Twelvetide Chaos Read online

  As one the congregation turned and stared at Jane. Charles Bingley coloured, stared, opened his mouth and closed it again so many times before he could make any sound that it was clear to all that he had not had even the remotest of ideas that Jane would do this to him. By the time as he could speak, Jane had turned around and taken a seat at the back of the church to watch her sisters getting married. What was missed by all but the most observant was that Jane had placed herself by Mr Rushworth. Before Bingley could recover himself properly, the church doors had opened and the other four brides came in and walked down the aisle with their father, followed by their bridesmaids. An embarrassed Mrs Bennet came in last and took her seat quietly. If this had been the only trouble that had befallen the wedding she might have coped, but it was not to be the only trouble. The moment Elizabeth had taken her place next to Darcy, Lady Catherine de Bourgh had stood up.

  “This wedding cannot take place” Lady Catherine announced. Darcy’s low groan had been audible throughout the whole church. “My daughter Anne has the prior claim, that being the betrothal of my sister’s son, Fitzwilliam Darcy and my daughter Anne”

  “I was never betrothed to Anne de Bourgh” Darcy announced. “Neither my mother nor my father had ever made mention of such an arrangement. Since we came of age, Anne and I have repeatedly stated that we have no wish to marry each other. This claim is therefore false.” Anne de Bourgh quietly stood and walked to the front of the church and whispered something to Mr Collins, who stood up, and grinned.

  “It would be quite impossible for my beloved Anne to be betrothed to this man here, since she married me two months ago. We married in Hunsford church by ordinary licence.” Collins announced.

  “Can this be proven?” the vicar asked.

  “It can, I have a copy of our wedding lines here in my pocket.” At that, Mr Collins produced the certificate. That was enough.

  “There is no case to be answered here.” The vicar replied. Lady Catherine sat down, and the shocked congregation held their breath for the next person to cause trouble. Nothing more was said, and so the wedding ceremony began. The surprises were not finished. The vicar called for objections to the marriages and two younger women stood up together. Darcy was shocked to see that one of them was his sister, Georgiana. They whispered together, and then finally one of them spoke,

  “Edmund Bertram cannot marry Catherine Bennet” All eyes turned on the speaker, and she seemed to shrink from the observance of so many people. She dropped her voice as she spoke further. “It was during the days that we were waiting for the carriage to be repaired as we travelled down for the wedding, he made overtures of love to me. He promised that he would give me a home and comfort.”

  “Fanny, I was a witness to all that you are referencing.” Tom Bertram spoke up. “He was not making any overtures of love, but rather promising that he would never see you suffer. He was not promising to marry you.”

  “Indeed, my cousin has gone through much. My sole desire in promising her a place to live was that she should never be forced to marry where her heart did not lead.” Edmund answered. “I was already engaged to Catherine here and I would never do anything to hurt her.”

  “Catherine Bennet had the prior claim and has your heart?” the vicar enquired.

  “She does.”

  “And these claims by the young lady are entirely false?”

  “They are.”

  “And that can be verified?”

  At that point Sir Thomas Bertram stood up. “They are false. My niece, Miss Price, misunderstood my son’s kind heart and the conversation that they were having. Our whole family was present when the two of them had the conversations that she is referring to.”

  The church was silent. There was still one more objection to be heard, but by now everyone was impatient to see the couples marry. How unfortunate for the family that one marriage had already been called off, and two more had almost not happened. The buzzing of whispers through the church was audible, and Mrs Bennet was clearly close to hysterics. She did however keep quiet, for now.

  Georgiana Darcy now wore a malicious grin on her face. This was not the sweet and innocent sister that Darcy knew. Something was afoot that made Darcy horribly uncomfortable. He shifted next to Elizabeth. What was his sister about to do?

  “It is impossible for Mr Wickham to marry Miss Lydia Bennet.” She said clearly. Then without being invited to do so, she approached the front of the church and handed a wedding certificate to the vicar. “I have been secretly married to Mr Wickham for the past year.” Darcy nearly collapsed, as Miss Lydia fainted. Nothing made sense, and the buzzing conversations that followed were not heard by either Lydia or Darcy. The anger that Darcy felt was written over his face. Humiliated on his wedding day, Darcy didn’t care. He strode over to Wickham and punched him in the stomach.

