Hi Everyone,
This is a new story that I'm helping a friend with. It's a sweet, clean romance focusing on the often forgotten Kitty.
Looking forward to your feedback.
xx
~E.K.O
Kitty's Lucky Charm
It was her sisters' wedding day, and Catherine Bennet should have been happy. She knew very well that she should have been happy, but as she sat beside ad happily wailing Mrs. Bennet and a bored, pregnant Lydia, she was anything but happy.
"I swear, I am so hungry, if the ceremony does not end soon, I will surely devour the entire wedding breakfast myself and not feel an ounce of regret. The cake too," Lydia muttered under her breath. Mrs. Bennet hushed them loudly and waved her damp handkerchief in Kitty's direction. How did she always get the blame for Lydia's actions? Lydia groaned quietly and leaned back against the wooden pew. Kitty turned her face back towards the front of the church where the pastor was reciting words that she herself longed to hear, but not from a church pew. Kitty knew that she should be less selfish, but she could not help but wallow just a bit in her own emotions.
Lydia's return to Longbourn in the summer as Mrs. Wickham had been terribly exciting for the whole household. Truly, their mother had been ecstatic with joy, and it was difficult not to become swept away on that tide of effusive expression. Kitty did not understand why her elder sisters had been so opposed to the match, to her it seemed very exciting, and Mr. Wickham's dashing way and the manner of their elopement had been even so romantic and wildly unexpected. That was romance; that was what Kitty Bennet wanted for herself.
Not this stuffy, ceremonial propriety. She wanted to love with abandon… she looked over at Lydia who was concentrating on picking at the ribbon that had been newly sewn to the neckline of her dress. The swell of her younger sister's advancing pregnancy was visible through the material of her dress and Kitty swallowed her strident thoughts. Perhaps she did not want too much abandon in her marriage.
She knew that she should have been glad that Lydia was come home to Longbourn, if only for a short while… but with everything else going on , she felt forgotten all over again.
Preparations for the double wedding, surely the largest spectacle Hertfordshire had seen in many a year, had taken over their lives, and Kitty was relieved that all of the planning and rushing around would all be over soon. Much to Mrs. Bennet's dismay, her eldest daughters shared a similar sense of style, and had opted for a celebration that was surely more modest than their new lifestyles could afford.
"Jane, you cannot deny me this request! This wedding will be the talk of Hertfordshire for years to come, and I want you and Lizzy looking your very best. Surely, Mr. Bingley will not deny you anything you ask of him? And you Lizzy, Mr. Darcy cannot pretend that your requests do not melt his heart!" Mrs. Bennet's pleas had echoed through the house. Employed in making garlands of winter herbs to hang about the church, Kitty looked up from her work to see her mother sweep into the parlor, followed by Jane, who looked fiercer than Kitty had ever seen her.
"Mama, you know very well that this is not the season for tulips, Mr. Bingley will think me mad to request such a thing!" Jane was clearly furious, but Mrs. Bennet was determined.
"Jane, you are being most unreasonable! You know as well as I do that the flowers in your bouquet will set the standard for weddings in Hertfordshire for years to come! You must send the right message! Violets, ivy and roses… these are most important. Baby's breath for certain… you have always been an agreeable sort of girl, Jane, it is most unlike you to deny me these simple requests!" Mrs. Bennet flung herself into a chair and dabbed at her face with her handkerchief.
"Mama, you are putting far too much importance on something so small. I am perfectly content to carry a bouquet of myrtle and herbs. Lizzy feels the same as I do. Please, Mama, you cannot be so distraught." Jane folded her arms over her chest and Kitty looked back down at the dried herbs in her lap. The smell of the lavender and rosemary from their garden filled her nostrils.
"Even Lizzy defies me! Surely Mr. Darcy would empty his hot house if she so much as suggested it!" Mrs. Bennet's voice was despondent and Kitty pressed her lips together to stifle the giggle that threatened to spill out.
The thought of the contents of Mr. Darcy's hothouse filling the church was endlessly silly, and she imagined the brides and grooms waving through hip deep piles of roses and violets on their way to the stand before the pastor.
"Cease your giggling, Kitty, this is a very serious affair!"
Kitty sobered immediately, "Of course, Mama, I was just imagining ̶"
"Oh, hush, Kitty. No one wants to know what you were imagining." Mrs. Bennet turned her attention back to Jane as Kitty's head bent over her herbs once more as her mother wailed.
Lydia would have found it funny, she thought bitterly.
"You will not be satisfied until you are both carrying bouquets of common thistles and wildflowers, it is not to be borne! Oh, Jane you do not know what I suffer as a mother! Lady Lucas will take me aside and ask me what happened, you know that Mr. Collins spared no expense on Charlotte Lucas' flowers, she tells me that Lady Catherine deBourgh allowed her to choose her bouquet from her own private hot house?"
"Oh, Mama…"
"No, no, you will be content to carry ditch weeds to your own wedding!"
