Page 14 of The Gossip War (Pride and Prejudice Shorts #1)

I found myself shocked that Lydia had not inherited all the nastiness in the family.

In the end, she was just the most obvious, because I wanted that family to pay a price so bad I could taste it. I had no idea at the time whether I wanted retribution for him playing with my heart, for assaulting my new brother, or for endangering Lizzy. For that matter, I still do not.

Lizzy and I retired to our bedchamber to try to get a few hours of sleep, though I doubted we would. The more likely scenario was an afternoon nap if we were lucky.

Preparing for bed did not take long, since the debacle started at one in the morning, with us in dressing gowns and braided hair. The only thing that changed over the next few hours was us throwing on a dress.

I was insatiably curious. “Lizzy, might you explain something.”

“Of course, Jane… always!”

“How in the world did you fall in love so quickly. I know the old saw about love and hate being two sides of the same coin and so forth, though…”

She picked up my meaning, “…thought you were and remain sceptical.”

“Yes. It just seems… so… so…”

“…abrupt?”

“I suppose. He made an incredibly nice apology, and an extremely sweet proposal, but—”

“But why not take my time before pledging my hand? Why not assume he was just on his best behaviour and would revert in due time?”

I could see her curiosity was piqued and judged she may not even understand it herself.

“Given the situation, I think that once you knew he was not an ogre, giving your hand was almost required… but…”

“…but my heart… I assume some righteous scepticism.”

“Yes,” I answered, then sheepishly admitted, “I know little of love… obviously… but I would like to… understand, I suppose?”

Elizabeth gave it some thought and finally seemed to work it out for herself.

“I suppose the initial offer to rescue him, which was admittedly very risky based on what we believed… and later accepting his love enough to return it… well… they both came from the same basic fact.”

“Which is?” I asked breathlessly.

“As you surmised, I was attracted to him from the first and hurt by his actions… far more than I ever admitted… even to you.”

“I surmised as much.”

“In the end, it was his sister.”

That got my attention, since at the time she knew almost nothing about the girl except she was musical and taller.

“How so?”

“I know not whether it was instinct or intelligence, but I worked out something in that corridor without even realising it.”

“Go on.”

“He was on his way to his doom. I am convinced that, had I not intervened, and had he not been able to wiggle out of it, he would have sacrificed his own happiness to protect his sister. I cannot name many men who would.”

I gasped, as the thought of such a powerful man going through with it had never even occurred to me.

In my mind, a man as like him would find some way to escape the trap.

I had no idea what it was, but that did not matter because I knew next to nothing about gentlemen’s business.

I just assumed he would manage it somehow.

Elizabeth whispered, “Once I realised that he offered the same selfless protection to me and more…”

“…you understood you had a man among men.”

“Yes. A rich man can buy his way out of most anything. Their reputations are hard as stone whilst ours are brittle as paper. He could survive nearly any scandal, and he could smite the Bingleys like a Norse god. His sister’s material prospects might be dented, though she would still easily find a good husband.

“That said, unless she was twice as tough as Lydia, which seems unlikely, her entry into society it would be cripplingly difficult. The beasts of the ton could make her life miserable.

“In the end, when looking at his own life, his own happiness, and his innate character—he had no more choices than any other truly good and noble man. He had to protect his sister if he wanted to look at himself in the mirror.”

I sighed like a lovestruck Kitty and almost admitted to myself just a touch of jealousy.

Elizabeth seemed to understand more of my feelings than I did.

“Remember this, Jane. Recent evidence aside, good men tend to know other good men. You will find your own Fitzwilliam soon enough.”