Hi everyone, starting a new story, although this time I only have the first half mapped out so I have no clear idea where it will end up apart from wanting a happy ending for the key protagonists. As usual I am very happy with feedback but cannot reply to all comments.
For the Love of her Daughters – A Pride and Prejudice Vagary
by Irene (SIS) Andre
Prologue
Mrs Fanny Bennet sat at her dressing table just as she did every night and started brushing her long hair patiently. The repetitive movement of the well-known routine was soothing. Tears started to slide quietly down her cheeks; she did not notice them, nor did she see them in the lovely looking glass in front of her. Fanny's sight and mind were firmly in the past.
Seventeen-year-old Fanny Gardiner had been the prettiest girl in Meryton, so happy and full of hopes for the future. She had been in love with a soldier, a handsome young lieutenant in the regiment that had been stationed nearby for a few months. He had nothing but his salary and Fanny's parents had been horrified and chased him away. They called him a fortune hunter, only wanting her five thousand pounds dowry. They were wrong, Fanny knew better, but she could do nothing.
Then her father had arranged a marriage with Mr Thomas Bennet, the heir of Longbourn. Thomas did not love her, but she was pretty and he needed a son; he could also use her dowry but somehow that did not make him a fortune hunter. She had insisted her father protect her dowry if anything happened to Thomas, as old Mrs Carver had been left to live the rest of her life on the charity of the church after her husband's brother inherited. She did not want that fate.
Thomas had resented her interference. It had soured the start of the marriage and things had not improved later. Thomas needed a son, so Fanny had birthed five healthy girls. It was not her fault; she had tried everything the old wives and the apothecary had suggested to ensure she had a son, but nothing worked.
At first, it was bearable. Thomas had loved Jane, his firstborn, as she was such a cute baby. Fanny also loved her daughter of course. Then little Elizabeth was born and Thomas was furious. Didn't his stupid wife know he needed a son? Not that scrawny dark little screamer. After three long years of marriage to that man, though, she knew how to manage him. She had pretended to reject her precious baby girl. It had hurt so much. But it had worked, and Thomas treated Lizzy well enough, just to spite Fanny, or so he thought.
As soon as baby Mary, such a sweet little thing, very much like her Lizzy, was born, Fanny had used the same stratagem, before Thomas was even aware of the baby's gender. It hurt less as she knew he would lose interest and she would have her chance to bond with Mary just as she had with Jane and Lizzy. Thomas barely reacted to Catherine's birth, tiny Kitty, born so small and with weaker lungs than her sisters, so happy and calm. After Lydia came and Fanny was told she would not conceive again, her husband had retreated to his study more and more, leaving her to raise her little girls as she wanted.
Thomas was not a nice husband or father. He was not violent but his tongue was sharp and fast. He had hurt her often enough, but she needed to protect her daughters, so the lies carried on. He was also lazy, and once he knew the estate would go to his cousin, he simply could not be bothered to take care of it. By society's standard, he was a perfectly respectable gentleman, but for Fanny, living with him constantly was a struggle, that no one else could know or understand.
To the outside world, Fanny Bennet was a stupid, flighty woman obsessed with marrying her girls. So crass and vulgar that she had scared some suitors away. Her neighbours felt pity for the girls, and that was useful often enough, so the shame she had originally felt had abated.
To her daughters, Fanny was everything; a strong mother always ready to love them and defend them, a friend, a guide, a mentor and a teacher all at once. She had indeed scared suitors away when she worried Thomas would sell one of her girls just like her father did with herself. She scared a young peacock with no brains who had pursued Jane, for the boy was flighty and a bit of a rake who would not have treated her sensitive Jane faithfully. She sent an old widower away when he started looking too closely at her clever Lizzy, for all the man wanted was someone to run his estate while he drank the profits away, and he was nearly as old as Thomas when sweet Lizzy was but sixteen.
But all of this was taking its toll on the matron. Fanny Bennet was tired, and she wanted to find a way to stop all the lies. She wanted the right to openly love and be proud of all her girls, her five wonderful daughters. So tears ran down her cheeks and would do so every night until they found a way out, together, all six Bennet females or none at all.
Chapter One
Five years earlier, Longbourn, Hertfordshire.
Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Bennet was sitting in her favourite place in the world, in a very old willow tree on the bank of the stream that separated her father's estate, Longbourn, from the neighbouring Lucas Lodge. That specific tree was perfect for hiding, offering some easily accessible lower branches that allowed even a young lady in a day dress to safely climb to a flat branch completely invisible from the outside behind the thick curtain of leaves that gave the tree its weeping name. The whole tree stood at close to forty feet tall, and Elizabeth's seat was not for the faint-hearted, being itself twenty feet from the ground; Elizabeth was not scared of heights; she knew that Mama was aware of her favourite hiding spot, but no one else had ever discovered it.
Today Elizabeth had left the house in search of solitude. The storm of feelings and emotions raging through her young body was nearly overwhelming, and she would not let Papa see the distress she had yet to fully overcome. She did not want the younger girls to see her either; she was their second older sister, and she must always be strong for them, they needed her and she would never let them down. Mama and Jane would not worry, the former would guess where her daughter had gone, and the latter trusted her sister to be careful and stay safe. Here Elizabeth could close her eyes and breathe deeply; angry tears could run down her soft cheeks without worrying any of the people who cared for her.
Today had been the worst day of Elizabeth's short life.
Today Miss Elizabeth Rose Bennet of Longbourn Hertfordshire had finally seen for herself who her father was underneath his benevolent appearance. Her world had crumbled.
Jane and Elizabeth had long understood that there was no love between their parents. Mama rarely said anything, but her behaviour was different when Papa was present, she appeared a lot more foolish, frivolous and vain than her daughters knew her to be. Papa was always sneering at her, mocking her openly in front of her family, in front of everyone, guests, servants, tenants, there was not a person in the whole of Meryton unaware of Papa's disdain for his wife. What neither girl understood was why Mama did not show him who she was, as she did with them, as he could not have mocked that caring and loving Mama they all knew so well.
But today, Elizabeth had finally understood her Mama. For fifteen years, she had grown believing, like everyone else, that she was her Papa's favourite child; she was not bragging or conceited, it was just a fact that Papa would often invite her into his book room for debates and discussions, for games of chess, which he had only taught to her out of the five girls under his roof, or simply for sitting comfortably together, reading and enjoying tea and cakes. Even Jane was only allowed to enter his domain to borrow and return books.
Today Elizabeth had been sitting in her usual wing-back chair with Gulliver's Travels, long forgotten by her father who was grumbling at his desk over the estate accounts and not visible from where he sat, when her Mama had entered, sadly not noticing her daughter until far too late.
"Mr Bennet," Mama had started, "I will need to give Mrs Hill the money for the servants' harvest bonus, for she has been asking." Her voice was shrill, but that was normal when she addressed her husband.
"Maybe you should take it out of your allowance, after what you did this week, useless mother as you are." He barked back. Elizabeth was shocked, sad and a little frightened.
"What do you mean, Mr Bennet? I have done nothing, we have not even entertained anyone but my sister this week." Mama did know the source of his problem, Elizabeth recognised that note in her voice, but she wouldn't say anything until Papa spoke.
"You scared another man away when he could have taken one of our useless daughters off our hands." Papa was growling. "You were incapable of giving me the son I needed, and now you are preventing me from getting rid of your useless litter of silly girls."
Mama started wailing, "I have done nothing of the sort, it was not my fault Mr Riverton left without asking for Jane's hand. I am sure it is your fault for teaching her sister to be a bluestocking, for he is a proper young man and wanted a sweet demure girl like my Jane."
"I taught her to be useful to make up for her features, or did you not see that she and Mary are still ugly, dark and scrawny, just as when they were born? I was finally going to get rid of one of them, the most insipid one of the lot and you ruined it. He left because he feared she would become as shrill and annoying as you are, after all, she already takes her looks from you, so her temper could follow. Now you had better leave me. I will give Mrs Hill the money myself, so you do not fritter it on useless frippery." His rage was so strong, that Elizabeth wondered if it would be visible as a solid shadow around him if she looked. She would not look, would not let him rejoice in her pain; he would never know she had heard every one of his awful words. But Mama had caught sight of her as she turned to leave the room, her eyes had visibly widened. She had not said a word, but conveniently the head gardener had come through the garden door the book room boasted only ten or fifteen minutes later to ask Mr Bennet's advice on an issue on the home farm, and Elizabeth was able to slip away unnoticed by the master of the house.
Mama was waiting in the hallway and silently guided Elizabeth to her favourite sitting room at the back of the house, the one Papa never visited for he disliked the pink and purple decorations.
"Your father did not mean all he said, my love." Mama had said.
