Genres: Austenesque
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In the exciting conclusion of the Pride in Flight Series (The Best Laid Flight Plans and The Flight Path Less Traveled), our dear couple Elizabeth and Darcy have moved to Pemberley to begin their lives together. An outsider to New York society and the affluent world of Darcy, our heroine uses her characteristic drive and wit to begin her marriage and all that comes with him. Helped along by Mrs. Reynolds and a curmudgeonly airplane mechanic, Elizabeth discovers a new path to the civilian flight world. Darcy, ever the hero, supports her and learns to trust her instincts. Fast-paced and dramatic, Came a Flight Gently soars through love, adventure, and intrigue as it races through Reno to the finish.
When Darcy arrived home, late and agitated, he walked into the living room to find Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet seated in front of the fire, deep in discussion over the latest book they had both read. He interrupted to kiss Elizabeth on the cheek and explain his tardiness: a State Department glitch with military passports for one of his Guardsmen deploying the following week had Darcy on the phone for two hours. “It was a pain-in-the ass but probably not as exhausting as driving across the country.” Darcy smiled at his father-in-law sitting across from Elizabeth.
Mr. Bennet’s eyes twinkled. “Apart from feeling a little rump sprung, I am not exhausted in the least. I further educated myself on a wide variety of topics, thanks to podcasts that Kitty showed me how to download and thoroughly enjoyed the drive.”
“Any topic in particular?” Darcy asked before he noticed Elizabeth shaking her head.
“Oh, I quite enjoyed learning about everything from Victorian burial rites to which modern movies passed the Bechdel test. I don’t think I should take up time talking about any topic in length, but I can offer you a list of the various podcasts I enjoyed and, you can learn on your daily commute to and from the office. Never having been blessed with such a thing, I can only imagine the didactic heights one could achieve in fifteen to twenty-minute time slots.”
Darcy was unsure what to say. Was Mr. Bennet being sarcastic, as he often was, or was he serious? His dry nature was much easier to interpret when it was about one of his daughters, but out of his element and discussing podcasts and commutes, Darcy was unsure. He met Elizabeth’s eyes and opened his own wide as if to say, “Help me.”
Elizabeth smiled warmly at him. “Dad, Mary told me about the new booking system before the wedding. How has it been working in the last months?”
Mr. Bennet began talking about the ins and out of the new system, how it had increased bookings and made the reception job much more efficient. Darcy mouthed “thank you” to his wife before interrupting his father-in-law by standing and excusing himself to shower before dinner. Darcy heard a few more sentences about the many changes Mary had made with Mrs. Bennet regarding food choices for vegetarians before he climbed the stairs and moved to his room.
A change of clothes later, Darcy returned to the living room to find Mr. Bennet cozily ensconced in an armchair reading a book and Elizabeth sitting on the couch doing the same. The room was peaceful, and Darcy almost regretted telling them that t he chef had just set out dinner.
“Ah, nothing so helpful as a person with domestic qualities. I’m sorry Lizzy does not offer them up more often.” He raised a pert eyebrow at his daughter.
Together, the three ate a delicious meal of duck breasts with apricot chutney from Pemberley’s chef. Over dinner, Darcy had been told that the Lucases were well, Charlotte had just publicly announced her pregnancy with a gender reveal party (it’s a girl), Bingley was quite busy with work, and Jane may move from kindergarten to second grade next school year, though it would depend on her baby expected in August. Mrs. Bennet had been niggling both Bingleys how Jane needed more than her six-week guaranteed maternity leave in order to properly care for her first, most perfect grandchild.
Not long after they returned to the living room, Elizabeth excused herself with an enormous yawn. “I’m sorry. I would love to stay up with the two of you and chat, but I am tired after physical therapy this morning. I’m off to bed, but I’ll see you in the morning.”
The men said goodnight to Elizabeth, then fell into a conversational lull. Darcy recalled that his favorite quality of Mr. Bennet’s was his ability to maintain a comfortable silence, and then Mr. Bennet cleared his throat…
“Darcy, I want you to know that I try to not insert myself into my daughters’ lives.”
Odd, Darcy thought but said, “Yes, sir.”
“I have always raised Elizabeth as my own and have never wavered from that path in the slightest, and as a result, I see you as my son.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I feel you have a right to know certain things, even though Lizzy seems it unnecessary to communicate it to you herself, which she should.” Mr. Bennet’s voice had a distinctive, disciplinarian tone that Darcy did not know the man possessed.
