Part 1

Wails and lamentations, originating from the sitting room where the two youngest Bennet daughters and their mother were to be found, penetrated into every room at Longbourn, even through the closed door of Mr. Bennet's bookroom. The reason for this noise was very simple—the ladies had heard that the militia regiment that had been encamped in their winter quarters near Meryton was about to be transferred to their summer quarters near Brighton. In spite of the vociferous pleas and entreaties from these three ladies, Mr. Bennet would not consider taking the family to Brighton for the summer. Both Kitty and Lydia had greatly enjoyed flirting with the red-coated soldiers all winter, while their mother had hoped that at least one of her daughters would have captured an officer for a husband before they left the area.

Lydia's gloom was soon dispelled when she received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the young wife of the regiment's Colonel, to come to Brighton as her particular friend. While Lydia and her mother were enraptured by this invitation, the news was not received well by either Elizabeth or Kitty. Kitty was disappointed not to have been invited as well, arguing that she should have been as she was two years older than Lydia. The fact that she had never been as friendly with Mrs. Forster as Lydia did not seem to register in her mind. Elizabeth, knowing how dangerous Wickham's predilections towards young girls were, worried that Mrs. Forster was simply too young to act as a proper chaperone for her youngest sister. She knew that if Lydia was allowed to act in her normal unseemly manner in Brighton, her uncontrolled behaviour may become so outrageous that it could lead to a scandal that would have very serious consequences on the whole Bennet family. At worst, they could all be disgraced and shunned by their neighbours, which would result in their chances of marrying decent gentlemen to be virtually nil.

Elizabeth was worried that her father would be tempted to allow Lydia to accept this invitation as it would be the easiest course for him to follow to achieve his primary desire in life, which was for peace and quiet in the house so he could enjoy his favourite pastime, which was reading. Elizabeth argued that Lydia's lack of common sense, her tendency to act in an unrestrained manner, especially with red-coated officers, and the unsuitability of Mrs. Forster to serve as her chaperone, were all valid reasons why he should not let her go to Brighton. However, she was not able to tell him the details of Wickham's attempt to elope with Mr. Darcy's sister, who was about the same age as Lydia, as that tale had been told to her in confidence. Thus, her father discounted her warnings as being too general and apparently unsupported by specific details of Wickham's depravities.

While her father appeared to listen to his favourite daughter attentively, he said, "Lydia will never be easy until she has exposed herself in some public place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances." With these words, Elizabeth realized that her father was going to agree to Lydia's request as it was easier to let her go than to refuse her and suffer from the inevitable lamentations that would result from both Lydia and his wife. Elizabeth continued to plead with him until he finally gave her a small concession.

"Lizzy, I can see that you are very determined in your arguments. As I respect your intelligence and opinion, I have to listen to your arguments. I will concede that what you are saying does bear considering. Lydia is certainly one of the silliest girls in all of England and if she acts in any way that would disgrace herself, her actions could reflect on all her sisters, including you. Would it satisfy you if I asked Colonel Forster to keep a close watch on Lydia? I will tell him that if he is concerned that she is behaving in an unrestrained manner, he should immediately contact me and I will personally go to Brighton to bring her home."

Elizabeth knew that this was all the concession that she would receive from her father, so she reluctantly agreed. She still worried that even if her father went to Brighton to bring Lydia home, it would only be after she had acted outrageously. That could be too late to prevent all of the Bennets from being humiliated if word of her behaviour became known; however, she could only hope for the best.

Her worries about her youngest sister did not lessen her happiness for her older sister when, several weeks after Lydia had gone to Brighton, they heard that Netherfield was to be reopened as Mr. Bingley was returning to Hertfordshire. When their mother heard this news, she immediately said, "Jane! I knew that your beauty would save us all! I knew that Mr. Bingley could not have forgotten you so easily. Come upstairs. We have to look through your wardrobe to see what gown you should wear when he comes. I will get Mr. Bennet to go visit him to ensure that he comes for that family dinner that he promised to take with us before he left."

Her entreaties to her husband to go to Netherfield to welcome Mr. Bingley were in vain. Her husband continued with his favourite sport, which was to tease her. "Why should I go again? You promised that he would choose one of our daughters to be his wife when he first came, but that all came to naught. Why should I go again on a fool's errand?"

His resistance to his wife's pleas was all for nothing as Mr. Bingley appeared at Longbourn the very next morning after his return. While he appeared to greet each member of the family individually, his eyes were only directed at Jane. Both Bingley and Jane blushed charmingly. Elizabeth smiled at them, expecting that their feelings for each other had remained just as strong as they had ever been, even after the passage of so many months apart. Remembering Lizzy's exhortations, over the next few days Jane tried to show her regard for him more than she had when he had been here in the autumn. She smiled more warmly at him, looked him in the eye more than she had, and even tried to be so forward as to press herself closer to him whenever she took his arm. While she found this last behaviour to be very difficult for her to do the first couple of times, she soon found that their physical closeness resulted in unusual feelings that she had never experienced before. She liked to feel the warmth of his arm against her. Mr. Bingley's obvious enjoyment of her smiles and her pressing herself against him showed her that her efforts were not in vain. He offered her his arm much more than he had before so he could enjoy her charms.

In Jane's mind, she kept hearing the urgings of both Elizabeth and Charlotte to 'show him your regard' and 'not to be reticent in her appreciation of him.' Thus, just two weeks after he had returned, when they were walking in Longbourn's gardens, they sat closely together on a secluded bench. She leaned against him and smiled up at him, looking directly into his eyes. What red-blooded male could resist such an appeal from a beautiful woman? Not even a man as shy as Mr. Bingley; he accepted her unspoken invitation and kissed her, very gently at first. When Jane leaned into the kiss, he dared even more and put his arms around her to pull her close to him while kissing her more passionately.

