This is the book that was never planned in this series… but when I sat down to write what I wanted Book 3 of the series to be, Elizabeth Bennet had other plans . . .
XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 43 - The Whisky Wedding, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
WITH A MUTUAL penchant for early rising, the Darcys arrived at their town house in London by midmorning on their sixth day of travel. If they had expected a calm welcoming, they would be disappointed as Lady Matlock, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, and Jane Bennet already held conference in the parlor.
With no time to take in her surroundings, Elizabeth Darcy rushed into the parlor and abruptly stopped when she spied her sister. Equally overcome with jubilation, Jane, too, rose without ceremony and the two sisters embraced.
“I am so happy to see you!” Both sisters exchanged, laughing at the simultaneous cheer. Richard stood and greeted his cousin with a handshake and a backhand smack across his chest.
“Fitzwilliam Henry Darcy, a man to elope? Why didn’t you tell me, old man, so I could’ve taken odds at the club?” Richard and Darcy laughed as the two Bennet sisters quickly caught one another up in their misadventures.
“Lydia is here? You found her?” Elizabeth exclaimed turning her head to look at Darcy with great hope and then back to her sister Jane.
“I did not find her so much; for that we owe the Colonel here.”
“Nonsense, your sister Miss Bennet, is the true hero. Without her I might not have recovered Miss Lydia from Lady Bowman’s.”
Darcy raised an eyebrow at the mention of Lady Bowman’s and Richard gave a quick nod.
Feeling left out, Lady Matlock finally rose from her chair to the stuttering of her nephew.
“Aunt Regina,” Darcy gave a low bow. “May I introduce to you my wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy. Elizabeth, this is my aunt, Regina Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock.” Elizabeth swiftly dipped into a low curtsy.
“Kind of the two of you to join us. But I’m afraid all of our work has been for naught. Your sister is a complete flirt, disrespectful, a common gutter snipe. I was just discussing with Richard she should be sent away so that she may not pollute Georgiana’s mind any further.”
Elizabeth Darcy did not wish to insult Mr. Darcy’s relations, however, she could not offer a blanket pardon for those with a title to malign her family members either. Just as a fiery Lizzie was about to argue, Jane squeezed her sister’s hand.
“When we recovered Lydia, she was inconsolable. I had great pity, but after a good meal and some time with another young woman, I’m afraid she is much the same as we knew at home. And she has affronted Lady Matlock most grievously.”
“She told me it was none of my concern where she had been or why she had run off with that man! Said she would speak to Mr. Wickham and no other!” Lady Matlock, still incensed at the disastrous interviews with the girl, vented her spleen to the Darcys.
Mr. Darcy cleared his throat. “I apologize, aunt, that is unacceptable.” Lady Matlock, slightly satisfied, sniffed.
“As I explained to Miss Bennet and also to my mother here, Miss Lydia’s behavior is not entirely surprising. Do you remember how unattached Georgiana behaved after her ordeal?”
“Georgiana is not the one ruined!” Lady Matlock emphasized.
“Pardon me, your ladyship, I, too, apologize for my younger sister’s appalling behavior and insulting speech. But if my sister Lydia is indeed ruined, but for the grace of secrecy, the same could be said for your niece. If anyone knew of Ramsgate, I am afraid they would share the same fate.” Elizabeth Darcy stood her ground as she looked to Jane. “However, I will join you in another interview with Lydia. And we shall bring her to accept responsibility for her stupidity and find out the particulars for further plans.”
As Jane heartily agreed with her married sister, Elizabeth flicked her eyes to her husband’s expression. She worried that speaking ill against his sister in defense of her own would anger Mr. Darcy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Fitzwilliam Darcy stood in awe of the strength of character of Elizabeth Darcy, strengths he had long admired and found most attractive. But there were more pressing matters to be discussed and he would support his wife’s aims as much as he could.
“Aunt, Richard? My study? I should be most grateful if you both can tell me more about what we know so far. Agreed?”
Richard nodded and clapped his cousin on the shoulder. Lady Matlock scowled but took her precedent to leave the room first and head towards the back of the house to Darcy’s study.
When only Jane and Elizabeth remained in the parlor, the sisters found need to embrace once more.
“You are married!” Jane cried, “Are you happy, Lizzie? Truly happy?”
Elizabeth shyly nodded. She remembered how happy she had been since becoming a wife, and could not help sighing with pure contentment. But then Elizabeth’s expression of joy began to falter.
“Where is father?”
