sister at Pemberley broke the monotony and despair with clear direction to begin a program of education for the Starvet House staff. After consulting with Mrs. Buchanan on the matter, a room on the ground floor near the main entrance, once a formal receiving room, was easily converted into a makeshift classroom that all of the household staff might access, yet still see to their appointed tasks around the home.
Apart from the instructional scheme, Jane held an even deeper appreciation for Mrs. Buchanan as the woman had attended services in Haddington with her the previous Sunday. The show of support in Graham’s absence became a treasured kindness to the younger woman playing temporary mistress of the grand home. Jane had received additional post in the form of a note when Mr. Hamilton arrived safely in Edinburgh, but no mention as to when he intended to return. Jane presumed he could not be longer than two weeks or else he might jeopardize their nuptials at the Abbey.
The first day’s instructions of simple sums and the making of the alphabet letters confounded and frustrated a portion of the staff, but most took the instruction in stride. Having just dismissed the mid-morning pupils to prepare herself for a repeat of the material in the afternoon, as the house could not afford to allow all of the various footmen, grooms, maids, and other servants to attend lessons at the same time, Jane asked the maids Alice and Millie to stay behind for a moment. The two young women stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity but quickly curtsied to their mistress.
“I shall tell Mrs. Buchanan that I requested your presence after your lessons, but I have a matter of great importance I should like to discuss.” Jane began with a smile and invited the women to sit, a gesture both found a rare consideration from a person of higher rank.
It was Millie who was brave enough to speak first. “We’re happy to know how we might serve you better, Miss.”
Jane laughed and clapped her hands together once. The women before her had been the two best helpers with little Robin and that was precisely why she could think of no better candidates for the position she now needed filled.
“Feel free to speak honestly, please. What are your thoughts on young Master Robert?” Jane watched carefully for any expressions of disgust as she laid upon the illegitimate child a title of higher status most children of his situation would never enjoy.
“Oh, Miss, little Robin be a handful at times, but he’s a good-spirited lad. I think he’ll grow into a very respectable gentleman under Lord Hamilton’s care,” Millie gushed.
Alice did not appear angry or unhappy, merely shy. But Jane knew if she might get the young maid talking, Alice would reveal where she stood on the matter.
“And Alice? Please, if you are uncomfortable discussing the boy, I understand. I have no interest in losing another staff member over confusion as to his status in this household.” Jane was firm, but fair, in her tone about the subject matter of the dismissed nurse.
Alice nodded. “I suspected with ye to marry his lordship that ye’d be looking for a full time nurse for the babe. And while I loves the lad as much as Millie, here, I am afraid if I were to be the one selected, I would not have the strength to see to his needs morning, noon, and night, Miss.”
Jane smiled at the honest young woman with a tall and slender frame that starkly contrasted Millie’s shorter and curvier stature. The two maids were friends, according to Mrs. Buchanan when Jane spoke of this need the previous day in privacy during the trip home from church.
“You share quarters in the attics, yes?”
The maids nodded.
Weekly chapter alerts, news, and other happy tidings! Join my mailing list!
Chapter 5 (cont'd) - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“Excellent! I should like to ask you to pack your things and move as swiftly as you may to the suite adjoining my room.”
“We is to live on the family floor?” Millie blurted and then covered her mouth.
“Yes, I expect you to comport yourselves with kindness to the other staff members. You will find a change of wardrobe in the room and may change to the calico frocks more befitting your new position.”
“We are both to be nurses? Do you have a preference to how we divide our duties, Miss?” Alice needed to understand the finer points of the new assignment as Millie merely became distracted by the promotion.
Jane admired the balance of seriousness and mirth in the pair, together they would make a good team to provide care for Robin and any new additions that came along the way. “The position pays a guinea a month,” Jane paused as both women brightened at the considerable increase, “and you may speak with Mrs. Buchanan as to how you divide the work. I only ask that at no time shall Master Robert suffer for being considered less than how much he is loved, nor be left to his own devices for too long when he is asleep.”
“Oh, yes, Miss, we will do the best job—”
Loud voices in the hall startled the women and they quieted to hear better the cause of the interruption. Harper could be heard arguing with someone, and a lady’s voice rang above his own. Jane left the jubilant maids to hurry to the entryway in a thrice.
“Harper, who do we have the pleasure of receiving this afternoon?” Jane’s serene smile faltered at the sight before her. Stark white hair, frazzled and blown about in a wild manner, crowned an older, thin woman dressed in an old-fashioned gown of frayed and faded plaid.
“I am the Duchess of Hamilton. What have you done with my son to keep him from me?” The woman pointed a long bejeweled finger at Jane before she dissembled into a fit of ragged coughing, practically collapsing into Harper’s arms.
The Duchess, but she’s dead! Jane thought. But as Harper turned around to silently plead of his mistress, Jane pushed the thought from her mind. Duchess or no, this woman desperately needed her care and now.
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 5(cont'd) - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“Seamus, Colin!” Jane called at once, “Help Harper to take this woman to the gold suite in the family wing. Hurry!” The two lads showed a strong leg and arm in assisting the butler with their guest. Two maids appeared in the doorway as Robin’s cry carried from above stairs. Jane looked at the two expectantly and they rushed up the stairs alongside the men aiding their unexpected guest without a word.
Jane turned on her heel and hastened to the kitchens. Finding Mrs. Buchanan talking with Cook, Jane gave clear instructions for an infusion of lemon, cinnamon, chamomile, and mint to be taken with two thick spoonfuls of honey to the guest suite.
“We have a guest?”
“Yes, the Duchess of Hamilton,” Jane said, catching her breath from the flurry of activity.
Cook dropped the pan in her hand, before stammering an apology, a movement that unnerved Jane.
“Lizzie, Mrs. Darcy,” Jane quickly corrected herself, “told me Mr. Hamilton’s mother was lost.”
Mrs. Buchanan slowly shook her head and frowned. “Nay, though death be a kinder condition.”
“Please, speak plainly, Mrs. Buchanan. His lordship is gone and I have a woman professing to be his mother above stairs in very poor condition.” Jane became distracted as Cook held up three lemons from the orangery for Jane’s approval for the infusion. Without a word, Jane nodded and Cook handed the fruit to a kitchen maid for peeling.
“Come with me, Miss, and I shall tell you the tale.” Mrs. Buchanan wiped her hands on her apron as she bustled past Jane to the main living floor. Her shoes made a staccato shuffling sound on the stone steps leading from the basement.
Jane had no choice but to follow, finding the older woman’s pace a bit too brisk. As large at the estate was, Jane thought she might consider taking up a daily walk, as Lizzie favored, in order to increase her own endurance.
You’ve been reading A January for Jane
Hiding at Mr. Darcy’s Scottish estate with her orphaned, illegitimate nephew, Jane Bennet begins to fall for Graham Hamilton. Homeless from the fire destroying Blaylock House, Mr. Hamilton has stayed at Starvet House since the Darcys left for London, and is everything a gentleman ought to be. But as his own feelings begin to consume him, he has to break through Jane’s unwillingness to experience any happiness for herself. This bonus novella in the Seasons of Serendipity series explores the love story of Jane Bennet and her Scottish lord!
A sweet, short, romantic read for fans of Jane Austen Fan Fiction!
A January for Jane, Seasons of Serendipity Bride a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: August 22, 2016
94 pages in print.
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
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.