An Autumn Accord: A Pride and Prejudice Novella Variation (Seasons of Serendipity Book 4) (10 page)

“
I should also like to stay behind this winter and search for a town home to purchase for my own establishment.”

As her aunt gasped, and her uncle’s eyebrows creased with worry. Mary squirmed in her seat before occupying her hands with her cup of chocolate. After an indeterminable silence, Mary cleared her throat again but it was her uncle who broke the standoff.

“
I am not sure you fully understand the message that will send to society. ” Mary began to protest, but Edward Gardiner held his hand up as he did not need an explanation he already suspected. “No, no Niece, I understand your aim is to bully that idiot of a Colonel of yours who is too proud to use a woman’s fortune for his future.”

“
Really, Edward. We all do so like the man.”

“
At the moment, Madeline, I’m not so sure I do so like the fellow. He does appear mighty dense for a decorated war hero of His Majesty’s Finest.” The comic relief provided by her uncle alleviated some of the seriousness from the previous long silence, but did not dilute the seriousness of the matter at hand. Edward Gardiner took the last few mouthfuls of his meal, and stood with his teacup in hand, his normal last act before bidding the ladies adieu for the day.

Crestfallen, Mary stared at her plate and moved the last of her food around with her fork. Her uncle called her name and she immediately stared at him with tears brimming on her red rimmed eyes.

“
Your Colonel is to Newcastle, am I correct?”

Mary nodded and dabbed her eyes with her serviette, adamant she would not lose her sensibilities in front of her uncle.

“
Then you have no fears of going to Pemberley. It is time to heal, and your sister and her husband would be most hurt for you to change your plans at this late of an hour. However –”

Mary inhaled sharply as she held her breath to hear that she was more or less ordered to Derbyshire for the winter. There was more, and perhaps her uncle would not dismiss her plans out of hand.

“
What you ask for, an establishment of your own, is nearly unheard of for a lady not yet a majority age. You will be seen as giving up before you have even begun, and that will make society’s mavens demand an explanation. When we do not give one, for we have none, they will derive their own conclusions…”

Mary gasped in horror as she truly had not thought of the consequences for her family members if she stubbornly pushed for her own home. She knew society would frown, but she counted on overcoming Richard’s obstacles for their future happiness as her chief objective, and therefore, the only consequence she cared about.

“
I understand, Uncle. It was a fool’s errand…”

Edward Gardiner clasped his hand on her shoulder and gave a light squeeze. “Yes, but there are always more roads to Rome. Let me think on this problem for some time, and by spring, I shall have an answer for you to capture your Colonel, even if I must away to Newcastle, club him over the head, risking a charge of treason for myself, and dragging him to your feet.” The exaggerated imagery made Mary giggle again as she knew her hampered uncle would not make it two steps in trying to attack her Richard. She had seen him in action.

“
See, there is the sound I most wish to hear in this house. Madeline, I shall return for luncheon, and Mary, buck up. Consider this separation your first test in training to be a soldier’s wife.” Mr. Gardiner bowed to his wife and left the dining room to head towards his warehouses.

Mary stared at the remainder of her meal with a new thought turning in her mind. Her uncle was correct that once she convinced Richard to marry her, there was no guarantee of how many months they would remain even in the same country if tensions strained on the Continent. With a deep breath, she finished her meal and excused herself from the dining room. She walked to the parlor and pulled her favorite sheet music from the pile. After a brief warm-up for her fingers, Mary Bennet poured her emotions into her music and did her best not to borrow trouble.

♠♠~♠♠~♠♠~♠♠

Riding in the Darcy equipage on their second afternoon in Hertfordshire with the aim of visiting her mother’s town home in Meryton, Elizabeth Darcy began an impromptu inquisition of her two young charges as to the change in travel arrangements.

“
Your hearts were set on remaining home and to your own devices in London. How was it you changed your minds?”

Holding firm in their position from yesterday, both Kitty and Georgiana remained silent, infuriating their older sister. Deciding to take another tack, Elizabeth Darcy narrowed her eyes and stared at them both.

