"So, are you happy then, Lizzie?"
Elizabeth paused, her hand resting on her portmanteau. Jane's words, so softly spoken, caused her to look up. The fresh crisp air of Meryton brushed against her cheeks, tugging at a few of the curls sprigged around her forehead. Was she happy? There was a knot in her chest, one that had tangled itself from the very moment she had agreed to this madcap scheme. But if it was to ensure Jane's happiness?
Lizzie would do anything, anything, for her elder sister.
She gave a small nod, and turned back to the trunk. "We will not be parted long from our family, after all," she murmured.
"We will be with family, it will be just as if we are home in Longbourn, but quieter." The two sisters exchanged looks, as Lizzie giggled. "And you shall have the chance to dance and dine and enjoy the amusements of London," Jane continued.
"I do not wish to enjoy the amusements, unless you are by my side," Lizzie replied, her tone firm. "I should not wish to have a Season at all, save that you will." Jane gave her a steady glance, and for a moment, Lizzie thought her sister might rebut that claim. But a calm descended over Jane's expression, and she turned back to her own trunk, packed tightly as it was with the items for their journey and the stay in London that awaited them both.
Lizzie let out a slow breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, and picked up her reticule, a pretty confection of blue muslin and scrolling grey thread, the one her aunt had gifted her with just last week. She slipped her fingers inside and pulled out a letter, the pages soft, and a trifle worn around the edges, and ran her finger over the wax seal, already broken.
The worn edges of the paper was evidence of how many times she had read it, the wax seal being snapped was merely a post-script.
Dearest Lizzie,
How lucky and grateful you must be to spend the Season in London! I would that I was with you for it. I know your misgivings, but I assure you, they will melt away to nothing. Think of it, a Season, for you! Oh, Lizzie, think of the parties, the dinners, the dances, and the suitors who will no doubt come calling. I have no doubt that you shall receive dozens of marriage proposals, and if you should choose not to accept them all, then I should think you the most peculiar of creatures!
It is said often that a man in great fortune is in want of a wife if he should not already be married, and there is no better place to find those men of great fortunes than in London. And surely, there are at least one and twenty that are tolerable, kind in their hearts, wise in their minds, and in want of you for a wife.
I know it to be true.
I send you on with my best wishes, and no small amount of envy.
Do not forget your good friend,
Charlotte Lucas
The letter, whilst a comfort, was not much of a balm. Charlotte had a Season in London, a single one, and her prospects had been so dim, so bleak, that she had returned home not even two months into it with not a single offer or hint of interest. And Lizzie knew why, for while her friend was pleasant and charming, she was not pretty to a discerning gentleman's eye.
Never mind that Lizzie always found her friend perfectly handsome in her own quiet way, it was only that men were foolishly blind when it came to Charlotte.
They did not see the good heart within, more the fools they were.
"Ah, has she not arrived yet?" Mrs. Bennet boiled out of the house behind them, trailing Mary and Kitty. Lydia, Lizzie assumed, was still sulking in the room above she shared with Kitty and would likely not show her face to say goodbye. "I always did say dear Mrs. Gardiner was quite agreeable unless it was in matters of being on time. Oh, you will both be brown as nuthatches, and to think of what they will say in London-"
"They will say," a warm voice spoke up, and Mr. Bennet emerged from the house, "that our daughters have been spending much time out of doors and getting their exercise, more to their credit." It seemed that Mr. Bennet was in want to see his two eldest off, even if had been lurking in doorways and in the shadows of halls for the last few weeks as the preparations were made for his daughters to take the Season in London.
Mr. Bennet's eyes, as usual, were crinkled up at the corners, and he smiled. "And if the sun should kiss their cheeks, then so be it, and no one will care. Should the suitors turn them away, they will both be very welcome back here." His gaze, almost anxious to Lizzie's eyes, jumped from one girl to the next.
"Oh Papa," Jane murmured, as Elizabeth reached for her father's hands.
"You will be very missed," Lizzie said, and Mr. Bennet squeezed her hands tight.
"But not forever," he said, and he did let her go. "You are not gone from my sight forever, and not from my heart at all."
"But will you have someone to talk books with," Elizabeth asked, trying not to smile.
"I have the walls of my study to speak to, however poor they are at keeping Kitty and Lydia's antics at bay," he reminded her. "And Mary has shown some talent with the books as well."
Lizzie did laugh at that, and let him go, and Mr. Bennet went to his eldest daughter. "My beautiful Jane, so like your mother when she was young," he murmured, pressing his handkerchief to her cheek. "But not like her at all in temperament," his voice was low and quiet, and Lizzie marveled that for once he did not tweak at Mrs. Bennet's foibles openly. Perhaps her father did love them all, even if he chose to show his love by teasing them mercilessly.
Jane, always so patient, took her father's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Papa," she whispered.
"Be well, and have fun," he replied. "I should be most unhappy were you to not make a splash and be the talk of the Season, as I know your mother will be. Show them that two girls from Meryton are worth as much as the entire Ton together."
With that, the familiar sound of wheels rolling along the road filled the air, and Kitty shrieked, throwing her arms about Mary, who looked surprised and pleased, and Jane turned and Lizzie felt a hand slip into her own, her mother's.
