The Gift of Happenstance
Kimbelle Pease
This short tale is dedicated to any whose tale ended with regrets and were given an opportunity to change their story and to those who have not yet found themselves in such an opportunity, an encouragement to try to rewrite the ending.
On the road from Uppercross to Plymouth
Anne Elliott sat against the side of the Musgrove coach.
While she knew she should feel more awkwardness in the company of her traveling companion Charles Musgrove, she did not.
Could not. While she liked him well as a brother, he did not compare to the only man that had ever been admitted into her heart.
Anne’s sister Mary, who was married to Charles, had just given birth to a son.
She declared herself in no condition to travel with her husband.
Whether that was true was another matter altogether.
Mary had many complaints, and Anne silently pitied her brother by marriage for the litany he was forced to listen to every day.
But not so much that she regretted her refusal of his offer of marriage.
With them in the carriage were his lively younger sisters who had pleaded with him to go to Plymouth so they might see the ship their brother had served on, the Laconia.
It was to this ship Charles would ultimately go.
Their brother Richard’s effects needed to be collected, or so the missive from a Captain Harville had stated.
When she had been asked to join the Musgrove siblings, both to chaperone the girls and guide them on this journey, Anne was surprised.
She had not thought Mrs. Musgrove would want all of her children gone from her house, but she now refused to rest until she held in her hands the effects of her son she had not known might exist that now she could not live without.
And the grief was still too near for Mrs. Musgrove to join Charles on the trip.
Grief was something with which Anne was intimately familiar.
Did Captain Harville agree to meet with you personally, Charles?” Louisa Musgrove asked, a heightened blush to her cheeks. “Imagine, Henrietta, we will dine with a captain! We are to meet a true naval captain!”
“Not as yet. When I collect the items that were our brother’s, I will invite him personally. Then we might hear of Richard’s exploits together, Sisters. And together we will share them with Mother.”
Charles shot Anne a look that proved him wary of what the captain might say of his younger brother. A brother who would sooner attend a mug of port rather than his studies.
“We will dine with an officer!” Henrietta Musgrove said as she bounced in her seat while clasping the hand of her younger sister.”
“To hear of our brother’s efforts before his death. Do not believe this will be a pleasure for him. I cannot think any would find it pleasant to speak of the dead whilst they are here in port to visit their families so close to Christmas. In fact, he may be otherwise engaged,” Charles cautioned.
“Of course, Brother.” Henrietta attempted to be solemn.
It did not last above a moment before she and Louisa started to list questions they might ask the captain about his exploits.
“Perhaps a list of questions about your brother would be best asked first in case he is only a few minutes to spare with you,” Anne guided gently.
“Yes, of course, you are correct, Anne,” Louisa said, turning the conversation to this new consideration.
“Oh, Anne, you are a great comfort. I know Mother was sorry to lose your company in this trying time, but I know she is pleased that you are here for Louisa and Henrietta. I hope our news will bring her comfort, or it will be a very somber Christmas at Uppercross this year,” Charles said as he glanced at Anne.
“Perhaps something she can see every day, Charles? One that everyone might take comfort in? It will not name him directly, but the Navy List will include the ship he served on,” Anne suggested.
“That is just the thing, Anne. If you will see to its purchase whilst we are here, my sisters and I will then be able to focus on what Captain Harville shares of our brother and properly see to his belongings.”
“Of course, Charles. I am glad to assist in any way I can,” Anne assured him demurely.
“And as you visit the bookshop, we will search for some ribbon. Navy blue, perhaps?” Louisa suggested.
Anne smiled benevolently, Charles ruefully, when the girls filled the coach with the vibrancy of youth.
***
Plymouth
“Anne, we will be in the haberdashery. Do take your time,” Henrietta said as they stood before the two shop fronts which were side-by-side.
“Do, Anne. Our maid is with us so we shall have no opportunity to become embroiled in trouble. And it will take a long while to select a present for you, so do not come in and ruin the surprise,” Louisa said as she clung to her sister’s arm.
“You were not supposed to tell,” Henrietta chastised her sister.
