Reunited: Love Remains, #3

By Meg Osborne

Captain Frederick Wentworth has learnt to his cost that he loves Anne Elliot and always has: though it took the threat of losing her to illness and then to another suitor for him to realise the truth of his feelings. When he is invited, with his brother Edward, to spend Christmas in Somerset with his sister, he is delighted to find Anne will be spending the season with her own sister, in nearby Uppercross, rather than at Bath as he had assumed.

Anne is eager to learn whether the affection Frederick once had for her remains, as she has dared to hope it might. 

Free of the threat of other attachments, they might admit their true feelings and embark on a future together, if only the busy Christmas season and interfering friends and family will allow them to!

Reunited is the final book in the three part Love Remains novella series, a variation on Jane Austen's Persuasion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Meg Osborne
• Release date: Dec 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386773481

Meg Osborne

Meg Osborne is an avid reader, tea drinker and unrepentant history nerd.  She writes sweet historical romance stories and Jane Austen fanfiction, and can usually be found knitting, dreaming up new stories, or adding more books to her tbr list than she'll get through in a lifetime.

Book preview

Chapter One

W ell, Anne, I suppose you are glad to be settled at last with no more removals on the horizon, Charles Musgrove said with a cheerful smile one morning, a few days after Anne had returned to lodge with them at Uppercross cottage.

I am very glad indeed! Anne admitted, with relief. I cannot tell you how unsettling it has been to be always moving.

Well, you needn’t have stayed so long at Kellynch Hall, Mary said, from across the breakfast table. She reached for the jam and began, methodically, to spread a thick layer on a slice of bread. I dare say it was kind of Admiral and Mrs. Croft to offer to house you there while you recovered from your illness, but we could just as easily have had you here.

There was a disappointed tone in her sister’s voice, and Anne hurried to placate her.

It was not intended to slight you, Mary! I was quite sure that, after your commitment to looking after me at Lyme, you were more than ready for some peace and quiet and to be allowed to rest in your own home without still needing to see to me.

Mary nodded, thoughtfully.

Yes, I suppose that is true. My nerves were very much stretched by your taking ill, Anne, for you know I was left quite alone to look after you that whole day that Charles and Captain Wentworth were travelling. It was a sore strain on my constitution, for you know that it is not strong.

Yet you rallied well enough, my dear, once it became clear that Anne would recover, Charles said, hoping to raise his wife’s spirits and succeeding only in earning himself a scornful glance.

By the time her health was ascertained, mine was already strained, Mary said, with a sniff. You know, I scarcely slept a wink until the doctor returned and was able to assure us you would live.

And I am very grateful for your care, Anne raised up and dropped a kiss on her sister’s cheek. And to let me come back here and spend Christmas with you, sister, I cannot express how happy I am to be here.

And we are happy to have you here, aren’t we, Mary? Charles fell to eating his hearty breakfast with relish, evidently considering the conversation well enough finished.

Mary did not share his opinion and brightened visibly at the mention of Christmas.

Yes, how wonderful it will be to have a guest for the festive season. Of course, you know that Mrs. Musgrove up at the house tends to dominate with her parties, and we all must fall in line with her plans. I agree they are jolly affairs, but I shall be glad to have you here with us to make our small family celebrations a little more exciting.

That’s right, Charles said, pausing his meal to chip in once more. And the boys are delighted to have their aunt with them.

I gather this Christmas will be altogether different, Anne said, after a moment of companionable quiet. For Captain Wentworth, and his brother too, are to be lodging at Kellynch with Admiral and Mrs. Croft. She smiled, recalling her friend’s enthusiasm as she spoke of their plans. Mrs. Croft seemed utterly delighted at the prospect of having both of her brothers - and Edward’s new wife, she is Mary, too! - staying with them for the season.

I dare say they have not often been all together, with Captain Wentworth’s career at sea, and Mr. Wentworth’s curacies ensuring he stay in a certain place for a year at a time.

I wonder his current parish do not wish him to be on hand for Christmas services, Mary observed, with something bordering on criticism.

I believe there is a retiring incumbent there at present who begged for the chance to spend one last Christmas delivering the services, Anne said, repeating what Sophia had told her. And so Edward is free to travel back to Somerset. She chuckled, remembering something else Sophia had confided in her a few days previously. His sister thinks he is eager to inspect his old parish of Monkford and see what their new curate is getting up to, but I am sure his motivations are not so nefarious. Doubtless, he is eager to be reunited with his sister and brother, and introduce everyone to his new wife.

Well, whatever his reasoning, it will be pleasant to have some new people at Mrs. Musgrove’s Christmas party. I dare say we all grow tired of talking with one another, we are so often together and with little enough excitement to prompt new topics of conversation.

Surely we have had quite enough excitement this past month, Mary, Anne said, with a smile. I know I have.

"Oh, indeed, but I mean, for a party. One likes to talk to new people, and there are so rarely new people here in Somerset, particularly in the winter. Everyone goes abroad. Mary fixed her husband with a haughty glance. And if we are not permitted to join them in Bath, then at least there may be something different here at home to offer us a little interest."

Charles wriggled uncomfortably in his seat, and Anne hurried to think of a new topic, to spare her brother-in-law from Mary’s evident irritation at being denied the opportunity to visit Sir Walter and Elizabeth in Bath that winter. Anne knew, had she gone on to Bath, that Mary’s arguments would have been entirely irresistible to Charles, who was not immune to the charms of the town. She also knew that the Musgrove home could hardly stand another upheaval, particularly not over Christmas, and so she was glad to help them to embrace the quiet country Christmas she so longed for.

It will be lovely to have him and his brother back in Somerset, Anne observed, clinging to the relatively safe topic of the returning Wentworths, for although part of her would give anything to avoid discussing Frederick, another, greater, part of her longed to discern more of his movements from his friends. She knew he had struck up a close friendship with Charles and wondered what her brother-in-law would know of their return to Kellynch. Did you know Edward?

Charles shook his head.

I never met him when he was here before, though by all accounts he is a good man. If his brother and sister are anything to judge by I don’t doubt he will be a nice addition to our party. He chuckled. We shall be quite a large group now. How pleasant that Mama and Father still seem so eager to host us all for a party. What a shame that Benwick could not be prevailed upon to stay longer!

He could hardly stay here! Mary protested. Not with Anne’s return. They might have found him a room at the big house if they had truly wished for him to stay, but I don’t doubt he was eager to return home to Lyme. She sighed. Captain Wentworth, too, I expect, is eager to return home to Kellynch.

Yes, poor fellow! Charles said. He has barely slept in the same bed twice this past month!

Anne felt a rush of concern that she had been the cause for Frederick's nomadic lifestyle this past little while and wished there was some way she could make up for the inconvenience she had caused everyone.

Charles, Mary, what are your plans for the day? she ventured, as their meal began to draw to a close. I thought I might engage the boys in a few winter activities if that will not undermine your ideas. I want to make some decorations, and am going to employ them for foraging in the grounds of Uppercross! Her eyes twinkled.

That sounds like a nice diversion, Charles said. So long as they don’t go climbing any trees, eh? He chuckled, trailing off when he noticed a sharp glance from his wife.

I could do with some fresh air myself, Anne, perhaps I will join you, Mary said. "Yes, and we might walk up to the big