Of Friendship and Forgiveness: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Excerpt:
Elizabeth lay back onto the grass allowing the sun to warm her face and the breeze to tousle her hair. The gloriously vivid blue sky was reflected perfectly in the still end of the loch while the waterfall at the other end sent a cooling mist into the air. Perfect. This was a perfectly lovely day in a perfectly lovely place. She thought about the series of events that had brought her here to this remote estate in Scotland, alone except for her lady’s maid and the nominal staff of the manor house. It had begun with friendship. Friendship with Fitzwilliam Darcy. A friendship that deteriorated into betrayal and deep resentment and then into his abandonment when she most needed support. But…forgiveness. The forgiveness the Lord had commanded of his followers. The forgiveness she had to decide to give – without feeling it. “Decide to forgive,” her aunt had told her, “the feeling will come later – or not.” She picked up her black bonnet and tied it in place before mounting little David, the Highlands Pony she would ride back to the estate and continue her sojourn there as Mrs. MacCumbers, devastated widow.