Anne's Aspirations

A "What-If" short story, exploring the potential outcome if Anne Elliot hadn't rejected Captain Wentworth in 1806...

For the purposes of the story, I've played a little fast and loose with Canon dates for certain events.

Lady Russell had been correct when she warned Anne away from a hasty match with Captain Fredrick Wentworth.

He was young, and handsome, and a rising star in the Navy, to be sure. Yet he had no fortune, no notable family or connections beyond a brother who had the living at Monksford, and a sister married to a Rear-Admiral Croft. Captain Wentworth’s fortune might yet be made through prize money from captured enemy ships, but his was a profession of great risk, and uncertain reward.

Lady Russell considered it a dreadful waste. After all, Anne was only ninteen, still in the bloom of youth, and would doubtless have many other opportunities at a far more secure future. Sir Walter barely noticed his second daughter unless he or Elizabeth needed someone to handle the less-appealing and more common aspects of managing Kellynch Hall, but deemed the connection far beneath Anne’s status as the daughter of a Baronet. He did not refuse his consent to the match, but neither did he offer his blessing.

Had Anne’s family and godmother been allowed more time to work upon her, perhaps Anne might have been persuaded away from the match. Mild-mannered, obedient and minded to see goodwill in others, even under the most trying of circumstances, Lady Russell’s persuasion may have even convinced her favourite godchild that breaking the engagement was in her best interests. The future was uncertain enough, without making choices toward insecurity.

In another life, perhaps Anne bowed to outside influence and rejected Captain Wentworth. Perhaps the young couple spent years in recrimination and regret, wondering if they would ever see each other again. Perhaps they reunited, or perhaps they married others.

Happily, this is not that life.

Anne had promised to meet Captain Wentworth the next morning after breakfast, in a grove between Kellynch and Uppercross.

Though she had set out early - Father’s silent indignation at the affront of having one of his daughters courted by a common sailor had made breakfast more of a trial, the last few days - Captain Wentworth was already there, pacing in agitation.

Prey, let it not be news of a family tragedy! The captain’s sister and brother-in-law were on a ship near the East Indies, if Anne recalled correctly, and other than Mr Wentworth at Monksford, were Captain Wentworth’s only family. Anne hurried toward him. “Whatever is wrong?”

Captain Wentworth - she must get used to thinking of him as Fredrick - clasped her hands, a privilege afforded by their new engagement. “I have received word from the Admiralty. They have given me command of the Asp, and I am to report for duty as soon as possible. I promised to marry you before I sailed again, but...”

He broke off, looking wretched, and began to pace again. Anne reached out, taking his hand and forcing him to stop or risk pulling her off her feet. “I understand. I am not opposed to a long engagement, if necessary, as long as I may still be your wife by the end of it. Or I could sail with you, as your sister Mrs Croft does with her husband?”

Fredrick shook his head, “The Asp is a third-rate Ship of the Line, only 74 guns; she is too small for passengers. I could be away for as long as two years.”

Anne lifted her chin. “Then in two years, you will return and we will be wed. It will give your brother time to practice, I am sure.”

Fredrick laughed, and drew Anne into his arms. It felt like coming home, in a way that walking through the doors of Kellynch Hall never did.

Two years is a long time, but for all that Anne needed to accomplish, it seemed like no time at all.

Elizabeth had always been happy to accept the prestige of being Mistress of Kellynch Hall, while leaving the responsibilities of visiting tenants and dealing with merchants to Anne. As a result, Anne knew how to budget for a household, and how to be flexible when unexpected expenses appeared, such as Elizabeth demanding that the modiste visit Kellynch for fittings, rather than going to the village, or Father insisting that the entire carriage be repainted, rather than touching up an affected area. Some of the girls Anne had attended school with had married into situations where they did not have the luxury of a full staff, and Anne had continued the majority of her acquaintances from her time in Bath. She was not entirely ignorant.

