Page 4 of A Most Beloved Sister
“Are you okay, Charlie?”
Charles’s head snapped up, and he frantically wiped at his eyes, not wanting whoever it was to see that he had been crying.
To his relief, he looked into the round face and wide-set eyes of Maggie, the sixteen-year-old daughter of his father’s chief foreman. “Hello, Maggie.”
“Why were you crying, Charlie?” she asked.
Knowing that her simple mind wouldn’t fully understand his tumultuous feelings, he said simply, “I wanted to give someone flowers, but no one wants them.”
“Flowers?” she asked eagerly, a large grin crossing her face.
He nodded. Then, for the fourth time, he held out the bouquet he had picked. By this time, they were wilting, and most of the petals had fallen off.
“Here, you can have them.”
“I can?”
Maggie looked at him, her face beaming with delight. She reached out and gently took the battered stems. After lifting them to her nose, she inhaled deeply. “Oh, Charlie,” she sighed in awe and wonder, “these are the most beautiful things anyone has ever given me.”
“Truly?” he asked, the disbelief in his voice so plain that even Maggie could hear it.
She nodded furtively. “Oh, yes! I haven’t seen wildflowers in ages, and no one has ever given any to me, not even after an assembly!”
He gasped softly at this. “Well, that’s just plain rude of them! If I were to go to an assembly and dance with you, I’d send you flowers the next day. Prettier even than these ones!”
She laughed and again put the bouquet to her nose. “I think you’re the sweetest boy I’ve ever met, Charlie.”
Charles felt himself turn pink at this bit of praise, and she laughed again. She leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the mouth. “I like you, Charlie Bingley. You’re the best boy in the world.”
Maggie then skipped away, singing off-tune as she went. Charles just stared after her, his lips still tingling from where she had given him his first kiss.
Maggie wasn’t all the way right in the head; at least, that’s what his parents always said with a sigh whenever her name came up. But at that moment, he didn’t care. The pure joy she’d shown at his small gift caused him to feel a depth of happiness that he’d never experienced, and he knew he never wanted the feeling to end.
“I’m going to marry her someday,” he whispered.
Chapter 1
Meryton 1811
With concern, Elizabeth Bennet looked around the room of the assembly hall at Meryton. The door had just admitted a very late party—the new tenant of Netherfield, Mr. Bingley, and his companions—and Jane was nowhere to be seen. Not knowing the character of the newcomers meant the younger sister was on her guard.
Finally spotting her elder sister near their mother, Elizabeth gave a sigh of relief and made her way over to the two ladies.
“Lizzy!” hissed Mrs. Bennet loudly. “Have you ever seen such fine-looking gentlemen? And the lace on the ladies’ dresses!”
The matron’s voice faded to the background as Elizabeth attentively watched Sir William Lucas circulate the room with the newcomers and make introductions. When the master of ceremonies finally reached the Bennets, they encountered Mrs. Bennet and all five of her daughters.
Elizabeth almost let out a groan of dismay when she saw Mr. Bingley’s eyes widen in delight upon seeing Jane’s face. Like so many men before, Bingley was instantly captivated by the eldest Bennet daughter’s unique appearance. Her large, upturned eyes,delicate ears, and elegant—though short—neck all combined to make Jane into an uncommonly beautiful woman.
The lovestruck man beamed at Jane, who smiled sweetly in reply. When he asked her to dance, her grin widened, and the two made their way to the dance floor. His two sisters exchanged a dismayed look and retreated to a corner, where they began a hushed conversation punctuated frequently by sneers directed towards the assembly at large.
Mrs. Bennet turned her attention to Bingley’s friend—a Mr. Darcy, if Elizabeth remembered correctly—but the man only gave a short bow before walking away without a word.
“Well! Have you ever met such a disagreeable man?” cried Mrs. Bennet.
Elizabeth paid no heed to her mother; instead, she watched apprehensively as Darcy stalked around the room, staring intently at Jane. When one of the Lucas boys came to ask for a dance, she politely declined, thus forfeiting any further dances for the evening.
After the dance ended, Bingley escorted Jane back to her mother before going to his friend. Elizabeth, conscious of her role as Jane’s protector, moved surreptitiously closer to the pair of gentlemen.