"You know that's not true Mama, he was angry but it was no joke, he was serious," Elizabeth murmured.
"He was angry, yes, Lizzy dear, but at me, not at you or Jane. He said these things to upset me, and they would not have mattered had you not heard them." Mama was gently rubbing her back, in a soothing circular motion.
"Did he genuinely want Jane to marry Mr Riverton, Mama? She certainly would never have been happy. He is so different, I do not know how to explain, but he flirts with everyone, and he drinks and gambles far too much, everyone knows that."
"I know, dear, and yes, I am afraid fathers do not see their daughters' marriages in quite the same way we do. But that man is gone, now, and he will not come back. You need not worry for your sister."
Elizabeth's eyes widened: "You did it on purpose, did you not? That is why you are so different around Papa and his friends; so that you can stop his schemes against us! "
"Oh, my clever, clever girl." Mama laughed. "I should have known you would be the first to understand." She hugged her daughter. "Your father is correct in thinking he is far more clever than me, I know that, I never was very clever you know, not like you are my love. But in his pride, he does not see everything as clearly as he believes, and I will always do what I must for my girls. By keeping up my reputation as a nervous, silly woman who wants to marry her girls at all costs, nobody suspects me of wilfully scaring unsuitable suitors away. It also means your father believes he is fully in control and does not pay too much attention to what I do."
Elizabeth could see the sadness in her mother's eyes. "Mama, that must be so hard to pretend all the time. Does Papa not love any of us? Can none of us help you?"
Fanny shook her head. "I fear your father was so disappointed by not having a son, he never really took the time to know his daughters, not even you, who are at least his match in intelligence. I do not want my girls to cross him as words can hurt, and you are all so young still. He does not realise what he is missing out on, he does not see the strength and qualities so unique and precious to each of my daughters. Do you know that your Papa thinks I see you and Mary as less pretty because you do not have my colouring, as if only blond ladies with blue eyes were desirable, that is quite ridiculous. That is his prejudice, not mine, for I can see how attractive you are becoming, and I think Mary will grow prettier just the same soon enough."
She ran her hand through Elizabeth's dark locks. "He called you ugly partly because he never liked dark hair and tanned skin in a lady, but also because he thinks it hurts me to have given birth to ugly children; I haven't, all five of you are so precious, my sweet child. Please do not take his words to heart."
"Oh Mama, Jane is the beautiful one, I am not as pretty or graceful, and I never will be."
Mama laughed again. "You are only fifteen, no girl is graceful at that age yet, as you have so much more growing to do. But you have the most expressive eyes of my daughters, and when you smile or laugh, your whole face sparkles. Jane, Kitty and Lydia's beauty may be more classical, they are my little English roses, but Mary and you are more exotic and exciting, you are my delicate wild orchids. Very different flowers but no less beautiful."
"Mama, you named me Rose, and Mary's middle name is Eglantine, another type of rose." Elizabeth giggled.
"I know my love, I saw your colouring as soon as you were born, your middle names were my way to ensure all five of you were my beautiful little roses, for I always loved those flowers." Mama's smile finally broke through Elizabeth's despair and she smiled back.
"Now my love, let's get you a glass of water and a few biscuits to take with you, and you run along outside for a few hours. All will be well my darling girl."
Elizabeth stayed in her tree for a long time, only coming down and returning home when she heard Mary's voice calling for her.
By the time she re-entered Longbourn, Elizabeth had hardened her heart and made her decision. She would not cry again for her lost illusions of a loving but lackadaisical father. She would not openly rejoice for the departure of her sister's unwanted suitor, she would keep pretending she had not understood his intentions so that Mr Bennet would be confident his scheme would have worked had his wife been quieter, and that he retained his control over his daughters.
Mama had protected them their whole lives. Mr Bennet, for he could no longer be Papa in her mind, even if she would continue to use the word when addressing him, was unaware of her new knowledge, she would use his ignorance and help Mama protect her sisters and their future. She was young, she was bright, and she was full of energy. Mama would no longer be alone to manage her cantankerous husband. The two of them could be far more effective as a team; and if she could persuade Mama to open up to Jane too, then three ladies would easily beat an overconfident gentleman; Mr Bennet should never have taught her to play chess or given her that wonderful strategy book to study, for she could already see ways to combine Mama's years of experience, Jane's calm and reasoned logic and her own quick and fiery wit to their best advantage.
Things would change today.
