by Robin Helm
And the great man was living up to his part. His florid complexion was a lovely contrast to his fawn coat. The occasion called for ramrod posture, and a jaw set to breaking. He glared at his eldest daughter as if he expected her to pull out a weapon of some sort and do away with the villain. Again, the fits of the Elliots treated them all to drama worthy of the Globe, or the finest operettas of Paris. Only this time there were no smiles on Miss Fanny or his brother’s faces.
Wentworth watched Lady Russell. She too was flush, her breathing deep and even. However, there was a calm about her that frightened the Captain. He’d seen it on the face of men making up their mind. Their choices were either to merely injure their enemy or to kill him. This lady was not to be trifled with. Perhaps to comfort himself, he took Anne’s hand. It was tinier than he remembered. It was cold and clammy. And shaking.
“Let us go into the sitting room and continue this in private.” What irony, him being on a ship, cheek-to-jowl with all his men in truth had more privacy that these people dwelling in a stately home. What the servants must think of all the hysterics. They adjourned, and Sir Walter took time to call for tea as they all found places to watch the proceedings.
“Ma’am,” Sir Walter said, suddenly remembering what was happening. “You have Anne’s best at heart, but this really does not concern you. I will take care of this hooligan.” He looked the Captain up and down and then took a step closer.
It would be best to allow all the emotion to drain, Frederick thought. Let it all wash over the scene and be out of everyone’s systems. Anne stepped back against him. There was nothing about the antics of the baronet that frightened him, but he did fear for her. The incautious nature of these people would likely mean things said that could not be retracted. Under the folds of her cloak, he put his hand on her waist and assured her that he was there for support of any kind.
“I am ashamed for all of us.” Lady Russell went to a chair and sat. “Truly, truly ashamed,” she said, as she arranged her skirts very precisely.
“We have no shame in this, ma’am.” Sir Walter made a hissing sound in Wentworth’s direction. “This man is the cause of it all. It is he who should be ashamed.”
Sir Walter maintained his pose in the center of the room. “This barbarian has pulled the wool over Anne’s eyes.” He waved a hand, “I am sure that even his brother was fooled—or threatened into aiding in the charade.”
“There has been no charade. I was a willing participant in this, Sir Walter. My brother and Miss Anne have never in their lives sent letters to one another. Everything was accomplished by my hand.” Frederick raised a hand to Edward to stop.
“Regardless of how it was accomplished, this man has no respect for authority. It is just as I said two years ago, you have no understanding of the heavy burden of rank. Nor what a man must feel when he is the head of such a vast enterprise as an estate. It is obvious that you are still in ignorance.”
Frederick gave Anne’s hand a squeeze and moved towards her father. She held onto his sleeve until she could no longer. “I must agree with you, Sir Walter.”
Everyone looked from one man to the other. The Captain’s agreement was a surprise. “At the time of my first proposal I had a vague, idealistic notion of authority, and its requirements. I came to you a young man confident, nay arrogant in his powers and confidence. As the years have passed, I have come to realize that putting aside that arrogance and using intelligently my powers of persuasion very likely would have got me what I wanted most.” He reached out, took her hand and drew her to him. She was flushed and smiling. Turning back, he said, “Or not. Intelligence had little to do with our meeting that evening. I am hoping that this one will be different.”
“You speak of intelligence and yet you have taken actions that have put my daughter’s reputation, nay, the reputation of an old and honorable family in jeopardy.”
“I am ashamed to say this, Anne, both of you have brought this on. I fear you have allowed yourself to be degraded by this ridiculous person.” Lady Russell glared at Wentworth.
Anne closed her eyes and bit her lip.
Enough. Frederick took her arm to help her to a chair, but she refused to move.
He would give her a moment to gather herself. Anne needed to speak and better she did it in his presence, when he could give his support, than to let the opportunity to pass. “Ma’am, you have always wished the best for me. Now that I am of age, I believe this is the best. I believe I will be happy, and I believe that we shall have a prosperous life together.” For her to lead with a direct hit pleased the Captain no end. “I will always value your friendship, and your guidance. However, I shall, from now on decide the path my life will take.” She then allowed Frederick to help her to a seat.
