Those girls! Could you imagine what would have happened if Mr. Darcy caught them?? 🙂Â
XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 3 - A Winter Wonder, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Youth abounded in the halls of Pemberley between the Gardiner children and the younger women in residence, often resulting in startling shrieks of laughter and gaiety. Elizabeth Darcy left her apartments that joined with Fitzwilliam’s late one morning only to pause at the sight of Georgiana and her sister Kitty standing conspiratorially at the top of the main grand staircase. Their hands blocking their mouths, it was obvious they were whispering, and just as Elizabeth was to take a step forward and greet them the most shocking vision ceased her progress.
Georgiana Darcy, heiress to a dowry of thirty-thousand pounds, swung her left leg over the banister of the elegant staircase and proceeded to slide down two stories to the marble floor below. Elizabeth Darcy covered her mouth in abject shock as she wanted to shout for Georgiana to stop, but did not wish to make the poor girl fall to her death! She moved forward to say something to Kitty, but was not in time to stop her own sister by blood proceeding to follow Georgiana’s example and slide her way down the stairs!
Bustling forward in great pique, Mrs. Darcy hustled down the stairs, as quickly as her condition allowed, to go after the wayward young women before they could make an escape to the breakfast parlor. She began shouting halfway down the stairs.
“The two of you cannot be left unsupervised for even one moment! I saw you both risk life and limb for thrill neither of you deserve! What if you had fallen? Who do you suppose would find you lying lifeless in a tumbled heap with a broken neck?” Elizabeth ranted on and on, closing her eyes and touching her forehead with her fingertips as the vein on the right side pulsing with threat to burst.
“We shall not do it again, I promise. You are right, we were not thinking if one of the children might have found us injured.” Kitty quickly offered a mea culpa which put an end to her sister’s imaginings of the catastrophes that might have occurred.
“Truly, it was thoughtless of us. The weather has just been so dreary and I only wished to have a bit of excitement.” Georgiana offered her brother’s wife the façade of sweetness and innocence, but Elizabeth Darcy was not fooled.
“The two of you are-“
“Elizabeth, might I have a word?” Mr. Darcy interrupted the lecture with his sudden appearance, presumably from his study located on the back hall. He ignored the younger women other than to offer them a pert nod of acknowledging their presence.
The two girls looked at one another with their faces ashen. Elizabeth had to make a speedy decision on whether or not to confess their transgressions to her husband. She knew he would be very cross and might even blame Kitty for being a bad influence on Georgiana. Whirling around to address her husband, she made a quick wave of her hand to signal for the girls to leave, which they hastily acted upon before getting into more trouble.
“How can I help you this morning, husband?” Elizabeth offered him a minxish smile in hopes he would not ask what just transpired with their younger sisters.
“We have received well wishes from a number of neighbors, though not neighbors perhaps in the sense you are accustomed to enjoying in Hertfordshire,” Darcy frowned as he looked down at the pile of letters he was speaking about, wondering how to explain that his parents so rarely socialized and he never made much effort as a bachelor, that both might provide additional obstacles to their acceptance.
“I did not call on anyone nor expect callers in this weather nor distance,” Elizabeth worried she already made a grievous error as Mrs. Darcy.
“No, might we, perhaps we should discuss this in my study?”
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and smirked, but Darcy shook his head. They would not be a repeating the behaviors of the last time he showed her his study and for a moment, she was disappointed, but accepted there was genuine work to do. Taking a seat across from his desk, she picked up the most ornate envelope by far. The crest she recognized as the Cavendish family, having studied furiously the most powerful families’ symbols when she first agreed to marry Fitzwilliam.
“The new Duke wishes to call?” Elizabeth’s voice faltered as she read the veiled request for invitation.
Darcy nodded.
Elizabeth’s mind raced. Before she even considered the scale of hosting the Duke, and by proxy, all of the local gentry and those of noble connections, she thought of her mother. Her mother, sitting at dinner, with a duke, fawning her daughters off in hopes of a fantastical match.
