A Spring Sentiment: A Pride and Prejudice Novella Variation (Seasons of Serendipity Book 2) (6 page)

“I never meant to hurt you, Jane. I drive this fast all the time on these roads; it’s a complete rush, I tell you.” Still she frowned at him, and Bingley took off his hat in contrition. “I had hoped to give you a small thrill, a little excitement since we’ve both been cooped up in parlors and drawing rooms.” He looked at the ground in shame.

Jane couldn’t stay angry with him. “Do you promise to slow down? It would be very pleasant to ride and have some conversation.” She gave him a small smile as he looked up at her. He reached for her hand and kissed the top.

“I solemnly promise. I’ll even give you the reins and let you drive.” Jane’s eyes lit up when he offered to let her drive. Carefully, he helped her back into the curricle, and they began the trip back to town, this time at a quarter of the speed they had left town. Jane relished controlling the ponies and felt herself sitting taller and more elevated in the leather bench seat of the equipage. “Can you imagine spending our Saturday afternoons riding in London just so?” Bingley began a conversation about their potential future lives. Jane twisted her mouth into a line of disapproval.

“Perhaps we would spend our afternoons riding just so here in Hertfordshire? You do plan to purchase Netherfield, do you not?”

“To be honest, my plans are not yet set. That is, purchasing an estate was my father’s dream, and while I leased the property to learn more about owning an estate, I cannot say that it’s a dream of mine. I find London suits my needs much more closely.”

A small bump in the road jostled Jane, and Charles reached over to steady her hands. The touch was novel, but Jane didn’t find it made her heart flutter as it had before. Her disappointment in losing what she counted as her future—raising her family amongst families she had known her whole life—had darkened her mood. Loving Bingley and becoming his wife looked to be the surest way to find herself lost in the London crowd. Faced suddenly with a new prospect, Jane didn’t know what she thought about such a dramatically different future from what she had seen for herself.

As the curricle came back into sight of Meryton, Jane offered the reins back to Charles and answered his other queries with pleasant conversation. They arrived at her aunt’s home just as her mother and Lydia were returning, and Jane gave a meek farewell to Mr. Bingley before allowing her mother to shower him with her effusive compliments.

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Chapter Six

The strength and duration of Madeline Gardiner’s hugs made Elizabeth and Kitty Bennet blush. Her home bereft of the cheer the young women brought to its walls had been of too long an endurance, and the girls’ aunt had no qualms about showing how much she desired their company.

“How was the journey? I’m certain you are positively worn out, even if Mr. Darcy’s carriage is well-sprung.”

Elizabeth and Kitty shared a look. The frazzled fussing made both girls raise an eyebrow and giggle. Their aunt convincingly mimicked their own mother only during a certain condition.

“We are well. Mr. Darcy made sure we stopped at many inns along the way to stretch and rest. I think the trip was longer by two hours on account of his fastidious care!” Elizabeth related to her aunt.

“All the same, there is water on boil so you each may take a bath. Dinner will be served in just a few hours if you wish to go upstairs and rest. Kitty will stay in the smaller room, and Mary will move over to room with you, Elizabeth. We expect her any moment now from Matlock House.”

As Elizabeth began to take the stairs, she paused and looked back down at her aunt. “Mary wasn’t visiting at Darcy House with Miss Darcy?”

Aunt Gardiner shook her head. “Both girls were collected by Lady Matlock and have been enjoying the last few weeks with her.” Placing her hands together, Madeline Gardiner made her way back towards the kitchen, mumbling giddily to herself that tonight her girls would all be together again.

Kitty and Elizabeth both paused on the landing before separating to their individual rooms. Elizabeth noticed Kitty’s hesitation and gave her younger sister a warm smile.

“It shall always be this way for me, won’t it? Shuffled back and forth to relatives until I marry . . .,” Kitty said.

“I know it’s difficult. But only the first time,” Elizabeth replied.

Kitty took a deep breath and opened the door to her room. Charming green curtains hung on the small window of the far wall. There was a single bed and bureau furnishing the room. “Back in Meryton, I could pretend this was all just temporary.”