  “Georgiana, we’ll discuss this later” he hissed then returned to his place next to Elizabeth.

  “This is most irregular, but everything is in order. I am sorry I cannot perform Mr Wickham’s wedding.” The vicar weakly stated. Georgiana gave a swift sly grin, put the certificate back into her reticule, and returned to her seat. Tears streamed down Lydia’s face as she turned to sit next to her mother. However, she seemed to give a second thought, and turned back to Mr Wickham and without saying a word slapped his face hard. She then sat down between her mother and Mr Bingley, embarrassed and humiliated.

  Thankfully there had been no more surprises for the wedding party and three brides left the church on their new husbands’ arms. Everyone walked from the church to Longbourn for the wedding breakfast. Mrs Bennet watched the three newly married couples. Each couple was unique as they walked, but the one thing that was common to all three was the beaming love that was written over their faces. Edmund and Catherine Bertram were the most sedate of the three couples. Their measured and quiet walk showed a dignified example to all who observed them. Tom and Mary Bertram amused Mrs Bennet and her husband. There was no trace of the old Mary who was quick to judgement and slow to forgive. In her place was a beautiful young woman whose strong love had been the final piece to reforming the former wastrel. Their calm playfulness and constant desire to be close was testament to the change in both of them. The last couple, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy, was the most intriguing. The proud young man who had entered Meryton society a year ago had been so quiet and sedate. Yet as he had settled in, and under Elizabeth’s gentle influence, he had gradually relaxed around others. Their boisterous excitement as they left the church was contagious and for a brief while the scandal of the day was forgotten. However, life has a way of catching up on even the happiest of people and the events of the wedding breakfast would remind all present of that fact.

  There were too many guests for them to fit into any one room of the house, so despite the snow on the ground, the doors in the dining parlour were thrown open and the guests spilled out over the lawns of Longbourn. There was an air of confusion amongst the guests. There were many who wished nothing more than to discuss the scandal of Jane’s abandonment of Bingley and Wickham’s perfidy. Yet they all wished also to celebrate the three weddings that had taken place.

  The trouble began not long after the guests settled in. A smirking Wickham made his way into the gardens with Georgiana. Instantly Darcy’s face darkened. That man had been the bane of his existence. Mrs Bennet had only heard Mr Wickham’s sorry tale but after the events of the morning, she had begun to doubt the truthfulness of Wickham’s assertions. Before Wickham had reached a seat, Darcy had left his new wife’s side and crossed the garden to where Wickham stood smirking with Georgiana. “What is going on?” Darcy’s voice was cold and hard. The other guests at the wedding moved away from the two men and the woman who was at the heart of this trouble.

  “I would have thought you would want to be celebrating with your wife, while I am just attending your wedding celebration with my wife.” Wickham did not have a chance to say anything else as Darcy’s fist once again c
onnected with his stomach.

  “How this situation has come about I am not sure, but I intend to find out.” Darcy growled, as he continued to punch Wickham. The fight was far from a fair one, as Wickham had been so caught by surprise that he had not time to react before the next blow arrived. “My sister is only sixteen!”

  “We…” Wickham struggled to speak and found that he could not finish what he tried.

  “...fell in love” Georgiana whispered, through her tears. “Please stop, Brother. I… I… will explain – everything”

  “I am sorry Georgie, but this wastrel has brought shame and heartache to our family for the last time. I will not stand for anymore of his manipulations and disgraces. It has to stop, and it has to stop NOW!”

  “Please stop.” Georgiana almost screamed.

  “Why should he stop? That man is not loyal to you or to anyone but himself. Darcy is only giving him what he deserves.” Lydia spoke up. Georgiana made no reply, she turned her back on Lydia and began to walk away. Lydia followed her. “You do know that he does not love you, don’t you? How could he love you and have made love to me?”

