#uk2

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of great fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Tia scoffs at the newest addition to what her sister Eleanor (affectionately known throughout the family as Ellie) calls ‘the art wall’, a collection of embroideries and cross stitches most recently completed by her spectacularly accomplished sisters. She rips it down with a little more vigour than intended and walks into the drawing room brandishing it like a weapon.

“Fess up!” She cries, finding that luckily all four sisters lounged there. “Who sewed such a monstrosity?”

The youngest two, Tayce and Ellie, pounce. Tayce holds it steady whilst Ellie squints at it, her face taking on the serious expression of an art critic. Tia sits heavily down next to Bimini, who links their arms in a show of support.

“Well I have come to one conclusion.” Ellie says, her blonde curls bouncing around her shoulders as she looks up. Her eyes meet Tia’s, full of mischief. “It’s not your work, darling Tia.”

“But how can you know for sure, El?” Pippa has not looked up from her book, her eyes still scanning the page as she drawls the sentence that is about to lead to Tia’s downfall.

“It’s quite simple, Sister.” Tayce grins. “There are no stitches falling out-“

“It looks rather neat-“ Ellie follows.

“And Mother put it up on the art wall!” They finish together.

Tia’s grunt of frustration is not heard amongst their laughter, as she attempts to leap forward to chase her sisters and finds herself chained to the sofa by Bimini’s surprisingly strong arm. “Am I really that bad at sewing, Bim Bim?” She asks.

Bimini puts down their letter and strokes Tia’s face. “Yes.” They say gently. Tia sighs.

“But it’s okay, Ti! Any good wife won’t care a jot for how well you can sew. She’ll want to know how well you can destroy bed sheets.” Ellie winks, jumping up to walk to the window. Bimini shoots her a warning look that she promptly ignores.

Pippa tucks her feet under herself, still engrossed in her book. “You shan’t get a wife talking like that, Ellie.” She remarks drily. “The best you will do is a common farm boy.”

Ellie tears herself away from the window to lunge for her middle sister. Pip pre-empts the attack and vaults herself over the sofa, book forgotten as she ducks under Tayce’s arm. All three of them are lost in a flurry of giggles, and Tia can only smile fondly with Bim as she watches her sisters.

They’re not real sisters in the way others would see it, as in they weren’t all birthed from the same mother. Bimini is a Bennett by blood, the first and only born. Then came Tia, brought in by a family who were struggling to find a home for their orphaned niece. Then Phillipa (or Pippa, as she prefers to be known) was left on their doorstep as a baby (“Really, anyone would think they were mistaking our house for the orphanage!” Mrs Bennett scoffed to her husband as she rocked her new sleeping baby in her arms). Tayce was a special case, proclaimed to be the last. Until Mr Bennett’s sister turned to her sister-in-law in a state, babe in arms and sobbing that she was unfit to care for her. Mrs Bennett took one look at Ellie’s big blue eyes and wispy blonde hair, and a new Bennett sister joined the flock.

But they’re real sisters in the way they tease each other, the way they squabble over hair pins and ribbons, the way they teach each other new piano tunes, the way they love each other.

They’re real sisters in the way that Tia knows, from Pippa’s slight flinch at the original question, that her middle sister is the criminal of the court. She satisfies herself in knowing that she’ll find a suitable punishment for her later.

“Is it today that you’re meeting with Cherry?” Bimini asks amongst the chaos.

Tia nods. “She should be coming by fairly soon. Would you like to walk with us?”

“Nah, I’d hate to interrupt your gossip. I should stay and watch this rabble.”

“Oh, were you talking about Cherry?” Ellie interrupts, further proving that she is the rabble that Bimini refers to. “She was walking up a few minutes ago.”

“Well why didn’t you say!” Tia’s exasperated tone slips a cheeky smile back on Ellie’s face, Bimini’s sunny laughter lighting up the room just as the knock at the door is heard. Tia nods her goodbyes to each of her sisters before slipping into the hallway to grab her bonnet, linking arms with Cherry, and heading away.

Once they are clear of the house, Cherry shakes Tia’s arm. “Tell me that you’ve heard the news!” She enthuses.

“Miss Valentine.” Tia says teasingly. “Come, this is not a proper way to behave in public.”

Cherry rolls her eyes and tugs her friend over to the small stream – their small stream, where they have all of their secrets exchanged. “I’m surprised, I thought Mrs Bennett would be all a flutter.” Her tone, laced with meaning that only Tia would be able to pick up on, makes her pause.