"There now," Mrs. Bennet whispered to her second eldest. "I know, Lizzie, that I have prepared you as well as I can for what's to come, and you will be a credit to me. But please... guard Jane, her heart is easily led to breaking, and should she find herself in a position to be hurt, please, keep her from it. You may be close to equal in beauty, but not strength or wisdom. It is up to you guard her heart."
Lizzie squeezed her mother's hand and nodded, a lump in her throat, as the from around the bend in the road, a strange carriage arrived, with a driver placed up front, not the usual pony-wagon that Mr. Gardiner himself would command for him and his wife.
"How handsome a conveyance," Kitty gasped, grabbing onto Marys hand, her eyes sparkling with delight.
Indeed, for what rolled up the short drive to Longbourn was nothing less than a coach, painted a dark navy and trimmed with cheerful, red-stained wood and bits of copper.
Jane glanced at Lizzie, and at once Lizzie knew her sister was uncertain at this apparent change in their uncle's station. Mr. Gardiner was clever and good at his calling in business, but not even a man such as he would have been able to raise the sum needed to hire this handsome coach, with its matched bays riding, a driver at the front, and a footman at the back in a livery Lizzie did not recognize.
From the subdued hush that fell over the gathered Bennets, either the rest had come to the same conclusion, or they were so concerned with the silence of the others that they were struck dumb by it.
A footman, clad in a navy uniform and red livery, jumped down from the back of the carriage and strode to the back of the carriage, opening the door. A moment later, a woman emerged, and Lizzie felt Jane grab her arm, holding onto her sister tight.
She was their Aunt Gardiner, looking resplendent in a carriage dress that peeked out from her pelisse, and a hat decorated with a full cluster of ostrich feathers, drooping forward. Lizzie knew, in a glance, that their uncle must have saved up for months to afford this elegant dress. It was nothing short of astonishing, and even Mrs. Bennet was at a loss for words (a wonder in and of itself).
Their uncle followed shortly after their aunt, and he greeted Mr. Bennet heartily and with all the good cheer. Lizzie's ears felt muted to their conversation, and she only came back to herself when Jane pinched her gently on the inner arm.
"Lizzie, Jane, are you not ready?" Mrs. Gardiner was beside them, her gaze kind and her smile warm. "It is time for us to go."
"I am," Jane replied, and Lizzie could feel the excitement coming off her sister in waves. The footman was in the midst of arranging their trunks on the back of the carriage, the existence of which Lizzie could scarcely believe still. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, or the sort of carriage a prince might ride in, to steal away his fair maiden. The thought gave her a queer feeling in her chest, and she tried not to look back at her family.
Mrs. Gardiner took Lizzie's arm, and led her to the carriage. The footman offered a gloved hand and a short bow. She alighted inside, barely able to turn around to the remaining Bennets, Jane already settled on one of the cushioned bench seats within.
"Oh, Lizzy, my dear one, write as soon as you've arrived!" Mrs. Bennet cried, as Aunt Gardiner consoled her, patting Mrs. Bennet's clasped hands with tenderness.
"They shall, I will see to it," Mrs. Gardiner promised, "but for now, farewell. We will all write when we've arrived, and I've had the girls settled in."
"Mr. Bennet," Mr. Gardiner said, the other man nodding as Mr. Gardiner helped his wife inside after his nieces, and joined them.
"Farewell, Mama," Lizzie called, and she saw her father step forward and take his wife in his arms, and then the carriage door closed, shutting the world out.
Jane immediately began to speak, but Lizzie's heart was caught in her throat, and she could barely hear a word her sister said, and Mrs. Gardiner had taken out her own letter to read, a missive from her own sister, and the footman was climbing onto his post at the back of the carriage.
"It's only a few hours to London, my dear girls, and I assure you, all questions you might have, I will answer then."
"Yes, it's not even a full day to Gracechurch," Jane said to Lizzy, seemingly unaware that her sister was still selectively mute by the situation they had both found themselves in.
But to Lizzy, the fine carriage, the expensive mode of her aunt's dress, and even that of her uncle, which seemed greatly improved from their last visit... all of it was pointing to something rather unusual. They were signs that the world as she knew it had turned upon its head.
"Not Gracechurch," Aunt Gardiner corrected with gentleness, and both girls sat forward, leaning into one another and exchanged glances of confusion. "For not only have we decided to bring you both to London for a full Season-"
Uncle Gardiner cleared his throat, and when his wife looked at him, he shook his head, although his eyes were kind. Lizzy felt her heart flutter in her chest. What was so secret that they could not tell the girls now? And what did Aunt Gardiner mean, not Gracechurch? The Gracechurch home was only steps from the warehouse their uncle conducted his business in... for what reason would they not be going there.
The carriage lurched forward, and her uncle smiled. "I know, the journey will not take long, but there is a basket of treats and a bottle of ratafia for us to drink as we go. Rest, for as soon as we are in London, well-"
Aunt Gardiner smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she did.
"Well, let's just say that a surprise awaits you both."
Jane took a deep breath, and then laughed. "I can hardly imagine anything greater than what we've already been told."
"Perhaps do not try," Aunt Gardiner urged them, "for whatever it is will be more the marvelous if you do not."
Marvelous maybe, but these mysteries were doing nothing but to fill Lizzy with discomfort... and some dread.
Thank you for the lovely feedback! I have several more chapters written, and the book is available for preorder on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. There have been so many preorders, I am astonished, thank you for your support!