“
I shall have my answer from the two of you or so help me, I will make your lives abjectly miserable when we arrive at Pemberley. Mark my words.”

Kitty’s eyes widened as she remembered the ferocious set down her sister had given both her and Lydia the last time they rode in a carriage upon this exact road. Where Georgiana might feel she could suitably manage her brother, Catherine Bennet had no interest in testing the same with the strongest Bennet daughter.

“
Mister Darcy, that is, Brother Fitzwilliam said he would prefer we come along as he was not sure there would be another opportunity to visit Mama in the coming year.” Kitty gulped after her confession, a sign of dishonesty Elizabeth Darcy did not miss.

“My husband expressed those words, did he?” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her younger sister. Both girls nodded fervently in agreement as to the explanation offered. Crossing her arms, Elizabeth Darcy left the two girls alone and pretended she was satisfied with the circumstances as they stood. But in her mind, she planned to interrogate Brother Fitzwilliam at her earliest convenience.

The modest home of the widow Bennett was far from shabby, but clearly suffered a lack of management. The girls knocked on the door most enthusiastically, yet still no servant came to open it. Feeling awkward, as Elizabeth had sent a note to her mother’s household just this morning, she looked to Kitty for an explanation. Kitty merely shrugged her shoulders.

“
Perhaps Mama is out in town . . .”

Elizabeth craned her neck to spy inside of the windows and shook her head. “Our mother never turns away visitors. It’s much too cold to stand out here and await a response.” Elizabeth reached forward with her finely gloved hand to try the handle. The front door opened without delay, and the three ladies bustled in to avoid autumn’s chill.

“
Mama? Mama? Lizzie and I have arrived!” Kitty called out, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dimness inside.

Elizabeth Darcy glanced around in utter mortification. The drapes in the front parlor had traces of soot nearly three inches long on the tips. The mantle stood starkly bear as her mother’s favorite figurines were missing. It had been six long months since Elizabeth had seen her mother settled in her new home, but the time was too short of a duration for such a jarring state of shambles.

Mrs. Bennett finally appeared from above the stairs and called out to her daughters below. Elizabeth felt eerily exposed as it sounded as if another person were still blundering around through the ceiling of her mother’s bedroom.

“
Girls! Girls! Dear me how I’ve lost track of the time. Come in, come in!” Mrs. Bennet descended the stairs in a gray dress with her hair imperfectly pinned into a bun.

“
There was no one to answer the door. Is your housekeeper unwell?” Elizabeth asked without intending to sound superior.

“
No, Mrs. Eldridge is here abouts I’m sure. She must be in the back, preparing refreshments. I did tell her my girls were to come.” Mrs. Bennett took Kitty’s arm and escorted the girls into the front parlor for further visiting. As Elizabeth took a step over the threshold into the room properly, an unmistakable loud thump came again from upstairs. The girls raised their eyes to search about them, but it was Georgiana who spoke.

“
I say, that sounded like a nasty fall, is someone else here that might be hurt?”

Mrs. Bennett fluttered her handkerchief in front of her. “No, no, must be that new maid, Sally. She is forever dropping things. I’m certain she’s fine. Now tell me, tell me my dears, where are dear Lydia and Jane?”

“
Lydia and Jane stayed in Scotland. Lydia is sick, and Jane stayed behind to take care of her. And Jane has a suitor!” Kitty returned to her younger self for a moment, relishing every moment of her mother’s captive attentions.

“
A suitor? Who is this suitor? Why are my poor girls still exiled to Scotland? Ohh, my nerves, I’m afraid I shall suffer my palpitations. You know the doctor has warned me most carefully to stay calm and you have played a cruel trick, Miss Lizzie.”

Elizabeth sat on a foreign chair, much reduced in style and comfort from the furniture she and Fitzwilliam had purchased. “Cruel trick? Mama, Jane is happy in Scotland. Mr. Hamilton is not a formal suitor as yet, but he is a dear, close friend of the Darcy family.” Elizabeth’s heart lightened to remind her mother of her new last name.

“
Hamilton? Why that is a common name. Like the bookseller who retired?”

