#ms. liz

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'If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad,' she says. 'Isn’t that what Jane Austen said?' I smile. 'Word for word. Unfortunately, my adventures have mostly been confined to books. But I would love to see Italy, if I could.'

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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'Happy is happy. What is wrong with that?' I push Mrs. Hill off my lap. 'It’s not. . .it’s not romance. It’s not enough.' 'It’s not enough for you, Lizzie. Don’t project your expectations onto them. You’ll make yourself miserable. Not everyone gets a fairy tale romance.' 'I suppose you’re right,' I decide. 'Most of us ache for that love we read about, but it isn’t realistic. There is no Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars, no Heathcliff and Cathy, no Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Love stories just build up our expectations before a crashing fall. In the end, the prince often turns out to be a charmless wonder or the princess runs off with a truck driver.' My father sighs. 'Now you’re being too pessimistic.' 'Sorry,' I try to compose myself. 'Especially for the bit about the truck driver.'

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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'Okay. I see you’re trying to change the subject. At least tell me the title. Then I’ll leave you alone.' 'No,' he says, but the look in his eyes is playful. 'Okay. I will guess. Is it Pemberley, the Sequel?' 'That a prosaic, unappealing title.' 'So, that’s not it. Crime and Pemberley?' 'Dostoevsky already used that.' 'Pemberley and Zombies?' He crinkles his nose. 'Heavens, no.' 'Wait. I know. It’s Fifty Shades of Pemberley.' Darcy’s eyes narrow as he considers that one. 'That might be it. Explain to me what happens in that novel.' 'The owner of Pemberley finds a mysterious key. He discovers it fits in an attic door he has never entered. Inside the attic, he encounters a crazy lady whose husband locked her up years before. After living in the dark for so long, she insists on leaving on every lamp in the manor.' 'Let me guess. There are fifty lamps with fifty shades.' 'I haven't quite worked out the details, but that sounds about right.'

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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Darcy is a step ahead of me. He stacks two cookies on a napkin and presents them to me. 'A man after my own heart,'

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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'Just have patience,' he tells me. That is the last thing I want to hear. I just want to take a Rip Van Winkle nap, then wake up far in the future where everything is different.

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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It is a full hour of reconnecting and learning more about each other. It is funny, but it feels as though Georgiana and I have known each other years, not weeks. I take note of the connection and credit Darcy for seeing that his sister and I would be 'kindred spirits.'

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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'What’s his name again?' 'Not that it matters, but it’s Darcy.' 'Peculiar name for a man.' 'Well, he is from California.'

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library

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For a brief second, I feel like a princess in a novel, waiting for the guy on a horse to get down and kiss me already.

Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library