Sorry for the delay in updating this story! Hope you enjoy it :) x
Lydia Wickham was never known for her subtlety, in fact it was one of the many reasons why her esteemed brother-in-law Charles Bingley very rarely invited her to stay with his family in Dunham, preferring instead to refer her to Pemberley, which had more rooms and bigger estate with which to escape from her and her raucous brood. It had only been two years after the death of Lieutenant George Wickham that his widow had remarried a highly eligible, if older, gentleman of fashion called William Hart. Darcy had not been sure if Lydia had been motivated by love or by the Hart family fortune, but he approved of the match and did much to secure it for his sister-in-law. The family of five, consisting of the posthumously born George Wickham-Hart who was now eight, the three-year-old twins Emma and Eliza, and their parents, were visiting Pemberley for Easter, along with Mr and Mrs Bennet, who were travelling up from Hertfordshire, and the Bingley brood. The visit was planned for three weeks and Elizabeth was delighted that she would be surrounded by her family for this happy time.
William Hart was a good man from a good family, they owned a portion of the Lancashire coalfields on which their fortune was built. He had a handsome and refined air, enjoying the pleasures which music and literature provided, but he was also a large, tall man with a stocky frame and he sometimes felt awkward stomping around the ballrooms of Bath trying fruitlessly to keep up with his beloved, who adored dancing. He knew that Lydia, desperate and living with any members of her family who would take her, didn't love him when he first proposed, even though he was completely enamoured with her. The many qualities of the former Miss Bennet which frustrated her sisters were ones that he was drawn to, and he loved her lightness and silliness. Even though he knew that she didn't love him, he did all he could to make her want him as a real, true husband – he never wanted to force her or make her feel obliged to him - and it was only after they were wed that Joseph courted his wife and wooed her with ardent desire, treating her as if she were the most precious thing in his life, which she was.
Elizabeth noticed the difference in her sister immediately; she had only seen her fleetingly at family events since her second marriage, but she became aware that rather than being silly, Lydia's vivacious personality was now tempered into sometimes more beatific. She still sparkled, of course, still demanded the attention of everyone in the room, but now it was only for good. During her time as Mrs Hart, Lydia had learned how to play the harp and now delighted everyone with beautiful recitals in the drawing room, playing on the instrument that Darcy had bought Georgiana as a wedding gift. Mrs Bennet, always the biggest supporter of her youngest daughter, now had genuine reason to rave about her talents and advantageous marriage. Darcy would shoot a knowing look at William during these reveries of their mother-in-law and the gentlemen would politely retire to the cosy comfort of the stag parlour for port and cigars and about an hour's peace from Mrs Bennet before she demanded attention.
With the Darcy and Hart children firmly tucked away in the nursery, Elizabeth and Lydia were sitting alone in the grand Saloon, the waning sun of early spring catching the opulent gilded woodwork and causing the room to almost glow. The doors to the balcony had been opened to allow fresh air into the room before supper, which was being taken at London time due to their visiting guests. Elizabeth viewed her sister with new eyes; motherhood suited her, and it was obvious that she revelled in being so adored by her youngsters.
Lydia was standing on the balcony, looking over the calm, still lake "I want to apologise to you, Lizzy, for being such a vile sister when I was younger," she blurted out.
"Vile?" Elizabeth looked confused, "Silly and ridiculous sometimes, but never vile, my dearest Lydia"
Lydia scrunched up her face and shook her head, before taking a seat on the yellow velvet sofa next to her sister.
"I did a terrible thing by running off with Wickham," she whispered. "I was so determined to have him."
"Lydia, nobody blames you for that. You were but fifteen years old and Wickham…"
"Wickham had a terrible reputation. Yes, I know."
"What can you have done that was so terrible? It was foolish and unthinking, but you were taken advantage of."
Lydia looked up at her sister, half petrified to reveal the truth about her trip to Brighton and the ensuing elopement that caused so much aggravation and nearly ruined the reputation of the whole Bennet family.
"It wasn't like that, Lizzy."
"Sister, pray tell me what happened." Elizabeth looked at her sister with a concerned expression. She had never really known the details of what had happened, despite asking Darcy to reveal the secrets of the marriage negotiations that she had taken on the family's behalf. She saw Lydia visibly take a gulp.
"Now Lizzy, if I tell you, you must promise to never reveal this to another soul."
"Lydia, I promise."
"I seduced George," she stated bluntly. "I seduced him one evening when he was drunk on wine and we had been dancing and I went outside with him and we were alone. Then I kissed him."
"A kiss is one thing, Lydia, but that is not a seduction. I think you are blaming yourself for something that Wickham, a man who was thirteen years older than you, could have avoided."
"No!" She shook her head. "No, he could not have avoided it, because I made sure that people saw us. Despite his dubious character being known to most of Derbyshire, you must remember how half of us, including Mama, were half in love with Wickham when he was in Meryton, and it was the same in Brighton – everyone loved him, and he was eager to maintain this newfound admiration. He certainly would not have thought about risking it for a poor country girl with no fortune, would he?"
Elizabeth nodded, "but I do not think that for one minute you should take responsibility for this. You were a child."
"Lizzy, I think that being Mrs Darcy had taken away some of your cynicism – you are becoming rather like Jane in seeing the good in everyone. Oh, la!"