When their lips parted, she sighed, "Oh, Charles! I have wanted you to do that for so long. That was my very first kiss, but I hope not the last." She then whispered very quietly, "Charles, my love."

That was all it took for him to kiss her again, even more ardently. The kiss and the feel of her pressing against his chest nearly undid him. He was so tempted to run his hands all over her, to savour her very appealing attributes, to extend the delicious feelings flowing from his lips and chest to his hands to feel even more of her. The fact that she was not at all resisting him, but even seemed to be encouraging him, was nearly too much for him. Somewhere, deep inside him, he knew that he had to stop while he still could. He parted his lips from her and murmured. "Jane! Loveliest Jane. I love you. I have loved you for a long time. I should never have left you. Will you be my wife?"

Jane felt the tears flowing as she said, "Yes! Yes! I want to be your wife more than anything else in the world. Oh Charles!"

Bingley had to show his great appreciation of this answer, which he did as only lovers can. When he finally managed to separate from her, he said, "I will go to talk to your father right away. You are of age, so I will ask only for his blessing." They rose so they could go in to the house, where he found Mr. Bennet in his library. "Good afternoon, Mr. Bennet."

"Good afternoon to you, Bingley. What can I do for you this fine day?"

"I have asked for your daughter's hand in marriage and she has agreed. I have come to ask for your blessing."

Mr. Bennet could not resist teasing this pleasant gentleman, even though he knew exactly whom he had asked to marry. "I have five daughters. Which one would you like to have?"

Mr. Bennet continued to tease Bingley, but eventually gave his blessing to this union when he saw how flustered he was making poor Bingley. They then went to find the rest of the family to spread the good news. Their announcement was greeted most vociferously by Mrs. Bennet, who had intended Mr. Bingley for her oldest daughter even before he had arrived at Netherfield the previous fall. The other three Bennet sisters who were still at Longbourn hugged Jane and congratulated her. The only sister who felt a bit of regret at Jane's announcement was Kitty, as she knew that Lydia would not be pleased as she had wanted to be the first sister married.

Both Bingley and Jane agreed that they did not want a long engagement, which did not sit well with Mrs. Bennet who argued that she needed more time to organize their wedding, which she said would be the social event of the year in all of Meryton. They finally settled on a date in early July, with both betrothed parties saying they would not wait for as long as Mrs. Bennet had requested.

When Mr. Bingley and Jane were drawing up their guest list, Elizabeth looked for Mr. Darcy's name, but she did not see it. When she had a chance, she asked Jane about this omission. "Lizzy, I also noticed that his name was not listed and I asked Charles about it. He said that when Mr. Darcy returned from Kent after Easter, he went to tell him that he had been wrong about the strength of my feelings for him. Apparently, they then had a big argument. Charles said he was very upset with his friend and accused him of interfering with his happiness. Charles is still angry at him and has not contacted him since that confrontation. He said that he no longer considered Mr. Darcy to be his friend and will not have him at his wedding. I was surprised at his anger as he is usually so friendly and easygoing with everyone. I believe that they will eventually reconnect and become friends again, but I cannot say when that will happen. If Mr. Darcy is as stubborn and proud as you say, I know that Charles will have to be the one to make the first approach if there is to be a reconciliation between them."

Elizabeth was astonished at Mr. Bingley's anger as it was completely opposite to his normal character; he had always been so even-tempered with everyone that he met. She regretted this severing of their friendship as she had hoped she would see Mr. Darcy at the wedding, if only to be able to determine how he would react to her after their acrimonious parting at Hunsford. After reading and rereading the letter that he had given her when she last saw him, she began to realize that the actions of which she had accused him in her rejection of his proposal were not all based on accurate facts. She now knew that she should not have trusted Mr. Wickham's words. That she had misread the characters of both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham bothered her as she had always prided herself on her ability to ascertain a person's qualities accurately. This caused her to wonder what other errors she might have made about other people.

Jane's wedding was a spectacular affair; a great credit to her mother's planning. Everyone who attended either the ceremony or the wedding breakfast had nothing but praise for her efforts. Many people were surprised that Lydia did not return home from Brighton for her sister's wedding. She had been invited and encouraged to come home for it, but she said that she was having much too much fun in Brighton to disrupt her enjoyment of all the entertainments and officers she had met there. What fun could be had in Meryton if there were no red-coated officers there? As their mother sympathized with Lydia's arguments not to leave Brighton, she accepted her decision not to come to the wedding.

Aunt and Uncle Gardiner and their four children came from London and the children were almost overwhelmed with all the activities taking place in and around Longbourn. The timing of Jane's wedding almost disrupted the Gardiners' plan to take a leisurely tour of the North Country. They had planned to leave their children at Longbourn in Jane's care and take Elizabeth with them on their tour. While Elizabeth said that she was willing to forego the pleasures of this trip to replace Jane as the children's principal caregiver, Kitty and Mary surprised her by volunteering to take responsibility to look after the children. This plan was just barely acceptable to the Gardiners as they did not have as much confidence in these sisters as they did with the oldest two, but they eventually concluded that the two of them could be trusted, in addition to the children's nurse, to look after the children. They did not consider that Mrs. Bennet's assistance would be of much help and might even have a harmful effect on their children as they knew that her delicate nerves may not be able to tolerate the additional noise that their four young children could make.