As some of you know, I have a P&P short story / novella coming, which I plan to release when we get a little closer to Christmas, since it’s told in a Christmas framework. Well, it’s already Halloween at Costco, which means Christmas must be just around the corner, right? So it’s time to start working on a little build-up to publication.

From the title, you have already guessed that the basic premise is borrowed from the beloved (beloved my me, at least) movie It’s a Wonderful Life, where George Bailey, at a very low ebb in his life, is given the gift of seeing what the world would be like if he’d never been born. In this case, though, it’s Mr. Darcy, distraught over Elizabeth’s rejection, who winds up in that situation.

The story is told by Darcy himself, mostly in retrospect, from (and here’s where the Christmas framework comes in) after he and Elizabeth are married, happy, and have their friends gathered around them for Christmas at Pemberley.

I shared the Prologue a few months ago, but if you missed it or want to refresh your memory before reading on, go back to this post first. And now, this excerpt is picking up from when Darcy is remembering the time just after Elizabeth’s rejection, when he and Col. Fitzwilliam are returning to London together from Rosings.

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“Come now, Darcy. Do allow me to be of some assistance to you,” Colonel Fitzwilliam encouraged. “You must stop with me at my house for a restorative drink or two before going home. Allow your temper to cool and your spirits to recover a little. After what you have been through, my good fellow, it is the least I can do.”

As cross as I felt after relaying to my cousin the rejection and severe dressing-down I had receive at the hands of Elizabeth Bennet, I was in no hurry to return to my sister at Darcy House, where I would have to behave as if nothing at all were wrong. So, it took very little convincing on Fitzwilliam’s part.

Yes, I was indeed still very angry, but had I not the grounds? To keep the fire burning, I reviewed them again: Elizabeth’s unjust accusations and her slanderous assessment of my character. On these subjects, I scarcely allowed her to have spoken a true word. She was ignorant, smallminded, and prejudiced. This much was immediately apparent. Not only that, but shortsighted too, for she would surely live to rue the day she had thus insulted me, the day she had thrown away such an exalted position as I had offered her. To marry into a noble family and be mistress of a magnificent estate like Pemberley: what woman of sanity would not have leapt at the chance? Clearly, Miss Bennet was unworthy, and I was fortunate she had not accepted me when she had the chance. It only remained for me to rid myself of the bitter taste left in my mouth by the whole unpleasant episode.

As long as I could find Elizabeth entirely at fault and myself innocent, as long as I could reason that I had lost nothing worth having, I could prevent myself falling into the deadly pit of despair that could so easily have swallowed me otherwise. But the first drink Fitzwilliam poured for me that evening eroded away nearly half of my carefully nurtured anger against her. The second and the third dispensed with it entirely. I’m afraid, after that…

Well, suffice to say that I should never imbibe brandy. In any quantity, it turns me morose, even maudlin, and I shudder to think what rubbish Fitzwilliam must have had to listen to from me as we lazed about in his drawing room, hour after hour.

“I have made a shambles of everything,” I remember telling him at the last, blinking repeatedly to bring my friend’s face into focus. “Elizabeth was right about me, right about everything. My abominable pride! She is far better off without me; that is certain. So would Georgiana be, for I have been a very poor brother and guardian to her, as well as an indifferent caretaker for Pemberley. Not to mention a very poor friend. You may not have realized it, Fitzwilliam, but I spoilt Bingley’s best chance for happiness. Yes, it is true. And who knows what other sufferings I have inflicted, perhaps even on you, Cousin. No doubt you would all be better off if I were out of your way. Permanently.”

“Come now, Darcy. That is not even good conversation,” he chided. “Enough of such nonsense! I tell you, you must forget the opinion of this one overexcited female and listen to me, for I have known you much longer – all your life in fact. None of your true friends would think themselves made happier by your early demise, I can assure you. Consider how poor Georgiana would feel it, to say nothing of the rest of us!”

“Oh, very well,” I agreed, noticing how thick and unmanageable my lips and tongue had become. “I take it back. No doubt, instead, it would have been better had I never been born at all.”

“You do not mean it, Darcy…”

But at that moment, God help me, my spirits had sagged so low that I did. It seemed the most logical way to have spared myself and all the others I had ever offended a great deal of pain.

 I expect my cousin rightly called me to account for such a speech, but I do not recall. The brandy decanter was empty, the spirit had done its work, and I was dead to the world.

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Well, there you have the set up for when the real fun begins! Darcy will soon receive a visitor from beyond, who will take him on a strange but eye-opening journey of a world where he was never born.

Yikes! A world without Mr. Darcy? That’s almost too horrible to contemplate! But don’t worry; it all works out in the end. Stay tuned for updates and a cover reveal as we get closer to the publication date (late October or early November), and thanks for reading!