  Georgiana whirled around, “Made love to you? Why I knew every disgusting detail of his time with you. He told me everything - even the favours that you gave him. Oh, he most assuredly was not making love, you silly ignorant girl. He was toying with you, every sordid little moment of the time.”

  As the girls’ intensified their fight, Darcy had stopped beating Wickham, and now looked at Georgiana and Lydia with a disgusted interest. He had never seen his sister in this light before, she had always seemed to be so innocent and shy. Had it all been an act? He was about to ask for Georgiana’s explanations when Georgiana lunged at Lydia slapping at her and pulling at her hair. “You would have stolen my husband if you could.”

  “Pfft… You can keep your darling husband. I want a man that will be all mine, not one who will spread himself around, and bring home disease. If I had known what he was, I would never have touched him!” Lydia screeched. Wickham tried to rouse himself, but Darcy kept his boot on Wickham’s chest, there was no way at all that Darcy would allow him to get up just yet. Darcy wanted to see how this played out.

  Mrs Bennet was becoming overwhelmed with the fights that were going on, and her natural hysterical nature was now beginning to exert itself, she moved back into the dining parlour intending to find some quiet solitude for a few minutes and to relax her nerves. On the veranda, she found a very unamused Mr Bennet watching another public disagreement.

  “Fanny! How dare you disgrace the family like that this morning?” Sir Thomas Bertram growled. “You have distressed your Aunt Bertram such that she is prostrate on the couch in the parlour.”

  “Then I must go to her immediately, sir.” Fanny tried to cross the room to the door, but Sir Thomas firmly held her in place on the dining room chair.

  “You will stay where you are. Your sister Susan is looking after her right now. If she sees you her distress will be even greater.” Miss Fanny Price looked upset, but it was clear there was no way she was ever going to apologise. “You will not leave here until I have an explanation for your behaviour.”

  Miss Price raised her chin higher, “Then, Sir, we will never leave this room, for I shall never explain. Ask Edmund if you must have an explanation. He knows what he did.”

  “You have caused enough trouble for Edmund and Catherine. You will leave the two of them alone! I want the explanation from you, and you alone.” Miss Price blushed and remained silent. “Fanny, this recalcitrance in you is not acceptable, and it leads me to only one course of action. You must marry, or permanently return to your parents’ home. I bore with your refusal to marry Henry Crawford whose subsequent behaviour bore out that you were right, but the next potential husband I find for you, you will marry or I will send you back to your parents.” Sir Thomas looked as if he would explode. However, just as he had almost mastered his rage Fanny stood up and half turned so that the wind caught her dress and showed the outline of her body. “I hope you are not going to blame either of my sons for that!”

  “No sir, I…” Miss Price sat down. “It was while we were at Ramsgate, sir. I do not know why I passed out, but twice I did so. The deed was done during that time. I have no idea who it was or what happened. We had returned to Mansfield by the time as I realised fully what had taken place. By then whoever it was that did this was long gone, and I am left to pick up the pieces.”

  “Where were my sons at this time? You were supposed to be with them. Maria was kept home.” Sir Thomas was visibly upset.

  “They were courting the Miss Bennets. It was not their fault, aside from when we went to our lodgings at night, we were all one big group as we arranged everything together and generally all socialised in the same group. That was why I was not aware that anything untoward had happened until we returned home. I had passed out with members of our group around me, and when I came around, they were all still nearby.” Miss Price answered.

  “Who do you think is most likely to be responsible?”

  “I do not know; our group of friends was so large while at Ramsgate it could have been any of the gentlemen.”

  “Some of those gentlemen are very honourable men, who have unstained reputations. That kind of accusation will only lead to the completion of your ruin. You will never be able to come back from such an accusation.”

  “I know, sir.”

  “This discussion is not over, but for now, Fanny, go and enjoy the celebrations. Stay away from your both of your aunts and stay away from Edmund.” Miss Price hurried from the dining room, almost knocking over Mrs Bennet in her hurry. Mrs Bennet leaned heavily on her husband’s arm. What should have been a wonderful celebration had turned into a disaster.

