To Forget:Darcy's London Christmas: Pride and Prejudice continuation; Sweet Tea Short Story by Maria Grace

Author:Maria Grace
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: regency romance, Pride and Prejudice sequel, Jane Austen sequel, Jane Austen fan fiction Pride and Prejudice sequel, Jane Austen variation pride and prejudice variation Jane Austen fan fiction Pride and Prejudice sequ, Christmas
Publisher: White Soup Press
Published: 2015-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

December 31, 1811

The next day he arose, more settled and at peace in himself than he had been in weeks. Today he had a purpose, a plan, an intention, a question that must be answered. Why that should be so soothing escaped him, it was enough that it was.

After a cursory check of the previous day’s post and a bite to eat, he set out. The long walk would be a welcome opportunity for contemplation and avoid the notice that the use of his carriage always drew.

Why risk a visit to Cheapside drawing unnecessary attention?

Perhaps, he was being overly cautious. Perhaps, as Mother said, he was far too concerned with what others said about him. Perhaps, it was just his pride grown out of control.

All those things were possible, but none were compelling reasons to act any differently.

There was something pleasant about the brisk morning air and getting lost in the growing crowds traversing the streets, a strange sense of being an unremarkable part of something larger than himself. Simply not being gawked at was pleasing.

The crowd grew denser as he approached Cheapside. It moved at its own pace, entirely oblivious to the desires of the individual, ebbing and flowing like the waters of the ocean, to its own primal tempo. Trickles ran through the alleys. Groups of shoppers, like sea foam, caught temporarily against the splendidly bedecked shop windows, then splashed away.

A wave held him lingering at a confectioner’s window, displaying Twelfth Night Cakes topped with fantastical sugar structures. He might have chosen to loiter there a moment himself.

Mother always featured cakes like those at her spectacular Twelfth Night Balls. Though he had been too young to attend those balls, she had always permitted him to view the cake whilst it sat in the kitchen, waiting to be served. She and Mrs. Reynolds always secreted away a piece for him, to be served with his breakfast the next day, with a dainty sugar-work figure to accompany it.

A little sugar-woman on the front-most cake, holding her skirt as if to dance, caught his attention. Something in the figure’s posture, perhaps it was the turn of its head, spoke of Miss Elizabeth. Chin held high, almost impertinent, it seemed to beckon others to join in the dance, just as she did at the Netherfield ball.

He shook his head sharply, and his heart beat a little faster.

Forcing himself away from the confectioner’s window, he allowed himself to be caught in the tide of shoppers, pulled back into the main flow.

From the corner of his eye, he saw it. Gardiner’s Fine Fabrics painted in elegant letters on the second story brick face. A white sign hung above the door bearing the same moniker in gold letters. Beside the name, a skillfully drawn silhouette of a wigged man held a length of fabric.

The flow of the crowd tossed him onto the shop’s front steps. He edged back slightly to peer into the shop windows. Lengths of fine silks, linens and even some printed muslins hung in flowing swirls and puddles, intertwined with all manner of trims and even feathers.

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