Midwinter in Meryton by Meg Osborne

Author:Meg Osborne [Osborne, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Love, winter romance, Jane Austen Fan Fiction, JAFF, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth and Darcy, Pride and Prejudice, Christmas
Publisher: Meg Osborne
Published: 2018-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

“I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN, Caroline,” Charles said, as the carriage conveying him and Caroline bounded along the road towards Netherfield. “How could that have been Darcy? In any case, we owe whoever it was an apology - we almost ploughed straight into them! Look, perhaps we should slow down and go back to check. We might take them on to wherever they need to go. It is bitter weather for walking anywhere!”

Caroline pursed her lips.

“Honestly, Charles! You worry too much!” She tried to smile but the expression felt unconvincing even to her, so she turned, angling her face back towards the window and away from the curious view of her brother. I think you are mistaken, Caroline. She scowled. She most certainly was not mistaken, and if Charles would resist daydreaming about Jane Bennet for more than two minutes altogether he would have seen what she had - that Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy was walking along a snow-covered road very close to a young lady who was none other than Elizabeth Bennet!

Caroline felt a flare of anger, and it took all of her energy to remain quiet, unmoved, so as not to draw any further questions from her brother. This, then, must be Mr Darcy’s true reason for volunteering to return to Netherfield on their behalf in the first place. He could not bear to be apart from Elizabeth Bennet, even while he agreed that her brother ought to be separated from Jane. It was hypocrisy, plain and simple. Worse! It was betrayal.

Caroline let out a low sob she tried to disguise as a cough, and for once she was grateful for her brother’s absent-mindedness. Let him attend to his thoughts of love and romance and remain utterly oblivious to the heartbreak his own sister was suffering! It was too cruel.

She had known as far back as when Jane fell ill at Netherfield and Elizabeth walked miles in the mud and the rain to tend to her - Caroline shuddered at the recollection of her bedraggled arrival at their home, and how completely their house had been taken over by Bennets in the aftermath - that Mr Darcy’s curiosity had been piqued, but she had never thought that that would lead to affection. How could it? He was too handsome, too wealthy - in short, too good. He deserved someone who thrived in society and who would appreciate all that life on the arm of the eligible Mr Darcy, Master of Pemberley would offer. What did Elizabeth Bennet know or care about Darcy’s position or the fact that Caroline had long since, in the privacy of her own mind, laid claim to him?

I knew him first! She smarted, feeling somehow cheated out of a prize that ought to have been hers. If only we could have remained in London - then Mr Darcy might have seen me in my element! For Caroline thrived in the social whirl of London at Christmas. Even with Charles’ misery, and her own fabricated illness,

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