But unless Fredrick was unaccountably lucky and made his entire fortune in two years, Anne's life as a married woman would be very different to her one as the middle daughter of a Baronet. Between Anne's Dowry - a respectable 7000 pounds, which Sir Walter had only agreed to release after Anne emphasized how it would appear for a Baronet's daughter to bring no fortune at all to her marriage - and Fredrick's pay, particularly as a Captain, a maid-of-all-work and a cook might be reasonably accounted for, at least until Anne learned some level of proficiency in the kitchen herself. She had approached the cook at Kellynch, but that lady had been far too wary of her employer's reaction to let Anne stay longer than required to go over the week's menus.

It was to be hoped that Lady Russell's affection for her favourite god-daughter would extend to supporting her choice of husband, but such was not to be. Anne could not help but repine the diminished contact with the friend who had been almost a replacement for her departed mother, but found solace in her other friendships, both old and new.

Harriet Smith, the former Miss Hamilton when they had been schoolgirls together, was a faithful correspondent, newly joined by Fredrick's sister, Mrs Croft, whose letters would become more infrequent now that Admiral Croft was to take up a post in the East Indies, and the wife and sister of one of his friends, a Captain Harville of the Naiad.

Miss Fanny Harville found herself in a similar situation to Anne; engaged to a Lieutenant Benswick, who served under Fredrick on the Asp, waiting for fortune and promotion to enable them to marry. In the meantime, she lived with her brother's wife, Mrs Amelia Harville, in Lyme, renting a cottage near the Cobb. Like Anne's beloved Fredrick, Captain Harville's ship would not accommodate a wife or children, so they missed each other dearly when the Captain had command of a ship.

Perhaps once Anne was married and settled - purchasing a house would be well within their means with Anne's dowry, with a good deal left over to invest for the interest - Harriet and Fanny might live with her, or at least visit for a time.

Finally, in the late summer of the year Eight, as soon as the worst of the summer squalls had passed, Fredrick Wentworth returned, safe and healthy, to marry her.

The first year was difficult. Though mistress of her own home - a well sized cottage in Lyme not far from the Harvilles - Anne missed Fredrick dearly. He was assigned to patrol the Chanel that year and ferry supplies to the regiments fighting on the Continent, and was thus able to visit at least a few days each month, even when he had to travel from London to do so.

Harriet, recently widowed and in much-reduced circumstances after her husband had fallen to vice, accepted Anne's offer to stay with her in Lyme, especially now that Anne was expecting.

She had confirmed it only a week ago, and immediately wrote to Fredrick to inform him. It was likely that Fredrick would return to England before the letter made it's way to the Asp, but Anne could not bring herself to wait.

The Asp and the Naiad arrived together, escorting a captured French Frigate, according to the papers.

The papers did not mention that Captain Harville had suffered a gunshot wound to his leg, severe enough that Fredrick hired a carriage to transport them from the harbour, rather than walking. Fanny ran for the apocathary as Mrs Harville helped her husband upstairs. Anne and Fredrick took the children for a short walk together, so they could discuss it out of the Harville's earshot.

Anne broke the silence with happier news. "My younger sister Mary is now Mrs Charles Musgrove. She married the heir to our father's nearest neighbour."

Elizabeth had not been pleased that she was now obliged to give way to both of her younger sisters. Charles and Mary had seemed happy enough with each other, but Anne wondered if it would last, given Charles's love of the outdoors and Mary's dislike of the same. Well, that was for them to concern themselves with, not Anne.

Kellynch... even as little as she had seen of it, it was impossible to ignore the hints at financial troubles, from the drawing room that had not been redecorated since Anne left, to the rumours from the tenants that charity had been less and less, though the Elliots still lived as a Baronet and his family ought.

Fredrick hummed. "I wish them well. Edward wrote to me of it, apparently Lady Russell has been bending his ear since you stopped returning her letters."

Anne frowned crossly; even after Anne had sworn before God and Minister to cleave to Fredrick above all others, her godmother still railed about Anne 'wasting herself' on a mere Naval Captain. "I will return them when she writes of something other than matters which I consider to be long-settled."

Her husband smiled warmly, even as he called for the oldest Harville boy to steer away from the Cobb. "The Naiad's surgeon says that Harville will need a medical discharge. Harville is a frugal man, and a Jack of all Trades as well as a Captain. I am certain they will manage well enough."