“It is very sweet of you, but I am most delighted by your company. Do find something for Mary,” Anne suggested.
“Oh, we have. A tonic we will give her for every new ailment she invents. We intend to flavor water differently for each dose,” Louisa whispered as she shared the secret.
“You were not supposed to tell anyone that either!” Henrietta said, guiding her younger sister into the store with a look of exasperation.
“I wish I had thought of that,” Anne whispered to herself as she entered the bookshop. A jingle from a bell on the door alerted all within to a newcomer’s presence.
“How may I assist you today, miss?” the older, bespectacled gentleman behind the counter asked as she closed the door.
“I wonder if you might point me in the direction of the Naval List, sir. I hope to give it as a gift for Christmas,” Anne inquired.
“Yes, the Naval List. I keep a shelf full of them this time of year, given that it is so important a port of call. The ones I had at the ready have sold out, but there are more upstairs. If you will wait here, I shall retrieve one for you.”
“Please do not trouble yourself. I would like the excuse to spend a little bit longer amongst the treasures you have for us to discover,” Anne replied with a growing smile.
“Oh, ho! A lady who seeks the Naval List! Have you seen the ships in port? The Laconia and the Asp both! I do not wonder at all those who have come to see the splendor of it!” A gentleman in a cozy chair exclaimed with far greater excitement than he looked to be capable of at first glance.
“The Asp will draw no attention at all. Her days of glory are long past,” another older gentleman said from behind the book he read. “The Laconia? Now that is a ship one would wish to see at her glory in the open water!”
Anne privately disagreed. She would give a great deal to see the Asp, the ship he had served on. She smiled as she walked past the men gathered around tables littered with papers, pamphlets, and books. It was not difficult to imagine that they were in those same chairs every day.
As she made her way up the winding staircase to the upper floor, the gentlemen continued to speak amongst themselves.
“Do not discount the Asp! She was under command of Captain Wentworth, even when he was but a commander. She served him well!”
At the hearing of his name, Anne’s step faltered. She would have pitched forward but for her grip on the railing. Anne forced herself onward, then hid among the stacks as she recovered from the sudden onslaught of pleasure.
And there was no mistaking it for something else. It was a pleasure to hear him spoken of so well. Her family had done not but speak ill of him for these five years whenever his name was seen in the paper.
The captain’s sister, Sophia, a wife to Admiral Croft, and she had exchanged letters on occasion after the engagement, that short period of exquisite happiness, had ended.
It pained Anne every time she recalled the breaking of her engagement, separating herself from now Captain Frederick Wentworth.
It had been done under the guidance of Lady Russell, the closest thing she had to a mother figure, and at the expectation of the rest of her family.
She knew her father, her elder sister Elizabeth, and her younger sister Mary to be too full of self-aggrandizement to accept a man of his position into their society.
Her father was a baronet who acted as if he were so elevated as a duke and made himself ridiculous at every turn.
But for Anne, not a day went by in which she did not regret having given him up. She may have known her family’s disappointment, but at least then she would not be endlessly disappointed in herself.
Anne moved towards the staircase that she might hear more. Anything said of him would feed her hunger for news of his safety, of his being alive.
“He has made quite a name for himself. By all accounts, he is a fair and decent captain,” one gruff voice spoke out above the others.
“It is not too hard to do. Keep the men fed and stay sober,” another suggested.
“If that were true, you would have retired the commander of a fleet! A good captain must also have the respect of his men. Particularly of his first mate,” another man argued.
“Here, here!” The men toasted themselves.
Anne turned to her task. She did not have long before her absence would be noted by the Miss Musgroves, though they were occupied with shopping so they would not need her to entertain them for a few minutes more.
The chime of the doorbell rang through the shop announcing the arrival of another customer.
“Ho, ho! If it isn’t the very man himself! We were just speaking of you, Wentworth!”
A feminine gasp was heard in the momentary silence that had descended while the men waited for the Captain’s greeting.
***
“I never imagined I could inspire any sort of talk amongst you fine gentlemen,” Captain Wentworth said as he removed his hat, a single nod of greeting executed to those in the shop.