Explanatory Notes
This "chapter" may be skipped if you just want to get to the story, the first chapter of which begins at "3."
This is a humorous send up of how the Bennets came to be married and includes their intimate lives behind closed doors, as well as the lives of their parents. The main characters include Leonard Bennet (the father of the Mr. Bennet of canon, widower of Elizabeth), Horace Bennet (the Mr. Bennet of canon), Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner (the parents of Mrs. Bennet of canon), Miss Jane Gardiner (the Mrs. Bennet of canon), Miss Lydia Gardiner (Mrs. Phillips of canon), Edward "Earnest" Gardiner (Mr. Gardiner of canon) and a love interest for Leonard.
This rewrite ended up as an "M" because I do get up close and personal with a few sex scenes and discussions of marital relations as well as some graphic depictions of violence and death (including death in childbirth). Most of this story is a "T" so I will label chapters individually with an "M" when needed. If a chapter is simply labeled "M" you should assume it contains a sex scene or graphic talk about sex. If it relates to death or violence, I will advise accordingly. If you need more information, feel free to shoot me a PM.
I wrote this prequel to answer the question I always had about why Mr. Bennet married Mrs. Bennet. In finding this answer, I learned backstories about the Bennets, the Gardiners, the Lucases and other denizens of Meryton. This story is canon compliant with Pride and Prejudice (just because the canon leaves so many unanswered questions and this story gives us the before and the after). I also wanted to explore what it was like to be Mrs. Bennet's mother as I have a "Jane Gardiner" type as my daughter.
I also learned the answers to: Why the entail? Why was Charlotte Lucas practical? How did Mrs. Bennet learn her scheming ways when it came to matching up her daughters with eligible men? Were Mr. and Mrs. Bennet ever happy together and if so, could they ever be happy again? Can anyone else have a second chance at happiness in a new romance after the death of a loved one? What is worth risking to gain your heart's desire?
The story starts in 1786 (when the character we know as Mr. Bennet is a young, single man, returning home from Cambridge) and mostly covers the events before P&P. There are remembered scenes stemming back as far as the 1740s. To make the timing of the Bennet daughters' births work with a historical event that I wanted to include, I made the slight alteration of assuming the events of P&P took place in 1810-1811 rather than the commonly assumed 1811-1812 based on Austen's publication in 1813. There are historical figures and books referenced in this story; everything I say about them, their lives and what they did is true, but for how the characters interacted with them. This story only covers a few events that take place during the P&P timeline, but then concludes in the 1820s.
As this revision is mostly complete, I have committed to posting a chapter a week on Thursdays. If I receive at least four reviews from unique reviewers for a given chapter, I will post the next chapter early, but still post every Thursday. I am still fiddling with chapters as I post them, so this is why I am not putting up the whole thing at once.
For anyone who read the previous chapters or reads any comments posted prior to February 1, 2019, the chapter breaks have changed and I have removed the comments I had between chapters. If you read the first draft and reviewed, since you cannot review the same chapter again you may need to logout to leave a review. I love reviews and will always respond to them through PMs if you are logged in.
Because who is whom can be confusing (especially as I decided that the Bennet daughters we know and love are all named for their relatives) and I added several new characters that I am quite fond of, I have added an index of characters immediately after this note. In the index, characters are groups by families with the names and ages being those given as of the beginning of the story or when they first appear. Feel free to skip reading the index, it is just here in the second chapter if you need it.
One final note, in this work both men and women express views about their place in the world, beliefs about their roles in marriage and what it means for their bodies. These are not my views, but an attempt rather to imagine what people of the day may have believed based on societal views and expectations, and not to judge them for it. I know some writers like to write their characters as if they are wise and enlightened beyond their time and place modern sensibilities into the characters; I do my best to avoid that as I believe it stretches credibility. That does not mean, however, that characters may not react and attempt to forge a better understanding based on their own personal experiences, but it will mostly be done privately.
This revision is dedicated to the kind reviewers of my first draft: Guests, LadyJaeza, nanciellen, RegencyGirl17, liysyl, mangosmum, wosedwew, Graciela, Deanna27, marianotoinette1, Gedoena, Vesper1931, Happywife, Incarnadine and SandraAdeline. Many thanks to anyone who reviews, follows or favorites this story.