That was a relief. "I will be sure to let them know that they are welcome to dinner whenever they wish. But you must tell me of the Frigate you captured! The papers cannot agree on the course of events."

Fredrick laughed, and launched into the tale. He was a gifted storyteller, and the Harville boys scampered back to listen. Anne had no doubt that he indulged in some judicious editing for the sake of young ears, and downplayed the danger for her own sake, yet she was glad that he was able to speak of it.

It was the things Fredrick found himself unable to speak of - like the French slave ship that used it's cargo as human shields in battle, or coming to the aid of a broken-masted ship, only to find its crew maddened beyond help by illness and thirst - that haunted Anne's dreams.

News from the Admiralty came swiftly. The Asp was to be broken down, and Fredrick was to Captain the captured Frigate once it had been re-named and re-painted. Anne would not repine that - the Asp had been on her last legs when Fredrick had first been given the Captaincy of her!

It would mean longer voyages, however, and perhaps more dangerous ones.

The first would not be so bad, transporting convicts to the recently-established Van Dieman's Land and bringing back the retiring Governor of the East Indies. Fredrick hoped to see his sister and Admiral Croft while he was there, claiming it would make up for having to go to Van Dieman's Land in the first place. Anne certainly hoped so, the perils of Cape Horn and the Pacific were not to be underestimated.

It would also be the longest voyage since they married, a voyage of at least six months.

The newly-named Laconia would accommodate the Captain's wife, but a ship was not a desirable place to be while heavily pregnant, nor with a new infant. Perhaps when the child was older.

In the end, Fredrick returned with gifts from the Crofts, including a beautifully carved cradle and a bolt each of muslin and silk - along with Sophia's reassurance that goods were much cheaper when one did not have to consider the cost of paying someone to transport them halfway around the world - and several sketches of the animals he had seen at the new colony. At those, Anne could not restrain laughter. "Fanny will accuse you of making them up, you know."

Her husband smiled. "I refused to believe the artist until I saw them for myself; I shall not begrudge her. That one - " he pointed at the drawing of a tree-dwelling animal, all grey fur and enormous ears that Anne longed to touch, " - is deceptive. It has long and viciously sharp claws, though I would call it a cousin to the Sloth for all it uses them."

Such a soft-looking animal must have some means of defending itself, and of climbing the soaring trees, Anne supposed. She set the drawings aside to look at later, and braced herself to rise, Fredrick instantly moving to help her stand. "It is well that I have one more surprise for you, but they must clear the immigration offices first."

Anne looked up at her husband sharply. They? Surely he had not...

Fredrick patted her hand. "No, my dearest. Mr Hakim was the physician to the Governor's family while he was stationed in the East Indies, though he is originally from Arabia, and very skilled. He expressed interest in seeing more of the world, and I offered him and his family passage, after the Governor mentioned that Mr Hakim had assisted both of his daughters through difficult pregnancies."

Ah. Poor Fredrick; he felt deeply, yet was rarely able to speak of his feelings out loud. He did much better when drawing or writing them down, but showed them most frequently in acts of quiet consideration. Anne squeezed his hand in gratitude, and steered the conversation to less fraught subjects. "Have the Hakims any restrictions on what they eat? I will be sure to mention it to Mrs Mostel."

The Cook had risen to the occasion wonderfully when Anne's pregnancy made her dreadfully adverse to certain foods. Fredrick considered the question, "I will have to ask them. The East Indians do not eat beef, that I know, but Mr Hakim may follow the beliefs of his Ottoman ancestors in avoiding pork."

Lyme boasted a small Jewish community, one of whom ran the nearby bookshop, a moneylender who had been quite generous with Harriet when her husband's creditors came calling, and several more who Anne knew well enough to speak to in the marketplace. Anne was no stranger to quiet adjustments to a menu to accommodate religious requirements. Mrs Mostel was Jewish herself, and it was no hardship for the servant's meals to be... oh, what was the word? Kosher! La, but being with child made Anne positively wool-headed! Anne gave thanks daily that the midwife said she had barely a month to go.

It was well that tonight's dinner was to be chicken, a departure from the more plentiful duck and fish that usually graced their table, in celebration of Fredrick's return. The Hakim family was welcome to join them, if they were able - two passenger ships carrying immigrants fleeing the war on the Continent had arrived in port only hours before the Laconia - and if they could not, they would be welcome another day.

