Anne looked at her aunt. “Did my mother ever love my father?”
Lady Sophia shook her head. “I do not know, my dear. I certainly never saw it. There was an admiration and concern, but nothing of the giving of one’s very soul to the other as I had with my husband.” She sighed. “That is where the issue lay — not with rank or fortune. Do you understand?”
Anne nodded.
“I do,” said Alex stepping around the hedge. “A man or woman who loves another completely would not allow harm to come to the one they love, no matter the source.”
Anne gasped, and her lips trembled as tears sprang to her eyes at the sight of him.
Lady Sophia stood and after a quick word of greeting and a whispered comment to Alex, left the two alone. Alex took the place on the bench which had just been vacated by Anne’s aunt.
Published to YouTube on June 29, 2018, by Home Free.
I have two “walking in” moments for you today to go with this song. The first one, above, comes nearly at the end of the story after it seems all hope of the hero and heroine ever getting together has been lost. The second, in the story excerpt at the end of this post, comes in the second chapter of the story when the hero first meets the heroine. There were many moments of meeting from previous stories that I could have shared. It was difficult to pick just one.
Now, before I get to sharing that second moment of meeting, I have some rather exciting story news for you.
First, I finished the first draft of my second short story. This one is an alternate first meeting between Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon that has Marianne being rather smitten from the beginning. It is called Morning Mist, and I hope to have it ready to release with a couple of other stories in December. I just need to write a couple more before then. 😀
Second, Assessing Mr. Darcy will be on preorder before the day is out. It’s expected release date is October 25, 2018. The story will finish posting on Patreon this week, and I hope to start posting it on darcyandlizzy.com. I have just gotten my final edits back, and as soon as I have those taken care of, I will be sending out an email to my mailing list with a limited number of advance reader copies. Things were slowed down just a little as I was sick this past week and organizing a preorder and all those sorts of activities were not as easy as just sitting still and playing with my imaginary friends (aka writing). That’s why the short story is done already. 🙂 It also means I was able to make progress with Mary Crawford’s story. So, while some parts of being ill were not great (the watery eyes, runny nose, coughing, fever, and so on), others were rather pleasant as I am really enjoying getting into Mary’s story and telling Marianne’s story was a real treat.
I think that is all the news I have for you today, which means now it is time to meet the hero of Mary’s story and allow him to meet her in…
Published to YouTube by Home Free on October 28, 2016
I do not have a story excerpt today as I am trying to do a bit of relaxing on this holiday weekend (I am writing this on Saturday 🙂 ). But, I will have one for you next week. I was able to get Assessing Mr. Darcy sent off to my editorial team, and I have been working on Mary: To Protect Her Heart some this past week, which means I’ll be far enough along in that story to start sharing bits and pieces by next Monday. Wednesday’s and Thursday’s posts will run as normal. (The final trouble in Delighting Mrs. Bennet starts this week and will continue for many weeks 😉 ). It is just today’s post that will be different.
As I pause today to thank God for all that He has blessed me with, I will be thinking of you — my readers. Thank you for reading my blog posts and my books. Thank you for sharing about my work with your friends (as I know some have said they do). And thank you for the comments you leave here and on Facebook. I appreciate your support and have enjoyed getting to know you in little pieces along the way.
Joseph-Noël Sylvestre [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
~*~*~
“I cannot consider such things until I am no longer married to my commission, and things are so uncertain…” his voice trailed off as if he were thinking about some lady and how such uncertainty would affect her.
“She is young.”
Richard’s head snapped up from his contemplation of the glass in his hand.
“Miss Lydia.” Darcy waited for Richard to say something, but he did not, which spoke far more loudly than any protest would have about where Richard’s thoughts and heart lay.
Wickham wanted to run after her, to make her understand how much he had changed and how much she now meant to him, but he could not. His feet were rooted to the ground, and he could not seem to draw a full breath. He stood watching her, his heart aching a bit more with each step she took.
“Papa?” A small hand grasped his.
His knees buckled and he sank to the ground.
“Papa?” Louisa grabbed his face and looked at him.
He saw the fear in her eyes and smiled at her. “I am well. I just need a rest.”
She scrunched up her face and looked at him carefully. “You are not well. Mama is not well. And I am going to get help.” Before he could stop her, she had spun on her heels and was running.
“Louisa, come back,” he called as he pulled himself to his feet and soon overtook her. He snatched her up, crushing her to him. “Where are you going?”
“To get Aunt Kitty. She can make Mama feel better, and if Mama feels better, then you will feel better.” She thumped him on the chest. “You should have told her you loved her.” She thumped him again. “You should have told her. Why did you not tell her?”
“She would not have believed me,” he said softly as he stroked her hair.
“You still should have told her.” Her little body trembled as she gulped air between sobs.
Published to YouTube by txaggie321 on May 17, 2007
Ah, now, that’s a rather melancholy song and excerpt to start our week, isn’t it? 🙂 But I had a good reason (in my opinion) for selecting both. Let me explain…
On Thursday night, I finished the first draft of Assessing Mr. Darcy! Woohoo! I’m happy to be beginning the polishing process later today.