“We cannot. I know you look beyond my mother’s manners, but Fitzwilliam, a duke?”
Darcy rubbed his chin and tried to think of a solution. He did not wish to create another generation of discord between the Darcy and Cavendish families, nor did he wish to provide and evening of farcical entertainment.
“We must. And you will do a splendid job with the planning and menu, and I . . .” Darcy struggled for a tangible guarantee as he made his promise, “And I shall find a way to manage all of our relations.”
Elizabeth smiled weakly at her husband and they settled on a date. She had just the helpers in mind to help her pen the twenty invitations that would be sent out, fully planning to find many mistakes so they must redo a number of the correspondence. When her stomach growled most insistently for she had yet to eat that morning, her husband became alarmed.
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Chapter 3 (cont'd) - A Winter Wonder, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“Are you ill?” He asked immediately before his sense registered the sound he had heard. “You are hungry!”
Elizabeth laughed as he quickly came around the desk and placed his hands on her midsection. It was still too early, but Fitzwilliam so desperately wanted to feel his babe’s kicks. Elizabeth could feel the flutters regularly now, but they were not too powerful nor constant.
“I was on my way to the breakfast parlor when you found me.” She continued to laugh as Fitzwilliam wasted no time in giving up his physical search for evidence of the baby growing inside of her and escorted her out of the study and to the morning’s repast.
“Next time, at least order a tray to be sent to the study,” he said more sternly than he intended.
Elizabeth pecked his cheek, shaking off his officiousness.
“Yes, dear.”
She waved him away and felt happy to see the other inhabitants had long left the breakfast parlor so that she might eat alone. There was much to plan and she wanted a clear idea of her own visions before word of hosting nobility reached the ears of the staff or her family members.
Brutal winter weather assailed Newcastle on Tyne much too early in the year. The newly promoted Brigadier Richard Fitzwilliam gruffly entered his temporary headquarters at Holt House with the tips of his extremities burning in pain, cursing the cruel turn November had taken. Marching to the warm fire roaring in the family’s study, a room now exclusive to his use, Richard removed his worthless leather gloves and rubbed his hands vigorously.
“Sir!”
“What is it, Pratt?”
“The horses are properly tended to and Privates Smyth and Tarvild are held in the stockade awaiting your judgement.”
Richard poured himself a healthy drink and cursed under his breath. Two of his best horsemen wrecked the local inn last night after too much drink, ego, and bravado. A fight ensued with multiple members of His Majesty’s Finest joining the brawl. As Brigadier of the entire outfit, Richard had spent all morning apologizing and making amends with the innkeeper and various local business owners, not the way he had intended to spend his morning.
“Three days bread and water. They can muck the stalls morning, noon, and night, clean the regiments’ boots, and when they are not cleaning, they are to be marched.”
Pratt looked up from his official paperwork noting the men’s punishments. “Sir, would not lashings and be done with it be best?”
Richard knocked back his drink. With scars on his own back, he hated the whip. No, a whipped man never forgot, never rose above his markings. “And two days extra drill for the regiment.”
“Sir?”
“My men will think a second and third time before they ever behave in such a manner again.”
The assistant frowned and hurried off to take the orders to the officers in charge of each company before the sour mood Brigadier could add more punishments. Richard picked up the stack of post on his desk, reading through reports of Wellesley’s remarkable progress in the Peninsular War. More reports of antagonizing American ships were included and Richard shook his head. If it was one thing his superiors hadn’t learned it was fight a war on as few fronts as possible.
A letter from his parents caught Richard’s attention and he opened the missive eager for cheerful news. His mother faithfully corresponded to him on all of his assignments, regularly providing a morale boost at opportune moments. If ever he needed one, it was now.
Dear Richard,
Your mother and I are writing to you in hopes of sending this news before it spreads like wildfire.