Fredrick's next voyage was to be a short one, transporting supplies to somewhere in Portugal, and bringing wounded soldiers home. It should take no longer than three weeks for him to return, just in time for the birth of his first child.

Those three weeks bore witness to enough activity for three months. The nursery was completed, stocked with all the linens and clothing the child could need. Harriet had been a great help, having a deft hand with knitting and crochet. Her talent in making such items supplemented her income nicely, though Anne would not hear of her leaving for rooms in a boarding house.

Anne's labor pains began in shortly after breakfast. She sent the maid running for Mrs Harville, who had endured the process four times already. Amelia assured Anne that she need not worry until the pains came close together, and it was best to go about her day as normal until the pains increased.

It had been over a year since Anne had seen or spoken to her father or godmother. She had not repined the loss overmuch, and they had been the ones to threaten to cut her when she tied her life to 'a common sailor'. Likely it had been Lady Russell's idea that Father and Elizabeth come visit on their way to a holiday in Bath, in the hopes of seeing Sir Walter's first grandchild.

Anne did not particularly desire their presence, today of all days, but to reject their visit would bring more trouble than Anne was minded to deal with at the present.

"Mary is expecting the next Heir of Uppercross, you know," were Elizabeth's first words once she had seated herself in the small parlour, "so you need not think yourself so very special."

It was fascinating to observe how the Musgroves, who Elizabeth had previously disdained as far beneath her when they were merely the neighbours next in consequence to the Elliots, had increased so much in artificial consequence when the Elliots of Kellynch needed a married connection that they were willing to speak of in company. "Yes, Mrs Musgrove wrote to tell me. Charles's brother Richard serves under my husband on the Laconia, after all, and Mrs Musgrove relies on me for news. Richard has never been much of one for letter-writing."

Pray, let them not stay longer than the polite half-hour! Elizabeth and Papa were her family, yet Anne found herself so much closer with Harriet and the Harvilles. She had never been so very close to her sisters, not since they were all in the nursery together, and neither of them had exerted themselves to return Anne's letters after her marriage. Anne loved them still, but had enough pride that she was unwilling to be the only one making effort to maintain the family bond.

Mrs Mostel brought in tea and queen cakes, and murmured the message that Mr Hakim and his eldest daughter, who assisted him as a nurse, would visit around noon.

She could not have known Father's tendency to question the rank and connections of every person who interacted with their family. As she had done at Kellynch, Anne sipped her tea and waited for the storm to subside. Amelia tried several times to explain, before giving it up as futile. Anne had never been so grateful as the moment when the door opened, interrupting her father's rant at the idea of Anne being attended by a foreigner, and not even a fashionable French doctor.

Fredrick's visage was stern, and his tone brooked no argument. "If Mr Hakim brings Anne and our child safely to term, they may pray twenty times a day if they like! I bid you good day, Sir Walter."

Lady Russell, who had stood by quietly while Anne was berated, finally raised her voice. "We should be leaving, if we are to reach Camden Place before dinner. Farewell, my dear Anne."

There was a dramatic inflection of finality to her tone, as if she expected her god-daughter to beg her to stay, but Anne paid it little heed as another contraction swept through her. "I wish you safe travels, Father, Elizabeth, Lady Russell. My Dear, would you be so kind as to send for Dr Hakim? I think that I shall need him sooner rather than later."

The house burst into a flurry of activity, and the inhabitants of Kellynch departed with little fanfare and less notice.

Miss Jane Wentworth arrived in the world a little after nine in the evening, on the twelfth of September, in the year Ten.

Anne was not as quick to recover from the birth as her daughter was, but with Fanny Harville and Harriet there to assist, and Fredrick determined to be an attentive father, she was sure that her daughter did not lack for attention. The Admiralty was generous, and allowed Fredrick leave until Anne was churched and their daughter Christened.

The year Eleven brought it's own troubles.

