Desperate Hearts: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

by Anna Kate Suton

  Darcy had also visited his solicitor to draw up a completely different kind of document.

  The carriage, which also brought Colonel Fitzwilliam, who was invited for a visit, arrived at Netherfield. Once he and his valet had refreshed himself after the journey, Bingley called his sister Caroline into his study. Caroline breezed into the study as usual, and although she had an inkling of what Charles wished to speak to her about, she presumed that she could, as always, manipulate her amiable brother. On this occasion, however, she was mistaken.

  “Caroline,” Bingley began. “We have found you out. We know all about the scheme you hatched against Darcy and Miss Elizabeth. I thought I knew you, but clearly I did not. I never would have thought you capable of something like this. Although I probably should have expected it after your attempt to poison Miss Jane Bennet.”

  Caroline gasped. So he did know about that too.

  Bingley withdrew the document from his coat pocket, opened it, and flattened it out as Caroline began to feel some trepidation. “As of this moment I am no longer responsible for you. Not for your expenses, and not for your place of residence. You will pack your belongings and leave Netherfield immediately, and you will not return. If you cannot take everything with you, I shall send the rest to you as soon as you establish a place of residence. You may go north to our relatives or you may stay with the Hursts in town if they will have you. Or,” and here he could not resist a jab, “maybe you would like to return to your friends in Surrey so you can arrange more theatre productions. Just be sure to tell whoever you decide to live with that you will no longer receive any allowance from me. You have your inheritance and your dowry, and you can do as you please with the money. Buy a flat in town if you like, or pay your own expenses while you live with Louisa and Albert. But you will never get another shilling from me. This makes it official.” He handed her the letter from his solicitor, then stood up to leave the room.

  Caroline took the letter and skimmed over it. “Charles, this is insupportable. I am your sister. You cannot simply brush me off like a piece of dust. I cannot possibly live on my legacy and my dowry. I need the dowry for when I get married, and the legacy is not nearly large enough to support me for more than a few months. The business with the Morettis was a joke. Surely Mr. Darcy sees the humour?”

  Her brother refused to be moved. “Mr. Darcy is no more amused than am I. If your legacy is insufficient then I suppose you will have to learn how to economise, my dear, to live less grandly than you have been accustomed to. Because I am very serious about never giving you another shilling. If you need more money, you can get a job. Or marry well. Or perhaps you can ask your good friend Lady Catherine de Bourgh for a few thousand pounds.” Caroline gasped again. “I am sure you know what her response will be to that.” Charles moved from behind his desk towards the study door. “Our business is finished, Caroline, as is our familial relationship. You have acted shamefully and with malice towards my closest friend, an honourable man who never did you any harm – in fact he befriended you and welcomed you to his homes. And I have not forgotten how you tried to harm my future wife. I am quite simply ashamed of you. If you need any help with your packing, you can call Aggie, who will no longer be your maid after today unless you pay her. If you wish to employ her – if she is willing to be employed by you given the rude and dismissive way you treat her – please let me know. Otherwise I will keep her on as my wife’s maid once Miss Bennet and I are married next month. When you are ready to leave here, tell Aggie and Darrow will arrange for a hired coach to take you to the post station or wherever else you wish to go. Good luck.” With this he exited the study, and went looking for his butler Darrow to advise him of the turn of events. He did not even look back at his sister as she simply crumpled in her chair.

  Meanwhile, Darcy had ridden over to Longbourn, and after greeting Elizabeth warmly he knocked on Mr. Bennet’s library door. Mr. Bennet opened the door to him and invited him into the room. Once they were both seated, Mr. Bennet poured each of them a glass of brandy. Darcy explained to the man that he had neglected to ask for his consent to his marrying Elizabeth when he proposed to her two days earlier. Mr. Bennet smilingly lifted his glass to Darcy and said, “If you will promise to always cherish, love, and respect my daughter, then you have my consent and my blessing.” The two men drank to this.

  When Darcy made no move to leave, Mr. Bennet asked him, “Is there something else?”

  “Yes sir.” He pulled the paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Mr. Bennet. “This is my intended marriage settlement. Please tell me what you think. I can make any amendments you propose when I am in town next week to obtain the special license for our wedding.”

  Mr. Bennet skimmed over the settlement agreement. “I will have to study this. I imagine you will be back here at Longbourn tomorrow?” he grinned as Darcy nodded. “We can discuss it then.”

  The gentlemen rose and shook hands before Darcy left the library to look for Elizabeth, who was waiting for him in the front sitting room. The grin on his face told her that his meeting with her father had gone well, and they walked outside together to begin discussing wedding plans and long-term plans for their future, without Mrs. Bennet’s interference in their discussions.

  When Darcy returned to Netherfield for the night, he found that Fitzwilliam had written a letter to their aunt Lady Catherine in which he told her of their discovery of her scheme against Darcy and of their intention of not visiting Rosings Park this coming spring – or ever again while Lady Catherine was in possession. Nor would she be received at Pemberley or at Darcy’s London house, nor at any home inhabited by the Colonel in the future. Both cousins signed the letter and rang for Darrow to arrange an express rider to deliver it to Lady Catherine as soon as may be.

