Family (a Pride and Prejudice fanfiction)

All the Single Ladies

The two couples, each hand in hand, left the parlour and went into the dining room, where the table was laid for the wedding breakfast. Kitty, giggling as usual, clung to Georgiana's arm as they, along with the other guests, followed the young married pairs.

"Could you have imagined anything nicer?" Kitty asked. "And to think, three sisters married in such a short period of time. Surely my turn shall come next! Or yours," she added generously, after a pause.

Georgiana could feel herself colour, the heat rising in her cheeks. "You may go first; I cannot say I am in a particular hurry. This has been enough excitement for me for some time yet."

"Rather too much," Caroline Bingley remarked sulkily, although under her breath, a sop to good manners.

"I quite agree." Mary was directly behind the three of them. She went on, unaware that Caroline was rolling her eyes and Kitty was trying to suppress another fit of giggles. "When my turn to marry comes, it shall be much more subdued than this, as befits the solemnity of the state of matrimony."

Georgiana couldn't help but wonder if Mary's turn would ever come. As serious-minded as the other girl was, and as lacking in fortune and grace, there seemed little chance of her finding a suitable match. Perhaps if Elizabeth and Jane were to take her in hand ... but then, if they could have done that, surely they already would have.

"Miss Georgiana, I understand that you are very diligent in your efforts at the piano. During your residence at our home, I would be pleased to play some duets with you, if you like," Mary continued.

"Please, now that we are sisters, call me Georgiana." The more familiar 'Georgie' she intended to reserve for Lizzie's use, and Jane's. "And I would be delighted! I should miss my playing were I to go long without it." She slipped an arm through Mary's. The other girl looked down at their linked arms in surprise and what appeared to be some discomfort, but Georgiana persevered. Since she would be staying with the Bennets for at least a fortnight, perhaps she could use her own influence on Mary. More than likely, it was too late, and the other girl's manner and tastes were set already in their lifetime course, but it couldn't hurt to try. Accordingly, Georgiana contrived to be placed next to Mary for the wedding breakfast. Fitzwilliam looked disappointed that she wasn't sitting closer to him and Lizzie, but his bride, seeming to guess Georgiana's motives, whispered something in his ear, after which he nodded at his sister with a more understanding smile.

"Wasn't it a lovely ceremony?" Georgiana whispered to Mary while everyone was getting settled, for lack of anything more original to proffer as a conversational opening.

"It was certainly quiet and dignified," Mary conceded. "My sisters showed good sense in eschewing the pomp and fuss my mother would have preferred."

Georgiana wasn't sure how to respond, but she didn't want to leave it at that, either. One way or another, she wanted to draw this serious-minded girl out and see what was in the heart beneath the drab gown. "Exactly what I meant," she said at last.

A choked snort came from across the table, where Caroline Bingley sat. Irritating as the other woman's affected mannerisms and open dissatisfaction with today's events were, Georgiana couldn't help but feel sorry for her, to a certain extent. With the double wedding today, both Darcys had been put completely out of her reach, and she had no further chance of becoming mistress of Pemberley, or of seeing her brother heir to any part of the Darcy fortune. But certainly there were other eligible men in England to whom Caroline could turn her attentions, Georgiana presumed, hoping that she would do so quickly and spare them all any further displays of discontent.

She glanced down the table at her brother, smiling more openly than she had ever seen him smile in mixed company such as this one as he leaned toward Lizzie, and felt her sympathy for Caroline Bingley increase a bit. A man of Fitzwilliam's connections, of his stature and composure, of his genuineness ... certainly such a man was not to be had for the asking, and not every day. On the other hand, Caroline had never asked, at least not that Georgiana had noticed. She had presumed upon their acquaintance, had assumed her studied attractions would be sufficient. But she quite evidently knew nothing of Fitzwilliam, or she would have known that he was not a man to be drawn so easily as that. Her pedestrian wiles had been doomed to fail from the start.

Caroline's eyes met Georgiana's, a contemptuous pity in them that said the other woman had not followed any of Georgiana's thought processes, and must instead be seeing herself as safely escaped from the doom of having married a man who could settle for someone as fortuneless and infelicitously connected as Elizabeth Bennet. Georgiana resolved to waste no more sympathy on such a woman.

Turning instead to Mary, she searched for a topic that might allow her to draw Lizzie's sister out of her shell. Mary was bookish, she understood, but Georgiana rather suspected that the type of books she was accustomed to purloining from her governess's stash wasn't quite the same as the books Mary read. "Do you ... enjoy gardening, Mary?" she ventured, thinking it perhaps the most intellectual of her own interests.

Mary seemed startled. "Not particularly. It is difficult to truly study the earth when constantly turning it over and disturbing it."

"What type of study can you make of the earth without disturbing it?" Georgiana asked.

"There is much to be learned from rocks, and the lichen on the trees, although I prefer to bring them inside to be able to give them more minute attention."

"I see. And what do you do with the knowledge you gain?"

Mary looked blank. She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, frowning a little. "I ... suppose I use it to add to what I have already learnt, and to guide my efforts in further study."

"Where do you expect your studies to lead, ultimately?"

"Hm." Mary looked down at her lap. "I had considered the knowledge I gain to be its own reward. As a woman, there are few avenues open to me that would reward my studies in any formal way. But I feel it is my duty to be continually improving my mind, as it is the duty of us all." She turned to Georgiana. "If you would find it useful, I would be pleased to help you map out a course of study for your stay at Longbourn."

Georgiana was a bit taken aback at the suggestion. Given that Mary was only a little older than she was, she was hardly qualified to be offering instruction, and her tone didn't indicate that she meant to study together. "I ... will give it some thought," Georgiana said.

She turned to her other side and engaged Mrs. Gardiner in conversation for the rest of the meal. All too soon, it was over and the carriage was being drawn up, to carry Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy off to Pemberley to begin their married life together. Georgiana blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. She had willingly chosen to stay behind, she reminded herself, so that her brother and his wife could have some time to themselves. She struggled to put on a brave face as she embraced each of them and stood, waving, as the carriage pulled away.

Kitty stood next to her, bouncing up and down. "We shall have such fun!"

"What will we do?"

"Do? Oh, we'll find something, I'm sure," Kitty replied vaguely before moving on to tease her Aunt Phillips to be allowed to come back to Meryton with her.

Georgiana was left alone and unhappy, missing her brother's comforting presence already and wondering how she would manage a whole fortnight constantly surrounded by these strange people. Jane and Charles were still here, to be sure, but they, too, were newlyweds, and would be off to France in two days' time anyway.

Mr. Bennet stepped up next to her. "Don't fret, my dear. You and I must find employment of our own for a time, but find it we shall." He held an arm out to her. "Lizzie told me to take care of you, and I will start by taking you for a walk in the gardens here until I see the tears dried and a smile back on your face."

Georgiana tried to do both in response to his kindness, and Mr. Bennet chuckled.

"It's a good start."