As I was writing this past week, I found myself needing to have a box of tissues handy, and as I was reaching for a tissue during one of those touching scenes, I thought to myself: “I don’t know if I have needed the tissue box handy so much while writing a story since I wrote Through Every Storm.” Whether that is true or not, I have no way of proving. I get teary eyed often when writing. But, that is the reason I had to chose an excerpt from Through Every Storm for today’s post.
As far as the song choice goes…well, there are a couple of things in Assessing Mr. Darcy that require apologies to be given. The excerpt I will share below refers to one of those things.
Now, you should know that this might be the last excerpt I will share from that story since it is done. Hopefully, I will have something to share from a different story next Monday.
In other story news, I wrote on Mary Crawford’s story, as well as adding a few hundred words to my dictated short story. It was a very productive week which ended with a lovely visit from my in-laws on the weekend.
And I think that’s all the news there is to share about my current works in progress. I hope you have a wonderful first week of October, but before you go here’s…
AN EXCERPT FROM Assessing Mr. Darcy:
Darcy descended the grand staircase at Netherfield slowly, one painful step at a time. His ankle was improving but placing weight on it was still difficult. Limping around a room with quick steps on a sore ankle was not so bad as attempting to walk down a flight of stairs.
“Are you going somewhere?” Bingley, still dressed in his riding clothes, leaned against the wall at the bottom of the stairs.
How Darcy wished he could have gone for a ride this morning. He was so dreadfully tired of being confined to the house. He had had his fill of his room. However, to venture out of it meant being tended to by Louisa and Caroline, and Caroline seemed just as determined as ever to attempt to sway his mind in her direction.
“Home,” Darcy replied.
“To town or Pemberley?”
“Town. I should l like to see my sister.”
Bingley nodded. “Will you, at least, have tea with me before you leave?”
“Not unless you wish it.” The man had not visited him in two days, and it was obvious from his expression that he was still not happy with Darcy. There was no way Darcy was going to impose on his friend if he was not welcomed to do so.
“I do,” Bingley replied, a small smile tipping his lips, giving away the fact that he was not as put out with Darcy as he pretended. “I do not wish for you to leave.”
Darcy blew out a breath as he completed his journey to the bottom of the staircase and lowered himself onto the second step to rest his ankle before he proceeded any further.
“It still hurts?” Bingley nodded to Darcy’s foot.
Darcy nodded. “It is not as strong as I would like it to be. I think it best to have my physician look at it when I am in town. Now that swelling has receded somewhat, he may see something that was missed before.”
“You are determined to leave then?”
Again, Darcy nodded. “My remaining will only hinder any chance you have of securing Miss Bennet.” He looked up at Bingley. “I did not do you harm intentionally, and I apologize for my temper.”
Bingley extended a hand to Darcy. “Come. Have tea with me. I would like to speak with you.”
Darcy looked at Bingley warily. “You would?” He allowed Bingley to help him rise from where he was seated.
“I would.” He took Darcy by the arm. “Lean on me if you need to.”
“Thank you,” Darcy replied and did just that. He leaned his weight partially on his friend as they moved down the hall to a small withdrawing room behind the larger sitting room.
“Caroline does not like this room,” Bingley whispered. “So, I have made it my own. It has only one smallish window and is therefore too dark for her liking. I do not mind the lack of sunshine so very much. I was about to eat some breakfast in here where it is free of female complaints when I was informed that your coach was being readied for travel.” He locked the door behind him. “I want to make certain my sister does not interrupt me for I would like to eat in peace,” he explained.
Bingley seated himself at a small round table that stood with four chairs near the window at the far end of the narrow room. There was a grouping of three cushioned chairs near the hearth and a ladder-backed chair near the door next to a cabinet which held a decanter and glasses. On the wall across from the hearth was a low bookcase with glass doors. Those pieces of furniture and a few paintings were the extents of the décor in the room. It was a very pleasant room. With the lamp lit, this would be an excellent place to while away some hours with a book.
Darcy carefully took his place at the table. He was slowly learning how to sit down gracefully without causing his ankle too much discomfort. He was still a bit awkward, but not as awkward as he had been just yesterday morning.
“I saw Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth while I was riding today,” Bingley began as he poured tea for himself and Darcy.
“You did?” Darcy asked in surprise.
The left side of Bingley’s lips tipped up and his brows flicked upward and back down quickly. “I did. They were waiting for me.”
Darcy added sugar to his cup. “It was not an accidental meeting?”
Bingley shook his head. “No, Miss Elizabeth wished to speak to me and arranged it so that she could. I am not entirely certain how she knew I would be riding where I was, but she and her sister were waiting and called to me to join them.”
“Her brother must not know of this meeting,” Darcy grumbled.
“You are correct. He does not.” Bingley took a bite of his scone, following it with a bit of tea. “She asked about you.”
“Who asked about me?”
“Miss Elizabeth.”
Darcy could not help the small smile that crept onto his lips. Whether or not he had a hope of ever discovering if they would suit, he still found the information that she had inquired after him to be pleasing.
“She wanted to know if you are well enough for callers.”
Darcy held his cup suspended in the air almost to his lips. “Is she thinking of calling on me?” What sort of lady called on a gentleman? It was supposed to be the other way around.
