Loving Lydia Read online

  Loving Lydia

  A Pride and Prejudice Variation

  Leenie Brown

  Leenie B Books

  Halifax

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews, without written permission from its publisher and author.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, events, and places are a product of this author’s imagination. If any name, event and/or place did exist, it is purely by coincidence that it appears in this book.

  Cover design by Leenie B Books. Images sourced from Deposit Photos and Period Images.

  Loving Lydia ©2019 Leenie Brown. All Rights Reserved, except where otherwise noted.

  Contents

  Dear Reader,

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Before You Go

  Persuading Miss Mary Excerpt

  Acknowledgements

  Other Leenie B Books

  About the Author

  Connect with Leenie

  Dear Reader,

  Once upon a time…well, actually, a couple of years ago, I began a weekly writing exercise on my blog (leeniebrown.com) and called it Thursday’s Three Hundred. What was supposed to be just a few minutes of practice – just three hundred words a week – quickly took on a life of its own and became something much grander.

  To date, those writing exercises have produced one short story (Hope at Dawn), a four-book series (Willow Hall Romance), a stand-alone novella (With the Colonel’s Help), the first and second books in this series (Confounding Caroline and Delighting Mrs. Bennet) and now, this novel that you hold in your hand.

  While some things about how I create these stories have evolved since that first writing exercise, the tradition of posting a portion of a work in progress continues each Thursday. In fact, there is a new story posting there now.

  Chapter 1

  “Are you certain you will be well?” Fitzwilliam Darcy asked as he leaned against the doorframe while his sister, Georgiana, worked on getting settled into her room at Netherfield, and Dash sniffed his way around the perimeter of the room.

  Why he had allowed two young ladies to talk him into bringing that dog, he was not certain. It was likely his inability to say no to two sets of begging eyes. He shook his head. It was perhaps not his sister about whom he needed to worry. It was himself. He was becoming soft – dreadfully soft.

  He reached down and scratched Dash’s ear when he came to sniff Darcy’s boots for the third time.

  “I am certain I will survive if I have to see him. I am not without friends or you.” Georgiana turned and looked at him while still holding her jewelry box. She always saw to the arranging of her dressing table. “I am not so foolish as I once was. I do not trust him, and I know for a fact that Miss Lydia and Miss Kitty no longer like him either. You have very little to fear.”

  “I will worry nonetheless.”

  She smiled. “Of course, you will. You are most proficient at worrying about me.”

  It was true. Darcy did excel at worrying about many things – his sister had been at the top of that list, followed very closely by his cousin Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam. However, Georgiana would now find that top position a trifle more crowded. For there was now Elizabeth and her sisters – most especially Miss Lydia – about whom to worry.

  “There.” Georgiana stepped back and admired her table. “Everything is just as it should be.” She glanced around the room. “Where is Dash?”

  Darcy sighed and pushed off the doorframe. “He must have escaped.”

  “Which is not hard to do when the door is standing open,” Georgiana teased.

  “You have grown a tad impertinent over the past few weeks.” Darcy’s scold was gentle.

  “And your smile says you are not truly displeased,” Georgiana said as she crossed the room to where he stood and accepted his proffered arm.

  “I cannot say that I am,” Darcy agreed. “That is I am not as long as your impertinence keeps its place.”

  “Which is not in public,” Georgiana replied.

  “Precisely.”

  “What is the cause of that sigh?”

  Darcy grimaced. He had not meant to sigh, but thoughts of impertinence and worry naturally turned his mind to Lydia Bennet. “I was remembering my promise to Richard.”

  “What promise is that?”

  “I am not certain I should say.”

  “Is it that dreadful?” Her tone was teasingly horrified.

  He chuckled. “That depends on how you receive the information. I know Miss Lydia is your friend.”

  “Please? I know Richard loves her and that he has asked for permission to write to her while he is away.”

  Darcy nodded. That was all true. But how did he explain the rest? “This might be said badly,” he cautioned. “Richard asked me to help Miss Lydia improve.”

  “Improve what?” His sister’s brow was furrowed as she attempted to understand his meaning.

  “Her behaviour in public is not precisely how it should be.” Though the comment was critical, Darcy kept his tone gentle. He was not attempting to disparage Miss Lydia. He could not in good conscience denigrate any of Elizabeth’s sisters, most especially not the one who held his cousin’s heart. However, the truth could not be overlooked either.

  “Oh! I had not considered it, but I do see what you mean. She does speak more freely than I was taught to do.”

  “And her choices of topics are not always the best – such as asking you if you had a beau upon your first meeting.”

  Georgiana nodded her head thoughtfully. “I understand. It could put her in a place to be ridiculed and hurt. Richard would never wish for that.”

  “Indeed, he would not.” It impressed Darcy how Georgiana had so succinctly stated what the jumbled mess of thoughts in his mind seemed unable to tell him clearly. “I could not have said it better. That is it precisely.”

  Georgiana patted his arm. “Then we have nothing to fear. I shall behave properly as I usually do, and Mrs. Annesley can assist us. I shall have her spend some time teaching me things that I already know, but that Miss Lydia and Miss Kitty might not know.”

