Madam and Missy — A Pride and Prejudice Variation
This is dedicated to all the writers both here and on KU who've released their stories for free! As I enjoy reading them so much, I thought that I'd have a go, and here it is.
[Note that I'm a Brit, so have written with British spelling, punctuation and terminology 😏]
In which Mary and others arrive at Tenston, and secrets are shared
Shropshire
Elizabeth
Days and nights passed in a blur as the two new-borns cried, were nursed and cleaned, cuddled and rocked, but slept only intermittently. Darcy had arranged for the lodge's residents to move into the manor house. "Parts of the manor are in disrepair," he had said, "but there are more servants there to attend us." Though Elizabeth was a little reluctant, he also made enquiries about hiring a nanny. She refused a wet nurse, insisting on nursing Melissa herself.
Some weeks later, by the time Melissa and young Martha Stevens were to be christened, all four new parents sometimes slept for more than a few hours at a time.
Mid-afternoon on the day before the christening, Elizabeth had a huge surprise: Mary and Mr. Gardiner arrived. They hugged and kissed each other; Elizabeth not quite believing the presence of her sister and uncle; the latter excused himself to allow the sisters time to talk together.
"Pappa sent me," explained Mary.
"Though I am delighted to see you, that is not much of an explanation!" After allowing Mary to refresh herself, Elizabeth pulled her into the small parlour. The housekeeper followed them in with tea and cake.
"Why has Pappa sent you?"
"I do not know. A few weeks ago, he gave Lydia and me a cipher to work on. We found it to contain a date and the word 'beekeepers'."
Elizabeth laughed. "It was from me!"
"Why would you send a cipher about beekeepers?"
"This is part of Pappa's grand scheme to make sport of his daughters, I believe." Elizabeth took Mary's hands and, with a sigh, said, "I am aware that you are betrothed."
"How?" gasped Mary. "It is meant to be a secret."
"I find that I am losing patience with all of these secrets. I inferred your betrothal before I left in the autumn. You had that excited look about you that I have also had whenever I had a letter from Aunt Gardiner. I demanded that Pappa told me."
"Oh, woe is me, I did not notice!" laughed Mary. "So, the ribbons! All of those sets of ribbons were not from our aunt but from your own betrothed?"
"Indeed," came a voice from the door. Mary scrambled to her feet.
Elizabeth also stood and beckoned Darcy and Mr. Gardiner towards them. "William, this is my dear sister, Mary, whose surname you shall not be told. Mary, allow me to introduce my husband, William. For the moment, I shall not tell you his surname either — that is part of Pappa's 'great secret'. And," taking the bundle from his arms, she continued, "this is our daughter, Melissa."
"'Husband'? 'Daughter'?" In her amazement, Mary barely managed a curtsey in response to Darcy's bow, but she quickly rallied and bent over the baby. "Is she not adorable?"
"We certainly think so, Miss Mary!" agreed Darcy.
"Would you hold her, Mary, while I make a cup of tea for our uncle and my besotted husband?"
"Gladly!" cried Mary.
As Elizabeth passed Darcy a cup and a few cakes on a plate, while Mary was distracted, he took and kissed her hand murmuring, "Your only husband." She smiled and squeezed his hand and returned to sit next to her sister.
Mr. Gardiner smiled on overhearing their exchange.
"William, Mary had just told me that she deciphered our message about beekeepers."
"And I am being profoundly slow in seeing the reason," added Mary, shaking her head. "Melissa is your little bee!"
"Indeed," agreed Darcy with a fond smile.
"What I have not discovered, yet, is why Pappa has sent Mary to us."
"Have you not, Mrs. Adam?" asked Darcy.
Elizabeth looked at him in shock. "No! Oh, Pappa must be revelling in this!" Oh, this is too much.
Mr. Gardiner nodded; he seemed to be party to Mr. Bennet's plans.
Mary looked from one to the other. "In what must he be revelling? And who is Mrs. Adam?"
Darcy gave his wife a look that said that she knew her sister best.
"Oh, Mary — where to begin?" Elizabeth paused to order her thoughts. "William and I were first betrothed, oh, almost eight years ago."
"Eight years ago?" gasped Mary.
"Yes, it was at the time of my eleventh birthday."
