Oh dear. Mr. Darcy made some decisions without consulting his wife . . .
XOXOXO
Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 7 - An Autumn Accord, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Despite being well-sprung, the Darcy carriage jostled and jerked over the deep ruts on the main road to Meryton. Elizabeth Darcy smiled at the familiar sites of Winslow’s Farm and the fork in the road where one could cut a path to her favorite glen. As they reached the outskirts of her hometown, the carriage turned left away from the road leading into the town proper and the inn.
Elizabeth turned around as she glanced out both windows to find her husband riding Poseidon on the carriage’s left flank. Frowning at the two sulking sisters on the bench across from her as they offered her no help or explanation, Elizabeth bested the stuck window and lowered the pane to lean her head out the side.
“Mr. Darcy! Mr. Darcy!” She called out to her husband as he rode just behind the carriage wheel.
“Mrs. Darcy!” he bellowed in surprise to see wife’s lovely face pop out of the carriage proper.
“Kindly return your head inside the carriage!” he called out as he encouraged the pace of Poseidon to come closer to the window, lest his wife lean even further out and risk falling.
“Why have we turned away from town?”
“It was meant as a surprise, but Charles is to reopen Netherfield. Now, return to the safety of the carriage!” The master of Pemberley voice issued the edict from on high.
Elizabeth slammed the windowpane closed with more force than necessary and sank back on the opposing bench from her sisters. The man was infuriating with his surprises and failure to disclose changes in their arrangements to her, his wife. First, their two younger sisters were all at once to join them without even so much as a discussion with Elizabeth, and now they were not to stay at the inn and therefore close to her mother, but clear on the other side of the county. At the dastardly Mr. Bingley’s leased estate, no less!
“I never did occasion a chance to stay at Netherfield Park when we lived here before. I wonder if it is indeed as grand as they say?” Kitty Bennet broke the silence both she and Georgiana maintained the entire length of travel from London to Hertfordshire. The presumed excitement of staying at the only estate in the neighborhood aside from Longbourn, once owned by their family but now in the care of a cousin, trumped whatever malady afflicted Elizabeth Darcy’s travel companions.
“My brother’s friend Bingley is an agreeable gentleman, but I often find myself uncomfortable in his sisters’ company.” Georgiana admitted, biting her lower lip. Her outburst that morning over their mischief to seek publication for Kitty’s novel had done considerable damage between her and her brother. She doubted she could rely upon him to spare her from Caroline Bingley’s company as he had on previous occasions.
There could be little doubt if Mr. Bingley had opened his home, his sister must be in residence to play hostess. After spending the previous summer in Hertfordshire, Georgiana was less excited to visit again so soon and ruminated on how she might once again make apologies to her brother for her impertinent behavior.
Elizabeth Darcy stoically gazed at both girls with a raised eyebrow, wondering what had occurred to make her husband change his mind about bringing them along to Meryton. She had yet to receive a straight answer from any of them and she would not let her pique over the change in accommodations diminish her desire for the truth.
As she extended her hands in her lap and looked down at her midsection, Elizabeth did at least have the sense to realize she never told her husband about the particulars of Jane calling off her courtship with Mr. Bingley. But why had not the Matlocks shared the intelligence with him? Elizabeth’s heart ached as she wondered how Jane was faring so far away in Scotland. Her guilt distracted her so that the carriage arrived at Netherfield quicker than she had anticipated.
The Darcy party, fussed over by both Bingleys, was heartily welcomed into a home all too familiar to Elizabeth. Nearly one year ago, she had walked through the same entryway with her skirts several inches deep with mud to inquire about Jane’s health. The toll that illness took on her family and the rest of the county still cut to the core of too many hearts. She and Jane both survived, thankfully, but lost their beloved father.
Chapter 7(cont'd) - An Autumn Accord, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
As if perceiving emotion overwhelming her, Darcy gently grasped his wife’s hand as though to assist her up the many flights of steps. She had become so absentminded of late. She had utterly missed the discussions and arrangements for the two younger girls who were a surprise for both Caroline and Charles Bingley. Where the brother had taken it in stride, Elizabeth Darcy caught the last remnants of a sour look on Caroline’s face as she left the merry party to give instruction to the house staff to ready two more rooms.
