Elizabeth: Obstinate, Headstrong Girl Book Review

If one were to ask readers who their favorite character is, I would suspect that Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice would rank near the top of the list.

Elizabeth: Obstinate, Headstrong Girl, edited by Christina Boyd, was released earlier this year. The fourth book in a series of five Jane Austen inspired anthologies, this edition contains a series of short stories inspired by Austen’s most famous heroine.

Like it’s predecessors, I loved this book. I could feel the presence of Austen’s voice and point of view as a writer, which in the world of fanfiction, is not always present. Balancing Austen’s original narrative and their vision of Elizabeth Bennet, the stories reminded me of why I continue to adore the novels of Jane Austen.

I absolutely recommend it.

P.S. The royalties from these anthologies go directly to Chawton House. I can’t think of a better way to give thanks to Jane Austen and to those who are keeping her legacy going.

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Confrontation- A Modern Pride and Prejudice Fanfiction

*-I do not own any of these characters beyond the Darcy and Bingley children.

*-Rated PG for language.

*-Please review

Confrontation

“That bitch, how dare she, in my home” Elizabeth’s rage was so great that she had to be bodily removed from the party and was not set down until she and Will were safe within the confines of their bedroom.

The comment had been partially heard by Elizabeth, but it was enough to break the mask of civility she had put up for the day. She had always disliked Caroline Bingley, but had tolerated her because she was Jane’s sister in law.  But that comment was the last straw.

Her husband remained silent.

“Dammit William, cant you see what she is doing?”.

“She is Charles’s sister, I cannot ask her to leave”.

Elizabeth did not know why, but she agreed that Caroline be invited to their home for the mutual 1^st birthday party of Anne Darcy and Fanny Bingley. She had promised herself that she would a proper hostess and not under any circumstances let Caroline get under her skin.

But she did, she would have tackled Caroline if Will had not dragged her away.

“She still believes the fantasy that you marry her, Will and somehow, Georgie will marry Charlie”.

“It’s been five years, Lizzy, I hardly think that after all of this time and two children, even Aunt Catherine has accepted us…”.

Of course, that had only come about after letting Will stand up for the both of them, Elizabeth had enough. She declared in no uncertain terms that until the day Catherine respected their marriage, their children would be off limits to her.  It was only after the death of Catherine’s only child, Anne, and the subsequent birth of their daughter Anne that Catherine began to thaw to the idea that her nephew was happy.

“Caroline has had eyes for you for years, only you have been too blind to see”.

“Did you think that I didn’t know that?”.

“Then why did you not tell her you were not interested?”.

“I don’t know why I didn’t say no back then. Please, I beg of you, hold out for a little longer, I will talk to Charlie”.

He could still see the fire in her eyes.

“For me, please Lizzy”.

“Fine, I will behave, but one more comment and she is out on her ass”.

“Thank you, can we return to the party?”.

“Yes, we can” Lizzy agreed.

“Are you ok?” Jane asked as Lizzy and Darcy returned to the party. Dear sweet Jane, who seemed to let nothing bother her, especially annoying her sister in law.

“Just peachy”.

“It’s my fault, Lizzy, I was the one who brought up the idea to invite her, she is family…”.

“No, that ok, I can deal with her, it’s only a few more hours”.

Then she turned around to see Darcy and Caroline talking. Without warning, Caroline attempted to kiss him. Any attempt or promises to control her temper disappeared.

Lizzy pulled Caroline away from Darcy and knocked her to the floor.

“Get your hands off my man, now”.

“We are just talking, weren’t we Darcy?”.

Before he could respond, Elizabeth nearly pounced on Caroline “I want you to listen to me and listen well, for I will not repeat myself. We are married; he is the man I love and the father of my children. Nothing you do or say will break up this marriage and if you attempt to do so, you will be sorry. Am I understood?”.

“Darcy, you must control her, she is like animal”.

“No Caroline, she is right. I have always tolerated you because your brother is my best friend, but I will not have you coming to my home and insulting my family. Elizabeth is my wife and will be until the day I die. I have never been attracted to you, nor will I ever be”.

“You cannot be serious, she is a….”.

“What is exactly do you think my sister is?” Caroline unexpectedly turned to face her sister in law.

“She is a…” suddenly the words disappeared.

“Whatever you accuse my sister of; I must be guilty of the same crime”.

“Charles?” Caroline turned around, looking for her brother.

He was about to respond, until a little voice broke the tension.

“Daddy, my shirt is dirty” Lizzy and Will’s four year old son, Bennet stood there, his shirt covered in chocolate ice cream.

