A Summer Shame (4 page)

"I should be hopelessly brown and coarse if you continue to insist on enjoying these sunny afternoons in an open carriage, Mr. Darcy."

"Then I shall be hopelessly thrilled to trace the lines of your sun-kissed skin, Mrs. Darcy."

Elizabeth pretended to be shocked, but instead found herself pulled into a tight embrace as the carriage made a final turn before they came upon Haddington proper. Reluctantly, they resumed decorum, though Elizabeth still grasped Mr. Darcy's hand with her own gloved one. The arrival of such important persons as Mr. Darcy and his new wife seemed to give pause to those in the town as the carriage rolled by. No sooner had the final set of wheels passed that pedestrians began their urgent whispers and young assistants dashed around to warn their shop proprietors.

Elizabeth waited while Darcy gave instructions to the barouche, and she happily took his arm as they strolled down the the edge of shops on the western side of town. "How often were you at Starvet House? The people here seem to adore your family."

"My great-grandfather's family owned the property for many generations. When my great uncle died without an heir, my father was next in line. Grandmother Darcy stayed in the home until she passed away, and my father brought me many summers to fish and hunt. Once my mother started falling ill, we came here less and less . . ."

"It's a lovely home, I'm sure your father would be proud to see how it is run today."

"Yes." Darcy mumbled, looking around at the shop names with a furtive glance. His favorite shop for books was missing and in its place was a new store for sundry items. Steering Elizabeth inside, she was bewildered at entering a shop usually reserved for the housekeeper or maids to peruse for the supplies of the house. After the woman inside finished helping a customer, she addressed Mr. Darcy.

"Mr. Darcy, I had heard that Starvet House was open once more. My father always spoke so highly of you."

"Your, your father? Was he Mr. Stevens?"

"Aye, he's gone to God these many years past, and I be following in his footsteps one day, Lord willing." The young woman smiled and pulled out a sheet of paper and mended her pen. "How I can help ye? Mrs. Buchanan already placed an order, but I am happy to augment it, sir."

"But where are the books?"

Miss Stevens wrinkled her nose. "I sold most of them to pay for the supplies ye see here. The books, well, they didn't sell so well, sir and after Da died, the accounts had to be settled. A sundry shop, now that's something any family needs. And how!"

Mr. Darcy mumbled a thank you and said that Mrs. Buchanan's order should be more than sufficient. As the Darcys left the shop, Elizabeth smiled as her poor husband became lost in his thoughts. She knew how much the sting of unexpected change could pierce a heart, so she took it upon herself to cheer him.

"Well, I liked Miss Stevens. What a clever young woman."

"Pardon?"

"Miss Stevens. It must have been dreadful to lose a father and then find a way to keep a profit. She is mighty brave to change the shop's offerings but I am happy it is successful."

Darcy ruminated on Elizabeth's words and realized how close to her own situation Miss Stevens' predicament had been. He offered her a nod and slight smile, which made Elizabeth laugh.

"Oh, come Mr. Darcy, don't be sullen about it. We'll buy you all the books you could ever want in London. And I might even have a few contacts to allow you access to tomes not generally available to the public."

"Oh?" he asked as he followed his wife's direction into a sweets shop. "Pray tell madame, how do you have these contacts to the underbelly of the literary world?"

"Through my uncle of course!" Elizabeth laughed and Darcy shook his head. With Mr. Gardiner still recovering from his accident, he had quite forgotten how successful the man's business was in imports and exports. Watching his lithe wife purchase a great deal of sweets, Darcy was struck with a notion.

"Will you stay here, madame, while I run an errand?" Mr. Darcy brightened to see his wife's easy manners already make her a friend with Mrs. Rowe. The two women were chatting and laughing about something, but Darcy saw his wife's quick nod in his direction.

