Second Chances

By Sandy Grissom

Second Chances is the third and final book in my Pride and Prejudice spin off series. Book one was The Other Bennet sisters and tells how Kitty and Mary Bennet find love. Book two takes Mrs. Withers (Lydia Bennet) to a much better life than she had with the horrible Mr. Wickham. Book three Second Chances tells the story of Lady Anne de Bourgh who needs to find love after Mr. Darcy prefers to marry Elizabeth Bennet Included are two other ladies who need love including Charlotte Lucas who at the end of P&P is stuck with Mr. Collins, a cousin of the Bennet's and clergyman to Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Look for a surprise at the end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandy Grissom
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005452032

Sandy Grissom

Sandy Grissom has loved books all her life. That love began by listening to her older sister read when she was still too young to discover the magic for herself. She's read everything from history to the phone book but her favorite authors are James Michener, Agatha Christie and the mystic William Blake. Over the years, romantic novels became a favorite. The top of that list is Pride and Prejudice. When she retired she had too much time on her hands and spent too much money and trips to the library to get books in order to satisfy her restless soul. It was then she began to write herself. As an adult she held a variety of jobs, all of them grist for her imaginative mind. The occupations in Choppy Waters will hopefully inspire someone to fight for their own dreams, to never give up on themselves or on love. A widow, Sandy recently moved to southern Indiana where she lives near the younger of her two beloved sisters.

Book preview

SECOND CHANCES

By

Sandy Grissom

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Smashwords Edition Copyright 2021 by S.K.G. Haag

Cover image by Greg Montani via pixabay.com

Cover Design: yourebookcover.com

Chapter One

The Countess of Matlock sat uneasy over her morning tea as she tried to find a solution to her oldest son’s most prevalent concern. The Lady was quite youthful for her fifty years but then she’d been in love with her husband nearly all her life. True, uncompromising love, she felt, kept a person young. The Earl was a youthful man as well. He was in excellent health and rode every day, unless duties kept him from it.

Robert was her firstborn son and named after his father. He would be the next Earl of Matlock after her husband passed on. Hopefully that would not be for some time. He would be ready for the responsibility. He had been training for the position all his life. His lessons, as with those with her other children, taught them their lives held responsibility. At the same time they were imbued with the reality that they must not just show but truly feel a caring concern for those they were responsible for.

Authority without the accompanying caring was a vain way of living and of no use to anyone. Her husband and son were responsible for a great many people. Those employed on the estate naturally but also many in the nearby town of Matlock. Other nearby villages also depended on the success of the Burlington Park estate.

Julie, Robert’s wife, was bedridden and had been these past five weeks and would be for a few more, possibly several months. It was Julie that lay heavily on her son’s heart as well as on hers. Robert’s work kept him busy much of every day. He worked closely with his father. Yet his love for his wife, especially in her present condition, drew his mind away from his duties. The countess knew as important as the estate was to Robert, his wife was his first priority, as it should be.

He had fallen quickly and irrevocably for the dark haired beauty the moment they met. Happily, she turned out to be as lovely on the inside as she was on the outside. Julie was at present with child. She took a bit of a tumble a few steps from the bottom of the wide staircase. Her physician advised she be kept abed and quiet so that she not risk losing the child. To that end, two different women had been brought in to be nanny to the couple’s three year old twin boys and more of a governess to their six year old daughter. Neither had proved suitable to the task.

The countess needed to do something about the situation quite soon. It was not possible for the maids to care for the children the way they needed to be cared for. They tried but the children required attention all day long. The maids, though the estate employed a great many of them, could not spend that much time with them. They had their own work. When they were with the children they had to forgo their usual duties. That was unacceptable and truth to tell they were not trained suitably for childcare. The situation was unsettling for the children and could not continue.