Kitty giggled, and Mrs. Bennet fixed her with a sharp look.
"Mama… now you are being unreasonable."
"How am I being unreasonable, Jane? My youngest daughter was married miles away, with no word to me about what dress she was to wear or which ribbons should be fixed to her bonnet! Now that my eldest girls are to be married here in Hertfordshire I am told that I am being unreasonable for wanting their wedding day to be as perfect as possible. Violets, Jane! You cannot deny me violets. Of all the ungrateful ̶"
"Mama…" Jane sank into the chair opposite her mother and reached for her hand. "I will ask Mr. Darcy if he has any violets in his hot house. Will that please you?" Jane's voice was soft and solicitous. It was easier to give in to their mother's demands than to defy her… this was a rule that Kitty had learned very early, but she had a hard time keeping ahead of her mother's changes in temperament.
"And ivy… think of what they will say in Meryton if you would come to your wedding with a bouquet such as that? Promise me." Mrs. Bennet would not be moved, and Jane sighed in resignation.
"Of course, Mama. Ivy and violets. I will speak to Lizzy. I am sure Mr. Darcy will be happy to grant our request."
Mrs. Bennet clapped her hands and kissed Jane loudly on the cheek before jumping up from her chair to inspect Kitty's handiwork.
She pulled the lavender posy from Kitty's hands and her brow furrowed as she brought it close to her face to examine it. Mrs. Bennet sighed heavily and thrust it back into her daughter's hands.
"Oh, Jane, if you would only ask Mrs. Hurst for her assistance, this would all be done so much sooner, and with so much more elegance… Although I know that she and Miss Bingley have taken charge of decorating Netherfield Park for the wedding breakfast, I daresay that Mrs. Hurst would have some excellent ideas for decorating the church." Mrs. Bennet turned to leave the room, and Kitty's shoulders slumped.
"Take heart, Kitty. Mama would not be pleased if Lady Catherine herself was tying the bouquets." Jane smiled reassuringly at her sister and was relieved to see that Kitty seemed not to have taken her mother's words too harshly.
"Thank you, Jane. As long as you are happy, I shall know that I have done well. I am so very happy for you…" Kitty's words trailed away as her eyes filled with tears. Jane pulled the lavender from her sister's hands and tugged her to her feet and into a tight embrace. The lavender stalks that had been in her lap fell to the carpet in disarray, but it did not matter.
"There is no need for tears, Kitty. This is a happy event," Jane soothed, but Kitty's shoulders shook with tears.
"I am sorry, Jane. It is all well and good for you and Lizzy, and Lydia, for your futures are all assured! What is to become of me?" She leaned her head against Jane's shoulder and snuffled miserably.
"Oh, Kitty. You know that you will be very well looked after. Why, you could come and live with Mr. Bingley and I if you truly wished it… or perhaps…" But Kitty was not comforted by her words and only cried harder.
"Come now, this is no way to celebrate a wedding. Dry your tears or we will never have these finished. I know that Lizzy is depending on you, surely you do not want to let her down?"
Kitty shook her head and wiped at her face. Jane smiled warmly at her younger sister and knelt to help her gather up the fallen lavender.
"It will be your turn soon, Kitty, I have no doubt." Jane had meant it kindly, but Kitty only nodded in reply and Jane had to be content to leave her to her industry once more.
As Kitty tried her very best to be happy, the only thought running through her mind was that once Lizzy and Jane were gone from Longbourn, she would be all alone with Mary and her mother… Mr. Bennet had no time for his youngest daughters, and now that he did not have to worry about the dowries of the eldest, his worries were considerably lighter and he could spend more of his time at pursuits he enjoyed, which, according to Mrs. Bennet's laments, would take him out of the house quite often.
At least she had heard some agreeable comments about her lavender and herb bundles, all of that work had not been for nothing as her mother had said. Next to her, Mrs. Bennet wept happily at seeing her eldest daughters so well married, and that they were both carrying bouquets that held out of season violets and glossy ivy that would be the envy of every young bride in Hertfordshire. Mr. Darcy had generously provided a posy of sweet roses for each of the other Bennet ladies and Kitty pressed the pale pink blossoms to her face to inhale their sweet scent. One day she would marry a man who would be so kind to her sisters. Perhaps even more so.
"How generous of Mr. Darcy, I confess that I could not wish for a more caring and conscientious man to marry our dear Lizzy." Mrs. Bennet's whisper was not as quiet as she intended, and while Kitty smiled and nodded, Lydia snorted her laughter. Mrs. Bennet's first impression of Mr. Darcy was something she well remembered, and Kitty was certain that she still held some ill will towards Lizzy's new husband that was surely inspired by Mr. Wickham.
Kitty looked up at the pastor as he intoned the final words that would bind her sisters to their entirely agreeable husbands and her heart sank again. It was time to smile and applaud and accept the well wishes of all and sundry, but Kitty Bennet was not happy… and she didn't know if she could pretend to be either.