When Elizabeth was ready to leave with enough candy and sweets for the children of Starvet House and the area tenant families, she exited the shop to direct the young groom to load them into the box on the back of the barouche. No sooner had she walked out of the shop than there was her gallant husband, holding a single white rose. Elizabeth caught her breath at the romantic gesture of her husband, and happily accepted the single rose causing him to bring his other hand around to present a bouquet of white roses, with foxglove and hawthorn mixed in.

"Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth giggled, "the villagers will think I've bewitched you!"

Taking her arm, the Darcys walked leisurely back to the barouche surrounded by the fragrance of the bouquet so sweetly tendered by the new groom to his bride.

"Mrs. Darcy, if you have bewitched me, for my sake, I beg of you, never lift the spell."

Before helping his wife into the carriage, Darcy made sure to bend down and kiss just above her glove, on her bare wrist. His young wife blushed, and both of the Darcys were quite happy to return home and forgo their afternoon picnic plans.

The summer humidity punished all who remained indoors. Most mornings, both Kitty and Georgiana escaped to the cool shade of Winslow's Woods as soon as they were able. The two trooped their way to the well-worn path Kitty knew from the times she accompanied Elizabeth on her walks.

Slung over Kitty's shoulder rested the hand-sewn bag Georgiana presented as a birthday gift. For her stories, the younger lady had explained. Along the way, the two friends laughed and congratulated themselves on once again rising for the day before Mrs. Bennet.

"Please do not mistake me, Kitty. I am touched your mother would extend an invitation to me. It is certainly more appealing than a summer of lessons, I cannot believe my brother agreed!"

Kitty bit her lip, knowing Wickham was still running to ground in London, she didn't want to tell Georgiana she was probably in Meryton for her own safety. Jane had given Kitty explicit instructions to never mention Lydia or Mr. Wickham to Georgiana, but never gave a reason why. Still, the most mischievous Bennet sister didn't wish to hurt her friend. "If we have to discuss lace trims one more time or go to the modiste so you can describe what they're wearing in London, I might scream!"

Georgiana giggled as she leaped over the babbling brook which divided the Longbourn lands from the old Winslow estate, playing a light game of hopscotch with the stones. Her daringness to use her longer legs to skip some of the usual stones served her ill as one foot missed and went right into the brook with a splash. Kitty called out, worried Georgiana was hurt, but the younger Darcy merely lifted her soggy shoe and frowned. "I always hated these shoes, but please, let's stay here until they dry?"

Kitty nodded. She reached out for a steadying hand from Georgiana as she followed, not skipping steps. Carrying her manuscript, the last thing she desired was to have an aquatic accident.

The girls found the flattish stones they used as an impromptu seating area. Kitty wasted no time in pulling out her journal, ink and quill. Georgiana accepted the pen knife and extra quill to start mending it for Kitty when the present one dulled. "What do you think we should have happen to the evil Mr. Boggins? I thought a horse accident, but how about a house fire?"

Georgiana wrinkled her nose, "A fire is too tragic. Can't he be accused of a crime and thrown in jail?"

Kitty sat, thoughtful for a moment and began scribbling. Georgiana leaned to peer over her shoulder and read as the words were scratched. "Ooh, he's accused of starting a fire. Brilliant!"

The girls worked on the story for over an hour when Georgiana had a serious question to ask. "Kitty, what if your husband doesn't like your writing? What will you do?"

Without stopping, Catherine Bennet confessed a truth she had not told any of her sisters. "I do not plan to wed."

Shocked, Georgiana had never considered not getting married. It was a future as certain for her as the sun rising tomorrow. "I see, you're jesting with me. Of course you will get married." Georgiana reached down to pluck a wild bloom from the forest floor. A small gap in the canopy above allowed for a patch of weeds and flowers to line just where the deeper buried rocks covered in slippery moss started.

"No, I shall not." Kitty finished her last sentence and blew on the ink. Satisfied it was dry, she glanced up at the high sun and reasoned they would be missed soon. "I cannot think of a single marriage that is happy, can you? Why should I marry when I will have more than enough means to survive and can continue my writing?"

