A/N: This is something that I wanted to post last Christmas but decided not to. It's an idea that I wanted to carry on with the characters from Autumn Changes, set four months after the epilogue. It's a Christmassy story, and this is just a little teaser for you all until I post the rest of the chapters over the Christmas period.

I hope you enjoy, chapter one will come around the 20th December.

Disclaimer: Sadly I'm not Jane Austen.

Winter Surprises

It was the harshest winter in his opinion. Well, the harshest winter he had ever seen since he'd been born. The snow was falling hard and fast, making him unable to get out of his front door for more than a few seconds without shivering; even with the three layers of clothing he was wearing underneath his coat. But the fireplace was roaring with hot blazing flames as he sat in front of it, just the way he preferred. In his opinion, there was nothing better than a fireplace, it reminded him of the good old days when his daughters were young.

Longbourn had once been filled with the sound of his five daughters running up and down the staircase, with Lydia often moaning and groaning over why she had to share a room with Kitty when the others had their own. Mary would sit at the piano practicing pieces she had come home with from the school music teacher while Jane and Elizabeth would be outside making a snowman before watching Christmas films with him on the TV in the living room. But now it was just him.

Thomas Bennet had always loved this time of year. But the last few years, Christmas had been a tough one. Due to Fran's fallout with Elizabeth when Tom was a baby, she would refuse to have their daughter and grandchildren admitted to the house, so Christmas was a split family holiday. And now, he was soon to be divorced and spending Christmas by himself. The snow had made it impossible for Jane and Charles to drive the three miles with Amelie, Hannah and Megan to spend Christmas with him. And Elizabeth was stuck with William, Alice, Rose, Tom, Ally and Henry at Pemberley. Kitty was in Australia with her husband and Mary and Penny were working with the homeless people in Watford.

A lot had changed in the last four months since his youngest grandson had been born. His wife claimed to be fed-up with him constantly choosing Elizabeth and Jane's side over hers and Lydia's and announced she wanted a divorce. After thirty-one years of marriage, his wife walked out on him and moved in with her brother in Spain and Lydia had gone with her. Having Fran walk out on him had been a bit of a shock but ultimately, he knew it was probably for the best. He and Fran had been arguing more than they had shared pleasant conversations since Tom had been born and she didn't have a relationship with their granddaughters from Jane and Charles and neither did she have a relationship with Elizabeth's four children, his daughter had severed ties with her mother when Rose was four.

So here he was, sat in his favourite armchair by the fireplace in his study, feeling quite lonely that he wouldn't be able to see his children or his grandchildren. He couldn't see them open their presents and he couldn't see their excited faces or hear their squeals of enjoyment when they went sledging down the hills that surrounded the village. He wouldn't be able to enjoy the delicious turkey that Charles would have cooked up for them to eat and he wouldn't be able to watch Disney film after Disney film with his grandchildren after dinner.

It was the first Christmas he would spend alone.

And he understood. His children were grown up now, leading their own lives. He wouldn't get to see them all as much as he would have liked to see them. Elizabeth had moved her little family back to Will's family estate in Derbyshire because her husband needed to take over his inheritance, her children were all settling into their new home and still grieving the loss of their other grandfather. Hell, one of his daughters lived on the other side of the world now, she'd already have opened Christmas presents. But it didn't stop him from feeling like the nest was well and truly empty.

Thomas pulled the book up from the side table, going to the place he had last marked and his eyes beginning to take in the written words on the page.

But little did he know that while he was feeling lonely and facing the possibility of a lonely Christmas, his daughters had other ideas in mind…