Hello, friends! I’m delighted to welcome Christine Combe to the blog for the first time today to celebrate the upcoming release of her latest novel, Choice and Consequence, a Pride and Prejudice variation. Christine is here today to share an excerpt from the novel. Please give her a warm welcome!
Greetings, fellow Austenians! I’m so excited to be visiting Diary of an Eccentric today to talk about my upcoming release Choice and Consequence, the second book in my What Might Have Been series.
The timeline of this book starts at near the same point as the original. But instead of meeting at the Meryton assembly, Elizabeth and Darcy first meet accidentally at Oakham Mount one morning and have a brief but pleasant conversation. And although each was intrigued by the other, they don’t meet again until the assembly—where Elizabeth overhears Darcy make that unkind remark about her. He means it only as a joke to stop Bingley teasing him about his interest in the second Bennet daughter, and is able to apologize the next day after rescuing Elizabeth during a thunderstorm. After a heart-to-heart about all the reasons they shouldn’t become attached, they choose to be friends…but neither discounts the possibility of something more.
Just when they are compelled to admit their feelings for one another have grown, Darcy is drawn from her side by the need for answers regarding Wickham. Elizabeth is relieved at his quick return, though when he is again called away to tend to his sister, she finds he has asked her father for permission to write to her…
On their return to Longbourn, Mr. Bennet called her into his book room. Elizabeth went in suspecting she knew already what—or rather, whom—he wished to discuss.
When her father had sat behind his desk, he looked up at her with a steady gaze. “Did you not tell me, when I asked you on Saturday evening, that you and Mr. Darcy were only friends?”
She drew a breath to steady her nerves, and forced herself to hold his gaze. “I own, Papa, that I was not entirely honest, and I ask your forgiveness. Given what had transpired, I was not of a mind to hear you caution me against him, as I feared you would do. He…he has asked if may court me.”
“And you like him? I cannot imagine it possible; we all know he is a rather proud and disagreeable fellow.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “Oh no, Papa! Mr. Darcy is merely anxious in large, unfamiliar company, and disguises his nerves with aloofness and cold civility,” she said. “For him it is easier to appear proud and above his company than to make an effort to converse with strangers in whose concerns he cannot feign knowledge or interest.”
Mr. Bennet chuckled. “Never did I imagine hearing such a man as he described so.”
She smiled. “When one is able to look past the façade of austere indifference for long enough to engage him in conversation, he can be very amiable.”
Her father nodded. “Having put forth the effort a time or two, I am well aware that the young man does know how to partake of a conversation.”
Mr. Bennet then drew a breath. “He has asked me if he may write to you while he is away.”
Elizabeth thought this an almost redundant request, given he hoped to visit her weekly. Still, she replied, “I should like to correspond with Mr. Darcy. It ought to make the time we must spend apart less difficult to bear.”
Mr. Bennet stared at her for a moment, then chuckled. “You really do like this young man,” said he. “There truly must be something worthy in him then, for I know you would not risk your heart for a man that did not deserve you.”
Elizabeth grinned. “No indeed, Papa.”
“Very well. Off you go now. I did tell your young man I would allow it if you agreed, so you may wish to send him some note and tell him so before the hour grows too late.”
When she had stood, Elizabeth came around the desk and bent to kiss her father’s cheek. “Thank you, Papa.”
Knowing that she had little time to spare before it would be too impolite an hour to send a note, she took her father’s advice and quickly penned one, then sent it off with a footman. She then sat up with her sisters talking for a short while, and had just finished readying for bed when the footman returned with a reply, brought to her by Mrs. Hill.
My dear Elizabeth,
I am so very pleased to have received your note. Knowing that I may write to you shall sustain me all the days I am forced to be away from your side. I would come see you in the morning before I take my leave of Hertfordshire yet again, but I know it would be unwise, for if I do I will surely not go at all.
Does this make me sound the fool? If it does, I care not. All I care for now is seeing my sister well again and returning to you as soon as I am able. Do take care, and may God bless you.
Yours,
Fitzwilliam Darcy
After reading through the short missive a second time, smiling all the while, Elizabeth tucked it away in the drawer of her nightstand, then slipped under the counterpane and drifted off to a blissful slumber.
Well, they may have to spend time apart, but at least they’ll be able to write—and maybe say things to one another a little too difficult to say face to face. I’d like to say thanks once again to Anna for hosting me today. Choice and Consequence is available for pre-order on Amazon and will release May 5th!
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Thank you, Christine, for being my guest today, and congratulations on your new book!
Diary of an Eccentric 