The Heir and Spare: Twins of Pemberley (Jane Austen Adaptations) by Jen Geigle Johnson

Author:Jen Geigle Johnson [Johnson, Jen Geigle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kings Row Press
Published: 2024-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Elizabeth

The next morning, Lizzie was awakened by shouts from downstairs. She wrapped a robe about herself and hurried toward the sound. The shouts sounded more like hysterics, and she rounded the corner to see Kitty producing the surprisingly loud agitations. But Lizzie forgot all about her sister’s noise when she saw the cause.

Lydia.

Her hair was mussed, parts standing in knotted messes and parts flattened to the side of her head. The dark circles under her eyes made her expression seem even more hollow, but her eyes were dark, her face drawn, and no sound came from her mouth. In truth, she hardly looked at any of them.

Lizzie approached. “Lydia?” Her voice was quiet, gentle, but Lydia jumped.

“Hm?”

“Welcome home, sister.” Lizzie pulled her into an embrace. For a moment, she was stiff and then she relaxed into Lizzie. Her breath came out as a sigh and she rested her face into Lizzie’s shoulder. “It is good to be home.”

Lizzie held her a moment more and then their mother’s shrieks and shouts from upstairs interrupted them all. “Lydia!! Oh, my baby is home! Come here this minute. Have you brought us a handsome husband?”

Lizzie winced.

Their father stepped across the threshold. He looked tired and worn. The glance he spared Lizzie was brief but grim.

Lydia turned from them and stepped slowly up the stairs.

Kitty followed, her expression uncertain.

When at last they were alone, Lizzie turned to her father. “What has happened?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Enough for me to sit in solitude for weeks on end. I fear I deserve it. Though, I deserve to be endlessly tormented. To think she is returned with so little bother or trouble to any of us; I cannot fathom how it was accomplished.”

“And her well-being? Is she…well?” She wished to ask if she’d been truly compromised, if she had been hurt?

But her father shook his head. “Only she knows the answer to that question. Wickham promises that he did nothing to her.”

Lizzie breathed out her relief and nearly fell against the wall. “Can it be so?”

“It appears to be.”

“Then perhaps, just for a moment, we might feel hope that the information is contained. The Lucases were here, and the missus is determined to defend Lydia’s name and all others. The story is that Wickham left alone.”

Her father nodded. “Then there truly is hope for us all, isn’t there?” He looked so forlorn, so without hope that she rushed to his side. “Father?”

“I am merely unhappy with my own behavior. I will indeed be more careful with you all.”

Lizzie could only nod, for she agreed that stronger care needed to be taken and she would be happy for her father to take a greater interest in all their lives.

A servant arrived with the post on a platter.

Her father lifted a small stack. “This is more than I expected.” He filed through the envelopes and stopped on one, his eyebrow raised. “To what do we owe the pleasure of a correspondence with Mr. Collins? Is your dear Charlotte Lucas well?”

“I believe so.

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