“Good for you, dear,” he said.
“Good for her indeed. Lady Russell, this outburst shows how coarse, how vulgar she has grown under your influence.” Sir Walter nodded and scowled. His lower lip protruded towards Frederick.
“The man is just as common as he was two years ago. He is common and regardless of the attempts to equate officers of the military with gentlemen, he may very well be the former, but most definitely is not the latter.” Wentworth had much to say on this matter but suspected that the Baronet had more to say as well. More to say that would no doubt sink them both deeper into this unwinnable argument.
“You have no idea, Wentworth, how it is for people like us. We are at the mercy of our inferiors. I am responsible for my tenants and their petty concerns. We are held hostage by their seasons of working in the dirt to plant and harvest and then they expect us to bless all their efforts. We cannot even escape celebrating with them and must be present to open their balls and fetes. It is expected that they even be allowed into my home that they may gape at my family and the contents of my house when the whim touches them. You have no idea how it is for you have not a gentlemen’s concerns.”
“No, you are correct on that score, Sir Walter. I am not a gentleman and my obligations are nothing like those you have described.” The Captain breathed deeply in and then out. “I am not a gentleman by your reckoning.” Elliot prepared to speak but was cut off. “However, I have been for the past two years the Lord and Master of my own wooden world. I have had the pleasure and the pain of holding the fate of upwards of ninety men and boys in my hands.”
“Phoo, what are ninety compared to—”
“Paltry in your eyes. I too know their petty concerns. I am surrounded by them every hour of the day. The men are rude, they belch and fart, and make ungodly ruckuses. In the night the little boys sometimes cry for their families.” He held his tongue and looked from the baronet to Lady Russell. The baronet was unimpressed but remained quiet. Lady Russell seemed to be softening.
“I have not had the torture of crowning a May Queen or opening a ball or fete. I have fought beside my men and seen them die in those battles.” He paused to look at his brother. “I have had the honor of speaking God’s graces upon them as their bodies slip into the sea for their final rest. It has been my hand put to paper to write their widows,” another pause, “or their mothers, to tell of their deaths.”
Now even Miss Elliot was rapt.
“I hope you will not think me presumptuous in saying that I think I comprehend your struggle, Sir Walter. For neither of us is at our own command. We live for the pleasure of others. You for your estate and those occupying it, and I for our King and his Crown. And you are quite correct that by your measure, I am not truly a gentleman.”
Time had slowed as the thoughts of his life on Asp and now Laconia passed before his mind’s eye. It was a good life. Certainly not a gentleman’s life. But a life he loved but would still put “Paid” to if he must to have Anne as his wife. Sir Walter was speaking again, as was Miss Elliot. He looked at Anne. She was smiling at him.
“ ... a fine speech, Wentworth, but you owe my father and myself an apology for your presuppositions and cheek.”
“I owe you nothing,
Miss.” He looked at her with the same irritation as one of the little cabin boys. Naughty and rude, but this was a woman who seemed unteachable. “Any respect owed you is on account of my feelings for your sister. Just imagine, Miss Elliot, in a very few weeks, we will be family.”
“That cannot be allowed,” her father said. “He has nothing to offer her, or this family.”
“Look at them, Sir Walter. Regardless of any of that, there is nothing to settle. Anne is of age, she may do as she wishes in this matter.”
Sir Walter looked at each face. He was cornered by the truth of the situation. “As my neighbor points out, I cannot refuse my permission, but again, I resolve to do nothing for the pair of you. This is a degrading alliance still and I refuse to acknowledge it by endowing you with a gift.” He smiled and wagged his finger at the Captain. “You see, I remember what was most important to you. How quickly will you leave the neighborhood this time?”
“Father!”
