Emma Woodhouse was a young woman of extensive fortunes of both wealth and love and she lived with little vexing her. She was always the talk of Hartfield, a town in which her and her father's home sat on the outskirts of. She was loved by everyone in her circle of friends and never knew of poverty or strife. All comments that centralised around her were always positive and followed the lines of; isn't she just lovely! Emma is so kind to us! Didn't Emma look beautiful last night?

No one saw fault in her words or in her appearance. Her father would always praise her; she was the spitting image of her late mother and she also had her mother's wit and charm. Her sister, Isabella Woodhouse, had gotten their father's warm heart but also his worries and easy stress. When a question was posed to the two sisters by their governess, Miss Taylor, it was always Emma who would quickly answer correctly.

On that sunny Saturday morning Isabella was running around the house frantically, for it was on this day that she was taking the next step in her adult life. At the beginning of last year Isabella had started to have feelings for a very close family friend John Knightly, a man they had both known since they were infants in their mother's arms, and he had always been infatuated with Isabella. Early that year he purposed to Isabella and she said yes without any hesitation. So now she had spent her last day in the Woodhouse's family home and will now be moved to John's home where she will live out the remainder of her days as Isabella Knightly!

Emma sat at her windowsill and looked out onto the grassy lawns and dwelled on the happy memories she and her sister had shared in them. Behind her stood Miss Taylor as she combed Emma's long blond hair up into a bun at the top of her head, letting small ringlets fall out and frame Emma's face.

"I will miss my darling sister; she has been a life long companion to whom I shall miss with all my heart!" Emma exclaimed as Miss Taylor continued to do her hair for her sister's wedding reception.

"You must be happy your sister is marrying such a wonderful man!" Miss Taylor exclaimed as she took in Emma's unusually sad demeanour in her stride, trying desperately to heighten the 18 year old's spirits.

"The Knightly's are a magnificent family; I do not to claim to know John Nightly as I do his elder brother George Knightly but he is quite an enjoyable man!" Emma said as she turned away from the lawn. Undoubtedly her father would soon enter her room letting his eyes flicker at her before the trio would set off to London as to attend Isabella and John Knightly's wedding reception

"Yes, George always tolerated you, Emma! And despite your gap in ages everyone could tell he would choose no one else to share his views on the world with!" Miss Taylor said as she helped Emma off the window bench.

"I haven't seen him since I was at least 13! And I was just a youth with a sharp tongue and little fashion sense! Of course we write the occasional letter to each other but I do wish to see him in person!" Emma began but a knock came at the door and the two girls stopped speaking of the older Knightly boy and permitted Mr. Woodhouse entry to the room.

"Emma! You're but a vision! But of course today no one looks heavenlier then my darling Isabella," Mr. Woodhouse exclaimed and the two woman curtsied. Mr. Woodhouse hustled out of the room in a dizzy and Miss Taylor turned Skinny Emma towards her.

"You look very respectable! So keep that darling smile on your face and no one will suspect you aren't in particularly high spirits!" Miss Taylor said, taking her hands, that looked very aged compared to Emma's youthful pale skin.

"I just will miss her conversation! As much as I enjoy our discussions, Miss Taylor, I will miss someone who is more my companion and less my teacher!" Emma said as she walked from her room to the awaiting carriage.

The reception was beautiful and very emotional! Isabella looked like a dream in her flowing white sating dress and John couldn't help but cry when Isabella said her 'I do.' Emma handed her tissue to Miss Taylor who blubbered beside her. Emma managed not to cry but on the inside she wanted nothing more then to weep for the loss of a close friend.

At the reception Emma sat on a stool and watched as Isabella and John practically floated around in their own delirium. Emma dreaded returning to Hartfield without her sister! All she had left there were the two Bates women! And they were well below the poverty line and well above Emma's own age.

She turned to see her father bustling over to where she sat, a very handsome man following in Mr. Woodhouse's short steps. He was tall and strode confidently towards her. He had a head of dark hair and dark eyes that were set in his pale face. He was probably over thirty but should he have said that he was late 20s she would have believed him. She stood to meet her father and the attractive man, Emma curtsied to the two smiling men.