"But—" A twig snap caught the immediate attention of both girls and Mr. Collins, leading a pack of sniffing dogs, came thundering out of the bushes.

"Confound it! You're not the stag."

Both ladies jumped from the rocks, and Georgiana giggled as Mr. Collins' hounds began to sniff her feet. They tickled her ankles.

"What are you two doing out here, Cousin Catherine? This is not your land anymore, you should not be flitting about doing, doing, what is it you are up to? I ought to march you back home to your mother this instant!" Mr. Collins yelling started the dogs off in a barking frenzy and this made Georgiana take a step back.

Kitty put her hands on her hips and glared right back at her cousin. The same cousin that threw them out of their family home in the dead of winter after the sudden death of her father. "Miss Darcy and I are not on your property. I am quite educated on the boundaries of my family's ancestral lands, though it appears you sir, are not. You are hunting on land which does not belong to you."

Collins looked around him, then shook his head and began to pale. "Miss Darcy, you say, as in niece of the supreme Lady Catherine de Bourgh?"

Georgiana curtsied, and Collins licked his lips which made Kitty uneasy. "We will be going now, Mr. Collins. Send my regard to Mrs. Collins." Kitty curtsied and after shoving her journal into her bag, linked arms with Georgiana and started in the opposite direction away from Mr. Collins, further into the woods.

"Kitty," Georgiana whispered, "we're going the wrong way."

"I know," she whispered back, "but I don't want to go past Mr. Collins. We will head this way and turn left, finding the main road."

The girls marched for a half hour towards what Kitty thought should be the main road, only no such road produced itself. The forest became darker and darker as the trees intensified in thickness. After an hour, Georgiana started to worry.

"Kitty, I think we are lost. Shouldn't we turn back?"

Unnerved, but stubborn, Kitty was adamant they would find the main road. She cast an eye over her shoulder to tell Georgiana they must keep going when she lost her footing and tumbled over a fallen log.

"Kitty!"

"Owwww. I'm alright, I'm alright" Kitty spat out the bits of detritus that had stuck to her lips when her face had hit the dirt. "Help me up?" She reached a hand up for Georgiana and instead, pulled the girl right down into the dirt with her.

Georgiana screamed and Kitty took a fistful of leaves and threw it on top of Georgiana's lavender gown. "What! Why ever did you do that for?"

"Because, the first rule of sisterhood is you never go home with only one of you dirty and unkempt. Mama'll never punish both of us."

Georgiana squealed as Kitty picked up another handful of dirt to help her new sister play the part most convincingly. Georgiana, not to be left out of the fun, grabbed her own handful of loose soil. The sound of a horse made them both hush, and from their forest floor vantage they saw a clearing ahead where a carriage walked by.

"The road!" Georgiana exclaimed as she jumped to her feet. She turned to gape at Kitty, still filthy on the ground, then down at her own dress. "My brother would kill me if he caught me in public in such a state!"

"Well, I suppose we better not tell him!" Kitty said, lifting herself up and getting a head start on Georgiana. With no other choice, the youngest of the Darcy clan followed her guide and couldn't help but smile. She had no idea how angry Mrs. Bennet was going to be, but at long last she had a sister—even if it meant getting filthy to find one!

The evening of the Courtney Ball, Jane's nerves about seeing Mr. Bingley again for the first time after his accidental tripping over Lady Matlock's oriental had mostly subsided. Until the carriage door opened and the elder Fitzwilliam brother, Viscount Ashbourne, handed her down in a golden gown that mimicked the glow of the sun on a hot summer day. Even her fan matched the creamy hue and Jane Bennet had to admit she felt more like an ornament than a human being.

The room was a crush of people. In a few days the Ton of London would retire to their country estates in preparations for the hunting season. Using a trick from Elizabeth, Jane tilted her chin up but focused her eyes on the footwear of every one so she carried herself in a regal manner, without actually making eye contact with any. With an inward chuckle, she wondered if it was Lady Matlock who had taught her sister the trick, originally.