“Sir, I assure you, Elizabeth and I hold no secrets from each other.” Darcy thought through everything they had told each other over the past months, from his secrets about his sister and Lydia’s unfortunate choice in men to Elizabeth’s parentage. Even through his aunt Catherine’s interference in her life, she had never held back her opinions or concerns.
“I assure you, she does. She loves you, even I can see that, so she doesn’t want to disappoint you.”
“Sir, I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did she tell you something?”
“Absolutely not. Lizzy rarely confides in anyone, so the fact you feel so strongly about the topic means she must trust you entirely. No, I just happen to be longer acquainted with Lizzy and her nonsensical moods.”
Mr. Bennet leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands folded in front of him. “Lizzy is bored. The only thing my Lizzy has ever desired in her life with any passion was to be a pilot. She wanted to be fast and loud. She and Phillip were peculiarly similar that way. I never understood the draw myself, but Lizzy was determined to soar.”
“She was a fantastic pilot.”
“But Darcy, that is the problem. She is a fantastic pilot. In her heart. Despite her injuries and despite her current relationship with the United States Air Force, she is a pilot with every part of her being. This will be a hard road for both of you. You will need to help her grow into something different, something possibly even more unique and individual, to use every talent she has gained in the last twenty-odd years of her life. Meanwhile, she will need to grow, to put herself in the sun and allow herself to be watered into the singular woman you and I know her to be. She is going to be a fine Mrs. Darcy, representing your family and Pemberley Wines. It is a difficult task for anyone—even those society women who seem raised for something like this—but for someone with such a singular vision as Elizabeth, she will need your strength and help every step of the way, and I hope you are ready to provide that.”
Darcy, not for the first time when it came to his wife, felt unsure of himself. “What should I do?”
With a gleam in his eye, Mr. Bennet looked like Santa Claus after a child accepted a new toy. “Give her something. A place. Let her do things.”
“She can do anything she wants,” Darcy exclaimed.
“Of course, she can, but does she know that? Or did you assume that Mrs. Reynolds would continue as she has for the last twenty years? From our brief discussion, it seems Mrs. Reynolds does nearly everything around the house and acts as your personal assistant.”
“She isn’t my personal assistant,” Darcy muttered, starting to see where his father-in-law was leading.
“Did she or did she not prepare a portfolio of doctors and, according to Elizabeth, helped prepare my guest room? Elizabeth has been helping to run an inn since she was born—the woman can flip a room faster than any of her sisters or her mother. I assure you, she didn’t need help to make the bed.”
“Well, I wanted Elizabeth to have the best care, and Mrs. Reynolds has been in the area—”
“You have been relying on Mrs. Reynolds and her services for so long, I don’t think you even realize that with the two of you together there are other options.”
Darcy traced the pattern on the rug with his eyes once more. Mr. Bennet was right. Mrs. Reynolds had replaced his mother in Darcy’s childhood and his father later. Mr. Reynolds had once been there too, but after he died, Mrs. Reynolds had nurtured the Darcy children even more. She had run the house by herself with very little interference from him since he joined the Air Force. He had never viewed Mrs. Reynolds as his mother, but a mother-figure she had become.
“So,” Darcy began, hesitantly, “What do I do?”
Leigh Dreyer is a huge fan of Jane Austen variations and the JAFF community. She is blessed to have multi-generational military connections through herself and her husband, who she met in pilot training. She often describes her formative years in this way: “You know the ‘Great Balls of Fire’ scene in Top Gun (Goose, you big stud!) when Goose and Meg Ryan have their kid on the piano? I was that kid.” Leigh lives with her pilot husband, a plane-obsessed son, a daughter who was a pink pilot for Halloween, and a one-year-old son who is so used to F-16 noise, he does not even startle to sonic booms.
Paul Trockner was an Air Force fighter pilot for twenty-eight years. He flew the F-111, T-37, A-10, and T-38. He currently teaches fighter pilots using simulator instruction. He has been happily married for thirty-six years to his lovely wife Elizabeth. Leigh is the oldest of his five children.
Author Name: Leigh Dreyer and Paul Trockner
Email: leighdreyerauthor@gmail.com
Facebook: Leigh Dreyer
Facebook Page: @leighdreyerauthor
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/leighdreyer
Website: http://www.leighdreyer.com/
