Elizabeth set aside a stack of correspondence on the writing desk that had belonged to Lady Anne and watched in amusement as her strikingly handsome son, so similar in looks and temperament to her beloved husband, continued his rant.

“I simply cannot comprehend him, Mother! I have just utterly humiliated myself out there on Pemberley’s lawn in front of four very genteel and, now, traumatized young ladies; and Father has the audacity to consider my situation to be, for some ungodly reason, absolutely, gutbustingly hilarious. I swear the deranged man is sitting in the study at this very moment actually wiping tears of laughter from his face. Has he gone completely stark raving mad?”

Elizabeth Darcy’s beautiful eyes twinkled; and she tried unsuccessfully to stifle a burgeoning impertinent smile as she replied, “Oh, Bennet dear, your father merely considers your dilemma entertaining because it is a perfect example of his-story repeating itself.”

Finis  

J. Marie Croft



J. Marie Croft, a Nova Scotia resident and avid reader all her life, discovered Jane Austen’s works later than others but made up for lost time by devouring the six novels and as many adaptations and sequels as she could find. In the midst of reading prodigious amounts of Austen-based fan-fiction, she realized, ‘Hey, I can do that’. So now in her spare time (when not working at a music school or on a wooded trail enjoying her geocaching hobby), she listens to the voices in her head and captures their thoughts and words in writing. Her stories are light-hearted; and her motto is Miss Austen’s own quote, ‘Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.’