Warning: There is tiny bit of "M" in here. Language and content.
Fanny Albright worked nearly nonstop for the Netherfield Ball but she welcomed the distraction from her thoughts. Mr. Truslow was anxious to wed and she was anxious to be wedded. He was very forward with his attentions and Fanny gave him no discouragement. She liked that he was virile and was willing to chase her for his own satisfaction and he tempered his own selfishness in that respect with an intense desire to revel in her pleasure. Sometimes it seemed that he lived to serve her and though she felt sure that this was why he was previously henpecked she knew that their relationship could be an equal fellowship as she did not wish to be served, only loved.
When James Truslow first met Fanny he was astonished to find that she was still single. A woman with an independent living who was attractive ordinarily did not make it past five and twenty. What made Fanny yet more interesting was that she had no desire to have a husband. It had taken every trick of wooing that he had to get her to consent to a courtship. In fact, even her sister Sarah had to join in with James' suit. Fanny simply did not want to marry. At least that is what it seemed like at first glance. Upon getting to know her better Mr. Truslow found that she had many reasons for avoiding the married state.
Fanny was fourteen when her dear mother passed and the two sisters inherited the bakery and the family home. At the time, her eldest sister was already married and though she lived in the same town she could not be spared to come help Fanny run the shop or play the part of a female chaperone. Sarah instead hired a worker for the bakery and used a part of the annuity that John settled on her at her marriage to send Fanny to an all girls school in Ramsgate, The Annesley School for Girls. It was a well known finishing school for ladies but not necessarily the pink of the ton. They graduated women who went on to be governesses and wives to gentlemen farmers, parsons and ranking soldiers. They taught a life of service and dignity as an educator and a loving wife and homemaker but Fanny felt as if a large cross had been put upon her shoulders and she was unwilling to bear it. She did not like teaching out of hand over-indulged children and she was unwilling to marry and be the helpmeet to a man who would never contribute to raising his children or the cooking or the home. She did not want to play the good wife at home while her husband had "understandable dalliances" with other women. It was not a role she wanted to assume and to avoid it she considered becoming a missionary to Africa after her time at the school was over.
She wrote as much to Sarah when she was nineteen and she would never forget Sarah's response,
Fanny, if you go to Africa to avoid marriage I shall drag you back here, through the desert, by your stays! Sand be D-ed!
Though Sarah was humorous with her response, she understood that her sister needed to be her own woman and find her identity apart from societal norms and male companionship. She provided this lifestyle for Fanny after graduation by giving her the deed to the bakery and the town home that was situated over and behind it. From her twenty-first birthday Fanny budgeted and operated the bakery with her own hard work and ingenuity. The little town of Meryton at first blanched at her assumption of the role of breadwinner but, as Fanny had predicted, they came around when they realized that her product was as good as ever, her delivery as consistent as ever and her book keeping impeccable. Annesley's school had taught her how to be mistress of a home and she had used those skills to be mistress of her life.
It was not only autonomy that Fanny desired, however, it was love. She would not marry for mercenary reasons or to be comfortable. Fanny wanted the mutual bond of respect and deep love that Sarah and John shared. They improved with one another, flourished in company and were capable achieving goals together that they could not achieve alone. She had never felt such a connection. Every man she had thus far met had fallen short of her own expectations even for herself. None were smart enough, wise enough or passionate enough.
She would also not marry for physical affection though she did enjoy the more base pleasures of life. Going to an all girls school does afford one with the opportunity to ask questions and seek guidance in the worldly pleasure to be had with ones self. Fanny knew what she liked and how to achieve it. She did not need a man to complete her in that way nor did she feel the need for procreation. She was perfectly happy with never having a child though she was quite good at nurturing and teaching the young girls at school and the children of Meryton.
Fanny vowed that all of her stipulations would be met or she would not marry at all. It would be beneath her to do so and she would not demean herself.
It was years after this resolution and a year previous to the current day that Mr. Truslow met Fanny. He had known Mr. and Mrs. Hill through his late wife and they frequently gave his children odd jobs around Longbourn to teach them the trade of housekeeping. On one such occasion he was walking with his youngest to Longbourn and was joined on the path by Fanny. She was walking at a quick pace but little Catherine, who recognized the lady, was not deterred and half trotted next to her side asking her about her bonnet and everything else she carried. Mr. Truslow called her back to him and Fanny, feeling that it would be rude to do otherwise since the child was determined, slackened her pace to allow everyone to walk together.
Mr. Truslow said, "I am sorry madam for my little Cat, she is not at all shy." At this he turned to Catherine and said, "We have not been introduced to the lady, Catherine, it is not good manners to strike up a conversation without a proper introduction." Fanny was touched by his tone- it was loving and gentle yet firm.
Cat spoke up and said matter-of-factly, "Papa, this lady is the lady at the bakery I have been telling you about. Now you have been introduced."
Mr. Truslow smiled and said, "No dear, this is the way we properly introduce one another," and looked at her he asked, "I am very sorry madam but may I have your name?"
"Fanny Albright," she responded.
"Now, Miss Albright, may I introduce to you the bossy and esteemed, Miss Catherine Truslow." Here he directed her to curtsy and she did so with giggles and Fanny answered with her own curtsy.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance Miss Truslow though I feel as if I already know you. Do you not visit my store frequently?"
Cat giggled more and says, "Yes ma'am! You make the best sweet meats but papa does not give me much pin money."
"He is wise for I would venture you would eat at my shop until you threw up."
"Most definitely!"
Catherine went on like this, in the loud and endearing openness of youth. In the course of their conversation they found that their paths terminated at the same destination. Mr. Truslow to drop Cat off with Mrs. Hill and perhaps stop in and discuss land business with Mr. Bennet and Fanny to visit her sister with the usual bakery order at Longbourn. The little girl was charming and she hid nothing. Fanny somehow felt as if she understood Mr. Truslow in the span of that thirty minute walk. He volunteered no amplifying information to his daughter's stories and yet did not refute anything. He himself was an enigma. Quiet yet firm, humorous yet fair and she gathered from Catherine's recreational money, independent in a comfortable way.
When they got to Longbourn they both approached the kitchen door and Mrs. Hill greeted them together with surprise which was soon replaced by quite another expression. Fanny knew her sister's mind was putting the pieces together and she saw Sarah put her most convincing smile on and invite Mr. Truslow to stay for a bit while they enjoyed their tea. He declined and cast the briefest of unsettling glances at Fanny before he excused himself. Sarah gave Catherine an easy activity snapping beans and she said in a quiet voice to Fanny,
"Catherine says you met them for the first time today in this chance encounter. Remarkable. Fate comes around once to us all and casts her gates open."
"Oh, Sarah, please. I have known him forty-five minutes and you are already attempting to marry me off! You know that I am not interested. Find some other poor young woman to work your skills on."
"My skills indeed. You do not think he is handsome?"
"Of course he is handsome. I have two eyes! Sarah do be serious- he is a widower with two children, a good size farm, and probably wants to add to his brood by finding another woman to devote her life in his kitchen and on her back."
"You sound so bitter and for no reason. Your heart has never been touched. Do not be rash. This feels different to me. All of my previous match making attempts with you I have known before I presented them but this one," she paused, "well, this feels like some other divine providence arranged the meeting. Give it a chance."
Fanny could not help but relent. When Sarah got on her religious themes she was impossible to argue with. "As you wish sister but I promise you, he hardly said six sentences to me on the road and I doubt it will come to anything."