  A letter arrived for Caroline while she and her maid were busy packing her things. The letter was from her friend Deirdre, to whom she had written a few days earlier asking when she, Gwendolyn, and Gwendolyn’s brother Walter would be in town and when she could expect them to visit her. She was shocked to read that none of the three had any plans to wait on her when they were in town, and they wished her luck. The story of Caroline’s infamous treatment of Mr. Darcy was already making the rounds of the gossip-mongers. She wondered who else in her circle would ostracize her, and whether she had any true friends.

  Anne was settling into her new townhouse along with the servants she had brought with her from Kent, intending to hire a housekeeper, a cook, and whatever other staff the household required, in the coming days. She dispatched an express to Carl Sellers, the Rosings tenant who had agreed to bring their belongings to London, and hoped everything would arrive within a few days. She looked forward to visiting shops to purchase whatever else was needed.

  She also wrote a letter to her cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, who she knew was spending a week in Hertfordshire with Darcy. In the letter she reminded the Colonel that her father had left Rosings to her mother only in trust until Anne reached the age of five and twenty, after which she could claim full possession of the estate. As Anne had passed that age the previous year, she had arranged with her solicitor to first lay claim to Rosings in her own name, and then to sell the estate to her cousin. She asked her cousin if he was interested in buying it – for the token price of one pound and the condition that she be permitted to build a cottage for herself at the far end of the property from the manor house and to reside there whenever she wished. She had no doubt that, as a second son with no expectation of an inheritance of his own, Colonel Fitzwilliam would welcome the opportunity. She also had no doubt that he would maintain the property and keep it as productive and beautiful as it had always been. As to Lady Catherine, the solicitor would send her an eviction notice as soon as Colonel Fitzwilliam accepted Anne’s offer. Lady Catherine was to receive only a minimal allowance from Anne for her expenses. Anne presumed that her mother would remove to her townhouse, although she had no intention of going to see her or of receiving her once she was l
iving in town – she had no intention of even speaking to her if she were unfortunate enough to find herself in any social situations with the woman. Colonel Fitzwilliams’ mother, Lady Matlock, had graciously offered to present Anne at court and to sponsor her through her first London season. The Bennet sisters had invited Anne to their respective weddings, and she had invited her Aunt Matlock to go out to Gunter's tea shop on the morrow. Anne’s life had finally begun in earnest.

  Gino sat next to his wife on the settee as she composed a letter to her sister. She still smiled as she thought yet again of her sister and the strange circumstances that had brought them back together.

  My dearest sister,

  How well that sounds! How pleased I am to have you back in my life!

  Mr. Bingley has very kindly offered the hospitality of Netherfield to Gino and myself whenever we wish to visit you in Hertfordshire. I hope I was not being presumptuous when I asked him to arrange for us to visit when you and Mr. Darcy marry, and also when he and Jane marry (although we may prefer to stay at an inn during that event!).

  I do hope that we will be able to spend some time together when either you or Jane or both of you come to town to shop for your wedding trousseaux. Perhaps by that time Mrs. Bennet will be willing to meet Gino and me, and I can at last make the acquaintance of my aunt.

  Oh! I almost forgot: Lady Catherine’s solicitor presented us with a bank draught for the entire amount she had promised to pay us – and assured us we were welcome to keep whatever garments we had purchased. Now we can travel to Italy in the Spring so I can finally meet Gino’s family. And I can be dressed in style to do so! The solicitor insisted that we agree in writing not to speak of this affair, especially Her Ladyship’s part in it, to anyone before he paid us. This Gino and I were most willing to promise.

  Do let me know your plans, and always remember that I am your loving sister, and will always wish the very best for our family – especially for you and Mr. Darcy,

  Bridget

  # # # #

  About the author:

  Anna Kate Suton is a transplanted native New Yorker now happily living in the Southlands with her dear husband, a houseful of cats, and their dog. She loves tea (altho’ not sweet tea!), tending to her vegetable garden, vegetarian cooking, and of course reading. Anna Kate first read Austen as a young teenager, but did not appreciate the author’s style and wit until she re-read the canon some years later. Having written a number of computer training materials in a previous lifetime, as well as articles about various aspects of tea for several tea publications, this is her first work of fiction. She hopes you found it a diverting read.

  If you enjoyed this book, won’t you be good enough to write a brief review for amazon or Goodreads so other JAFF fans will find it and enjoy it too?

  If there is something you did not like about the story, or if you have discovered any uncorrected error/s, the author would be most grateful if you would send her a brief email with the details.

  Anna Kate is currently working on a second JAFF book, tentatively titled The Book Lovers. She hopes to see it published around the end of the year.

  Connect with Anna Kate via AnnaKateSuton@gmail.com or on Facebook.

  # # # #