“He would be very proud of you, Kitty. You’ve matured and grown. I’m sorry he was not--not so considerate of you and Lydia when he was here,” Elizabeth said softly, wincing as she admitted her late father’s faults. She turned quickly into the room she would now share with Mary, leaving Kitty to settle in on her own. Elizabeth curled up on the familiar bed she had slept in for every visit to London since she was fourteen. The fatigue from her stress and travels weighed heavily on her body. After a few salty tears slid down her cheeks, Elizabeth closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Her slumber didn’t last long, for less than an hour later, Mary Bennet opened the door to their shared bedroom, and Elizabeth popped up from the bed with the fatigue of her recent tears making her eyes sting. She rubbed them and yawned.

“Forgive me; I wasn’t made aware you were sleeping,” Mary offered. Elizabeth immediately noticed something different in the way her sister carried herself. There wasn’t Mary the Mouse in front of her looking down at her feet as she apologized, but a confident young woman with a sincere look of concern on her face.

Elizabeth rose from the bed and greeted Mary with a warm hug.

“Was it so very awful?” the younger Bennet sister asked.

Elizabeth walked over to the looking glass and used the cool water in the basin to refresh her face. She shivered at the temperature and dried her cheeks with the towel. “You cannot possibly fathom! From disastrous dinners to Mama trying to make William spend more money at every turn, I was constantly appalled at our family’s behavior! Were we really so awful before?”

Mary gave Elizabeth a twisted smile. “So it’s William, now?”

Both sisters enjoyed a giggle. “Yes, when we are in private, we call each other by our Christian names. I admit that for some time, that’s what I’ve called him in my thoughts.”

The door opened to their room and a more familiar version of the lively Kitty appeared. “There’s an officer downstairs! A large, tall man with the handsomest brown eyes! He’s to dine with us!” She left the door, then reappeared briefly. “And Mr. Darcy is here!”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow, then smiled. “It must be Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Darcy’s cousin.” Elizabeth walked past Mary to follow Kitty out of the room, but didn’t miss the flushed color spreading from her younger sister’s cheeks and down her neck. Elizabeth made a mental note to acquaint Mary with her and Jane’s midnight chats tonight to get to the bottom of what all her visit at Matlock House entailed.

Dinner in the Gardiner home was far more pleasant than any Darcy and Elizabeth had enjoyed in Hertfordshire. Darcy didn’t just bring his cousin, but also his younger sister, Georgiana, and she and Kitty were getting on famously down at the end of the table closest to Mrs. Gardiner. Elizabeth felt hopeful to see the two young women converse with such high spirits. Across from her, she kept a watchful eye on Mary, sitting next to the colonel, and couldn’t help sharing a slightly amused look with her uncle as she noticed Mary blush again. With a small smile, Elizabeth turned her attention back to her plate and took another bite of candied carrots.

“Are you very fond of carrots?” Mr. Darcy interrupted her thoughts.

Elizabeth compared her plate where her carrots were nearly gone and Mr. Darcy’s plate that had no trace of carrots ever being there. “They are a particular favorite of mine. But you appear to not enjoy them, sir?”

“Indeed, I find myself much more pleased to leave the orange roots for those they are intended for.” He paused for a moment and then shared the answer with her as if he was releasing state secrets. “Rabbits.”

Elizabeth couldn’t resist a good tease and turned her face to her fiance. She scrunched her nose up and down in a most impressive imitation of a bunny. “We heartily thank you, sir.”

Darcy laughed and the novelty of the sound made the colonel and Mary stop their conversation to look at the couple across from them.

“I say, Darce, heaven shines on a man whose wife can make him laugh.”

“Hear, hear!” Mr. Gardiner answered and raised his glass in toast.

Darcy wiped his mouth with his napkin to try to hide his continued jubilation. He reflected that in the future, he should be very mindful to not take a drink or mouthful of food when he was baiting the future Mrs. Darcy.

“Thank you, Colonel. But I assure you, it wasn’t my intention to only make Mr. Darcy laugh, but also not take offense at his calling me a rabbit.”