Jane frowned. “He returned to Longbourn. Said he would receive his married daughter and her husband there on your way back to London.”
“But we did not stop at Longbourn! We came from the west!”
Jane gasped. “Oh, I am afraid he will feel slighted.”
Elizabeth’s stomach growled as she had not eaten anything since that morning. When she had been alone with Fitzwilliam and making plans for their travel, she did not feel guilty for avoiding her own home. But now answering to her elder sister, she felt rotten.
“I was afraid if we called there, mother would become distracted and not allow us to leave and join the search for Lydia. And I thought father was here, in London.”
Jane nodded sympathetically. “He wished for me to return as well, but I defied him, Lizzie.” Elizabeth gasped as Jane held her head slightly higher. “I was not rude, but I did tell him I would stay at Aunt and Uncle Gardiner’s house . . .”
At the mention of their aunt, Elizabeth scowled.
“Forgive me, I should not mention her. I did not learn of her abandoning you until after I left their household to come here.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “There is so much to tell and discuss , but we have a task to perform.” She finally looked around the parlor and marveled at the stately decor of the room. Another new house she was to be mistress of, and had not even seen her room.
“Lydia is in my room, we can go see her and I think, together, make her see reason.”
“Yes, yes, and by the by, what is the plan to cover her disgrace? Is that even possible?”
Jane chewed her lower lip as she stalled in telling Elizabeth the truth.
“Oh dear, are we sending her away?” Elizabeth worried, understanding the necessity of such a response, but her heart was breaking just the same over the loss of a sister.
Jane shook her head. “If Lydia can behave, the story is she left Brighton to try to rescue you. To keep you from foolishly eloping.”
Elizabeth’s jaw dropped open and she inhaled so rapidly that swelled her breast to near capacity again and again.
“I am so sorry, Lizzie. No one wanted to blame you and Mr. Darcy, but Lady Matlock believed if we have one scandal that ended in marriage, we should use that to cover up the scandal that did not result in marriage. And there is a Duke upset, and well, I could not argue with their sentiments at the time. I was only one person outnumbered by three.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. She began to feel a niggle of pain just behind her eyes, the first warning of a monstrous headache. “Mr. Darcy’s aunt is very wise. Oh, how I wish this mess was not so very tangled and I could just sit and tell you all that happened to me.”
Jane held her sister’s hand and squeezed it, a sign of affection that brought Elizabeth back to the present.
“Listen to me,” Elizabeth found a way to set aside her selfishness, “worried about my trials when I am happily married and safe. Come, let’s try to do the same for Lydia, even if she doesn’t fully comprehend her danger.”
“Perhaps we ought to threaten sending her away if she does not cooperate?” Jane suggested as the two women finally began to leave the parlor.
Elizabeth Darcy laughed. “You have changed, sister. You once were so gentle and unwilling to think the worst of anyone!” Elizabeth found it ironic her sister Jane was leading the way though she was Mrs. Darcy and this was one of her homes.
“I think we both have changed.” Jane said finally, “but for the better.”
Chapter 44 - The Whisky Wedding, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
AWAY FROM HIS wife, the fatigue and stress of the last fortnight appeared visibly etched across Darcy’s face. The paling of his skin and darker circles under his eyes caused Richard to begin a low whistle as he looked at his cousin.
“If that’s what marriage does to a man, count me out.” Richard held his hands up performing a convincing version of Shakespeare’s Benedick. Darcy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“When you travel as fast as you can from Broadmeadow to London with a wife terrified of riding in a carriage, you will understand.”
“What on earth were you thinking, Nephew?” Lady Matlock bristled at the casual nature of both her son and her nephew when there were very serious matters to discuss. Darcy’s eyes blinked at his aunt as if her words were too difficult to decipher. So she continued. “Aligning yourself with that family! But it is not too late, nobody knows of your flight to Scotland, we can get the whole marriage annulled.”
Fitzwilliam Darcy’s jaw froze at a sharp angle as he held his tongue against his aunt for a moment. Richard watched the anger rise in his cousin’s chest replacing the pale skin with a healthy shade of red.
“Mother… I do not believe you comprehend the depths to which Fitzwilliam has chased Miss Elizabeth.” Richard began brokering the peace, but Darcy’s anger spewed forth with no less force than a volcanic eruption.
“Anulled?” he spat. He began pacing to temper his words with physical activity. “Do you think if I had any intention of annulling my marriage I would have rushed here to London or set your son up with the funds and means to find Miss Lydia and that scoundrel?” Darcy bellowed.
