Music Monday: Anne Elliot & Capt. Wentworth – Only Time

A pained expression created a great furrow between Grace’s eyes. “Then, how is one ever to know if one is in love enough to marry?”

“That is an excellent question,” Roger replied, turning to Walter. “Do you have an explanation? You always had some reply when we pondered such impossible things in school.”

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen Book 3]

Published to YouTube by TheAlena31 on February 7, 2011.

Today marks the beginning of my husband’s vacation time, which means a reduced number of work hours for both him and me. There will be a full week of blog posts this week, but next week the blog will be rather bare with only a Monday post.

The song title for the video today, I think, goes well with both tomorrow’s chapter of Grace’s story and the excerpt from a previously published, currently being updated book at the end of this post because only time will tell how each of these situations is going to work out. (They will work out. That’s not the question really. It’s more how will they work out.)

There is not a whole lot of news to share this week. I am still plugging away at my various projects: 

Kindle Unlimited:

I’ve finished about half of the reread of At All Costs and hope to have that completed and uploaded by the end of the week. So Very Unexpected has already been updated on all the vendors. After At All Costs is updated, I will be working on the update of the Series Bundle of books 1-4. I will likely start removing these books from all vendors except Amazon toward the middle of next week so that I can enroll them in Kindle Unlimited before the end of the month.

Remember that A Dash of Darcy and Companions Cottage Collection 1 will leave the KU program on August 29, 2019, which is less than 3 weeks from now. So, download it now while you can. You can read it later once the fall school year routine falls into place better. You can find Kindle store links to this collection, as well as the individual titles, on the Books Currently in Kindle Unlimited page here on the blog.

Works in Progress

This past week, I wrote one new chapter for each of my current works in progress: Her Secret Beau, Persuading Miss Mary, and Addie: To Wager on Her Future.

There are two pictures to go with this week’s chapter of Mary’s story, so you’ll want to check that out on Wednesday.

Addie’s story is posting on Patreon each Friday, even during my vacation period, so that will be my writing time focus this week before anything else.

And I think that’s it.

And now for an excerpt from the part of At All Costs, which is the book I was re-reading last week.

“It looks like your walk has improved your countenance.” Richard sat near the entrance to the garden. He motioned for Bingley to sit. “I think we should end our campaign.”

Bingley smiled. “I would agree. I find that I do not like being a dress.”

Richard laughed heartily at the comment. “I find I do not like your being a dress either.”

“So you have come to realize that I was right about your feelings for Miss Dobney?” Bingley could not help his smirk.

“I have come to the conclusion that it is not entirely impossible that I was feeling jealous. I will admit to nothing further.”

Bingley shrugged. He understood the reticence of speaking of feelings. It was not an entirely comfortable thing to do, even for someone like himself who was not so squeamish about such things as other gentlemen, such as Richard, were.

“I am going to speak to Miss Bennet as soon as I find an opportunity to do so.”

Richard cocked his head to the side. “Forming your line and marching into battle rather than scouting about the edges?”

Bingley nodded. “Something of that nature.”

“It is probably best.” Richard rose from his seat. “Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth are expected in about an hour, according to Darcy.”

“Harris is to leave with you when you leave Derbyshire, is he not?” Bingley cut a sidelong glance at Richard, who nodded, as they walked. Harris was an ever-present annoyance that Bingley would gladly see gone. “Is it not possible to send him back to Brighton early?”

Richard laughed. “I have no reason to do so.”

Bingley sighed. “That is unfortunate.”

And it was unfortunate indeed, for that very gentleman happened to be the one that brought Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth to Pemberley. It was also Harris who took Jane’s arm as they strolled around the garden, and it was Harris who claimed the seat next to Jane when they all finally paused for a rest. And it was also Harris who was now monopolizing the conversation.

“It is a lovely day, is it not?” Harris asked as they sat in the shadow cast by Pemberley across the side garden at this time of day.

It was the consensus that it was indeed a fine day — for the weather was pleasant. However, for two of the party, the day was not so fine as it could have been. Bingley was in general annoyed by the presence of Harris and, in specific, irked by Harris’s attentions to Jane.

That lady was also not best pleased by the presence of Captain Harris. For, upon their return to Willow Hall yesterday, Jane had confessed to Elizabeth that she could no longer bear the guilt of playing one gentleman against the other. The techniques that Lydia had mentioned seemed to work as Mr. Bingley did look put out, but she feared Captain Harris was beginning to think there was a greater attachment on her part than there was. And so, she sat now wishing to dissuade that particular gentleman while longing to know if she had any hope with Mr. Bingley. The frustration of the situation was enough to cause her smile to fade and to keep her rather silent.