“You don’t mean-“

Cherry nods. “I do mean.”

“The Netherfield house is let!”

“At last!” Cherry laughs jubilantly. “My mother has been saying for ages that it will eventually have to be occupied by somebody.”

“And presumably Mrs Valentine knows exactly who it is?”

“Mrs Valentine has not stopped talking about it.” They’re seated now, upon some flat rocks that hold them just out of the way so that their skirts do not get drenched. “I am but four and twenty and already she thinks I am destined to be a spinster.”

Tia chuckles. “Mine is quite the same. The lady of the house could be short.”

“Ugly.”

“Positively troll like to look at.”

“With the worst table manners in all of England.”

“And our mothers would still push us towards her.” Tia concludes.

Cherry adds, as an afterthought, “As long as she’s got a lot of money.”

They laugh together, for they rarely are together without laughter rising into the air and making the whole world seem sunnier. “Well I should rather think that Mrs Bennett would like to tell me the details herself, I beg of you not to ruin her fun.” Tia’s arm is around Cherry’s the two of them exiting their hiding place as an indication that the conversation should move on.

“Of course, I should indeed loathe to ruin your mother’s fun.” Cherry replies, her eyes still lit up in mirth. Tia resists the urge to roll her own eyes.

Her and Cherry have been friends for quite some time, having been introduced to society within the same year. Tia has a lively disposition and so loves to laugh, so it was to her disappointment that she found the majority of her fellow young ladies sorely lacking. After coming from such a rambunctious family, Tia could simply not imagine any household being anything but bursting to the seams with joy. It was only when she met Cherry that she felt she had found a friend. Cherry took her arm almost immediately and muttered a piece of gossip she had heard from one of the servants. Looking back, the morsel was downright insidious. But, young and foolish and gasping for intelligent conversation, Tia laughed uproariously.

Neither of them snared a wife that year, or any other year for that matter. But they had caught a firm friendship. And really, was that not more important?

“Is it your fun or my mother’s? I never do quite know with you, Miss Valentine.” Tia teases, enjoying the way that Cherry shakes her dark head.

“You do me such dishonour! Or is it honour that I be compared to the woman that is Mrs Bennett herself.”

“I do love my mother.”

“I know you do.” Cherry says, in a tone that rather indicates that she doesn’t believe Tia in the slightest.

“If she would stop trying to marry us all off-“

“Oh but she is a mamma to five, all of you out, and all of you unmarried. Is it any wonder that she fusses as she does?” Cherry squeezes Tia’s arm closer to her, and the thought crosses Tia’s mind that if they weren’t of the same class, she wouldn’t mind too much marrying her friend.

“I should wonder at Bimini’s marital status,’ Cherry continues, ‘Seeing as though they are the one most likely to flutter their eyes at just the right duchess and be swept off their feet. Furthermore, I should think it is what they deserve.”

“They out of any of us sisters.” Tia agrees. Her mind begins to wander, and the next words spill out before she can stop them. “In fact, I am most surprised at how content mother seems. She has not tried to marry Bim off for a number of months. I fear that she is plotting. No one will ever be perfect enough for Bimini, though.”

“We shall just have to see.” Cherry murmurs.

Tia returns safely to her home, much to the disappointment of both girls who so value their time together. After taking off her bonnet and overcoat, she walks into the drawing room to quite a scene.

Her parents seated on the same sofa, her mother clutching her father’s hands in one of hers and desperately fanning herself with the other. Ellie hovers over her mother’s shoulder, occasionally jumping in so as to whisper to her father. Tayce has her natural place just behind Ellie, observing her sister’s shenanigans. Even Bimini seems involved, the weary look on their face the only evidence Tia needs.

To her credit, Pip is the only one with no business in the affair. But that is to be expected.

It is her that Tia chooses to sit next to, after giving her father a welcoming kiss on the cheek. He smiled up at her, as if she is the one saviour to all of his troubles. Pip does not lift her eyes to acknowledge her.

“What is this about?” She hisses in an attempt to catch her sister’s attention, yet it is her mother’s that she rouses.

“Oh child, how do you not know! It is impossible that Cherry did not tell you, Mrs Valentine knows everything that happens within a fifty-mile radius! Would it not be exciting if we were to have knowledge she did not possess?”

“Impossible, mamma, for you have mentioned that it was Mrs Valentine who informed you.” Bimini interjects tiredly.

Mrs Bennett frowns. “Ah yes.”