Elizabeth cocked her head to one side as more noise came from above them. She could not place her finger on it, but her mother seemed very thin from when she had last seen her. And now she concerned herself with the bookseller, a man she could never name when Elizabeth and her father were his favorite customers. “Mr. Graham Hamilton is the second son to the Duke of Lethington, an exalted Scottish family with ancestors as far back as King Richard III. There is no relation to Mr. Hamilton in our town that I am aware of, Mama.”

“
The son of a Duke! Oh, my Jane is so clever, so very clever. I thought for sure after she set aside Mr. Bingley that the older son of the Earl would take an interest. Viscount Ashley? But no, my Jane, she knows to make her Mama proud. The son of a Duke, indeed!”

Mrs. Eldridge appeared with a tray of refreshments and tea, with only one biscuit per guest on the platter. Again, as her mother dismissed her housekeeper, Elizabeth grew anxious for her mother’s wellbeing. “Lord Ashbourne, Mama. Mr. Darcy’s cousin is the Viscount Ashbourne, not Ashley. But again, I stress that Jane and Mr. Hamilton have not come to any sort of understanding and are merely acquaintances.”

“
Yes, yes,” Mrs. Bennet fluttered her hands towards the daughter she always considered ungrateful. “But you mustn’t be jealous, Lizzie. It is good and well that you left Jane to secure her husband without you trifling and meddling. You were good to catch your Mr. Darcy, but a son of the peerage, Jane is truly paving the way for our family. Hmm, perhaps you or Lydia could marry Viscount Ashbourne, Kitty. Then I’ll have a daughter married to a  . . .”

A great buzzing developed in Elizabeth Darcy’s ears as she could not believe her mother insulted her husband in such an off-handed manner! Her stomach tossed and turned with queasiness that Elizabeth found to be a constant companion. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she mentally calmed her own nerves and stresses, reminding herself that her mother was as she always was, and nothing Elizabeth could do would make her proud.

“
And there is to be a ball! Mr. and Miss Bingley informed us last evening at dinner, it is to be held later this week. Just until Cook has made enough white soup, he says!” Kitty was excitedly talking to her mother as Elizabeth returned her attentions to the conversation. Her eyes flicked to her other sister, Georgiana, who had not spoken much at all during this visit.

“
Mama, would you prefer Kitty to stay with you while we are in Hertfordshire? I apologize that it was frightfully the last moment when Fitzwilliam and I changed our travel plans.” Elizabeth interrupted the tittered excitement about a ball at Netherfield Park with a change of subject. She worried that her mother might be offended that her unmarried daughter was not staying home with her mother, a thought that had not occurred to her with the surprise changes to this small excursion.

“
Here? No, no, I would not think to ruin Kitty’s fun, you see. Besides, she and Miss Darcy did spend the summer here, and young ladies deserve all the excitement they can experience at this tender young age. You do not wish to stay with Mama, do you, Kitty?” Mrs. Bennet beamed at her fourth daughter in age, expecting an answer in the negative. Poor Kitty stammered that she wished to stay at Netherfield, but she seemed unsure of what was happening when she turned to Elizabeth for help.

The odd behavior of a mother to not wish a daughter home, the unfamiliar furnishings, and the lack of proper manners to guests added up to a most ominous conclusion for Elizabeth Darcy. Her mother was suffering most acutely and without assistance, she shuddered to think what fate would find the Widow Bennet.

As the conversation continued, Elizabeth excused herself to refresh her person and was about to head upstairs when her mother stopped her. “I’m afraid there are no chamber pots upstairs, they are all being cleaned. Use the privy room off the kitchen.”

Elizabeth left the parlor as talk returned to the ball. She wandered down the hall to the back of the home and stumbled into the kitchens. The room was not only deserted, but the fire that should be roaring showed little signs of use. Elizabeth opened the larder to see the shelves mostly bare of foodstuffs, but empty wine bottles lined the floor. Covering her mouth as she gasped, Elizabeth stumbled backward away from the evidence of her mother’s livelihood. Another loud creak above stairs startled Elizabeth back into the present moment, and she knew something was gravely amiss. It was imperative she remove Kitty and Georgiana from the home as soon as may be.