To Mend Mr Darcy by Meg Osborne

Author:Meg Osborne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jane Austen Fan Fiction, JAFF, Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Variation
Publisher: Meg Osborne
Published: 2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

“LIZZY! OH, LIZZY DEAR! I never thought we would arrive here. Did I not say so, Mr Bennet? Our journey was endless and I was quite sure our coachman intended us to travel hour upon hour into eternity. My goodness, but we had such a very long journey! I am quite sure there might have been a quicker route if only our driver had the smallest bit of sense to trace one out. Did I not say as much to you, Mr Bennet?”

“You did, my dear,” Mr Bennet said, with an indulgent sigh. “Quite frequently. And loud enough that I am quite sure our poor senseless driver heard it.”

“Well, I can hardly help that!” Mrs Bennet retorted, glaring at her husband. “And I think you are quite wrong, for the noise of the road was loud enough to be almost deafening. I am certain my ears are still ringing with the sound of it! And the carriage jerked so, with all the roads winding this way and that it is a wonder we are here in one piece!”

“And yet you are,” Lizzy said, laughing as she welcomed her parents and sisters into the grand house that had become her home these last weeks. “You are here!” She hugged her mother and pressed her cheek to her father’s and then turned to behold her sisters with so much affection she felt as if her heart might burst from her body. “You are all really here! It is a miracle.”

“Speaking of miracles, Lizzy! You have not heard our news!”

“Oh, Mama!” Jane protested. “Do let us at least go as far as the parlour before you begin announcing things.”

“Yes, Mama, and I think you might let one of us tell her -”

“Tell me what?” Lizzy found her way to Jane’s side, watching as Lydia emerged from within the parlour and stood, framed in the doorway, to watch their family make noisy progress down the wide corridors towards her.

“Lydia!” Mrs Bennet squealed, bursting into floods of loud tears. “Oh, Lydia, my baby! Come here and kiss me, for I have missed you so much!”

Lydia obediently hurried to her mother’s side and was yanked into a suffocating embrace that left her struggling for freedom.

“Where is Mr Darcy?” Mr Bennet asked, blinking around him as if he expected his host to appear from a shadowy, silent corner. “He might have been here to welcome us!”

“He will be,” Lizzy said, hurrying to forestall any potential criticism of the husband who had once more become dear to her now that the bitterness that had temporarily separated them was set aside. “He is upstairs with Georgiana -”

“Then we shall enjoy having you all to ourselves for a few minutes before he returns!” Jane said, hugging Lizzy to her and linking arms with her sister as the party made their way into the parlour. “What a pretty room this is - oh!”

Lizzy felt Jane flinch beside her and followed her gaze to where Colonel Fitzwilliam stood to attention, framed by one of the wide parlour windows.

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