Prejudice: an austen reimagined novel | 2

Chapter Twenty-Six: Austin

I laughed. "No! You didn't?"

Jax blushed. "I did. God, embarrassing or what?"

"Well, she didn't turn you down, did she?"

Jax's face brightened. "No, she didn't. She actually said yes. Should I.." He looked to the drawer where I knew he'd stashed Mum's ring.

"Mate, I'm not going to stop you if you want to go on with the madness."

He looked surprised. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really. It worked for Dad, who's to say it wouldn't work for you, too."

Seriously, I was done messing in his life. If Anne had accepted an unintentional marriage proposal, who was I to stand in the way of a real one? I'd tried to force my views on my brother plenty already in the love department and it had made everyone miserable.

"No, dude, you do whatever your heart tells you is the right thing," I said, holding my hands up in defeat and grinning like a madman.

I hadn't seen Jax this ridiculously happy in... Well, I couldn't even remember.

The door opened.

"Cass, what did I- Aunt Celia..." I stammered, jumping off my bed.

Thank God I'm wearing a long-sleeved top, I thought.

She looked around our room in disgust. In all the years we'd been at Netherfield, I couldn't remember one time that Aunt Celia had come to the dorms. In fact, I was hard-pressed to remember a time she'd been anywhere at the school that wasn't the ballroom or boardroom.

"Aunt Celia, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Jax asked.

She gave me the biggest stink eye I'd ever seen.

"Is...uh, everything okay?" I asked.

"I will speak to you about Lily Brewer."

"I'll leave you to it," Jax said, starting to sidle towards the door.

I shot him a look that clearly begged him to stay, and his return look told me there was no way in hell he was. Until, Aunt Celia spoke again.

"Jackson, you will stay for this. You will benefit from this conversation as much as your brother."

Jax dropped onto the bed and we waited for her to speak.

Finally, she cleared her throat. "I have just been conversing with Lily."

"You've done what?"

"She is a truly vulgar girl. After Amanda came to see me the other day, I began to worry that the ring she'd taken was not, after all, intended for Fleur."

Shit, Amanda had done what?

Jax and I shared a look, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"I waited a few days, mindful of what you said about a surprise, then met with Fleur. She assured me she had neither spoken to you nor had an offer of marriage from you. Naturally, I put two and two together, realising Amanda had lied to me and you intended the ring for Lily, instead. Well, I set out immediately to confront the conniving little madam. You can imagine my disgrace and disappointment when Lily told me she had no intention of rejecting you-"

"I beg your pardon?" I interrupted, earning me another stink eye.

Aunt Celia gave me a scathing look. "Indeed. I informed her you were going to marry Fleur, and that your mother's ring would be Fleur's. Lily all but told me she would marry you against the wishes of the whole world."

I saw Jax grin and my brain went into overdrive.

Our aunt sighed. "I tried to convince her the match was a terrible one, but she persisted in her disagreement. Telling me she wouldn't stop a trifling thing like your mother's wishes to stand in the way of her happiness."

"Her happiness?" I asked.

"Oh, Austin, really you must see she's not the right girl for you!"

"She's a good person, Aunt Celia, and I won't hear you say anything more against her."

Aunt Celia actually looked flustered for a moment. "Well, you'll think less of her when you hear what she said to me!"

I rolled my eyes. "And, what did she say to you?"

"She told me to have...sexual relations with myself."

"The fact that Lily would not have used those words makes me doubt your story."

Aunt Celia drew herself up. "She wished me a happy go feck myself."

Jax and I both snorted.

"That, I believe," Jax said.

"Ooh! You will do well to remember yourself, Jackson! Austin, you will not give Lily Brewer your mother's engagement ring!"

"No," I said quite cheerfully, "Jax's giving that to Anne Macklin."

Aunt Celia's look of triumph turned to disbelief.

Jax shrugged. "Well, I'm thinking about it. I might...I probably will...yes, okay, I'm going to give Anne Mum's ring."

"What?"

"You're a splendid shade of purple, Aunt Celia," I commented dryly.

I could practically see the fumes shooting out her ears. She took a moment to compose herself, the smiled at me without any humour or affection. "Then, you can't be thinking of marrying her."

"On the contrary, I'll do what I like when I like. I just won't be giving her Mum's ring."

"Good luck paying for a ring, I'll make sure your bank accounts are inaccessible!"

I laughed. "Firstly, I have Amanda's birth mother's ring, so I'll be grand, thanks. Secondly, we're eighteen now, Aunt Celia; you have no power over our money or any other assets now."

"You will regret this, boys," she said and swished out of the room.

"Bu-bye." Jax and I waved, then broke into giggles.

When we'd calmed down, Jax looked at me scarily seriously.

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"Proposing to Lily."

I thought for a moment. "I don't know, man. It's quite possible that I did."

"We can have a joint wedding!"

"Jesus, dude. I have only just stopped thinking you proposing to Anne now isn't ridiculous, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"You do know a wedding usually follows a proposal right?"

"Ha ha, yes. It just doesn't have to be thought about just yet. Especially when neither of us has been accepted."

"Well, you haven't," he replied, looking very pleased with himself.

"Yeah, I'm not sure an accidental proposal really counts, mate."

"No, you might be right..."

"Are we planning the real one now?"

He grinned at me, then nodded.

"Ugh, fine, but I'm not doing anything involving flash mobs or fancy dress, okay?"

"Would you consider playing the guitar?"

"What, you want me to do the wooing?"

"Hm...yeah, good point. You could teach me guitar?"

"That could take a while..."

We spent I don't even want to know how long on proposal ideas. Eventually, Jax decided leaving it for a little while was best, since he didn't want to rush the planning stage.

"It has to be perfect!" Jax said.

"Honestly, I think the whole 'yes' answer would make it as perfect as it needs to be."