This change in Jane’s usually cheerful countenance did not go unnoticed by Mr. Bingley. What could the cause of her silence and sad expression was, he did not know, but seeing her so saddened his heart and made him long for a great wind to sweep away all the others so that he might speak to her in private.

“The summers here are rather pleasant,” Harris was saying, “but there is nothing like a sea breeze on a warm day. When I was a child, my father would often take us to the sea for the summer. Ramsgate was his favoured spot. You have been there, have you not, Mr. Darcy?”

“Yes, we had a small cottage there, but it is gone now.” Darcy’s tone was one that spoke of not wishing to discuss the matter further. Harris, however, seemed not to notice.

But then, thought Bingley with a small sigh, nothing appeared to gain Harris’s attention except himself and, to a lesser degree, the lady seated beside him.

“Gone?” Harris said in surprise. “I should not like to give up such a piece of paradise.” He added with a grin, “Mother continually asks Father to purchase a place there. However, Father sees it as an unnecessary expense since it is easy enough to rent a place, but, to me, having a place in Ramsgate to be used at your convenience and leased when you are not in residence seems the best of all things — pleasure and income. Father does not agree, nor does he like to travel so much as I do. He is content to be contained within Derbyshire except for the occasional foray into town or to indulge mother with a time beside the sea.” He turned to Jane. “What of you, Miss Bennet? Do you enjoy the sea?”

“I do not know,” said Jane. “I have never been there.”

“But your sister has been to Brighton.”

“Yes, Lydia has been to Brighton, but she is the only one of us who has. And, had it not been for her particular friend inviting her to visit, she would not have seen the sea either. We are not great travellers. Our father prefers to stay at home.” Jane saw Elizabeth’s brows rise, but Jane did not care if her tone was not so pleasant as it normally was. She wished for Captain Harris to both stop speaking and leave her side for just a moment.

“This is what assumption does,” said Harris, clearly unaffected by Jane’s less than sweet response. “We tend to see the world and everyone in it as our experiences teach us, but we must not assume that all have had the same experiences.”

“No,” said Jane, “we should not.”

“Your father was in trade,” said Harris, turning to Bingley. “He had ships, did he not?”

“He did.”

“So you have been to the sea?”

“I have.” Apparently, Harris was desperate to have someone agree with him on the superiority of a summer beside the sea to one in Derbyshire. He would not find such a person in Bingley, even if Bingley did prefer the sea — which he did not.

“And what was your opinion of it?” Harris leaned forward in his chair as if eager to hear what tales Bingley would have to share.

“It is vast and full of water.”

Harris blinked. “Is that all? Were you not captivated by its beauty? Did you not like to listen to the calls of the gulls?”

“The gulls will steal your lunch, and the beauty of the sea can turn in an instant to a fearsome monster that snatches life. While I do have some fond memories of the sea, Captain Harris, the most enduring is far from fond, for, you see, my father perished in a storm in the Irish Sea.”

“Oh,” Jane’s hand rested on her heart. “That is very sad indeed.”

Bingley gave her a grateful smile. “To be fair, the sea has carried great wealth to our family, for which I am thankful, but it has also carried away that which was most dear. So, I cannot look upon the sea with the same tranquility that another might. If you will excuse me.” He rose and walked away from the group. His father had been gone for three years, and yet the pain of his sudden departure had not dulled enough for Bingley to speak of it with great equanimity.

Jane watched Mr. Bingley go and yearned to follow after him, to lend him an arm for comfort and her presence to fill the void he must feel. Colonel Fitzwilliam was sharing some tale of having been aboard a ship when the wind had come up and waves had tipped the vessel this way and that, but Jane was not listening. Her eyes were still with Mr. Bingley, who was being called to by a footman and hurrying away.

“Are you well?” Elizabeth whispered to Jane. “You are so somber.”

“My head is beginning to hurt,” Jane replied. It was not a lie, her head was hurting just a bit, but it was her heart which hurt more.

Elizabeth whispered something to Darcy and soon, when Richard had completed his tale and before Captain Harris could begin another topic of conversation, Darcy asked if Georgiana would like to show Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth her new piece of music. “Perhaps after a while, you might even play it for us all?” He smiled at her and winked.

Her eyes darted from him to Jane and then back again. “I am uncertain how long it might take for me to be ready to perform.”

“Take whatever time you need,” he said with a meaningful look. “Gentlemen, if you will excuse me, I would like to escort my sister into the house and speak with my housekeeper about some refreshments for when Georgiana plays for us.” With that, he stood, and, offering his hand to his sister, escorted her into the house, followed by Elizabeth and Jane.