Banishing His Memory: A Pride and Prejudice Possibility

Longbourn, Hertfordshire, England 1813… It was the wee hours of the morning, long before sunrise when Eliabeth Bennet work from her dream in a cold sweat. No, that is not correct, it was a nightmare, and one that had been occurring with increasing frequency since her return from Kent. Was it because she had been foolish? Rash? Hasty? Or just plain stupid to refuse a man who not only was handsome enough to render a lady breathless, but also in possession of nearly ten thousand a year. What did it matter if he had insulted her family, rudely stating the obvious fact that they were far less in consequence? Was it not true that her mother and younger sisters were an embarrassment? Or, that she had not a cent in fortune, leading any logical person to presume that she would marry for financial gain alone? Well, if that were true, her encounter with Fitzwilliam Darcy would never have taken place. For Elizabeth, Darcy’s proposal was not the first, nor, did she dare hope, the last. However, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a penniless woman who refuses not one, but two proposals of marriage, to men who despite their flaws, would provide a home and security, was an idiot of the first measure. And now, weeks later, the decision still plagued her. Fortunately, her mother remained blissfully ignorant and therefore, could not torment her further than she already suffered. “Oh! Why can he not leave me be!”Elizabeth muttered, wanting to shout her frustrations to whatever unnatural being had cast the images into her mind while she slept. Only the desire to not wake her sister kept her from doing exactly that, for poor Jane had her own share of misery from the hand of the male sex. Snoring softly, with the remnants of dried tears upon her cheeks, Elizabeth had not even confided in her, fearing Jane would take up yet another unnecessary burden. No, she would suffer the dreams alone, and look within herself for meaning. “It is not as if I loved him, or even liked him…it’s the fact that I had begun to,”