Page 36 of Brighton Rescue (Pride and Prejudice Variation #23)
“Well, Darcy,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said, slapping his cousin happily on the shoulder, “I confess that I have rarely been so happy in all my life, with Wickham removed permanently and my staid, boring cousin marrying a truly remarkable woman…”
“Miss Bennet?” Gabriel asked. He and Jane had withdrawn to the other end of the drawing room for privacy.
“Yes, Mr. Hartford?”
“I hope it was not too uncomfortable for you to visit Netherfield today?”
“Not at all,” Jane assured him. “I am entirely at ease in the presence of Mr. Bingley.”
Gabriel cast a quick glance at the master of Netherfield and then turned back to the woman who had won his heart.
“Miss Bennet, I wished to say that these last few days have been the most wonderful of my life. I fear I must return to Beehaven shortly after your sister’s wedding, and I hoped that …
well, I love you very much, and perhaps we could … ”
“You love me?” Jane asked, her eyes suddenly glowing with inward fire.
“With all of my heart and soul and mind,” he said fervently.
“Do you wish to marry me, then?”
“Yes! More than anything else in the world. ”
“Then I accept your hand in marriage, Mr. Hartford.”
He blinked at her in astonishment, and she awarded him a shy smile.
“Miss Bennet ... Jane,” he breathed fervently, grasping her gloved hand. “Thank you, my darling Jane. Thank you.”
/
“What can I do for you, Mr. Hartford?” Mr. Bennet inquired lazily. Longbourn was a rather noisy place with Mrs. Bennet rushing to and fro making frantic arrangements for the upcoming wedding breakfast, but the library was still his quiet space, his oasis.
Mr. Hartford promptly seated himself across from the master of Longbourn and said, “Sir, I am in love with your daughter, Miss Bennet, and have asked for her hand in marriage. She accepted, and I request your blessing.”
Bennet’s mouth drooped open foolishly for a full two seconds before he recovered enough to blurt out, “You have only known one another for about two weeks!”
Hartford nodded and said, “That is true enough, sir, but in our brief time together, we have come to genuinely know and love one other. She is a marvelous woman, and I know that I am the most fortunate man in the world to win her heart. However, I respect your concern that we have not known one another long; if you are unwilling to bless our immediate marriage, we will continue courting.”
Bennet found himself staring at his hands, which were shaking like blancmanges. It was hard enough losing Elizabeth, but Jane as well? He would be surrounded by his foolish wife and his silly daughters, not merely for a few months, but forever.
After all, had he not resolved to be a less selfish father? If Jane wished to marry this man, then he should not stand in her way.
“You have my blessing,” he said, forcing himself to smile at the anxious young man.
“I will miss my Jane very much, of course, but she is a sensible woman and if she is certain of her happiness with you, then I can only concur. Nor have I forgotten that you, along with Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, are instrumental in the salvation of our family when you saved Lydia. I would never deny you and Jane your happiness together.”
Gabriel Hartford relaxed in relief. “Thank you, sir.”
/
“Mrs. Bennet, daughters, Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, it is my honor to inform you that Mr. Hartford asked Jane to be his wife, and she has accepted him. Jane, I congratulate you. You will be happy together.”
Jane went to him immediately and embraced him. “Thank you, Father. Gabriel and I will indeed be happy.”
Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, who had accompanied Gabriel to Longbourn, strode forward and shook the man heartily by the hand, while the younger girls milled around, crying out their felicitations to their eldest sister.
In the midst of the hullabaloo, Elizabeth moved quickly to her mother’s side; the matron was looking quite put out, which her second daughter found thoroughly bewildering.
“Mama?” Elizabeth said, “what is wrong?”
“Oh Lizzy,” Mrs. Bennet answered, her eyes swimming with tears, “to think that my Jane could have married Mr. Bingley if only she had tried. Then I could have enjoyed having her live nearby at Netherfield, and she would have had plenty of money!”
Elizabeth compressed her lips with irritation, but long experience with her mother encouraged her to say soothingly, “That is true enough, but at least Jane will have wonderful connections after her marriage. Mr. Harford’s mother is a member of the nobility, after all, and Mr. Hartford is acquainted with the Prince Regent himself! ”
Mrs. Bennet peered in astonishment at her daughter. “The Prince Regent, Lizzy? Surely you are joking!”
“Not at all! Jane and Mr. Hartford were walking along the Steyne in Brighton, along with Lady Amelia, and the Prince Regent came up and spoke to Mr. Hartford as, if not an old friend, at least a recognized acquaintance.”