“Be sensible, that family is a disaster. The youngest sister shows no remorse, the eldest,” Lady Matlock slanted her eyes at her son and pursed her lips before continuing, “also seems to have no sense of decorum, spending weeks walking the streets of London on her own to search for her sister before joining your cousin here to fetch that creature from a brothel!”
“So he sold her?” Darcy frowned with a grim expression as Richard slowly nodded his head. “Then it is the worst that we feared.” Darcy found himself with the overwhelming urge to yawn and tried to minimize the gesture.
“So you see then, an annulment is the only answer.” Lady Matlock thought erroneously that the full explanation of Lydia Bennet’s fall would persuade her nephew.
“There will be no annulment!” Darcy shouted as he crossed his arms over his chest. He refused to break his gaze with her and stared her down until finally the woman frowned and looked away.
“Besides, she may very well carry my child as we speak.” Lady Matlock’s eyes widened as Richard congratulated Darcy who waved his hand. “No, you mistake me, there is no indication that Elizabeth is with child, only that it is merely possible because, as I say, we are husband and wife.” Darcy made the last statement with a finality that his aunt finally accepted.
Knowing when she had lost the battle but still needed to fight a war, Lady Matlock calmly took a seat and snapped her fingers for her son and her wayward nephew to come and sit down next to her. “Good. You have passed that test.” The two men looked at at one another but Regina Fitzwilliam did not wait for them to keep up.
“Now, let’s discuss how we shall handle this mess. Since you are intent on keeping her, is there any reason that your marriage would not be valid?” Lady Matlock asked the question suspecting much, but did not hold concrete information in hand to push the point. The Bennet family held no reputation in town, there was no way to know if any of the sisters were already married, or some other such problem.
Darcy gritted his teeth and rubbed the back of his head, dragging his hand down his neck. “There is. Her accident robbed her of her memory in a few select cases.”
His aunt look at him expectantly to continue.
“Elizabeth does not remember marrying me.” Where Darcy received a sympathetic look from his cousin, he received no such assurance from his aunt.
“That is no matter. You married over the anvil, it is hardly acceptable in our circles. We shall hold a ball on the 29th and you can get married in the church on the 30th. The two of you will go to the Archbishop and see to the special license and I will begin preparations for the ball.” Lady Matlock rose from her seat, forcing her son and nephew to do the same when they just found their own.
As Richard teased Darcy quietly, Lady Matlock led them to the entryway and decided she would leave the young people to their own devices. Further discussion came to a halt as Elizabeth and Jane practically ran down the stairs. The tumultuous noise gained all of their notice, both Richard and Darcy out of concern and Lady Matlock out of censure.
“Fitzwilliam!” Elizabeth cried as Jane called for her colonel. Both men extended a hand to assist their respective ladies down the last steps as Elizabeth and Jane conveyed the same message. They had interviewed Lydia, ruthlessly, as sisters can only exact against other sisters, and finally the youngest gave up some information.
“The White Stag! We were so close, Lydia says he stays at the White Stag!” Jane told the colonel as Elizabeth nodded to support Jane’s claims. Jane continued.
“When Mr. Wickham dumped her off at that horrid place, he told her where to go if they mistreated her. Lydia, being Lydia, had told them off at the first sign of what was to be her fate and that is why they locked her away.” Jane finished, out of breath.
Darcy and Richard quickly conferred and added the errand of going after Wickham before they sought the Archbishop. Elizabeth frowned.
“Why the Archbishop?”
“My aunt, will host a ball on the 29th and if you’re willing, we shall marry once more in front of our family and friends in the Church of England on the 30th.” Fitzwilliam asked watching Elizabeth’s face closely, but she was in such a state of shock, she did not respond one way or the other.
“And what should we do about Lydia?” Jane asked looking furtively at Richard, but it was Lady Matlock who stepped forward.
“Richard, Fitzwilliam, see to your business. And ladies, we shall go to the dressmakers.”
“Thank you very much Lady Matlock for your consideration, but I am not sure –” Elizabeth Darcy began, but the other woman cut her off.
“Fetch Miss Lydia and Georgiana. We all must be seen in public now that you have returned to London. Do not forget we have a lie to give birth to.”
Elizabeth felt the room about to spin and feared she might faint. The ache in her head began to pound furiously behind her eyes and she reached out for Fitzwilliam’s arm. “I understand you perfectly but as I have been traveling for six days straight, I must beg a rest. Tomorrow if the offer still stands, I will visit any and all destinations you wish.”