“Mrs. Darcy, I must say you wear marriage well, Madame.” Charles Bingley greeted the wife of his closest friend without the slightest hesitation. Quite shocked he would grab her hand and bow over it, Elizabeth hastily pulled it back and glared at the man she once thought suitable for her older sister’s hand.
“We thank you, Mr. Bingley, for such hospitality with little warning. It is most kind of you to offer such amends.” Elizabeth said through clenched teeth, not caring for the effect of her words. The tips of Bingleys ears turned red and her husband made apologies for her exhaustion. Whisked above stairs to rest, Elizabeth Darcy pursed her lips as her husband fussed over her and gave instructions to her maid. The man’s officiousness was becoming quite clearly out of hand, but Elizabeth was not yet certain how to address it.
“Charles says we are to dine in two hours. I suspect there shall be a toasting to Caroline’s engagement with Lord Bergamot who I understand is also in residence but not present when we arrived.” Darcy said, gazing down at his diminutive wife.
Elizabeth murmured a small noncommittal response, nodded to her husband and entered the chamber for her own use during her stay at Netherfield. While she would say she did not precisely close the door in Fitzwilliam’s face, the coldness of his wife was not unnoticed by Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Clenching his fists outside of the door, he only moved when his valet poked his head out of the adjoining chamber to check upon his master’s progress. With more matters on his mind than Elizabeth’s anger at staying at Netherfield, Fitzwilliam Darcy decided the best course of action for such a stressful day was to restore his own mood, and then seek out restoring the mood of the women around him.
A timid knock on Catherine Bennet’s door interrupted the young woman’s preparations for one of her first formal dinners since Lady Matlock’s tutelage. She begged whomever it was to enter and continued to play with the one curl over her right ear that refused to cooperate. Spying her sister-in-law in the mirror’s reflection, Kitty turned around and made a mock face of delight as Georgiana took a spin in a powder blue frock recently purchased when they were last at the dressmaker.
“Positively ravishing. Now if only it wasn’t such a dull dinner with nothing but our family and their friends.”
Georgiana walked further into the room and carefully rested on the large bed meant for Kitty’s use. “Can you believe in just six months’ time this will be nearly a nightly occurrence, a new dress, a new hairstyle? We shall receive invitations to the most selective dinner parties, wait until you see.” The younger version of her older brother, Georgiana Darcy possessed the same strengths of character as her brother, merely directed to different pursuits. She planted her hands behind her for support and leaned back to look up at the pale pink canopy over Kitty’s bed.
A small sting of envy stabbed Kitty’s heart as she noticed the glistening diamonds hanging from Georgiana’s ears. Turning once more to her own reflection, Catherine Bennet instead now saw a plain girl from a family of no consequence except save her sister’s marriage. Not wishing to put a damper on Georgiana’s excitement, Kitty busied herself with finding her one necklace of a simple gold chain and cross to wear with her dress in a pale buttercream. “Do you think your brother intended for us to practice our French today and to begin reading, or do you think it might be safe to assume our punishment begins tomorrow?”
“I had no intention of asking any particulars about what my brother does and does not wish for us to do. If we merely wait him out, he will likely forget the entire matter. He won’t wish for everyone at Pemberley to become aware of our mischief.” Georgiana leaned forward on the bed to put her reflection behind her friend’s, who also happened to be her sister. “Besides, was it not you who taught me if both of us are naughty, they won’t punish us both.”
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 7(cont'd) - An Autumn Accord, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Catherine laughed, seeing a bit of her younger sister Lydia’s personality coming out more and more in Georgiana Darcy. Whether a bit of spunk had already dwelled in Georgiana’s chest, or Kitty had the uncanny ability to bring it out in another, she couldn’t say for sure. But the world around her felt like home the longer she had Georgiana for a confidante.
Kitty pursed her lips and pinched her cheeks, a trick her own mother had taught her to help bring some color to her pale complexion. “Come, if we do not wish any words said to us of reprimand, we ought to reach the dining room before Lizzie andFitzwilliam.”
