a Pride and Prejudice variation

Chapter One

‘Sorry,’ Elizabeth stuttered. ‘You’ve done what, exactly?’ 

Her closest friend Charlotte Lucas stared at her with kind eyes, a look of understanding passing across her face before she repeated her sentence. 

‘I’ve agreed to marry Mr Collins.’

‘You have?’ Elizabeth shook her head, the absurd thought rattling around in her brain, unable to make sense of it all. 

‘I have.’ 

‘But the man’s a–’ Elizabeth cut herself off before she began to insult Mr Collins too heavily. You see, Mr Collins was a rather foolish man, if truth be told. Or at least Elizabeth believed him to be so, and for her, that was more than enough. 

If there was anything Elizabeth trusted, it was her opinion, which was yet to steer her in the wrong direction.

‘And do you believe you’ll be…’ Elizabeth trailed off, looking for the correct word. One that wouldn’t upset her friend too much. The one she settled on was, ‘Happy?’ 

Her friend nodded, her brown hair swept up into her bonnet jostling with the motion. The bonnet was a small thing of navy blue, a thin but strong ribbon tied in a bow around a pert bow fighting to keep it in place. ‘As happy I can be.’ She shook her head vigorously. ‘No. More so. I shall no longer be a burden to my parents and I will be able to run my own home.’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ Elizabeth said with a deep sigh. Internally, her thoughts were sweeping ahead, wondering whether her friend was making the right decision – and whether or not she believed her to be foolish.’If it is what you truly want Charlotte then nobody is more happy for you than I.’ 

‘You truly mean it?’ Charlotte’s words were said in a tone most would interpret as uncertainty. She had been friends with Elizabeth for long enough and knew her mind better than most. Except for Elizabeth’s sister, Jane, who knew her best. 

‘I do,’ Elizabeth said with a decisive tilt of the head. ‘As long as you aren’t making a snap decision, then I fully support you, but you really must be certain of it.’ 

The two friends continued on their stroll, both of them silent for a time as they processed the quick change that had taken place between them. And there had been a change, there was no denying it. From that moment onwards, nothing would be the same between them again. It never was once one became married, after all.

Elizabeth frowned, pausing once more on the path. ‘Do you love him?’ She asked the question delicately, easing herself around the point to avoid her friend feeling insulted. ‘I mean, is there something there?’

‘I’m sure there will be,’ Charlotte said as she studied a nearby plant as if it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. ‘I’m sure we will grow to love one another in time. It's just…’

‘It’s just?’

'Well,' she said with a shrug. 'It's just that I never expected it all, I suppose. It has all happened rather fast if truth be told.'

Elizabeth didn't mention that she'd been thinking about how it really hadn't been that long ago that Mr Collins had asked for her hand in marriage before moving on to her friend. It wouldn't have felt right to point that out, though. Elizabeth may be realistic, but she wasn't cruel. Not without provocation.

Even if Charlotte wasn't making logical sense, she still wasn't silly either. She knew the hand she had been dealt, and was making do with what she had in the best way she could.

If anything, it was something Elizabeth admired greatly about her.

‘It is fast,’ Elizabeth agreed.

‘But it’s just as well,’ Charlotte said with a small smile. ‘If he hadn’t asked me then I would never have had the chance to leave my family's home and lead my own household. It's a blessing for me, truly.’

Elizabeth caught her friend’s eyes and held them in a stare before nodding and returning to their walk along the path.

‘There’s no sense in looking back on what could have been,’ she said with a shrug. ‘The only thing that matters is that it has worked out.’ She paused, bringing a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun before she resumed. ‘And to be honest, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you happy. I should hope that you’re correct, and that you will one day love him.’

Charlotte smiled, the wide curve of her mouth making her face look even more pleasant than it usually did.

Elizabeth smiled broadly in return, showing all of her teeth, ready to put the day behind her. Even if she didn't fully understand her friend's motives, she could at least sympathise with her plight. Being an unmarried female didn't bother Elizabeth in the slightest, and actually, if she was being honest with herself -- something she chose not to do too often lest she think less of herself, (and what good would that do) -- she quite enjoyed being her own person without having to answer to a husband.

Yes, things may be easier when married, but there were other aspects of married life that didn't appeal to her sensibilities whatsoever.

And she highly doubted that would change.

*

When she was sitting around the dinner table later that evening, Elizabeth couldn’t contain herself, or her news, any longer.

‘I had a rather interesting talk with Charlotte earlier today,’ she announced when there was a lull in conversation. Every pair of eyes turned in her direction awaiting the rest. Her older sister, Jane, had wrinkles around her eyes, a glint of amusement shining within them. She had already heard the news from her sister earlier, and had been too shocked to speak about it for a full ten minutes.

Elizabeth’s mother was staring across the table with tight, pursed lips. It was as if she knew the news was great for somebody else, but not for her. She already lamented daily about the fact she had five daughters all unmarried, so the news about Charlotte Lucas snatching a husband (and for it to be Mr Collins, too) was surely to send her over the edge. 

'I highly doubt it was that interesting, dear Eliza.' Lydia, her younger sister said, spearing a potato with her cutlery before spearing her sister with her piercing gaze. 'Charlotte Lucas rarely has anything interesting to say.' 

She cackled, looking to her right to catch the eye of Kitty, who was the youngest sister and therefore the most impressionable. 

As if on cue, Kitty joined in with the laughter at Miss Lucas's expense, throwing her head back until a snort left her and she stopped, sheepish at the noise she'd made.

She looked from one older sister to the other, as if she had caught herself at something, and then began to eat with her head bent so her hair covered her face. Elizabeth and Jane exchanged a look, both of them wrinkling their noses at Kitty's lack of decorum.

'Charlotte Lucas?' Their mother said, stumbling over the name as if it were the first time she had heard it.

'Yes, Mother.' Elizabeth smiled down the table, amused at Mrs Bennet's tone. Of course her mother was the type to act ignorant on many a matter, so it did not surprise her in the slightest that she was acting as if she were above it all.

'Go on then,' Mr Bennet said, bemused at the distraction. 'Tell us what she said.'

'She is to be married!' Elizabeth looked at each member of her family, wanting to see their reactions to the news, and she wasn't disappointed.

'Married?' her mother exclaimed.

'To who?' Kitty squealed as Lydia laughed beside her.

'Yes, to whom?' Mr Bennet asked.

Jane, on the other hand, was the only member of her family who managed to remain calm at the news. She patted Elizabeth's hand as she sat beside her, nodding at her most enthusiastically.

'Mr Collins.' Elizabeth said.

'Mr Collins?' Kitty screeched, eyes wide and filled with disbelief. That was not the reaction Elizabeth had been hoping for, but it was pretty much what she had expected.

'Mr Collins,' Lydia repeated, her tone as if she had just announced the end of the world was nigh.

'Heavens above,' Mrs Bennet said, putting a hand to her chest as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. ‘What on earth possessed him to do that?’

The noise that left her mother’s lips was one of incredulity, as if she couldn’t believe that Mr Collins was capable of doing such a thing. It was clear that she thought the whole thing to be unnatural.

'I am sorry to disappoint you all,' Elizabeth said, tone light, not sounding in the least bit sorry. The last thing she had wanted was to disappoint her family, of course, or to see her mother so displeased, but she was merely thrilled that she wasn't going to be forced to marry Mr Collins.

'Yes,' Mr Bennet said in a rather dry tone. 'You sound positively distraught.'