A Most Attentive Mother by Jann Rowland

Author:Jann Rowland
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Alternate Universe, Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms
Publisher: One Good Sonnet Publishing
Published: 2022-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

Shopping was not a subject about which Elizabeth could speak at length. She enjoyed new clothes as much as the next woman and poring through the patterns and fabrics for the finest concoctions was interesting if it did not consume too much time. Of their trip to Bond Street the following day there was little enough to say, for it had proceeded much as any of them would have expected. Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy contented themselves with asking after them, nodding at the appropriate times, and changing the subject when the opportunity presented itself.

The following days the company settled into Mr. Darcy’s home, accustoming themselves to their surroundings where they would live for the next few months before going to Kent. In those days, Elizabeth was often with Mr. Darcy, for the gentleman was attentive, and Elizabeth responded as warmly as she dared. She was still uncertain what he meant by it and whether it would lead to something more, but she was eager to discover if it did.

A week after their fittings for new gowns, the ladies of the house again settled into a pair of carriages to return for the final fittings. Lady Catherine’s modiste was a woman of skill and notoriety in London, and her creations were divine, all sewn to perfection only excepting a few minor adjustments. When they had approved of everything, her employees packed their dresses in their trunks for transport to Mr. Darcy’s house, and the ladies exited the shop. There, they had their first unfortunate encounter in London, for a trio of ladies were standing nearby, their dress and demeanor testifying to their prominent position in society. While Elizabeth wished to put off this confrontation a little longer, it was clear there was nothing to be done.

“Catherine,” said the eldest of the three, Lady Amelia Howard, Baroness of Harcourt. The lady’s eyes found Elizabeth and her sisters. “And I see you have your . . . new daughters with you.”

Lady Amelia and one of the younger ladies with her turned their noses up and sniffed with disdain, appearing more like twins than mother and daughter regardless of the age difference. It had always been the same with her, for of all Lady Catherine’s high relations, she was the most supercilious. She was also a shorter woman than Lady Catherine and seemed to resent that fact by the way she stood to her greatest height and attempted to glare down on them. Lady Amelia was not an unattractive woman, with the dark hair of the Fitzwilliams—though greying due to age—and a lined face that showed signs of its former youthful vitality.

By her side, her eldest daughter, Adele, appeared very like her mother in essentials. Adele was pretty, from her long black hair elegantly tied at the back of her head to her dark brown eyes, her face an oval with a rosy blush on her cheeks. But her customary look of haughty disdain ruined whatever beauty she might have claimed, as did the perpetual sneer that twisted her lips whenever she looked upon anyone she thought beneath her.

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