"Eight years? You have hidden this for that long?"
The baby started to grizzle.
"Oh, I am sorry, Lizzy! Have I upset her?"
"Not at all — I expect that this little one is hungry." Elizabeth took Melissa from Mary and said to the men, "If you will excuse us, Mary and I shall go to the nursery." What a story I have to tell.
"Certainly," replied Darcy, standing to help her to her feet. "I shall send up a tray in a while to fortify you."
Darcy
Distracted by the sound of Elizabeth and Mary's happy chatter as they climbed the stairs, Darcy almost missed Stevens trying to attract his attention.
"Sir!"
"Yes, Stevens."
"I thought that you should know that a carriage is approaching, sir."
"Do you know whose it is?"
"I am not certain, but it might be the bishop's."
Uncle Fitzwilliam?
Darcy's eyebrows rose. It seemed as though he was correct: his father-in-law was indeed a man who enjoyed making sport of his daughters. "Thank you, Stevens. Let us meet it to find out."
The housekeeper opened the door to reveal Darcy's cousin James Fitzwilliam helping Lady Anne from the carriage. James' father, Bishop Fitzwilliam followed them.
"Mother!" Darcy called out. "Do take care, it is still frightfully slippery!" He approached the visitors and bowed in greeting to the men before taking his mother's hand. "Allow me to assist you."
He led the party inside and arranged for refreshments in the parlour. Asking the men to go ahead, he murmured quietly to his mother, "I can guess your reason to travel here in this dreadful weather."
"Can you really?" teased Lady Anne with a mischievous look.
"Indeed."
"Well? Where is she?"
"James' bride? She is with Missy."
"That is not the 'she' to whom I was referring, as you well know! I do believe that your wife has been encouraging you to be more light-hearted."
"Ha, 'full-hearted' would be more apposite."
She nudged him. "If you will not direct me to my granddaughter, then I shall have to summon Stevens."
"Lady Anne?" came a voice from behind them.
"Ah, Mrs. Stevens, how good to see you," said Lady Anne.
"I thank you, my lady," replied Sarah with a curtsey.
Lady Anne released Darcy's arm and took Sarah's instead. "I am looking forward to meeting your daughter, Mrs. Stevens, but you will forgive me, I hope, if I wish to meet my granddaughter first."
"Of course. I shall be honoured, my lady," said Sarah, blushing.
"I think, Mamma, that you will meet both as you will find that, wherever there is one baby, there is a second. Sometimes they take turns in crying and sometimes they cry in concert. You will be guided by the noise!" He held his hand to an ear, theatrically. "Hark!"
"Lead on, Sarah. Lead on," instructed Lady Anne, raising her eyebrows at her son.
Darcy watched them walk upstairs and was about to join his uncle, cousin and Mr. Gardiner, when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and, with great surprise, greeted the newcomer.
"I had no idea that Mother had brought you along too, Mrs. Reynolds."
"Sir," said Mrs. Reynolds, curtseying.
"I shall not detain you, as I am certain that your fondest desire is to meet your granddaughter." A wail came from the first floor. "Follow the cries," he bid her, gesturing towards the stairs.
"Yes, sir!" agreed the older woman as she left to hurry up the stairs.
Darcy turned and entered the parlour, where he found his male relatives, old and new, sitting drinking tea and helping themselves to cake. The Fitzwilliams stood upon seeing him and came to shake his hand.
"William," said the bishop. "It is good to see you. We must apologise for this unannounced arrival."
"Yes, it is good to see you, William. I do not remember when I last saw you — was it last year or the year before?"
"The year before, I think," replied Darcy. "You had just taken orders."
"Ah, yes," agreed James. "So it was."
"Now," interjected his father, "do join us, as we have plans to make."
"Indeed," said Darcy.
The bishop glanced at his son.
"Father tells me that you will surmise the reason for our presence here." James shifted in his chair glancing uncertainly at Mr. Gardiner.
Darcy shrugged noncommittally; he knew not what his cousin knew. I can guess.
"I see that you are going to allow, huh, compel me to say it! I am to wed on the morrow."
"Indeed," said Darcy, without inflexion. I cannot wait to tell Missy that I was correct!
"'Indeed', he says," cried James. "'Indeed'!"
