Goodly Creatures: A Pride and Prejudice Deviation (90 page)

At eighteen he had been gripped by a singularly uncharacteristic passion for one woman. He proposed to his cousin Elizabeth Collins. She was a pretty, young woman and a magnificent story teller. In that she reminded him of his mother, but that was where the similarity ended. She was much more serious in the subjects of her tales than her namesake. One Sunday afternoon he became mesmerized while she was relaying a particularly heroic tale of sin and redemption. His offer the next day was gravely rejected when she cited his frivolous ways as the reason for her objection. His dejection propelled him to follow the path of the man he was named for, and he persuaded his father to purchase a commission for him. He was the second son after all. Only belatedly did he realize that it would be men in whose company he would be most of the time. It was fortunate that the early part of his tenure in the army was at a time of relative peace, and soldiers were allowed plenty of opportunity to charm the ladies. When asked why he had chosen his career, he admitted openly, his main hope had been to win the admiration of women. He felt his form was most attractively displayed in a uniform.

His twin, who was as devoted to him as her sister Bethany was to their brother Lewis, often rolled her eyes at Richard and exclaimed, “Let us hope the country is never dependent on your abilities as a soldier… I fear at the moment of battle you will be distracted by a young woman and forget to fire.”

Three more girls, Jane, Mary and Catherine, had followed the twins for Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Having so many daughters was the cause of much dread on the part of their father. He would have to participate in the Season entirely too often for his taste. His constant complaining about having to beard the
ton
in their den five times caused his ten year-old daughter, Lydia, to put her hands on her hips and say, “Papa, stop whining, and do your duty. What conceit to think you might be forced to dance? You are old, and your looks are only tolerable. No woman will pay consequence to you… except Mama.”

His daughter’s shocking words caused Darcy to cut back at meals and begin an exercise program designed by Jamie to trim his middle. Elizabeth thought he was looking quite tolerable, and told him so in the privacy of their boudoir—especially when he was sans culottes and sans everything else. It rekindled a new wave of spontaneity and the result was their last child, Thomas.

When their son Richard Darcy was sent to Afghanistan in 1839, he disproved his twin’s pronouncement. The twenty-five year-old lieutenant was a courageous and disciplined member of HM 13th Foot during the storming of the Gates of Ghuznee. He was promoted to captain for his heroism and composed demeanour under fire. As word of the annihilation of the 44th Regiment of Foot battalion reached England, his mother, his twin and the woman, Elizabeth Collins, who had rejected him years before all diligently prayed that a similar fate would not befall the 13th.

Once back at Pemberley with his family, Richard voiced the opinion that the foray into Afghanistan had to be one of Britain’s most ill-advised and disastrous wars. He stopped short of telling any, even Richard Fitzwilliam, details of the siege of Jalalabad and the reprisals they had inflicted for the destruction of Elphinstone’s forces. What was clear to his family was that the glamour of military life was over for him.

Soon after Richard’s return, Lewis spoke to his father about the unfairness of the circumstances of his birth. Life was about much more than wealth and property, and he had no desire to carry the burden and responsibility for two estates. The oldest Darcy son had, indeed, married Sian Hughes. Shortly after their wedding, the couple had moved to Kent to manage Rosings. Both he and Sian pined for Derbyshire and their families. He petitioned his father to allow Richard to inherit Rosings. In truth, it took little persuasion. That Anne DeBourgh’s son wanted to give part of his birthright to Elizabeth Bennet’s son seemed appropriate to his father. As he penned his signature on the documents changing his will, his thoughts were of Bethany and her belief in signs.

Mrs Bennet stayed on at Longbourn after Mr and Mrs Collins returned to assume ownership of the estate. She doted on their five children, as well as her numerous other grandchildren close by in Hertfordshire. She never once thought of finding husbands or wives for any of them. She became fond of saying on the subject ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that what will be, will be.’ Mary was pleased that her daughters would not experience the pressure she and her sisters had. Mr Collins agreed with his wife. He enjoyed having his children at home or within an easy distance of Longbourn.