  It seemed as if it was a plan which might work, but… “I do not wish to tax Mrs. Annesley too much.”

  “I will ask her, and if she so much as hesitates in replying, I will think of another plan that shall be just as good.”

  Darcy grimaced as he heard a crash in the drawing room. “I think we have found Dash.”

  As suspected, Dash was in the drawing room next to a vase which lay in pieces on the floor.

  “It was not him,” Darcy’s friend, Charles Bingley, said in response to Darcy’s growled Dash.

  “Did I tell you I acquired a kitten for Miss Bennet?” Bingley added.

  Darcy blinked and looked at Bingley. “You did what?”

  “Before I left town, Miss Bennet was telling me about a cat she once had which had run away during a storm. She seemed to miss it a great deal, so when I arrived, I sought out Sir William and inquired if he knew where I might find a grey tabby cat. As luck would have it, he knew precisely where I might find one.” Bingley lifted the drapes out of the way and scooped up a kitten.
“This is Oliver. He has yet to learn not to push vases off tables.”

  Bingley crossed the room to where Dash sat. “Dash, this is Oliver,” he said, crouching down.

  When Dash sniffed the creature, Oliver meowed and attempted to climb Bingley’s arm.

  “He is a friend,” Bingley scolded.

  “You are talking to a cat as if he can understand you,” Darcy said flatly.

  “Who is to say he cannot,” Bingley returned. “I think it would be best if they become friends.”

  “This is what you were doing for two days before we arrived? Acquiring a kitten?”

  Bingley released Oliver who looked at Dash for only a moment before returning to his hiding spot behind the drapery.

  “No, no, I was also making certain all was ready for your arrival.” Bingley blew out a breath. “And that of my sister. She arrives tomorrow.”

  “Sir Matthew will be joining her, will he not?” Georgiana asked.

  “Thankfully, yes.” Bingley’s eyes shifted from Darcy and Georgiana to the window. “No, Oliver. He is a friend.”

  “Perhaps Dash should be made comfortable in your room,” Darcy suggested to his sister.

  Dash had gone to attempt to make friends with Oliver, but Oliver was none too complacent about the whole idea and had decided it would be best to climb to safety.

  “This might not have been my best idea,” Bingley said with a laugh as he tried to extricate Oliver’s sharp claws from the fabric of the drapes.

  “I am certain Miss Bennet will appreciate the gesture,” Darcy assured him. He sighed. “I brought Dash for Georgiana and Miss Lydia.” He shrugged when Bingley looked at him. “I found it impossible to not grant their request.”

  Bingley laughed. “What has become of us?”

  Darcy took a seat next to his friend. “We have found love, my friend, and it seems love addles one’s brain.”

  Bingley shook his head. “No, our brains are not addled. We are just willing to do that which we might not otherwise do to see those we love happy.”

  “You do surprise me with your occasional astuteness,” Darcy teased.

  “I am impressive, am I not? If only Richard were here to tell me I was not.”

  Darcy sighed and nodded. How he wished the same! And he did not wish it just because then Richard could worry about Miss Lydia. Nor did he wish it just to have Richard here to tease and taunt. He wished it because then he knew his cousin would be safe and not in harm’s way.

  “I suspect I will receive some news of him soon, letting me know he has arrived in Manchester. That frame-breaking bill will surely stir up more strife than it is intended to squelch.”

  “I cannot say I blame the frame-breakers for their anger. I have witnessed some very grim living arrangements. However, as the son of a manufacturer, I cannot condone their actions either.”

  Both men sat in silence for some time. Darcy tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair, while Bingley ran his hand along Oliver’s back, who was sleeping on his lap.

  “I am sure he will be well,” Bingley said at last, putting into words what both men were contemplating.

  “He has survived worse,” Darcy agreed. While he disliked the idea of Richard being in harm’s way at all, he knew it was part and parcel of being a colonel in His Majesty’s Forces. And, to Darcy’s mind, it was better for Richard to be here, in England, rather than in France, where he had been in the past. While there might be some skirmishes in the North, they were unlikely to be as deadly as a battle on the continent.

  Bingley rose from his chair with Oliver tucked in the crook of his arm. “I had planned on calling at Longbourn today for a few minutes. Will you and Georgiana be joining me?”

  Darcy smiled. “Without a doubt.” It had been nearly a full day since he had seen Elizabeth, and there was only so long a gentleman could go without seeing the lady he loved when he was used to having her under his roof where he could see her at all hours of the day. He was not entirely sure how he was going to survive three miles of separation.

  His eyes narrowed as he looked at Bingley. “Do you suppose Oliver could cause some calamity that would require both Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth to take up residence here?”

  Bingley chuckled. “I do not think I am that clever.”

  Darcy sighed. “Neither am I, unfortunately, so I suppose, I will have to do as regular gentlemen do and call on her at home.”