“Annie, this is nothing to us.” To her father, Wentworth said, “You never understood my feelings for your daughter. You didn’t understand then and you don’t understand now that an alliance with your family is nothing to me. Or that a gift as you call it, is not necessary to our happiness. I left our meeting two years ago angry at you. And you nearly won. Anne told me that all of you worked her to the point of breaking.” He took from his pocket a gold sovereign and flipped it towards Sir Walter. He watched it fall to the floor. “Today, sir, I could bestow a gift on you if that is what you would demand of me. There are more than sufficient funds in my accounts. There is money due me from the Prize Courts for two successful captures not yet sold. There is more to be had when I go the Mediterranean in a few days. This may be difficult to hear, Sir Walter, but I have more hard currency in my possession than many of these vaunted ‘gentlemen’ of which you spoke earlier.”
Sir Walter pushed the coin with the tip of his fine grey leather shoe. No doubt he would pick it up later. “We will not allow you to sully Anne’s reputation and then expect a welcome into our family. You are not worthy of us.”
“There has been nothing to sully anyone’s reputation—” Anne pulled at his sleeve and pinched his arm. “Please, let me speak for myself.” She stayed close to him but faced her father.
“You have never cared two pins for me or of what others may think of me. It is clear every day that you have no need of me. I am nothing more than dirt under your feet.” She paused, and Frederick wondered if he should take up for her, but he would wait.
“I have been careful to do nothing to bring disrepute on this family. I saw to it that our name was never open to reproach.”
“This is the height of degradation even with no public knowledge.” Sir Walter’s face was scarlet and his left eye twitched.
“Father, I believe you owe the Captain an apology. Anything that you disapprove was done by me. He is innocent.”
“This man is not owed acknowledgement much less an apology, daughter.” The sound of the Baronet’s voice filled the room. The Captain was impressed. The usual, mincing affectation was only a cover for the genuine man housed inside the dandy clothes.
Again, the room was quiet. Of course, everyone must breathe but he could only hear steady rhythm of Anne.
The room was still bursting with anger and anticipation. He decided that speaking now was the only way to get things moving. “Sir Walter, I have come again to ask for your daughter, Anne’s hand in marriage.”
The boob was actually thinking about refusing. He could see it. No matter. The truth of the matter was, leaving the room without his consent would be satisfying in some ways. However, it was best to leave the place with a modicum of good spirits. “Please sir, your blessing on our union would bring a great deal of peace of mind to us all, I believe.” Strangely, he meant it. He wouldn’t grovel for it, but if the Baronet was willing to the right thing, so was he.
A little time passed and there was no answer. “We will leave Kellynch Hall, and we will marry, sir. The question is, will we leave with your good wishes or will we not?”
The man seemed puzzled. Was he having a stroke? No matter. Frederick looked at Anne. “Would you care to leave now?”
“Would I.”
His clever girl had a case waiting in the library and it was soon placed in the carriage.
At Edward’s cottage the reality of their new lives was evident. Frederick and Annie would go to Plymouth, where she would stay with the Harvilles until they could marry. Where she would stay while he was at sea was still to be determined. It would be someplace safe, and someplace under her control.
“Brother, you have made all this possible.” He took Edward’s hand. “I owe you everything.”
“Well, if Sir Walter makes a lot of noise to my patron, I may be on your doorstep begging a room.”
“That would be fair. The last time that happened, the family was blessed beyond measure.”
“That is the truth.” To Anne, he said, “I shall come for the wedding, sister.”
The only thing to dull the joy was leaving Mr. Wentworth. Anne had to show her gratitude. She got down from the carriage and hugged the man who would be her brother. “I am forever in your debt, Edward.”
“I will forever be in yours.” He pointed to Frederick. “Now there is someone to watch over him properly.” He leant close. “I have never seen him so happy. You have done this.” He helped her back into her seat.
“Brother,” Frederick said, “Take care. I have left something on the table for you. Take and don’t grouse. Walk on!”
Everyone watched until the curve in the road ended the view.
At last the lovers were on their way to their future.