Their oldest daughter, Elizabeth, was well into spinsterhood when she made a fateful trip. Her favourite cousin, Lydia, Lady Rathbone, invited her to accompany her family on a trip to Rosings for Easter. Now that her twin, Richard, was master there; she wanted to renew the tradition of springtime in Kent. Both young women remembered fondly the times they had spent together at the estate as children. The trio were the same age and had been great friends since practically in their cradles. After her rejection of Richard Darcy, Elizabeth Collins had seen him only briefly. On those few occasions they had been in each other’s company, she had treated him with an indifference that belied the turmoil in her heart.

Elizabeth had always enjoyed Richard’s company; but when he caught her unawares with his ardent proposal, she had refused because he seemed too feckless to make a well-suited partner for her. His principal interests seemed to be dancing and turning the heads of young ladies. She preferred solitary enjoyments—reading, writing, gardening and contemplating the struggle between good and evil. She even aspired to write novels like Jane Austen, though she felt it unrealistic to always provide readers with a happy ending. She had precipitously concluded Richard would never understand such hopes. Still, he seemed much altered since returning from Afghanistan.

About a week after she arrived, the two met one morning while he was out surveying the grounds. She was rereading
Persuasion
and it’s plot and being in his presence had put her in mind to remember possible past regrets. She had hardly been persuaded by another, as her decision had been wholly her own.

Richard sat beside her on a fallen branch in the grove where they had often played as children. It had been a favourite spot for picnics and kite flying when the two families spent time together in Kent. His Aunt Georgiana had even said this particular log was special to his parents. She said it had been a place where they met to talk when courting.

Elizabeth’s voice was filled with emotion as she spoke. “Richard, I was relieved when I learned you had returned home safely—though it is evidence of what a selfish creature I must be that I could think only of you when so many souls were lost. Tell me what it was like. Is it true Dr Brydon was the only one to survive the retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad?”

Her heartfelt words and the compassion in her eyes moved him to tell another the details of the horrors he had witnessed. First he spoke of the difficulty campaigning in Afghanistan’s inhospitable mountainous terrain with its extremes of weather. Her rapt attention encouraged him to admit the frustration he had felt with the turbulent politics and the armed and refractory population—they had resented the British occupation. He even admitted he felt little stake in England’s ‘Great Game’ to dominate Central Asia. This conversation was nothing like any he had ever had with a young lady in a ballroom. The pain he felt when he described the destruction of the bazaar in Kabul in retaliation for the annihilation of the 44th was clearly shared by her. The simple act of putting her hand on his arm in comfort and forgiveness gave him hope. As he told his story, he became aware that not only was Elizabeth a wonderful spinner of tales, but she was also a consummate listener.

Over the next few days, they met often for walks and talked of many things neither had ever spoken of before with someone of the other sex. She told him of her hope to write a novel, and his sincere encouragement surprised her. His desire to make Rosing’s park more natural and rid it of the artifice that Lady Catherine had put in place was met with her enthusiasm and numerous suggestions. As she had spent the first ten years of her life near the property, she showed him many nooks and crannies he had yet to explore.

One day they decided to inspect what remained of her father’s garden and walked to the parsonage. Elizabeth was pleased that most of his efforts were still there, including his tribute to his wife and children spelled out in grape hyacinth. Nestled among the names of the Collins family, Elizabeth showed him two others—Lew and Beth. All looked a bit ragged, but Richard was moved by his uncle’s simple testament to his family. Love had been threatening to bloom between the cousins all week and suddenly Richard was inspired to proffer a second proposal. This time she accepted, and they were married at Hunsford church in June.