Caroline looked at the boy, who was most certainly a Darcy, but he also has his mother’s striking eyes. Then she saw the pictures.

The pictures of their wedding, the pictures of their children. The pictures of the life together that would never be hers.

Elizabeth Bennet had won, she was Mrs. Darcy, wife, mother, lover to the man she would never be with.

“C’mon buddy, lets get you cleaned up” Taking his son by the hand, Will led him upstairs.

“If you excuse me, it appears I have worn out my welcome” she was determined to leave with her dignity in tact.

As she walked out, she took one last look. She had spent too many years hung up a man who she had finally realized had no interest in her. Maybe one day, she would find a man who would return her affection.

 

The End

The Wait

*-These characters belong to Miss Austen; I am simply a humble admirer. The only character that I have created is Bennet Fitzwilliam Darcy.

The Wait

The wait was becoming too much for Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Lizzy’s labor pains started just after lunch, the sun had already set and the child had yet to enter the world.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were the only members of the family who had arrived before the birth of the newest member of the Darcy family, the rest of the family would be coming in the next day or so. The only member of the family who declared that she would never go through Pemberley’s doors was Lady Catherine DeBourgh, Mr. Darcy’s maternal aunt. In the nearly three years since her nephew had married Elizabeth Bennet, Lady Catherine had never acknowledged Elizabeth as her niece and in turn, would never acknowledge Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam’s children as family.

“Son, if you continue to walk in that same circle, you will find yourself on the floor” his father in law warned.

Mr. Bennet understood his son in law’s trepidation, the anxiety on the younger man’s face.

“Lizzy is young and strong, I see no reason why she shouldn’t bring a healthy child into the world”.

In his mind, Fitzwilliam was not a grown, married man of one and thirty, waiting for the birth of his first child, but a boy of twelve, watching his father pace around the room with same ferociousness.

His sister, Georgiana was born healthy, but Lady Anne was never the same. She lingered for six months before her body gave out. Loosing his mother was a watershed moment in his then young life, but to loose Lizzy would surely break him.

At the moment when Fitzwilliam could not wait another moment, the creaking of the door announced that Georgiana had entered with a broad smile on her face.

“Come meet your son, Fitzwilliam”.

Bounding up the stairs with his father in law and his sister behind him, Fitzwilliam did not stop until he reached his bedroom.

In the middle of the bed, a sweaty and tired Lizzy, gently held a small bundle her arms.

“Say hello to your papa” taking his son in his arms, Fitzwilliam couldn’t help but be amazed at miracle of life.

“What shall we name him?”.

“Bennet Fitzwilliam Darcy”.

Kissing his young son’s forehead, Fitzwilliam felt a love that he had never known before. This was his son, his heir. The wait was over, but the journey into parenthood had begun.

Reprimand

*-As usual, these characters are not mine, they belong with respect and affection belong to Miss Austen.

*- The section in italics is the original text from Sense and Sensibility.

Reprimand

It was another sleepless night for Mr. John Dashwood, son to the late Mr. Henry Dashwood and the newest master of Norland Park.

It had been nearly a fortnight since Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters had departed Norland for a small cottage on the property of a distant cousin in Devonshire.

His father’s dying wish was that John offer financial compensation to his stepmother and stepsisters. But it was Fanny, who convinced him otherwise and John was in agreement.

“He did not stipulate for any particular sum, my dear Fanny; he only requested me, in general terms, to assist them, and make their situation more comfortable than it was in his power to do. Perhaps it would have been as well if he had left it wholly to myself. He could hardly suppose I should neglect them. But as he required the promise, I could not do less than give it; at least I thought so at the time. The promise, therefore, was given, and must be performed. Something must be done for them whenever they leave Norland and settle in a new home.”

“Well, then, LET something be done for them; but THAT something need not be three thousand pounds. Consider,” she added, “that when the money is once parted with, it never can return. Your sisters will marry, and it will be gone for ever. If, indeed, it could be restored to our poor little boy—”

“Why, to be sure,” said her husband, very gravely, “that would make great difference. The time may come when Harry will regret that so large a sum was parted with. If he should have a numerous family, for instance, it would be a very convenient addition.”

“To be sure it would.”

“Perhaps, then, it would be better for all parties, if the sum were diminished one half.—Five hundred pounds would be a prodigious increase to their fortunes!”

“Oh! beyond anything great! What brother on earth would do half so much for his sisters, even if REALLY his sisters! And as it is—only half blood!—But you have such a generous spirit!”