"You know, full well, son, that William is biding his time as he does not yet know the whole story," said the bishop.
Darcy nodded. Indeed!
James sighed. "I am to marry a young gentlewoman by the name of Mary. I do not know her family name and we have not met, but we have been betrothed for nearly three years and have been corresponding." James looked sharply at his cousin. "Do not say 'indeed' again, William!"
"I was about to congratulate you," protested Darcy, mildly. "And I was about to suggest to my uncle that he tells each of us our secrets."
"You have secrets, too?"
"Ind— I do."
The bishop raised his hands. "I think that each of you should tell your own secrets and that you should start, nephew."
"Very well. Much like you, James, I was betrothed to a young gentlewoman. We corresponded but did not meet." He continued with a smile, "She is now my beloved wife."
"Wife? You are married? Why did you not tell us?"
"For the same reason that you did not inform me of your betrothal."
"Touché," James conceded, reluctantly.
"We married almost three years ago, shortly before your betrothal was arranged, I suspect." Darcy turned to his uncle, who nodded.
"As I told you at the time, James, Anne and I chose your wife. We had already met her sister." It was his turn to smile. "In fact, I performed the ceremony to wed her to William."
"Mary is William's sister?" cried James in surprise.
"Yes, son." Bishop Fitzwilliam turned to look at his nephew, and continued. "And I expect that you have met her."
"Indeed." Do not think to force me to tell James that Miss Mary is here.
"Your aunt arranged for Mary to come here too," said the bishop to James.
"She is here? Now?" James jumped to his feet. "Where is she?"
"Upstairs with my wife and mother fussing over our daughter." Darcy could not stop the grin which spread over his face. My daughter!
"'Daughter'? You have a child and have not told us!"
"James, calm yourself!" ordered the bishop. "William, continue."
"Missy and I were married almost three years ago. During that time, we spent summers here and met in London in the wintertime, returning to our homes when parted. This changed last year as Matlock dispatched me to recover Cousin Richard. While I was away, I did not know that Missy was expecting our child. I returned just three days after the birth of our daughter, Melissa, about a month and a half ago.
"Earlier this afternoon, I found that Missy's sister had arrived. She, like you, did not know of her sister's new family. Mmm, and I think that she also does not know why her father has sent her here.
"James, do you know why you are here in Shropshire?"
"Yes, indeed. I have already told you: I am to marry Mary."
"I should warn you that their father seems to have a peculiar sense of humour; he enjoys making sport of the people around him, including his daughters. I have not yet met him, but from what Missy has said, this is the case."
Mr. Gardiner's laugh interrupted them. "Without having met him, you have my brother's measure!"
James looked wary.
"He sent Missy to Shropshire without first telling her that she was to meet and marry me," Darcy continued.
James gasped. "You believe that Mary is in similar ignorance?"
"Indeed. I wrote to Missy to give her some hint of what was to come."
"Mary should know! She must be told!"
"I agree. I expect that Mother will join us when the women have finished marvelling at my Melissa, and we can ask her to introduce you."
James nodded, and swallowed.
"In the meantime, I should tell you more," continued Darcy. "This veil of secrecy or, as Missy calls it, the 'great secret', means that we are not to know who the other is."
"It has been quite tricky not writing about what we must not," agreed James.
"Here we are 'Mr. and Mrs. Adam', and, although I know that her name is Elizabeth, and Miss Mary called her 'Lizzy' — here she is 'Missy'. If you are to stay here or at the lodge after the ceremony, you might like to think about what your surname should be."
"That is a good idea, William," interjected his uncle. "Staying at the lodge, as you did at first, might also be a good idea. James and Mary would be separate from the rest of us but near enough should they desire company."
Or need help with a new wife in distress!
"Yes. William, if you and your wife have no objections, we shall stay at the lodge."
Darcy indicated that he had none. It is more comfortable here in the manor house.
"As we are cousins, and as there are too many names to remember who knows which one — ah, and as we already share a name — I propose that we are also called 'Adam'."
"I can see the logic in that," acquiesced Darcy. "Just as I cannot, you will not be able to stay here all of the time. And, if Miss Mary also has a child, the two Mmes. Adam would remain here together."
"Steady on, cousin! We have not yet wed!"
Please don't copy, but please do let me have comments/corrections 😏