  Chapter 2

  “Come in. Come in.” Mrs. Bennet urged her callers to enter the sitting room at Longbourn. “It is so good to see you. I was only just telling Mrs. Long – she was here just before you arrived – how anxious I was to know if everyone was settling into Netherfield well and if you found it as pleasing upon your return as you did when you first arrived last fall.” She looked at them expectantly.

  “It was just as I left it,” Bingley answered. “Although there was no snow in November, so that is new.”

  “Is it not beautiful?” Kitty asked. “I love how the snow makes everything so bright.”

  “Beautiful but cold,” Bingley answered. “Not that I am unfamiliar with the chill of winter having grown up in the North. I just do not prefer it.”

  “And you, Miss Darcy,” Mrs. Bennet continued. “How do you find Netherfield?”

  “It is lovely,” Georgiana replied.

  “Do you like the snow?”

  Georgiana shrugged. “I suppose I do.”

  “Very good.” Mrs. Bennet settled into her chair, seemingly pleased with all she had heard. Then, with a small gasp, she sat forward. “Forgive me. I forgot to inquire about you, Mr. Darcy. You were so quiet slipping in to sit by my Lizzy. I can assure you that Mrs. Long was astounded to hear of my good fortune in having two daughters so well-matched with a third in a very hopeful position. It is indeed a great blessing, I told her. However, one must not be too startled that my daughters have done so well. Just look at them. There is not a plain one amongst the lot. They are all quite beautiful. Well, then, she had a comment or two to say about Mary’s disapproving looks, but I assured her that if Lizzy’s odd love of books and learning could capture the affections of a man such as yourself, Mr. Darcy, that I was certain that Mary’s stern looks and reprimands might be admired by someone…someday.” Her brow furrowed, and she looked past Darcy. “However, it would be lovely if she were to not scold so often. There is a danger of being thought a harridan – which, of course, she is not. None of my girls are.” She sighed. The furrow between her eyes deepened for a moment and then faded as she relaxed into her chair, once again pleased with all that had been said.

  Darcy pondered her sigh and look of contemplation for a moment. He imagined that it was likely due to her concern about seeing Miss Mary happily married someday. He would have to give some thought to how he might assist her in seeing it done, for seeing one’s daughters well-matched must be a great worry for any mother with several daughters.

  “I must say that I found Netherfield much improved,” he admitted. “The neighbourhood seemed more welcoming and the ladies of the area – one in particular – more beautiful than I remember.”

  Mrs. Bennet tittered and waved away his words with an “I should think so.”

  “How is Mr. Bennet?” Darcy asked.

  “Papa was delighted to be returned to his book room this morning,” Jane said. “However, he has returned to his bed to rest his leg just as the doctor said he should.”

  “Too much activity too quickly is never a good thing for one who is recovering from an injury.” Mrs. Bennet’s tone and look were serious. “However,” she said, brightening, “he has improved so much since that first day I saw him at Darcy House. Such prodigious good care you gave him, Mr. Darcy.”

  “It was not I who saw to his care.”

  “It was your house and your physician.”

  Had Richard been there, Darcy knew he would have chuckled at the look of displeasure Mrs. Bennet wore at Darcy’s audacity to argue with her compliment.

  “It
was also my dog which caused the injury.” Darcy bit back a smile at seeing Mrs. Bennet’s eyes narrow for a moment at his continued disagreement. “However, I was happy to be of service to both Mr. Bennet and the rest of your family. I would not be lying if I said Darcy House was exceptionally lonely yesterday after your departure. I am delighted to be here amongst you all.”

  That earned him a delighted smile.

  “I can barely believe it.” Elizabeth’s tone was teasing. “I thought that you preferred solitude to company.”

  Darcy chuckled. “I did until I learned just how comforting company of the right sort can be.” He lifted her hand to his lips, which he knew was far too forward but which he also knew would continue to delight Mrs. Bennet, and strangely, very strangely, indeed, he had come to find great pleasure in pleasing the Bennet matriarch.

  “Have you had a letter?” Lydia asked.

  Darcy shook his head. “Not yet. I am certain there will be one soon, however.”

  “You will tell me as soon as you can if you receive one?”

  Darcy nodded. “And you will do the same?”

  “Without question! Why I could no better keep such a thing to myself as Lizzy could refrain from reading for a full day. It is just not in my nature to keep such a pleasurable thing to myself. It must be shared with someone, and you do seem like the best person with whom to share such a thing.” Her brow furrowed, and she drew the right corner of her lower lip between her teeth.

  “I am certain it will contain many interesting stories when it arrives,” Darcy assured her. “Richard is a most excellent storyteller.”

  Her features relaxed, and she gave him a small thankful smile before turning to Kitty and Georgiana.

  “As you know, she has not been quite herself,” Elizabeth whispered.

  “Or herself has been permanently altered by concerns beyond herself,” Darcy whispered in reply. “Georgiana is altered after her first encounter with imagined love – not that either Richard or Lydia’s care for the other is imagined,” he clarified when Elizabeth’s left eyebrow rose. “I am just saying that love, whether real or imagined, has an altering effect on a person.”