Back To The Past: Jane Austen Eighteen

Jennifer and Jane were looking at Jane's quilt that Jane and her mother had made. Jennifer decided to sneak a peek at Megan and Miles. She silently walked to the living room and saw Megan and Miles kissing. Jennifer smiled and when she turned around, there was Jane. Jane smiled but didn't say anything.

"So should we have some tea?" Jane asked. Jennifer nodded.

Megan and Miles stopped kissing. Miles blushed. "Megan, Dear I will pick you Saturday night for the ball."

Megan kissed Miles cheek. "Until Saturday."

Miles put his hat on and walked towards the door but looked at Megan before he left. He walked out the door.

Jane and Jennifer came into the living room and handed Megan a cup of tea. Megan smiled. "Thanks, I needed that." Jennifer winked.

Mr. Austen and Mrs. Austen came home just then. Jennifer was thrilled. Not. Mr. Austen nodded his usual greeting and he took his luggage and his wife's luggage upstairs.

Jane hugged her mother. "How was your trip, mother?"

"Tiresome. Your uncle is sick and I may have to go back and take care of him. We are going to the ball Saturday night. Your father has left the carriage out. If you girls are ready. Get Cassandra. I wish she would do something besides paint."

Cassandra arrived just then and Megan and Jennifer followed Jane, Cassandra and her mother and got into the carriage.

"Megan, Dear is Miles picking you up for the ball?"

Megan smiled. "Yes, he is."

"I suppose Mr. Kentsworth is picking up Jennifer." Mrs. Austen said.

"He is. I will be the envy of all women." Jennifer's eyes twinkled.

"Nathan and his brother Stanley Hanes want you to dance with you girls at the ball." This statement was directed at Jane and Cassandra. Mrs. Austen approved of these young men.

Jane and Cassandra moaned. "They are nice young men and your father approves of them. We aren't asking you to marry them." Mrs. Austen sighed.

THANK GOODNESS thought Jane and Cassandra.

The rest of the trip to Bath was quiet. The carriage arrived at the dress shop. The shop was huge and somewhat elegant. Jennifer and Megan was glad that Bradley and Miles had said that they would pay for the dresses.

The ladies entered the store. Jane and Cassandra tried on light green dresses that had bows and sashes. They would have been pretty dresses if they had been in another color. Jane's mother had picked out a dark brown dress that was straight and had no frills. Style wasn't their preference.

Jennifer picked out a blue dress that was somewhat low cut and the sleeves came down to the elbows with pearls scattered all over the dress. The dress was shapely and very pretty. Jane wished that she could have a dress like that but father would never approve.

Megan picked out a purple dress with a red bodice and it, too was low cut. There were a few pearls scattered on the dress and a butterfly design on the bodice. Jane's mother didn't approve but Jennifer and Megan weren't her daughters and they would be riding with their escorts so Mrs. Austen sighed. Mr. Austen was a good husband but she wasn't happy. Sometimes you didn't know what kind of man you would end up married, to. Mrs. Austen never spoke her thoughts out loud.

Jane told Megan and Jennifer that they looked very pretty. They told Jane that she did, too. They couldn't hurt her feelings. If it wasn't for Mr. Austen, Jane would wear the kind of dresses that Megan and Jennifer were going to wear.

The dresses were on credit and Bradley and Miles would pay for the dresses as the bills were being sent to them.

The ride home was sunny. A deer almost wandered in front of the carriage but the horses were calm and the deer acted like they were playing Russian Roulette. Megan loved deer and she wanderd if horses and deer ever collided into each other but deer were faster then horses so probably not. In her time era, cars were faster then deer and the poor deer didn't stand a chance.

Jane asked her mother if she could wear one of her cameo chokers and she told her she could. Jennifer and Megan had pearls that they had borrowed from Vicki to wear with their dresses.

The ladies were home and took their dresses up to their room. They heard Mr. Austen and Mrs. Austen talking about them in their rooms three rooms over. The walls were thin.

"I don't mind having guests but the women have been here for quite awhile. I thought they had jobs and that Megan has a husband. She seems too friendly with Miles for a married woman.Do we really want them around our daughters?" Mr. Austen grumbled.

"They are real nice women. Miles is a grown man and it is none of our business what goes on between them. Not all parents raise their daughters like we do." Mrs, Austen was bold.

"After the ball, these ladies will have to leave! My hospitality has over exteneded it's bounds.I won't have my daughters being influenced by ladies with no scruples. These women haven't learned their place. Men rule.Women are to be seen and not heard!" Mr. Austen stormed ouit of the house.

"That old goat! I would like to push him down a well! Better, yet get the moon stone and we will have the gypsies put a curse on him!" Jennifer was so mad.

"Hey, we will move in with Vicki and Bill. Poor Jane. She can come visit us and we will visit her. Thank goodness, Miles and Bradley have more respect for women then Mr. Austen." Megan thought Mr. Austen was a goat, too.

Megan and Jennifer went down to dinner tonight with the Austens and were quiet at the Austen's table. Megan finally spoke up.

"Jennifer and I are will be staying with Vicki and Bill. We will leave Sunday. We need to get back to London."

"We will miss you. You can visit anytime." Mrs. Austen said.

"I will come and visit you at Vicki and Bill's." Jane sweetly said. Mr. Austen dropped his fork against his plate. Probably on purpose.

"We want to stay in touch." Jennifer ate the stew that had been served.

"Of course, we will stay in touch." Jane wasn't about to end her friendship with Megan and Jennifer.

After supper, the ladies did quilting.

"I don't really want to go to the ball. I don't like Stanley Hanes." Cassandra said.

"Cassandra, you can dance with other men. Do you wish to be an old spinster?" Mrs. Austen asked.

"I really don't care. I am happy with things the way they are." Cassandra went back to working on her painting of flowers.

The ladies retired early to bed. Jennifer lauighed. "I can't wait to parade around in my low cut dress. Won't Mr. Austen crap?"

Megan and Jennifer laughed.

It was ten'o'clock and the girls hadn't fallen asleep. yet. The moon was bright asnd Megan looked out the window. Oh no! She saw the wolf!

"Jen! That wolf is here. You don't suppose he bought his vampire friends? "

Jennifer looked out the window. "I hope not."

The wolf left ten minutes later and Jennifer and Megan got to sleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Jane mentioned that she saw a wolf last night.

"If I see him, I will shoot him. He has no business here. What is a wolf doing in this part of England?" Mr. Austen grumbled.

"Just passing through. He may have lost his way." Megan suggested.

"He can go lose his way somewhere else. Is that wolf a pet of yours?" Mr. Austen asked.

"Of course not. Wolves are misunderstood." Megan couldn't tell him that wolves almost became extinct because of being hunted. Since she was part Cherokee, she felt a connection with wolves but she couldn't tell Mr. Austen these things.

Mr. Austen excused himself and said he had business in town and wouldn't be home until tomorrow night when it was time for the ball. Megan and Jennifer thought good. They couldn't wait for the ball. They couldn't wait to move in with Vicki and Bill as well. Life in the past had been an adventure so far.
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