“Netherfield house?” Tia guesses.

Mrs Bennett opens her mouth but it is as if she is a ventriloquist, for the words come from Ellie’s lips. “It has been let! To a young and wealthy lady! Oh mamma, tell her her name, tell Tia!”

“Her name is-“

“Her name is Lady Mandella, we know not of her Christian name, and she makes £5,000 a year! Can you imagine?” Ellie interrupts again, but the family can do little but smile.

Tayce smiles dreamily. “I bet she is most handsome.”

“Tayce, you cannot be thinking she will marry you! She will marry me, for I am younger and prettier!”

“No, she’ll marry Bimini, who is the most perfect of us all.” Pip contributes to the conversation only to invoke her little sisters into further squabbling. She succeeds, Ellie and Tayce’s voices growing louder as they argue.

“Girls! She shall marry none of you if your father does not agree to meet her and inform her of our five eligible young daughters!” Mrs Bennett bursts out hysterically. The youngest two let out small wails, and Tia catches her father’s eye. He has a twinkle in them. She holds her breath.

“Because how else should we be married.” Pip remarks drily, oblivious to the three glares tossed in her direction.

“You are quite right, my dear Phillipa. Marriage to this woman will be hard.” Their father speaks.

Tia smirks. “Harder still because she won’t know of our existence.”

“Oh I am sick to death of talk of Miss Mandella! I pray we stop this benign conversation and allow the girls back to their tasks that make it so they might hope to trap a wife.” Mrs Bennett rises to her feet, taking a moment to shoot a withering look at Tia. Tia remains impassive, waiting for her father’s reply.

She has always thought that in another life he might have been an actor – the way that he can maintain a rouse until that moment where his dear wife is sufficiently vexed, and then dropping it with a little performance. Tia enjoys it every time.

“I’m sorry, my dear. If I had known you felt so strongly about it I would have never spoken to Miss De Campo who’s hosting the ball where she is to be introduced to the town to secure us invitations. I can write to her immediately to tell her that your mind has changed, if you would prefer.”

He can hardly finish his sentence before Ellie, Tayce, and Mrs Bennett let out delighted cries and jump into his arms, the first two proclaiming a deep deep love for their beloved papa.

Tia is not opposed to the idea. Quite the opposite really – she enjoys a good ball, always one to be dancing and talking with her friends and companions. She enjoys meeting new people. Even if that joy did slightly wane when Cherry informed her that Miss Mandella was bringing guests – her sister and a friend. Tia was prepared for one fine lady to arrive, not three. Nevertheless, this only excited Mrs Bennett more. How wonderful might it be to have three daughters married off in one night!

She stands in front of her looking glass, peering in at her own reflection. Her hair has been intricately braided for tonight, done up by her favourite maid who talked soothingly as she twisted the plaits into place. Her dress is beautiful, made of orange muslin, and she adores how it sets off the brown of her skin. It might be a shame that she’s wasting such beauty on a simple country ball that will have no real affect on the rest of her life.

She sighs. “Something wrong?” Bimini asks, pushing the door open to their shared room. They look gorgeous, the soft pink of their dress creating a rosy look to their smiling cheeks, perfectly setting off the smooth cream of their skin.

“No Bim. All is well.”

The two embrace. “We will have a good time, Tia. Do not worry about mother and Tayce and Ellie.”

Tia snorts. “Why should I not worry? Ellie in particular – she is a flight risk at these events.”

“Only if attractive women are there.” Bimini points out.

“Attractive women always attend. Whether or not they be eligible is the least of Ellie’s concerns.”

Bimini laughs, the sound already causing Tia’s spirits to lift. “Come now, you can be a little harsh on her. She is only young. Don’t you remember what it was like to be young?”

“No Bim, I am old and jaded already.”

Bimini puts an arm around her. “Who knows, some lady may ask you to dance!”

“I do love to dance.” Tia says wistfully.

“Yeah and you are so good at it too.” Bimini indulges her, their smile showing off the unique gap between their two front teeth. “In fact,’ they offer their hand, ‘would you do me the honour, Miss Bennett?”

Tia puts her hand in theirs. “Anything for you, Miss Bennett!”

And they dance around their bedchambers until Pip shouts up at them to stop making such a racket because she can hardly focus on her pianoforte, at which point they can do little but fall into fits of giggles.

When they emerge to leave the house with the family, their cheeks are even rosier than before, and Tia felt a lot lighter at the prospect of the ball.