Julie also worried about finding a reliable person to supervise them. Marion didn’t want her lying in bed worrying. She needed to take care of herself and the health of the unborn child. That meant that despite the countess’ busy schedule, finding a caregiver for the children was worthy of her time and attention. Even so it seemed she could not keep her mind on the problem. For some reason, it just kept slipping away to other members of the family.

She thought it fascinating how as one aged, events of earlier people and their lives came into one’s mind. The countess supposed it was due to a generational way of thinking. As she considered her grandchildren and their lives, the ones who would carry on after them, generations she might not be alive to know, she naturally recalled the ones that passed before, those she had known and loved.

Her mind was drawn to her father-in-law, the previous Earl of Matlock. She thought about his marriage and the way it came about, for it was arranged by his parents. He and his betrothed were engaged for a year but met only a month before the ceremony. The couple came to love one another dearly in the years that followed but only after many struggles to understand one another. Even late in life, the earl made his way to his lady’s bedchamber several times a week. Because of the struggle of her early marriage, the lady always hoped her children would find an easier path to love. She wished they would fall in love first, not have to fight to attain that state after the marriage was fait accompli.

Marion and the present earl were the current generation. She had come to a reflective time in her life not dissimilar to one her mother-in-law once employed. The two women often spoke similar thoughts about love and marriage. She supposed that caused her mind to flow naturally to her late in-laws. It amused her to recall how her own marriage came about. It was only after her wedding to Robert that the older lady admitted that she knew about them all along. Marion and Robert were sure they had fooled everyone but it seemed it was not so. A vigilant mother had known.

Marion met Robert when her sister, Naomi, was invited to visit Burlington Park near Matlock in Kent. She came as a possible candidate for a wife for Robert. His father, the earl, was at a place in life where he needed to be certain another generation would follow. His wife, therefore, took every occasion to invite eligible ladies to come for a fortnight or a month’s visit.

Robert turned down every one of the women his parents invited. Neither did he care for Marion’s sister. Yet he was enchanted with Marion from the first, though she was but fifteen at the time. She was sent along to accompany Naomi during the long and for her sister tiresome journey. Unlike Naomi she enjoyed the trip immensely. She loved to travel and meet people and was thrilled to be going along. Little did she know but that the visit would change her life. It was there that Marion captured Robert’s eye. The two soon found moments to walk and talk.

There were reasons the couple felt unable to be open, certainly not declare for one another. It was Naomi who was invited. Marion would not be allowed an engagement until her older sister married. The couple had no idea when she might make a match. That left the two of them apprehensive about a future together. So they kept their romantic meetings as circumspect as they could. They were sure no one knew of their growing affection.

When Naomi left after the month’s visit she naturally took her sister with her. Then, for the couple was already in the beginning stages of falling in love, they began a correspondence. It was outrageous to do such a thing. It was only usual for an unmarried woman to write to an unmarried man if they were engaged. Or at least had a firm understanding they would soon be engaged. Of course they did but it couldn’t be known the way society demanded. So they sent secret missives to one another by way of Marion’s personal maid and Robert’s dresser. The couple having set the arrangement up before the ladies departed.

They did not fool Robert’s mother. She looked for signs of affinity between her son and Naomi. She found none but soon caught her son and Marion sneaking covert glances at one another. She guessed rightly that it was love in the making. It was soon after the sisters’ leave when the old countess learned of the letters traveling back and forth. Of course the couple had no idea she knew.

She hoped because of her own earlier struggle to love that Robert and Marion would begin on a right footing. Knowing a marriage couldn’t be imminent, she had no problem with them corresponding. She surmised that the two young people needed to learn about one another. The lady felt letters were an excellent way for them to do it. They would discover the other’s desires in life, their character and nature and so on. In that way, they could decide whether they would fit together happily for a lifetime. She hoped the couple would realize that there was more to a relationship than physical attraction.