Lady Matlock took inventory of the young woman so recently married to her nephew as Fitzwilliam leaned closer to Elizabeth to hear her whisper in his ear. A brilliant tactician, Lady Matlock took Mrs. Darcy at her word.
“Fine, tomorrow then, I shall hold you to that. I shall return home and send out cards.”
A heavy stone of guilt and shame dropped deeply somewhere in Elizabeth’s stomach and she felt hollow. Her husband squeezed her hand discreetly and Elizabeth looked up at him.
“It shall all be well. I promise. But now, madam, we must act on your information and I shall see you this evening. I am sorry that I cannot show you to your room, but perhaps Miss Bennet?“ Darcy looked to his sister by marriage who grinned to convey she would help Elizabeth.
Darcy bowed and he and Richard took their leave. Elizabeth waited at the window with Jane to watch them mount their horses, both saying a silent prayer for their safety.
NEW RELEASE
For the Love of a Bennet
What if Elizabeth Bennet traveled with Lydia to Brighton?
A reimagining of Jane Austen’s most beloved tale, Pride & Prejudice, join author Elizabeth Ann West as she writes the romantic adventure story she always wanted! When Lizzy and Lydia arrive in Brighton, it’s very clear that the younger Bennet sister came with very serious plans towards Mr. Wickham. Thankfully, an old ally is also in town, with problems of his own to solve. After Mr. Darcy, himself, is summoned to Brighton to hopefully solve two dilemmas with one wealthy member of the gentry, the whole militia is thrown into an uproar by Wickham’s most dastardly deed, yet. Together, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy have to save Lydia from her own undoing, or it will mean more than just mere reputations are ruined.
For the Love of a Bennet is a novel length story, currently being posted chapter by chapter on Elizabeth’s author site. This story was originally conceptualized in 2019 as a part of the All Go to Brighton challenge.
Chapter 45 - The Whisky Wedding, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
MR. AND MRS. Darcy awoke early their first morning as a couple in their London town house. As Elizabeth fluttered her eyes to spy her husband by her side and once more feel the comfort of his embrace, she yawned and stretched and rolled over to nestle her back against his chest. Her stirrings alerted him to the new day and he softly groaned.
“You are unhappy this morning?” Elizabeth asked, her voice slow with drowsiness.
Darcy groaned even louder and squeezed his arms around his wife. “I ache all over. While you rested, Richard and I rushed off to The White Stag to find remnants of a ghost. That innkeeper became the most expensively worthless informant, only to say Wickham left with no trace of where he was going. But we did pick up the alias he uses. And Richard has some plan he won’t include me on.” Mr. Darcy droned on about all of the details they had found. Added to the sisters’ interview of Lydia, together they formed a rough timeline of Lydia’s flight from Brighton.
Upon leaving the safety of Colonel Forster and his wife, Lydia confessed she did not wait long to bestow her favors upon Mr. Wickham. For a week they remained in London, and he kept saying he needed to see to his business to find the funds for them to continue to Scotland. Lydia began selling her belongings, which kept her in his good graces as well as her eager company. But when the money ran out, Wickham took her to Lady Bowman’s and lied to Lydia about the nature of the place. He stated that Lady Bowman was a good friend. Lydia, still believing that Wickham loved her, accepted his leaving, as it was not the first time and he’d always come back before. But once he left, Lady Bowman informed Lydia of her new position in life and Lydia would have none of it. For three days she was locked away until Jane and Richard rescued her from her captors who had done little more than keep her hungry and eager for relief.
“Well at least it is lucky that we have recovered Lydia before she was too hurt. Though, I don’t feel she has learned a lesson at all as she still pines for Mr. Wickham.” Elizabeth reasoned as Darcy finished off the discussion with tales of Wickham running up gambling debts and leaving without paying the bill.
“Yes, but . . .” Darcy agreed tentatively. Elizabeth heard the hesitation in his voice.
“She is no worse than Georgiana. And if she does not fall with child, no one shall ever have to know.”
Darcy kept his silence as there was nothing he could say without inciting anger from his wife on the subject. When it became clear that silence also spoke volumes, Elizabeth nudged her body away from her husband to no longer feel his touch. Fitzwilliam moved closer to deny his wife her protest which resulted in another nudge away. Again, Fitzwilliam moved closer to his wife, refusing to give up their physical contact over the subject of their sisters. At the very edge of the bed, Elizabeth grew exasperated and tried to throw the covers back but Darcy captured her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Please do not let us argue over Mr. Wickham and your sister. I beg of you,” Mr. Darcy asked, earnestly.
