Next chapter: Sandstone...
January 1812 - Longbourn (Lydia & Wickham)
Two days after Mr. Bennet left Longbourn, Mrs. Bennet, in order to 'regain' her social position in Hertfordshire, organized a dinner party and invited the Phillipses, the Lucases, the Longs, Denny, and Wickham. But unfortunately, only the Phillipses, Denny, and Wickham attended.
Since neither Mary nor Jane were around to correct their younger sisters' behavior, they flirted shamelessly with the two officers that night, particularly Lydia with Wickham. Mr. Phillips made a couple of comments about his nieces' behavior, but his wife and sister-in-law ignored him.
For the next few days, Lydia and Kitty met the officers at Meryton almost daily and even Mrs. Bennet invited Denny and Wickham several times to Longbourn. The three ladies were enchanted with Wickham, although Kitty preferred Denny.
Wickham, on the other hand, told them what he knew they wanted to hear and flirted with Lydia...
"... It is clear that they envy you because your daughters are the most beautiful in Hertfordshire..."
"...Yes, Mr. Goulding is such a proud and unpleasant man..."
"…Without a doubt, Miss Kitty and Miss Lydia are the prettiest and nicest young women I have ever met…"
"…I congratulate you on the success of Miss Mary…"
"…Thank you for the advice, Mrs. Bennet. Miss Lydia, from now on, at every assembly you must dance the first sets with me. I want all the gentlemen to envy me for dancing with the prettiest lady…"
Mrs. Bennet was convinced that at any moment Mr. Wickham was going to propose to her dear Lydia..., she had never seen a young man so in love..., for this reason, she provided them with opportunities to spend minutes alone.
Two weeks later, Wickham kissed Lydia for the first time. Needless to say, Lydia was delighted and from then on, they began to look for occasions to meet alone and be able to kiss all they wanted.
On a cold afternoon Lydia and Kitty went out to Meryton to buy some ribbons, a quarter of mile from Longbourn, Lydia started coughing and told Kitty to go on alone because she wasn't feeling well. Kitty, not suspicious, was genuinely concerned for her sister's health and offered to escort her back to Longbourn.
But Lydia insisted she go to Meryton, since they needed the ribbons to mend some bonnets, and besides, she assured her sister that if she rested, she would be fine the next day.
Minutes later, Lydia walked into an old uninhabited cabin where Wickham was waiting for her…
"Finally, you arrive my love. I thought you weren't coming. I missed you so much." He kissed her passionately.
"I missed you too. But I don't understand why you asked me to come to this dirty cabin."
Wickham knelt down and took her hand, "My love, I asked you to come here because if you may, I want to ask you a very important question."
Lydia's eyes widened and she nodded.
"You know that I love you deeply." He paused and smiled charmingly, "Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Excitedly she said yes and they began to kiss... Perhaps because despite being a flirt, she was still very young and naive, she didn't realize that, between kisses and passionate caresses she ended up lying on a hard bed with Wickham on top of her… a few minutes later she felt a stabbing pain in her midsection.
Barely aware of what she had done, Wickham kept kissing her and a few minutes later she felt pain again, but not as bad as before...
Before Lydia returned to Longbourn, Wickham told her that this was going to be their secret...
"My love. As soon as your father comes back, I'm going to speak with him so that he allows us to get married as soon as possible. For now, you must keep our secret because I do not want your father to be angry with me. Until he gives his consent it is better that no one knows about our engagement."
"But George, I want to tell Kitty and my mother that we are getting married."
Wickham kissed her again, "Unfortunately you must not tell them anything for now. Your father may be angry with me for not being the first to know. It's a few days that you must keep the secret…"
Finally, Lydia agreed and understood that George was right. They kept seeing each other secretly for two weeks until one day Kitty saw Lydia and Wickham leaving the cabin together. Wickham quickly left and told them that he had some chores to do. Lydia, very excited, told her sister that she was engaged to Wickham, but since her father still didn't know, they were secretly seeing each other in that cabin.
Although Kitty wasn't discreet, she realized it was better that no one knew her sister was secretly seeing a gentleman. She remembered the times Mary had spoken of the importance of virtue in a woman, and the story of the blacksmith's daughter who had been left pregnant and abandoned…