Georgiana giggled as she hopped off the bed, and twisted her head to check the back of her dress for any unflattering creases. “Agreed.” The two girls linked arms, and escorted one another down the grand staircase of Netherfield Park with their heads held high and smiles upon their faces.
The dining table was spread with no less than a dozen elegant dishes, displayed as a pure triumph of the cooking staff’s abilities. Realizing they had committed a social sin of presuming the evening’s meal to be less formal, the two girls laughed as Kitty stood in the anchor position to twirl them both around. They exited the dining room and crossed the entryway to enter the open parlor. A handsome man stood pensive, gazing into the fire as the two girls entered stifling their merriment over their mistake. The dark stranger turned his head and offered the girls a charming smile before setting his snifter on the mantle to perform a deep bow.
“Lord Alphonse du Bergamote, at your service.”
The sheer gallantry of such an introduction stunned both Georgiana and Kitty from speaking, but they immediately curtsied deeply as their sister and brother formally joined the room.
Fitzwilliam Darcy did not appreciate the two younger girls being alone in the parlor with only the Frenchman, but said nothing as all appeared to be a happy accident. Pushing her own consternation aside, Elizabeth Darcy donned her official role as wife and guardian.
“Have we arrived too early? I remember the Bingleys stating dinner was to be sharply at seven o’clock.” Elizabeth Darcy wondered aloud as the clock on the mantle clearly showed it was ten minutes past the hour.
Lord Bergamote reclaimed his snifter from the mantle and sipped a deep mouthful as he walked closer to the four visitors from London. “My Caroline heartily enjoys the concept of fashionably late. I believe Charles said something about ensuring this evening was not a repeat of the last time you dined at Netherfield, Mrs. Darcy.”
Elizabeth offered a polite response to the French lord’s explanation, wishing with all her might this place did not have such a painful history at every turn. This room was where she learned of the death of her father. The first time Mr. Darcy had shown her kindness. Of course the memories were not so painful for Kitty, and her eyes widened as she remembered the disastrous dinner party from last winter and happily recounted the details to Georgiana.
“And the plates were in all the wrong places, you see, that we, all of us, picked up a platter and moved it ourselves!” Georgiana laughed though Darcy and Elizabeth frowned over both young girls. Caroline Bingley chose that exact moment to enter the parlor finally attired for dinner that she was hosting.
As Caroline employed her trademark glide with her chin slightly elevated, she sailed right through the visitors from London and attached herself to Lord Bergamote’s side. “Dear, I did tell that silly maid to hurry up, but I’m afraid good help is so hard to find in this backwater country. It is the same as it ever was since Charles took this lease. I hope I have not made you wait too long?”
“No, Miss Bingley, we were only discussing what a lovely visit we had the last time you hosted us for dinner.” Mrs. Darcy smiled sweetly at her adversary, just as Bingley entered the parlor with visible perspiration on his forehead.
“Cheers and salutations, you’re all here. I’m happy to announce dinner is served.” The affable Charles Bingley, seeing the other two couples already well matched, offered an arm to each of the two young girls to escort them into dinner. The Darcys moved to follow Charles into the dining room, when a slight cough could be heard behind them from Caroline Bingley. With the practice of decades of social manners, Darcy nonchalantly steered his wife slightly to the right so that the Lord Bergamote and his fiancée could take precedence over the untitled couple entering the dining room.
The sheer magnitude of Caroline Bingley’s airs and rude manners steeled Elizabeth Darcy to make this visit to Hertfordshire as happy and relaxing as she could possibly muster. Caroline had no idea that it was not only the Darcys of the ancient bloodline who possessed a stubbornness of will as deep as the oceans.
You’ve been reading An Autumn Accord
The fourth season of the Seasons of Serendipity and conclusion of the first year sees Elizabeth and Darcy reconcile the consequences of their honeymoon trip in Scotland with their family’s future. Kitty Bennet and Georgiana Darcy have bonded over their training for debut in society, plus found a bit of mischief to create. When Darcy decides to help his wife mourn the one-year anniversary of her father’s passing with a trip to Hertfordshire, he finds a whole new set of problems await them both regarding the widow Bennet.
An Autumn Accord Book 4 of the Seasons of Serendipity
a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: February 26, 2015
~190 pages in print.
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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.