I don't own Pride and Prejudice.
The day of Jane's wedding dawned bright and clear with no sign of rain. It was just the type of day she had always pictured for her dear sweet sister. She, Mary, Kitty, and Georgiana all bustled into their sister's room, dressed and ready for the wedding. All of them prepared to help Jane look her absolute finest. Not that it was hard to make her already beautiful sister look beautiful.
"Are you all cross at me for inviting Mama and Lydia to the wedding?" Jane asked them as they helped her prepare. They had all wished to have nothing to do with their mother and youngest sister, but none of the begrudged Jane for wanting to invite them.
"It is your wedding, and you can invite whom you please." She smiled at her sister as she placed the final flowers in her hair. "I just hope they do anything too embarrassing."
"They are a bit loud and crass at times, but surely they can contain themselves for one day." Jane responded with a smile, and Lizzy couldn't help but wonder what it would take to pull her beloved sister's head out of the clouds. She could see even Mary and Kitty preparing for the worst.
But it seemed any bit of preparation would not be enough, "I told Lizzy that when she hosted Jane in London that nothing less than a Baron would do for her sister, for she could not be so beautiful for nothing." She could hear her mother talking loudly to her aunt Phillips and Lydia on the lawn outside the church after the wedding services, before everyone returned to Longbourn for the wedding breakfast.
"Don't get me wrong, Mr Bingley was a good catch before we had Mr Darcy and all his connections, and would do quite nicely for Mary or Kitty, but Jane deserves so much better."
"And then she goes and removes Kitty from society, it is awfully high handed of her. It is almost as if she doesn't want her sisters to make good matches." Her mother cried out in distress.
"Maybe she's just jealous that she couldn't get a husband on her own, that one had to be compromised to make him marry her. It's a good thing I locked them in that room together when I did, even though I didn't know he was in there. I mean, look at how fat she has gotten."
Elizabeth would have blamed the following outburst on hormones if she had been the one to have it, but it not her that said what everyone was thinking. "You daft cow, are you so stupid you can't tell that Lizzy is pregnant?!"
The shock on everyone's faces was pronounced, and grew when William and Richard burst out into raucous laughter. Georgiana turned a sheepish grin toward her brother when she realized she was not in trouble. Kitty taking her hand and grinning along with Mary, clearly agreeing with the statement.
"Mama, I can see now that it was a mistake inviting you here today." Jane spoke sternly to her mother. Her mother started to complain, and Jane held up a hand to stall her.
"Not only have you insulted my husband, the man I love, you have insulted all of my sisters as well. You and Lydia have acted completely uncouth, and I for one would never host either of you in London for it would truly be an embarrassment to me and my husband.
"While I understand the need for financial security, you were able to attain it with Lizzy's marriage to Mr Darcy. There was no need for us all to have rich husbands, but that was not enough for you, you would rather see us all rich than happy."
"Oh how I have tried to love you for who you are, you are my mother, of course I would try. However, I have realized that you have never loved us for who we are, only what we can be for you. Lizzy has been more of a mother to Mary and Kitty in a few short months, than you have their entire lives, and I for one am glad they are out of your control lest you ruin them like you did Lydia."
"Go home mother, go back to your cottage, and take a good look at what you have become. Just know, that you brought everything life has handed you down on yourself." And with that, Jane stormed off, her husband right on her heels ready to comfort her.
"Are you alright my dear Lizzy?" She turned from where she was seated in the small window seat of her old bedroom and smiled at her beloved sister.
"I just found myself a bit tired from all the excitement today, and came up here to relax for a moment." She smiled at her sister, her hand resting on her stomach. "I would have been down sooner, but something in the garden caught my attention."
She pulled back the curtain for Jane to have a peek, and her sister smiled seeing their father and Lady Catherine walking hand in hand. "He proposed not ten minutes ago."
"So who won the bet then?" Jane asked with a smile.
"Fitzwilliam did, but not by much, he said Papa would wait until after the wedding to propose." She smiled brightly at her sister.
"It's hard to believe this will no longer be home." Jane said with a sigh, as she looked around the room. "I remember so many nights sitting up here conversing by candlelight."
"So many good memories here, but I confess, it hasn't felt like home in a while for me." It had stopped feeling like home even before her marriage, she just hadn't realized it. Always having to steel herself against her mother's barbs had taken more of a toll on her than she had thought, and she promised herself to love her child and any that followed unconditionally.
"I've heard Mr Bingley is giving up the lease on Netherfield." Fitzwilliam had been the one to tell her that, as well as that he was looking at estates close to Pemberley, and her sister's smile confirmed it.
"I do hope we can find a place close to you and Mary." Jane gushed.
"I think Fitzwilliam has a few in mind close to us, and is likely to take all of them and instill all of our sisters in them so he can keep you all close." She loved just how much her husband loved her sisters, it just made her love him more.
"Jane, could I talk to Lizzy alone?" Mary's voice came from the doorway, and Jane nodded, seeing the tears in the young girl's eyes.
"Dearest, whatever is the matter?" Elizabeth asked, opening her arms to the younger girl and pulling her into a warm embrace.
"Oh Lizzy, how will I ever be able to marry Richard after the scandal mama and Lydia have brought on all of us?" The young girl cried in her arms.
"They have brought no more scandal than my family has brought on me." Richard spoke from the doorway, Fitzwilliam just behind him. "It is I who should be doing the noble thing and letting you go, but sadly I am a selfish man."
"I am afraid that what he says is true, and had I not known Richard to be a good man and blameless of his family's faults, I would have never allowed him to court you." William said, as he knelt in front of them and took her hand.
"You are relatively safe from the scandal here, as no one from here runs in our circles, nor goes to London,and the Bingley sisters refused to come, so they do not know, nor are the trusted enough to be believed." Elizabeth explained. "So while our reputations here in town are tarnished, we are also known well enough to be judged on our own merits."
"The same can not be said for my family, we have heaped so much scandal on us in just a few short months, that no one in their right mind would try to marry a daughter or sister to us. The best I could have hoped for was some gold digging gentleman whose estate was on the verge of collapse." Richard spoke gently, "Fortunately, my cousin is in no way in his right mind and allows me to court you despite my being so far beneath you."
"But you are the son of an Earl."
"A disgraced Earl, and you are the ward and sister of Fitzwilliam Darcy. A man whose name is one of the oldest in the Ton. Who comes from a long line of wealthy and respectful gentlemen. Who is married to one of the handsomest and most intelligent women of the Ton." Richard looked earnestly at Mary. "So, it is you you must decide if you can live with the scandal I would bring to our marriage, not the other way around."
"Are you asking me to marry you?" Mary looked so hopeful, and Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam excused themselves, but stayed close enough to the door to afford them as much privacy as possible, while preserving their reputations. Thus, they were there when the two exited, and Mary flew into their arms, excitedly telling them she was engaged. Fitzwilliam congratulated both of them before taking Richard to go find her father.