Mrs. Bennet turned back toward Gabriel and Jane, who were now arm in arm, smiling happily, and breathed out, “Oh, to think that my son by marriage knows the Regent himself. How envious Lady Lucas will be!”
/
“Jane, Mr. Hartford?” Elizabeth said as she and her elder sister accompanied the gentlemen outside Longbourn to their carriage.
“Yes, Lizzy?”
“Fitzwilliam and I spoke a few minutes ago, and we wonder whether you and Mr. Hartford would care to join us in a double wedding ceremony.”
Jane looked up at her fiancé with sparkling eyes, “Oh Gabriel, would that not be wonderful? We could return to Beehaven married! ”
Gabriel flushed with excitement but then his face fell, “I would love it above all things, Miss Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, but do we have enough time for the necessary arrangements?”
“There are still six days before the ceremony,” Elizabeth said, “and I presume writing up the settlements will not be overly difficult?”
“No, though it would take some time to return to Brighton to consult with my solicitor there.”
“Gabriel, my love, my uncle Philips is a solicitor! He could write up the settlements.”
“I would be honored to procure a marriage license for you,” Colonel Fitzwilliam offered.
“Mr. Hartford, you could send an express to Sussex immediately, which would allow Lady Amelia to come in time for the wedding,” Darcy suggested.
Gabriel blinked, astonished and touched, “Thank you. Very well, we would be overjoyed to be married along with you and Miss Elizabeth, if you truly do not mind.”
Darcy looked at Elizabeth, who was gazing fondly at her beloved sister, and he smiled broadly. “We would be delighted, Mr. Hartford.”
/
“Jane?” Elizabeth asked softly from the doorway into her elder sister’s room. The household had retired late to bed after all the excitement of the day, but Elizabeth could not sleep until she had spoken to her favorite sister alone.
Jane Bennet, who was standing in front of a mirror carefully removing the pins in her hair, turned and smiled joyfully. “Come in, Lizzy! Oh, I am so happy!”
Elizabeth stepped in and carefully closed the door behind her, then hurried forward to embrace Jane. “I am so happy for you too, my dear sister. Happy and, now that I have had time to think about it, rather astonished. You have known Mr. Hartford for less than a month, after all.”
There was a subtle note of worry in Elizabeth’s voice, and Jane, her hair now free from its coiffure, sat down on the bed and patted the place beside her invitingly. “Sit down, my Lizzy. You are worried that we are marrying too quickly?”
Elizabeth lowered herself onto the bed obediently and grimaced. “I trust you, my dear, but it was rather a whirlwind courtship. If you have any doubts at all, well, I think we might have pressured you into an early wedding, and that concerns me. ”
“I have no doubts at all, and am delighted that we will be married in less than a week. I am entirely confident of my decision. As I told you a few days ago, I believe I know Gabriel better than I ever knew Mr. Bingley; we have spoken to one another from the heart many times since we first met. Nor did I have any intention of letting Gabriel return home to Beehaven without becoming engaged.”
Elizabeth lifted her eyes to her sister’s with concern.
“You are afraid he would not return?” she asked slowly. “Like Mr. Bingley?”
Jane Bennet stared back and said, “Yes and no, dear Lizzy. Yes, I am afraid he would not return, but no, not for the same reasons that Mr. Bingley did not come back to Netherfield last year. Gabriel struggles with ... well, he lost his arm, of course, and it makes him feel less important, less valuable, than men who are still whole.”
“That is ridiculous!”
“It is to me and to you,” Jane continued with a sad smile, “but it is not ridiculous to Mother, and to many other busybodies in this world. Gabriel is a wonderful man, but I worry that he feels that he does not deserve me. If he returned home without an engagement, he might well convince himself that I should find someone better, and I have no intention of permitting his own sense of inferiority from bringing about such an unfortunate conclusion. ”
“He did ask you to marry him,” Elizabeth mused, “so he must have felt at least moderately confident.”
“Well, as to that,” Jane said, blushing rosily, “it could be argued that I asked him to marry me.”
Her sister regarded her in wonder. “You are joking, surely!”
“He told me he would need to return to Beehaven after your wedding, and said that he loved me. I asked him if he wished to marry me. He said yes, above all else. I told him that I accepted his offer.”
Elizabeth found herself suddenly laughing convulsively.
Jane, who had been looking a trifle flustered, began laughing as well; for a full two minutes, the young women were quite unable to speak.
When Elizabeth had recovered enough to form words, she said, “My darling Jane, you are quite cured from being the overly sedate sister of my youth. I have no doubt that you and Gabriel will be very happy indeed.”