With a clean conscious that he had provided for his stepmother and stepsisters as his father wished, John began his life as master of Norland Park.

Then the sleepless nights and the dreams came.

It was the same dream every night. His father calling his name, but when awoke, the night was silent.

“Perhaps my dear, Mr. Jones might help” Fanny offered. Mr. Jones was the physician who Mrs. Ferrars would recommend to anyone who would listen.

“No, I don’t think he is necessary”. But the nightmares and the sleepless nights continued.

“John!” he woke up with a start, his father’s voice.

“Why did you defy me?” his father’s voice boomed as a cold breeze came from nowhere.

“Father, I…I don’t understand”.

“Your stepmother and the girls, I asked you to take care of them and you have not. Why did you defy me?”.

“It was Fanny’s idea, she…”.

“Do not blame your wife, boy; you are master of Norland Park, not your wife. I am still your father and you will do as I have bid you to do”.

With that declaration, the other worldly voice and the cold breeze disappeared.

John finally woke up to find Fanny sleeping beside him and the light of the moon in the distance.

In the morning John hied a messenger as quickly to Derbyshire as quickly as he could.

“My dear, where have you sent him?” Fanny asked, noticing the man hurrying out of her husband’s study and towards the stables.

“To Derbyshire, with a note for £3000”.

“My darling, we agreed, that they do not need that money”.

“I have made up my mind, Fanny; we will not speak of this subject any further”.

In Derbyshire, Mrs. Dashwood’s maid announced the visitor.

“A letter for you ma’am, from Norland Park”.

After reading the letter, she collapsed into tears.

“Mama?” Margaret asked.

“We are saved, my dears. Your brother has come through”.

For the rest of his days, John Dashwood never dreamed of his father returning from the other world.

Wooden Soldiers

*-These characters belong to Miss Austen, only the Darcy children belong to me. I am simply a humble admirer.

Wooden Soldiers

The past two days had been bewildering to Fitzwilliam Darcy.

He and Elizabeth had been quarreling for a reason that escaped both of them. Their children, Bennet and Fannie had noticed their parent’s change of mood and were uncharacteristically quiet.

Bennet snuck into the library, where his father lay with a cold cloth on his head. Reaching for a book, it was just a little too high for him to catch it before it fell. On the way to falling to the ground, the book knocked down a vase that had been purchased by his late paternal grandmother three decades before.

“Bennet William Darcy” his father’s voice thundered throughout Pemberley as the vase smashed into many pieces on the floor.

Bennet began to whimper as Elizabeth, Fannie and Mrs. Reynolds ran into the library.

“Mama” Elizabeth knelt down to her son as tears begin to spill down his cheeks.

“Fitzwilliam, he’s just a boy” Elizabeth chastised her husband as Mrs. Reynolds directed the maids to clean up the remnants of the vase.

“Mama, I’m sorry, I only wanted the book”.

“Next time, darling, if you cannot reach for what you want, you should ask for help”

“Yes mama”.

“I need you and Fannie to go with nanny for a few minutes; I need to have a private word with your father”.

Quietly, the children were led away by their nanny as Elizabeth was alone in the library with her husband.

Mrs. Reynolds heard the tone in her mistress’s voice. Mrs. Darcy was an amiable woman, but she was not above telling her husband when she disagreed with him.

“Whatever quarrel you and I have, Fitzwilliam, do not involve the children. Do you wish your son to grow up with the burden you grew up with?”.

He knew she was right. While George Darcy loved his son, Fitzwilliam knew early in his life of the responsibility that he would one day have.

“I’m sorry, Lizzy, I don’t know what came over me” He cradles his face in his hands, remembering how hard his father had been on him as a boy.

“I know, you are dearest, but you must let our children be children while they are still young”.

“I love you, Elizabeth Darcy”.

“And I love you, Fitzwilliam Darcy” the fight was forgotten, but Fitzwilliam regretted yelling at his son.

“Bennet, come here please”

“Yes, papa” Bennet walked toward his father, the fear easily read in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, son, you were not the reason I was upset. I should not have lost my temper”.

“What about Grandmama’s vase?”.

“Your grandmamma left many things, the vase can be replaced”.

“Truly, papa?” Bennet asked.

“Yes, son, in fact, I have a surprise for you” from behind his back he produced a box of wooden toy soldiers.

“These were mine when I was your age, I want you to have them”.

“Thank you papa” Bennet eagerly ran to the nursery to play with the wooden soldiers.

From that moment on, Fitzwilliam made a promise to himself that his son would have the childhood his father was denied.