Richard cast the letter aside and returned to finishing the day’s reports. He was in no mood to endure his father’s inane queries and recommendations for the army. Most likely Robert finally made his match and a wedding date was set. Three cheers for the future Earl of Matlock and all that, but he had more important matters to tend to, including apprising his superiors of last night’s debauchery.
His most precious piece of post he read daily. It was a letter from Mary Bennet, the creases so worn he had to rely on memory for some lines. Miss Mary represented the strongest and most beguiling woman of his acquaintance and she had pledged to wait for him.
He had penned a number of responses to her, all inadequate in his mind to the brave and enormous dedication she offered. After weeks of agonizing over the matter, he finally listened to his man Pratt. He loved Mary Bennet, no doubt of that, and maybe he could not provide for her in a high-society fashion, but he could protect her from harm. That area he was well-trained in. A letter for her would go out in today’s post finally granting both of them their dream. He would come for her in spring and they would marry before his unit took orders for action.
Before closing Mary’s letter, Richard paused to look out the window of the study to see his officers faithfully marching the men outside. Satisfied with the obedience, Richard picked up his letter to Mary and sealed it with wax. Just as he was ready to call for a messenger to take his post, for he did not wish to go anywhere near the inn again today, guilt over ignoring his family set in.
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 3(cont'd) - A Winter Wonder, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
With another drink in hand, Richard read the missive from his parents. Only the letter was not from his parents, but from his father, detailing a trio of dumb, speculative business decisions his father made not anticipating an utter cut off from his American business contacts. Richard’s jaw set as he read the lines that Robert became personally embarrassed at the club because the bank issued a statement for no more credit to be extended on the Fitzwilliam account.
And so son, I am afraid we are taking austerity measures to the furthest point, hoping your brother will find his match this Season if only to save the family’s holdings. Your mother and I reluctantly withdraw our aforementioned assistance of procuring a home in town as you requested, though I know we promised you such accommodation if you gave up your commission.
Your mother asks me to add a line for you to weather the storm and not give up hope.
There were more lines of how they were even to go to Pemberley to further save funds, but the anger soon blinded Richard to any further apologies or half-promises his parents had to offer. The letter from Matlock House balled in his fist, he hurled it into the fire, not satisfied with the small exertion to soothe his rage.
“PRATT!”
The man who had been with Richard Fitzwilliam for years did not flinch at his superior’s anger, knowing the bluster all too well was not directed at him. With a proud chin and clear voice he rogered up for instructions having returned from his earlier duties and seeing to the regiment’s accounting.
“Ready my horse! Tell any officers not drilling to ready as well, in five minutes’ time we ride!”
Pratt nodded and ducked back out of the impromptu headquarters thankful for once the Brigadier would take a ride to dissipate his anger instead of destroying the office.
Richard Fitzwilliam returned his gloves to his hands with rougher movement than usual and his gaze caught the letter to Mary sitting prim and proper on top of the stacks, awaiting the start of its journey. Without another thought, Richard picked up the missive and flicked it into the fire.
You’ve been reading A Winter Wonder
Confronting her first trials at Pemberley, Elizabeth takes on the tenant Christmas party, sidestepping her mother’s meddling, and finding a way to support the needs of all of her family members. But finding time alone with her husband, Mr. Darcy, in a house full of people is a challenge, even at an estate as large as Pemberley! As old secrets bear fruit, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth stand united and find support in each other. With a babe on the way, and surprise visitors, there may just be more than one winter wonder to behold.
The fifth season in the Seasons of Serendipity, a historical family saga that imagines how the story of Pride and Prejudice might have changed had Mr. Bennet died of illness before Mr. Collins arrived.
A Winter Wonder, Seasons of Serendipity a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: July 3, 2015
232 pages in print.
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
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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.
Wonderful to see another chapter I hope you and your family are well.
I am so heartbroken for Richard as a second son he’s so much to endure and now another setback for he and Mary.
Elizabeth and Darcy seem to be taking on their families together which I love to see.
A dinner party for Duke?! Eagerly anticipating that!
Looking forward to your next posting…