Elizabeth grumbled something incoherent as Fitzwilliam pressed his nose to the tender space between her shoulder blades much as she had done to him many mornings ago.
They lay contentedly in the space between half slumber and half awake until it was Mr. Darcy who began to feel restless. He kissed his wife’s bare shoulder and rolled away. “I am to see my solicitor today, and you made promises to my aunt.”
Elizabeth groaned and kept her eyes closed as she rolled toward her husband while he retreated back to his side of the bed.
“Be grateful it is with my Aunt Regina, and not Aunt Catherine.” Darcy again tried to inspire his wife to wake up.
“Can you not tell her I need another day of rest?” Elizabeth asked with a pouting lip.
“You did not appear to need such rest last night, Mrs. Darcy.” Fitzwilliam shared a smile he reserved only for the company of his wife, and Elizabeth giggled at his teasing.
But then Elizabeth had a thought and she furrowed her eyebrows. “How very quick, husband, to already have an appointment with your solicitor?” Elizabeth’s words seemed to find issue with Darcy’s meeting with his legal representative but in fact she was not fully happy with the rush of their English wedding plans without much of her own input. She did not wish to cause trouble over such a minor inconvenience of feeling left out, especially when she heartily agreed with the outcome, and so she posed her dislike as a question of her husband’s efficiency.
Darcy rolled to his back and tucked his arms behind his head to stretch out once more from the fatigue of yesterday’s activities.
“I am late to be truthful. I wrote to him the first night you came to Broadmeadow to make arrangements for you just in case things did not go to plan, and then again after we married. He expected me days ago.”
“Plans for me?” Elizabeth wiggled underneath the bed covers at the flattery of her husband’s consideration.
Darcy pivoted his head in the cradle of his hands. “I would never see you not provided for, Elizabeth. Did you not think you had a settlement after we married in Scotland?”
Elizabeth blinked and twisted her lips to prevent herself from feeling overwhelmed with emotion. It still stung she did not remember clearly so much of their time at Broadmeadow apart from the last two days.
“I, that is, I did not know if . . . ” Her voice trailed off as Fitzwilliam half rose from the bed to study her face intently.
“Memory?”
She blushed and tried to look away from having to admit that still her most wanted memory did not exist, the one of them getting married.
“Fear not, we shall correct that, Mrs. Darcy. And that is why you must rise and ready yourself for my aunt. Regina Fitzwilliam does nothing by halves.” Darcy began to tickle his wife in hopes of a new activity before they both met the demands of the day when a series of doors closing and hurried footsteps could be heard in the hall. A shrill voice pierced the air that put dread in heart of both Mr. and Mrs. Darcy.
“Jane? Lydia? Lizzie? Do not put your hands on me, I am Mrs. Bennet! My girls, my girls are here!”
Fitzwilliam looked at Elizabeth who looked back at him with her face frozen in horror.
“Why is she here?” Elizabeth hissed, wondering how on earth her mother came to London and called at Darcy House at so early an hour.
“I know not, but she is your mother, so it is not me she is looking for. I suggest you dress faster.” Mr. Darcy smirked as Elizabeth hunted for her robe and he pulled the bell cord the appropriate number of times.
He could not help but laugh at his wife’s haste, as more of Mrs. Bennet’s shouts could be heard from down below. It was ungenerous, but as Darcy waited for his valet and Elizabeth left his room to see her maid in her room, he half hoped Mr. Cross would throw Mrs. Bennet out, and half prayed his butler did not. It amused Fitzwilliam Darcy that with his mother by marriage, there was simply no good outcome either way.
You’ve been reading The Whisky Wedding
When Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice learns of her sister’s elopement before leaving for the Peaks District, she and her aunt are off to Scotland to chase the wayward couple. Inn after inn, there is no sign of Lydia or Mr. Wickham, but Elizabeth won’t give up. A foolhardy decision to continue to search on her own lands Elizabeth right into the arms of a familiar face . . . Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Join author Elizabeth Ann West in a tale of carriage accidents, amnesia, and a forced marriage, but happy endings for all. Well, maybe not Mr. Wickham!
The Whisky Wedding
a Pride and Prejudice novel variation
Release Date: December 28, 2016
514 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.