"I simply do not want you to feel remorse over this."
"I feel remorse that dear Wickham, God rest his soul, would have rather signed up for war than spend another day in my household."
"That cannot be true."
"You have always been adored by every man you meet – clever and handsome Elizabeth Bennet. I never had such a luxury, I have always been pointless Lydia, the youngest Bennet who gets drunk on wine and makes every laugh at parties. When I saw how Wickham looked at you, I wanted him for myself. I knew he could never marry any one of us, of course, so I decided to force his hand. Mrs Forster knew what my plan was, she told Wickham that he would have to take me away to Gretna to wed and so we set off that night. I was so scared but thinking about the look on all of your faces when I returned to Longbourn as Mrs George Wickham soon assuaged any fears that I might have had."
Lydia poured them both a cup of tea from the stand at the corner of the room and returned to the sofa, the cups clattering in their saucers.
"So, my plan was working, however, Wickham decided halfway to Scotland that he wasn't sure about this, that surely some negotiation could be made as no severe improprieties had occurred. He knew that we had nothing, could offer nothing and you know that for George, after growing up here in the splendour of Pemberley, he would never settle for that. We went to London and he contacted a lady of his acquaintance called Mrs Younge who, as you know…"
"Georgiana's companion! That's how Darcy found you."
"Yes," Lydia confirmed. "They were trying to figure out a way of getting me home with no mention of any scandal, but by this point it was already too late and half of London already knew that I was living, unmarried, with George Wickham and there was nothing that could be done."
Lydia glanced at the room around her, and then at her sister who was now nearly thirty-four years of age and getting more beautiful each time she saw her. The younger was always jealous of Lizzy, who commandeered the attention of their father and had a boundless energy that could be rarely matched. Lydia truly believed that her sister was fearless and when she made the decision to make George Wickham her own, she truly believed that it was something that Lizzy might have done if she had her own gumption and disregard for society's rules.
"What happened at the wedding?"
"Darcy stood up with Wickham, as you know, and Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were there. Even though he didn't want to marry me, and by this point I didn't want to marry him either, we were too embroiled in the situation to escape it and we had to go ahead." Lydia looked up at her sister, "he married me to save my reputation and to save yours. For all the damage that Wickham tried to inflict on Darcy by attempting to elope with Georgiana, he truly saw him as his brother. He married me because he knew that Darcy was in love with you and any taint on our family reputation would have severely hindered his being able to make a proposal of marriage, or of you being accepted in Derbyshire society."
Elizabeth took a sip of her tea, it was cold. It was taking her a moment to process this new information about Wickham; she wished that he could have decided on what type of character he had wanted to be. "Anyway, after we moved to Newcastle it was different. I wasn't clever enough, or funny enough, or witty enough and he was bored of me very quickly. I tried to distract myself with balls and dances and, you will not believe this Lizzy, visiting the poor."
"Visiting the poor? My my, Lydia, you must have needed the distraction."
"I did," she said softly. "He had a mean temper and he lost at the card tables a lot. When I wrote to you and Jane asking for money, it was mainly to buy food rather than new gowns or anything of merit. We had very little. I know that Darcy gave him a fortune to wed me, at least eight thousand pounds, but it was all gone within the year with nothing to show for it. When they told me that he wasn't coming back, I… I was glad that he was dead. I was sorry that he was gone, but I was glad that I was free from him."
Elizabeth pulled her sister into a firm embrace and the Bennet sisters sat there for moment, listening to the soft birdsong traveling across the lake. Outside the smell of magnolia drifted in and Lydia hugged her sister even tighter, feeling as if a massive weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders,
"Look how things turned out," Elizabeth said brightly.
"Yes, I never knew what love would feel like when it finally hit me. I thought it would be like in books – all immediate and sparkling – but this love is so very tangible, so very safe. Friendship, I think, is always a very firm foundation on which to build a marriage and I am so very fortunate to have been given a second chance."
"Well it is clear to me that William loves you a great deal"
"He does," Lydia grinned. "And Georgie too… and hopefully this next babe will give him a legitimate heir."
"Truly? What fantastic news," Elizabeth hugged her sister again and they sat silently for a moment.
"The thing that troubles me though, Lizzy, is this," Lydia said with a mischievous grin. "If I had known that Darcy had already laid his heart at your door, I could have seduced him instead and of all this I could have been mistress!"
Elizabeth laughed at her sister, who was now dancing about in the grandeur of the saloon, admiring herself in the massive full-length mirror that dominated one wall. She was happy to see that her sister was now settled and saddened that she had not known the full extent of Lydia's suffering at the hands of Wickham. Even though he had been gone for nearly nine years now, George Wickham would always cast a shadow over Pemberley, because even if his marriage to her sister was protect her own reputation, she was, unlike Lydia, convinced that he would not have been acting truly altruistically. When Darcy returned to the room, stinking of cigars and slightly merry, she held him close in a way that she usually only did when they were alone. He looked at her curiously, unsure of what was happening or if he was in trouble for something that he wasn't aware of, looking up at him with brown eyes the colour of cocoa beans, she held his hand in hers and firmly kissed it before leading him through to the dining room where supper was being served.