“Darcy! Surely not! From what I hear, Miss Elizabeth is a most ferocious knight, able to slay dragons!”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes but it was her sister Kitty who jumped in to take the colonel’s bait. “What dragon? Lizzie doesn’t slay dragons. That’s absurd!”

“Au contraire, Miss Kitty, I heard a report that she bested my Aunt Catherine, and if ever there were a dragon, it is she.” The whole table erupted in laughter as all present had been privy to some version of the truth that caused Darcy and Elizabeth to finally quit Hertfordshire. “I believe my mother plans to erect a statue to you in her garden: Elizabeth the Brave with a foot on Catherine the Coward.”

“Richard, that’s taking it a bit too far.” Darcy responded.

“I apologize, Colonel, but I fear that I side with Mr. Darcy. I am not proud of my actions towards your aunt, and I would hate to be the cause for a rift in the family.” Elizabeth found her hunger had simply slipped away as she was reminded about the potential consequences of her actions.

The colonel waved his hand. “If I have offended, then I apologize, but I think you will find that more people in London are apt to shake your hand, Miss Elizabeth, than chastise you over standing up to Lady Catherine for the second time. Remind me to never get on your bad side, eh?”

“Being on my good side or bad side is entirely up to you, sir.” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and flicked her eyes to her sister Mary and back again.

“Ho, ho! I concede, Elizabeth the Brave; this soldier will be on his best behavior.”

Darcy frowned, not enjoying the familiarity of conversation passing between his cousin and Elizabeth. He cleared his throat and addressed Mr. Gardiner. “I brought a box of cigars from my private collection if you would like to partake?”

Mrs. Gardiner acknowledged that dinner was over and began to rise from the table, causing the three men to also rise. “Ladies, shall we retire to the drawing room? I think we have certain plans to discuss,” she said as she made sure to lightly brush her husband’s hand as she walked by Mr. Gardiner standing proudly at the head of the table. The Bennet sisters and Georgiana stood and followed the older woman’s lead, with Georgiana making sure to smile and nod to her brother as a sign that she was quite comfortable.

“Alright, gentlemen, since you are providing the smoke, I shall provide the cognac.”

Mr. Gardiner pulled down his waistcoat that continually bothered him when he sat or stood and escorted the two young men to his study. Darcy paused for a moment upon entering the room, his eyes settled on the window seat where he had finally managed to win Elizabeth’s heart with a game of chess.

“Don’t look now, but we’ve lost the love-sick Darcy again, I’m afraid.” The colonel continued to hold out the glass to his cousin as he had done so for a few moments. Darcy shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, taking the proffered glass and finding a seat closest to the door.

“Ah, leave be, Colonel. It is said those who tease loudest are likely to suffer a similar affliction all too soon themselves.”

Richard shifted his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot and moved to inspect a great naval battle depicted on the far wall of the Gardiner study. “Were you a Navy man, Mr. Gardiner?” Richard asked, noting the amazing detail of the two warships firing upon one another.

“Sadly, no. But I always wished to be! Unfortunately, I’m horrifically land-legged. Couldn’t even stomach a proper boat rowing with Madeline back when we were courting.”

“Does Miss Elizabeth enjoy the water?” Darcy asked.

“I think that might best be a question for you to ask of her, a nice neutral subject for a sitting room under observation of others.” Mr. Gardiner touched his nose with his forefinger.

“Yeah, Darce, what the devil made you come back to London so early? A good country ramble with your intended seems far too great an inducement to rush back to the prying harpies of society. It couldn’t have been that bad, could it?”

“Ugh, the vulgarities of Mrs. Bennet are beyond what you can imagine, Cousin. Forgive me, Mr. Gardiner; she is your sister.”

“No, no, Son, you’re perfectly free to share your burdens here. I’m much acquainted with both of my sisters and hold no delusions where their manners are concerned.”

Darcy nodded and continued his tales of absurdity and outright fleecing between the behavior of Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Bennet. It wasn’t long before all three men in the study were howling with laughter.