Jane Austen Made Me Do It by Laurel Ann Nattress Page A

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    â€œPlease do not keep me further in suspense, Captain Wentworth,” burst out Anne at last. “I must know what you said to my father, and how he behaved.”
    It was a moment before he spoke. “I thought I had forgotten the brusqueness of your father’s manner, and his undisguised contempt, or at least, I did not think it mattered to me anymore. However, I felt very differently when we came face-to-face. I felt as if I were that very young man again, a poor sailor with no fortune and no prospects. I kept remembering how he’d listened that first time with a sneer curling his lip, followed firstly by cold astonishment, then a stern declaration that a more degrading alliance he could not imagine; words to wound my pride, which have haunted me ever since.”
    Anne looked up into Frederick’s eyes, trying to find some comfort from his countenance, but he looked straight ahead determinedly. Then he stopped, pausing to regard her, and she saw his mouth begin to twitch. There was a hint of amusement just dancing behind those dark eyes, and then to her utter relief he was smiling.
    â€œThere was a delicious moment when he pretended he did not know why I had come to see him, although there was a look ofgenuine surprise when I mentioned your name. Perhaps he thought I’d come to ask him if I could marry Elizabeth!”
    â€œOh, Frederick, you delight in taunting me,” Anne cried, with relief that Captain Wentworth had not entirely lost his sense of humour. “Will I ever hear the truth of the matter?”
    He took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. “And then I had a moment when I wished to tell him everything I was truly feeling, especially when he hardly noticed me for observing his own reflection in the looking glass opposite. How I wished to gloat, to boast of my luck and good fortune. I wanted to make him suffer for the way he’d treated us, for the years we were forced apart, but in the end, I could not.”
    â€œYou would never do anything that wasn’t right in your heart. You’ve proved that to me.”
    â€œI could not do or say anything to hurt you or any member of your family, whatever I might feel was a justified grievance. I was suitably humble, and simply asked if we might have his blessing to marry.”
    â€œSo, you did not ask his permission.”
    â€œI thought about that, but I was not willing to risk a negative answer, even if I knew that ultimately it would not stop us from marrying. At least, I hoped it would not. If he had said no, what then, Miss Anne?”
    She loved to hear him say her name. “You know the answer.”
    â€œBut, I want to hear you say it.”
    â€œI would still marry you. No one will ever part us again.”
    â€œAnd that is precisely why I love you.”
    â€œDo you love me, Captain Wentworth?”
    â€œI love you, Anne, more than I ever have before. My heart is entirely your own, and with your permission, I wish to spend the rest of my life with you.”
    The moment she’d been waiting for was here at last. CaptainWentworth took her hand to his lips. “So, we have your father’s professed approval, and I propose, Miss Elliot, that the ceremony will take place just as soon as we can get a special licence.”
    They were soon in town and just coming upon the White Hart Inn when Anne’s sister Mary walked out on her husband Charles Musgrove’s arm. Their astonished faces when they saw Anne arm in arm with Captain Wentworth were nothing but a delight to the betrothed couple, and Mary insisted that they come in to see her relations just as soon as they’d shared their news.
    Charles’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove, were initially speechless, especially when they privately considered how a few months before they thought the Captain might marry one of their daughters. Henrietta and Louisa had been quite smitten for a while. Yet they were