Do you ever wonder about the lives that shaped Jane Austen's characters before their stories began?

England, 1770. Long before Emma Watson's world took shape, two families—one steeped in quiet respectability, the other shadowed by a secret scandal—cross paths in a tale of resilience and unexpected courtship.

For Cassandra Willoughby, a disastrous first marriage left scars she dares not show. Her late husband's gambling, drinking, and infidelities taught her to guard her independence at all costs. For Robert Watson, a country clergyman of steady principles, winning her trust will require patience, sincerity, and the support—or interference—of both their families. With his sense of duty matched by genuine kindness, his feelings prove harder to ignore than she expected.

Their courtship unfolds against the backdrop of two intertwined families: the Willoughbys and the Watsons of Yorkshire. Old friendships, carefully guarded secrets, and the expectations of marriage in Georgian England weave together in a story where trust must be earned and love can alter the course of generations.

Arc One: Courtship and Marriage is the first part of The Watsons Beginnings, a prequel to Refined and Returned, my full-length completion of The Watsons by Jane Austen—an unfinished fragment written circa 1803–1804.

Set more than thirty years before The Watsons, this prequel arc explores family histories, early connections, and the delicate dance of love in an age when marriage could mean safety… or ruin.

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