Richard Musgrove was killed in action against a Spanish Privateer. As the Musgroves were known to them, and in the hopes of sparing Anne the burden, Fredrick delivered the news to Uppercross personally. Anne accompanied him, bringing Jane with her, though it was unlikely that the girl would remember meeting her cousins. Mrs Musgrove was grateful for the consideration, and wrote almost weekly to ask Anne for any fond remembrances of the younger Musgrove boy.

Dickie Musgrove had been as much trouble at sea as he was on land, though Fredrick had managed to instill some discipline in him over time, and Anne had far fewer kind memories of him than Mrs Musgrove supposed. Finding a kind word for even the most unwanted acquaintance had always been a skill of Anne's, however, and she wrote back faithfully until the letters diminished to one every other month.

It was a year of long voyages, and longer separations. Fanny was invited to visit a friend in Bath, and asked Harriet to accompany her as chaperone, as Anne and Mrs Harville were unable to leave their children at the time. Thus, both of them were caught up in the Fever that swept through the town that year. Lyme was spared, but the two women faced a long recovery, staying in Bath so as not to risk their families.

Anne, expecting her second child the next spring and with a vulnerable infant just crawling, could not object to this, though she worried terribly for Harriet when the fever became rheumatic. Harriet survived, but the ordeal of her illness left her as weak and frail as a woman three times her years. Other than taking the waters, there was little that Bath could provide that Lyme could not, and Harriet returned home shortly before Christmas.

Fanny appeared to have recovered quickly from the fever, and happily set about planning her wedding to Mr Benwick, who had finally achieved the long-awaited promotion to Captain. But tragedy struck mere weeks before the long-anticipated event, when Fanny suddenly sickened again, and died shortly after the New Year. The Harvilles and Wentworths mourned together, but it seemed that poor Captain Benwick would never recover from the loss.

Anne was minded toward simplicity, and declared that her son would be called Freddy at least until he was old enough to object to the diminutive of his name.

1812 proved a kinder time, though the war with Napoleon still raged.

The Crofts returned from the East Indies, and with Admiral Croft nearing retirement, though still as hearty as ever, it appeared that they would stay in England. Mrs Croft proved as excellent a sister and friend in person as she had in her letters, though she only smiled mysteriously when pressed on the matter of the Admiral's odd way of pronouncing her name, closer to 'sapphire' than 'Sophia', refusing to indulge her friends' curiosity.

The Crofts alternated between Lyme and Shropshire, taking advantage of one or the other of Sophia's brothers offering them hospitality while they searched for a place in the Country to rent, interspaced with trips to Bath for Admiral Croft's health.

Fredrick captured two prize ships that year, one a Spanish Bullion ship returning from Florida. The result was a share of prize money that even a Peer would not scorn, though Fredrick was injured in the taking of the second ship. Recovering in Lyme, with an arm that might never be as strong as it had been, he spoke more than once of investing his prize money and retiring on a naval pension, now that his fortune was well and truly made.

In April of 1814, Napoleon was exiled to Elba, and Peace was declared.

Reading it in the Papers, Fredrick raised a playful eyebrow at his wife. "Well, my dear, it seems you shall have to find something else to do with me, though I shall miss my Laconia dearly."

Anne put down her letter from the Crofts, writing from Bath. "Perhaps we might take a trip to Somerset, and let the children experience the Country a little. Sophia says that she and the Admiral met with Mr Shepard, my father's Agent, and made inquiries about leasing Kellynch. They invite us to join them there."

Father had never been frugal, not even when Mama was alive, and a part of Anne wished to have been a fly on the wall when Lady Russell and Mr Shepard - no doubt the driving forces behind the Elliots' Retrenchment - persuaded him to desperate measures before debtor's prison.

It would be nice to walk the halls of her childhood home again, and perhaps Captain Benwick could be persuaded to take some time away with them. If he was ever to recover from losing Fanny - not that Anne had room to preach, with her friend's death still a fresh ache in her heart - he could not do so in the place where they had shared so many memories.

Fredrick finished his breakfast and kissed Anne on the cheek, before seeking his study, "I shall write Sophia directly. Harriet is to Bath in August, I believe? I know you have no desire to return there, so we shall to Somersetshire, instead."

Anne smiled, seeking the primer for Jane and Freddy's lessons. "What adventures we shall have there."