Posted on 2011-08-01
Brighton was everything Lydia imagined it would be. Endless blue skies, beautiful waters perfect for sea bathing, and an entire encampment of soldiers, including her wonderful Lieutenant Wickham. Lydia and Mrs. Harriet Forster were out walking to the town to purchase new hats when Lydia saw a familiar face at the milliners.
"It's that nasty Mary King!" Lydia said. "I thought she was in Liverpool."
"Look who's with her!" Mrs. Forster said.
"Wickham! My Wickham!"
Lydia and Mrs. Forster stood there aghast as Wickham walked out of the milliners, holding Mary King's hand. Wickham didn't even notice the two girls gawking at him because he had other things on his mind. Curious as to where Miss King and Wickham would go, Mrs. Forster and Lydia followed the two outside of the shopping area to the seaside. There, they saw Wickham passionately kiss Miss King.
"Tell me, my dearest Mary, how did you escape your dreadful uncle?" Wickham asked as he snaked his hand down Miss King's bodice.
"I had to pretend to be sick…sick enough to get some seabathing in Brighton. It wasn't easy. I had to bribe the apothecary."
"Show me how."
Miss King pouted her lips as she rolled on top of Wickham.
"Oh Lord!" Lydia said. She felt her heart break as she saw Miss King lift up her skirts. Lydia turned around and ran away, taking Mrs. Forster with her. Once they were back in town, Mrs. Forster took Lydia back to the encampment.
"Colonel Forster, you'll never believe what we saw!" Mrs. Forster said to her husband. Lydia sat in a corner crying as Mrs. Forster told her husband about what she saw.
"Lydia, for your safety, you have to be returned home at the first carriage. Mrs. Forster will go with you as your chaperone. I will send an express to your family about this."
"But what about Wickham?" Mrs. Forster said.
"I'll contact Miss King's uncle. If we're lucky, she won't be forced to marry Wickham no matter how he wants to."
Unfortunately, things don't turn out the way one has planned. By the time Lydia returned home, she received a letter from Colonel Forster stating that Mary King was carrying Wickham's child, so she was forced to marry him in the end. Miss King's uncle cut her off from her inheritance, which provoked Wickham into leaving her.
Jane also received a letter that day from Elizabeth with news that Mr. Darcy has asked her to court her with the intent of eventually marrying her. Everyone was naturally shocked until Jane read Elizabeth's explanation. However, this was all noise to Lydia as she wondered how Elizabeth got a man like Mr. Darcy, whom the former claimed to dislike. Elizabeth used to flirt with Wickham and acted in ways that her mother disliked all the time. And for once, she was no longer her mother's favorite and her father acted cruel to her for her actions and forbade her from going to balls or associating with officer. She wasn't even allowed to go outside unless she and Kitty proved themselves to be "rational."
Soon after Elizabeth returned from Derbyshire, Jane received a proposal from Mr. Bingley. Lydia spent the time preparing for the double wedding uncharacteristically quiet. The people of Meryton believed it was because of the new rules her father imposed on her and her sister, Kitty, but in reality, Lydia was recovering from a broken heart.
During the wedding breakfast, Lydia was sitting outside at Oakham Mount, wondering where everything went wrong. She saw a handsome Colonel, but he took no notice of her. She didn't seem like whatever she did, she would never marry.
She heard someone walking towards her and turned around. It wasn't the Colonel she saw, but one of the other younger sons of the Earl of Matlock, Samuel, who had recently returned from a business trip to the Continent.
"Are you alright, Miss Lydia?" he asked.
"Yes. What are you doing out here?" she asked.
"Your father was looking for you. I saw you leave once everyone was doing the toasts."
"I'm sorry. I've just had a bad summer."
"I'm sorry to hear that. May I escort you back?"
"Yes, you may, Mr. Fitzwilliam."
Lydia ended up being the last Bennet sister to marry at the age of one and twenty. Samuel turned out to be the very thing she needed in her life. He was handsome, even though he wore a blue coat instead of a red one, and unlike Wickham, he didn't talk so much about himself all the time. She found his stories about life on the sea much more interesting than the gruesome battles from the army soldiers she knew.
Once Mr. Bennet saw Samuel's interest, he told him about his conditions and Samuel consented to wait until Lydia was one and twenty to marry her. By then, Mary had married a clergyman who lived near the Matlock's estate and Kitty ended up married to a silk merchant who worked with the Gardiners. Jane and Elizabeth have had two children and Lydia was always welcomed at Pemberley.
By the time Lydia had given birth to her first child, she was sailing on her husband's ship on her way to India. As she looked out into the open water, she thought, Mary King and Wickham have nothing compared to me.
The End