She allowed the letters to travel each way but not without surreptitiously reading them. Between the lines she came to see the two young people cared for one another. That a proper and lasting affection was evident and that it could only continue to grow over time. After comforting herself with thoughts of a most agreeable conclusion to come, she sat back, watched and waited. When she learned of the betrothal of Naomi a year later, for the family received an invitation to the three day festivity, she prevailed upon her husband to send Robert in their stead. She did it knowing full well that her son would find a way to ask for Marion’s hand. She even suggested it to her husband.

Do you recall the younger sister that came with Lady Naomi on her visit here last year? Her name is Marion. She was but fifteen then. I was impressed with her. She is still not seventeen but perhaps Robert might take a look at her for a wife. He certainly has not been interested in anyone we thought he might. Perhaps a younger lady would be more to his liking.

Nothing more need be said. The earl listened to his wise wife. He sent for his son and apprised Robert of Lady Naomi’s upcoming wedding and made the suggestion that Robert attend while he and the countess remained at home. He suggested that Robert look over Naomi’s younger sister as a possible candidate for a bride while he was in house.

Robert prevaricated just long enough to convince his father he was not any more thoughtful of Lady Marion than any other. Yet not nearly long enough to fool his most attentive mother. She wondered if a letter had slipped past her. Did Robert already know of Naomi’s approaching nuptials? Had he himself been considering how he might be included in the party?

Whether or not that was so, the countess certainly recognized the quickly shielded spark that shot into her son’s eyes. He could not conceal his joy quickly enough to keep it from her. That left no doubt of her son’s growing ardor for the lady. She guessed he must love the girl more than his letters seemed to indicate. But then propriety would dictate he write in a more proper way than he might otherwise wish.

Seeing all that, the countess spoke bluntly.

If she is pleasing to you, do not delay in asking for her hand. You need not come back to ask for our blessing. I talked with her extensively when she was in house last year. I was quite favorably impressed with the girl.

A tiny corner of Robert’s mouth twitched in pleasure. His father did not notice but once again his mother did. And so to everyone’s great satisfaction a love match was made. The lady related her part in the romance to her husband. But only after his son was gone off on his happy journey. To the earl’s great amusement.

Marion was so grateful to her mother-in-law for the love and wisdom that lady possessed. By the time she learned the lady had read all of her and Robert’s correspondence, she, too, was amused and not in the slightest embarrassed. The two women soon formed a close affinity. That closeness remained for all the old countess’ life. Marion, now the current countess, missed her mother-in-law every day.

Like that lady, Marion wanted her children to marry for love. Life could at times prove difficult. It was a tight bond of love that made the difference for her and the senior Robert when they encountered troubles. She knew that kind of love would pull her children through as well. The Countess was very pleased with her son’s choice of wife. Julie was everything a mother could want in a daughter-in-law. It wasn’t long before Julie proved to be a wonderful mother, too.

Robert and Julie were very well suited and quite happy. Julie bore their daughter and then the twins. Now his good wife was abed with their fourth child. The family naturally lived on the Burlington Park Estate they would one day inherit. Along with the current earl and countess. But with Julie abed, their children needed full time guidance. Guidance Julie could not give them as she had before the fall.

Marion really should be trying to find someone. Her daughter-in-law hadn’t wanted or needed much help with the children until the accident. The many maids employed had easily filled in for short periods of time when Julie had duties elsewhere. They considered various women but there was no one they could absolutely trust with the precious children. The two women they tried were simply not up to the task.

Marion knew that should be her first priority. Yet as she sat in her private parlor, her mind kept drifting away and onto various members of the family. First it slipped back in time to her husband’s parents. Now her thoughts moved to Mark, her second and middle son. Her two daughters had long since married advantageously and made loving homes with their husbands. Her son, Robert, quite happily to Julie. James, her youngest son was also happily married. It was only Mark, their second son who was still unmarried, not having found love yet.

Marion’s youngest son, James Fitzwilliam was married less than a year now. James fell in love and married Lydia Bennet Withers to the family’s great delight. It was an undeniable love match. James risked censure