  “I feel weak” Mrs Bennet whispered. Before Mr Bennet could guide his wife to her private rooms, the final shock arrived in the form of the kitchen maid coming to quietly explain that the three cooks amoung themselves had somehow managed to ruin the food. It was uneatable. Salt had been swapped with sugar, and food had been left on the range for too long resulting in burnt and wasted food. Mrs Bennet looked about and noticed that no one had been eating anything from her wonderfully planned wedding breakfast. Several of her guests seemed to have drunk too much wine and other alcohol while waiting for the food that would never arrive. To make matters worse, there was a loud crack of thunder and the very skies seemed to open. This only made Mrs Bennet feel that this day had been cursed.

  It was at that point that Mrs Bennet’s hysterics broke out, while her guest scattered in every direction seeking what shelter could be found in the house and gardens The scandal, the shock, the turmoil and the humiliation was too much for the matriarch.

  Six geese a laying

  30th December

  “Come now Mrs Bennet, everything will be well,” Mrs Goulding reassured her friend. “There was no real harm done yesterday.”

  “How can it be?” Mrs Bennet wailed. “My eldest daughter had her chance to find a husband and walked away from it. Lizzy is married so she cannot help Jane now.”

  “Lizzy has always been good to Jane, but you have worried yourself over Jane too much, she has always been the epitome of good. Nobody could have a sweeter temperament than your Jane.”

  “That is as it may be, but Jane will never be able to be like you and me. Then there’s Lydia. She is in an even more precarious position. Everyone knows what happened with Mr Wickham.” Mrs Bennet worried. “They will have only fifty pounds a year to live on if they never find another suitor, and that is not enough to even pay rent on a small cottage. Look at Jane over there, she is hanging on every word that man says.” Jane Bennet was in the corner of the morning room talking sedately to Mr Rushworth, an acquaintance that had made Mrs Bennet rather uneasy.

  “Jane is a sensible girl.” Mrs Long said. “She knows how to look after herself.”

  “No, that is where you are wrong. Jane is sensible, but she believes the best about p
eople and therefore it is easy to take advantage of her.” Mrs Bennet moved across the room. She wanted to know what Rushworth and Jane were talking about. However, once Mrs Bennet got close, they stopped talking. It was this behaviour that aroused Mrs Bennet’s suspicions even higher. It appeared to Mrs Bennet that both her eldest and her youngest daughters were in a lot of trouble. Mr Bingley had been very kind to Lydia yesterday, but he had not come near the house today. That Mrs Bennet could understand. The way that Jane had treated him, it was clear that he had been crushed by her behaviour. Mrs Bennet joined her friends at the other end of the room, “Poor Lydia held a brave face all day yesterday, but she cried all night last night. She said she could not face anyone today, so I allowed her to stay in her room. I do not understand Jane’s behaviour though. How could she walk away from Mr Bingley like that? But if Miss Darcy’s insinuations are correct then Lydia is completely ruined.”

  “Worry not, we all saw how maliciously she was treated. Why anyone would conspire against your family I do not know. All your family has ever done was be good and kind and gentle.” Lady Lucas said.

  “It was not against your family, but against mine,” Lady Catherine said. “Mr Wickham has been a thorn in our sides ever since he was a child. My brother-in-law was blind when it came to that child. The one thing that Mr Wickham has wanted since he was a child was Pemberley. Mr Wickham’s plan was to inflict as much hurt against my sister’s son as possible.”

  “But why use my daughter Lydia so?” Mrs Bennet wailed.

  “Darcy’s biggest strength and his biggest weakness is his love for his family. By being secretly married to Georgiana and making love to Lydia, Wickham has struck a double blow to Darcy. He has not ruined Darcy, but he has hurt him,” Lady Catherine explained. “The fact is that Darcy will weather this storm and it would not hurt him socially, but Georgiana is lost to us all. She has married the son of the steward in questionable circumstances. It matters not if we challenge the marriage as having taken place without her guardians’ consent or not. Georgiana has lost her place in our society and lost her reputation.”