After five years of marriage to Lord Goldstaff, the former Caroline Bingley breathed a sigh of relief when a male child was finally born to her. Four confinements and entirely too many nights of Percy’s sweaty fumblings and grunts had occasionally seemed a very high price to pay. With her duty done, Lady Goldstaff eagerly anticipated what lay ahead. To think she had been willing to waste her great beauty and many accomplishments on the widowed, untitled Mr Darcy, who already had an heir. Any children she would have produced would not have inherited either Pemberley or Rosings. She pondered whether she should cut all ties to her brother and his Bennet relations. Charles might now have an estate; but as long as he persisted in dabbling in trade, he was not a good example for the children of a peer. She did occasionally feel a bit of discomfort when she noticed the look of contentment that so often graced the faces of Jane and her sister Elizabeth.

Just as she was about to step forward and claim the role due her among those of the highest rank, Percy became contrary. The rotund viscount began spending all his time with another. He informed his wife, the gentlemen at his club and almost all the men in their set knew and accepted that now that he had an heir he could do as he pleased. His preference was the company of his long time mistress. The woman was older, less attractive and to Caroline had absolutely no fashion sense. Mrs Hurst had heard from the gossips of the
ton
that she was a former courtesan that a young Lord Goldstaff had plucked from a bawdy house and installed in a house in Brighton long before he pursued Miss Bingley. It was rumoured she was always in good spirits and was skilled in satisfying a man of his girth. When Caroline asked why he had married her he replied, “Your inferior connections made you the perfect bride to provide an heir. You were entirely too hungry for consequence to question any flagrant behaviour on my part.”

Caroline decided she should carry on as though she cared nothing for her husband’s indiscretions. Instead, she put her energy into arranging marriages for her children. It was a challenge because all had inherited their figures from their father. And to her chagrin, she also had to put up with the persistent chattering about her brother being the purveyor of Bingley of Bath lotion. She was appalled when she heard Mr Darcy had allowed the daughter of Anne de Bourgh to marry a Frenchman and a maker of chocolate. She even heard it whispered that his parents had been Jacobins… whatever that was.

Bethany Darcy grew into a great beauty. Her hair and eyes resembled those of her stepmother, but that was where the physical resemblance ended. She was tall, had the most perfect white teeth, a beautiful smile and an aristocratic nose. She had dimples like her father… well not exactly the same, for she only had one on the left side of her face.

Bethany did, indeed, meet and marry a French maker of exquisite chocolate during her first Season. She did not meet him at a ball or at the home of any member of the
ton.
She met him in Cheapside at the warehouse of her mother’s Uncle Gardiner. His son, David Gardiner, introduced them. The young Frenchman was romantic to Bethany. As she became better acquainted with him and learned his family history, he became the stuff of dreams for her.

As a young woman, his mother had made her living in a small chocolate shop her parents had left her. Inspired by hopes of a better life, she threw herself into the struggle to end the rule of the Bourbons and establish a democratic people’s government in France. With others she had founded the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women. The group had participated in the women’s march on Versailles that brought Louis back to Paris to be held responsible for the deplorable suffering of the people of Paris.

After the revolution, Pauline Leclerc, nee Leon, taught her son the skill of making chocolate, and he built her small business into a larger one. He was in London waiting to discuss with Mr Gardiner and his son, aid in procuring a source for a special cacao found only in Central America when he saw the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. She was in an animated discussion with the younger man. She laughed with abandon, and her eyes had a unique sparkle when she teased David Gardiner. Theo Leclerc observed the two together, and he was envious of this young man to have won the admiration of such a woman. It was with great relief that he learned the two had been close friends since childhood, and he was seen by her as an older brother in whom she felt comfortable confiding.

Bethany was invited to taste his chocolate with the Gardiners. She believed that even without the special cacao he was seeking, she had never tasted anything so delightful… the texture was like silk, the flavour dark and rich, but not too sweet. It was scrumptious.

Theo Leclerc told her stories of his mother, father and their revolutionary colleagues… Marat, Robespierre, Desmoulins, Danton, and the author of the
Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens,
Olympe de Gouges. His description of the sacrifices his parents had made for the French people made her tremble as she observed the fervour of his pride. He reminded Bethany of her Uncle Jamie and his stories of Ireland.