"Emma Woodhouse!" exclaimed the man to her father's right, his smile wide and genuine. "I haven't seen you since you called me 'a know-it-all killjoy' and ran out of my study!" He exclaimed and Emma's face broke out in to a smile- a man to which she thought was a complete stranger was in fact Mr. George Knightly!

"Mr. Knightly, I did wonder if you had come to this wonderful wedding! You were never one for romance!" Emma said, smiling widely, forgetting her father was still with them, but Mr. Knightly seemed to have done the same.

"How could I not send my little brother off into the next stage of his life? He is over joyed about finally getting the woman of his dreams!" Mr. Knightly exclaimed and Emma was slowly forgetting her depressive state in favour for the butterflies that fluttered around her stomach as she looked onto her very good-looking friend.

"Who could not be overjoyed to marry a Woodhouse woman?" Mr. Woodhouse said quite proudly, totally over looking the chemistry that Mr. Knightly and Emma were sensing. "I only hope that Emma chooses her lucky man soon! So I am alive to see her married off, and married off well!" He continued and Emma began to blush with embarrassment.

"Father, I believe Miss Taylor was looking for you!" Emma said. Miss Taylor wasn't, in fact, looking for Mr. Woodhouse but it would stop him from saying such embarrassing things.

"Oh really, well I'll go and find her. I do declare that she is very hard to see in such a dense crowd! It's so pleasant to see how beloved Isabella and John are," Mr. Woodhouse exclaimed as he hurried off, well as much as one can hurry off with a bad leg and a walking stick.

With her father gone, Emma put her charm on full swing. When she was a child, and even now, she watched Miss Taylor as she talked to men who would become entranced with her deep brown hair as she smiled giddily. Emma would always take note of how she would quiver her eyelashes as the men would kiss her hand on their leave.

"Why Emma, I thought that coming to this gathering I should look through the crowd for a scrawny blond haired little girl who would speak before thinking… but I was wrong. That takes a lot for me to say!" Mr. Knightly said kindly which made Emma blush in humbleness.

"I remember you as stubborn, but thank you for the complement." Emma replied curtseying to him. He laughed heartily and Emma's mind flashed back to when she had spent those fun care free days with him. She was a mere child who would run through the fields and hand him the flowers that Miss Taylor helped her pick. He would laugh and place them in his pocket with promises to keep them with him until he saw her again.

Things had changed since then; she was no longer a child but a developed woman who had ties to the society and her reputation to keep. Mr. Knightly was no longer a convenient family friend; he was now a professional business man who now had his money and land to look after. They could no longer be who they were- and this thought damped Emma's spirits immensely.

Through the rest of the reception Emma and Mr. Knightly talked non stop! Since the last time they had had contact he had invested in stocks and was now very wealthy. He never got romantically involved- he lived as a bachelor and liked it. They finally got onto the topic of where he was living now.

"Actually, I have purchased a piece of land called Donwell Abbey," Mr. Knightly began as he helped himself to a piece of rich cake.

"Donwell Abbey… why does that sound familiar?" Emma pondered as they stood together next to the sweets tray- thinking how sweet their conversation was.

"It's a property very close to Hartfield, a five mile walk away… perhaps six." He replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible about how close he was moving but Emma couldn't help but show how ecstatic she felt about the whole thing.

"So close! How perfect! I'll be able to visit you often! And you me!" Emma said as she smiled broadly. "I can show you around Hartfield one day, show you all the things that fulfil everyday of my life! And I'm so glad that you will be added to that list!"

"Oh Emma, if its anything like it used to be, then the town is just filled to the brim of people who adore you and believe you are an angel!" Mr. Knightly said, she always liked that about him- he had been the only one who pointed out any wrongs in her actions or flaws in her life, as cruel as it sounds it always brought her feet back to the ground.

"Oh Mr. Knightly- you hide it well but we all know you, too, believe I'm an angel!" Emma teased and Mr. Knightly smiled gently once more.