The End
Susan Kaye’s other books are available on Amazon.com
None But You: Frederick Wentworth, Captain, Book 1 Eight years ago, when he had nothing but his future to offer, Frederick Wentworth fell in love with Anne Elliot, the gentle daughter of a haughty, supercilious baronet. Sir Walter Elliot refused to countenance a marriage and Anne's godmother, Lady Russell, strongly advised Anne against him. Persuaded by those nearest to her, Anne had given him up and he had taken his broken heart to sea. When Jane Austen's Persuasion opens in the year 1814, Frederick Wentworth, now a famous and wealthy captain in His Majesty's Navy, finds himself back in England and, as fate would have it, residing as a guest in Anne's former home. Now, it is the baronet who is in financial difficulties, and Anne exists only at her family's beck and call. For eight long years, Frederick had steeled his heart against her. Should he allow Anne into his heart again, or should he look for love with younger, prettier woman in the neighbourhood who regard him as a hero?
For You Alone: Frederick Wentworth, Captain, Book 2 How could he have failed to know himself so completely? Captain Frederick Wentworth, lately returned to England from a distinguished naval career fighting Napoleon, had re-visited the scene of his romantic defeat of eight years previous at the hands of Miss Anne Elliot to find his former love a pale, worn shadow of herself. Attracted by the lively young ladies in the area who regarded him as a hero, he had ignored Anne and entangled himself with Louisa Musgrove, a headstrong young woman who seemed all that Anne was not. Now, because of his careless behavior and Louisa's heedlessness, his future appeared tied to her just at the moment when it had become painfully clear that Anne was still everything he truly wanted. In honour, he belonged to Louisa, but his heart was full of Anne. What was he to do?
About the Authors
Robin Helm's time revolves around music as she plays and teaches. Her books reflect that love, as well as her fascination with the paranormal and science fiction.
Her books include Understanding Elizabeth (Darcy must decide how much he's willing to pay to have what he wants), The Guardian Trilogy (Darcy is Elizabeth's guardian angel; Austenesque Reviews 2013 P & P Variation/Alternate Award), and the Yours by Design series (Fitzwilliam Darcy switches places in time with his descendant, Will Darcy; Austenesque Re
views, Top Ten Time Travel novels; Of Pens and Pages, Top Five Modern Pride & Prejudice Retellings). She also contributed a story to A Very Austen Christmas: Austen Anthologies, Book 1 (More Agreeably Engaged, Favorite Books of 2017).
She resides in South Carolina and adores her husband, two married daughters, three grandchildren, and four family dogs.
Readers are loving Laura Hile's joyous Regency novels. Her signature style—with intertwined plots, cliffhangers, laugh-out-loud humor, and romance—keeps them coming back for more.
The comedy Laura comes by as a teacher. There's never a dull moment with teen students!
Laura lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and a collection of antique clocks.
Her fiction is for everyone, even teens.
Wendi Sotis lives on Long Island, NY, with her husband and triplets. While searching for Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view, she became thoroughly enamored with Jane Austen Fan Fiction or JAFF. In early 2010, she dreamed of an idea for a story and hasn’t stopped writing since: Promises, Dreams and Expectations; All Hallows Eve; The Keys for Love; Safekeeping (with just a dash of Austen); The Gypsy Blessing; Foundation of Love (The Gypsy Blessing 2); and A Lesson Hard Learned.
A Very Austen Christmas: Austen Anthologies, Book 1 features Jane Austen-inspired Regency short stories and novellas by Robin Helm, Laura Hile, Wendi Sotis, and Barbara Cornthwaite. Most Agreeably Engaged awarded A Very Austen Christmas a Favorite Book Award for 2017.
A Very Austen Valentine: Austen Anthologies, Book 2 offers Jane Austen-inspired Regency short stories and novellas by Robin Helm, Laura Hile, Wendi Sotis, Barbara Cornthwaite, Mandy Helm, and Susan Kaye
The Marriage Pact, and some of Wendi’s works-in-progress, have branched away from JAFF to Regency Romance (the Loving an Aldridge Series) and Contemporary Romantic Mysteries (the Implicated series). Wendi will also continue bringing Darcy and Elizabeth together again and again in an unusual manner.