Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).
Collage created on Canva.com. Images sourced from Depositphotos.com
I thought today, since Alfred and Wes are going riding, that I would create a collage of possible vistas that they might have seen.
~*~*~
“There is no one else,” Wes said. “I am afraid you are stuck with me.”
“Could you not entertain yourself?”
“I could,” Wes replied as they descended the stairs, “but what fun is there in that?” He stopped and turned to face Alfred who was a step behind him on the stairs. “You have been spending far too much time alone.”
“I enjoy spending time alone on occasion, and I have brought some books with me to study.” Not that he had put very much effort into studying them. He had opened all of them at least once and even read a paragraph or two from one of them.
“I thought we might ride toward Oakham Mount,” Wes said as he continued down the stairs.
“Where is that?”
“Do not fret. I have walked in that direction before.”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY JJHELLERMUSIC ON AUGUST 7, 2015.
I thought we should have a happy, catchy, upbeat tune today to go with a happy chapter of Her Father’s Choice. 🙂
In Her Father’s Choice, Darcy and Elizabeth’s freedom to choose each other is taken from them as they are forced together through a planned compromise. However, as you will see in the chapter below, Darcy is quick to realize that even if he had not been forced to offer to marry Elizabeth, he still would have chosen her — they were meant to be. (Elizabeth will figure it out later.) And that’s the reason I picked this song.
Lady Sophia tapped her toe as she waited in the sitting room with Georgiana at Darcy House. “He should expect me to be early. I always am.” She straightened her sleeve. “I am curious to meet the lady who has finally captured your brother.”
“Captured would be the proper word for it,” said Richard, entering the room and giving first his aunt a kiss and then Georgiana. “I did not realize you were coming today, Georgiana.”
Georgiana pursed her lips and looked at her aunt. “I was not supposed to come.”
“An omission made in error, I am sure.”
Georgiana looked at her aunt doubtfully. “My brother does not make errors of omission. He is the most fastidious correspondent.”
“Ah, well, your brother does not get married every day, either.” She smiled and raised her brows, which combined with the twinkle in her eye, made her look very impertinent. “He will see his error as soon as I have explained it to him.” She patted Georgiana’s hand reassuringly before turning to Richard. “Now, tell me why captured is the proper word.”
“It seems –” began Richard.
“That I am the topic of gossip within my own home,” finished Darcy as he entered the room and gave Richard a stern look. “Georgiana! It is a surprise to see you.” He placed a kiss on his sister’s cheek while giving a questioning look to his aunt.
Can you believe this is the final Saturday of May? That means we have almost survived another month of 2020. 🙂 At times, it feels like time is dragging, but then, I immerse myself into my work, and, when I look up, I’m surprised at how much time has passed. I hope you are finding ways to make 2020 enjoyable and find the beauty in life despite any restrictions which still remain where you are. Below, is an update on the enjoyable, writing-related things that take up a large portion of each of my days. 🙂 And at the end, as my something extra, I have included one way I am attempting to add beauty to my life on social media.
Writing News
I don’t have any excerpts of writing to share with you this week because I don’t want to give anything away in either story that I am writing. So, this will be a short and kind of boring 🙂 update on how my works in progress are progressing.
In my writing time, so far, I have written one chapter each of Protecting Miss Darcy and Her Convenient Forever. I’m actually planning to get one more chapter of Protecting Miss Darcy before the week is over.
Middleton Hall. John Preston Neale (1818). Image extracted from page 288 of volume 5 of “Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. L.P”, by John Preston Neale. Original held and digitised by the British Library. / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
This is the sort of house where Richard and Lydia will make their home. I really like that this house has the same shape and seems to have the same number of windows across the front and along the side as one of my favourite historic homes (Uniacke Estate Museum Park) that I like to visit here in Nova Scotia. It makes it easier to imagine how the fictitious house at Beaumont Park might be laid out inside. However, we’re only stopping here for the night in our story before the characters continue on to Netherfield and Longbourn.
~*~*~
“Oh, it is lovely!” Kitty said as the Darcy carriage drove through the gate and toward the house at Beaumont Park the next afternoon. “Lydia must be delighted to know this will be her home.”
“And you will not be so very far from her,” Georgiana placed an arm around her friend and leaned against Kitty so she could also peer out the window. “I have not been here in some time.”
“It has been at least five years,” Fitzwilliam agreed. “However, I do think we will be stopping here more often on our way to and from Pemberley in the future since someone will be living here. I see the work on the chimney Richard told me about has begun.”
[from Protecting Miss Darcy, Marrying Elizabeth book 6]
I selected this video to pair with a chapter of His Irreplaceable Belle, which publishes tomorrow, because that Touches of Austen story contains touches of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
The late afternoon sun felt wonderful and warming as Fritz turned his face towards it. The brightness that filtered through his eyelids was restorative. It had always drawn him forward from his often deep ponderings with a cheerfulness that was unparalleled by anything else, save for the smile of a particular lady.
However, he was not sitting in the garden to think about Belle. He was here to clear his mind and turn it towards the task at hand – finding a wife who was not Belle.
He drew a deep breath and released it. But neither the freshness of the spring air nor the intensity of the sun could chase away the dark shadow of sadness that passed across his heart at the thought.
“Mr. Norman.”
Fritz straightened himself and opened his eyes. “Mrs. Blakesley.” He stood.
“Please call me Grace. I think we will be good enough friends for such familiarity.” Grace Blakesley took a seat on the bench next to where Fritz had been leaning backward and enjoying the sunshine. “My husband does not mind if you call me by my Christian name, do you, Walter?”
Walter Blakesley chuckled as he shook his head. Was there a happier man in all of Bath? Fritz was certain he had not seen one – not even Mr. Clayton and Mr. Shelton, who were each, without a doubt, happily and contentedly married and awaiting the arrival of a child, shone quite like Blakesley did. Joy effused every part of Blakesley’s person.
“You may call my wife whatever she wishes for you to call her.”
“I hate to disappoint your wife, but I may have to insist upon Mrs. Blakesley,” Fritz said. “I assume you will not be discharging me as your physician, Blakesley, will you be?”
Blakesley guffawed. “And give up the best physician in Bath? I think not!”
A rather grumbly part of Fritz’s mind wished that people would stop referring to him as the best physician.
“Then, I assume you will also call on me if Mrs. Blakesley should ever be in need of care?”
“Of course.” The answer was given without a moment’s pause.
“In that case, Mrs. Blakesley, I will have to insist upon calling you Mrs. Blakesley. It would be too improper for us to be on friendlier terms.”
Mrs. Blakesley scowled. “I do not see why it should be considered improper.”
“There are many strictures which might seem ridiculous and yet we must abide by them. I would not wish to be thought of as unprofessional or lacking in decorum in any fashion.”
Mrs. Blakesley’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, yes, right. I completely understand.” She paused to peek at her husband who had finally taken a seat next to her rather than standing and surveying their surroundings.
The man was incurably curious.
“Mrs. Blakesley is a lovely name,” his friend’s wife said happily. “I quite like it.”
“I am glad to hear it,” Blakesley said.
“As am I,” Fritz inserted before the two with him forgot he was there.
