by Kate Speck
Elizabeth wiped her eyes, “You are the most generous man I know. I love you with all of my heart and I am yours and you are mine forever.”
Darcy smiled, “I have one more surprise for you. I know you cannot ride yet but I have purchased a beautiful filly for you when you can eventually ride out with me. You still have yet to see all of Pemberley and the best way to enjoy it is on horseback. She is waiting for you in the stables if you would like to meet her.”
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck. “You are the best of men. I would love to meet my horse. I have found you most handsome when I see you on your stallion and I hope to ride alongside you after the babe arrives. Thank you, William. Thank you for all your love. I do not have a gift for you but I will shower you with my attentions later. You are the best of husbands!”
They both leisurely walked to the stables and laughed together while playing with the beautiful grey. Darcy and Elizabeth knew that even through their stubbornness and many arguments, their love was eternal and their happiness was not mere chance but took great efforts to show each other how much they loved each other daily. They maintained their priority to be the other above all else and no amount of power or wealth would tempt them to do otherwise.
~*~
One month later, Elizabeth gave birth to a healthy, wailing son and Darcy beamed his brightest smile. He celebrated the birth of his heir but told his wife that since she had done her duty to have a son, she was free to have as many daughters as she wished.
The Darcys did have two daughters followed by two more sons and each one were given noble names that they had both agreed upon.
Elizabeth had a full and uneventful recovery and Mr. Bennet absolutely poured all of his love onto his first grandson when they visited Hertfordshire and Jane and Bingley also celebrated the birth of their heir in April.
Mrs. Bennet had fretted and flustered throughout Jane’s labour and when the time came to be useful, it was Elizabeth who had to order her mother out of the delivery room and Kitty Bennet had assisted the midwife while Lizzy cared for Jane. Lydia consoled her mother in the drawing room but told her that under no circumstances should she ever attend another birth and that she would be barred from her own future deliveries.
Bingley was immensely proud of his beautiful wife who had screamed and yelled at him more during this pregnancy than the rest of their lives put together, and he showered her with new jewels and two dozen dresses for giving him a son so quickly. He wrote to his sisters of the new Bingley heir and although it would take many more years, the Bingley siblings reconciled for the sake of their children knowing each other and growing up together. The Bingleys had another son and one daughter and lived contentedly, each being so complying with everything resolving quickly and never exceeding their income.
Louisa Hurst had two daughters before finally having a son, and Mr. Hurst made sure to hire the best governesses and tutors so that his children would not become spoiled brats like his wife and sister-in-law. He eventually realised how precious his daughters were and that they were good, sensible girls, and that his son was the one who needed firmer discipline. Seldomly venturing out to London, the Hursts lived serenely in their countryside home and learned to be more tolerant with each other.
Caroline spent a full month in York before returning to her husband but was sent back for three more months after she continued her horrid mistreatment of the servants and attempted to control her husband. After the three-month banishment, she returned to London with child and delivered a daughter six months later. Due to Mr. Dalcy’s impermeable resolution to improve her behaviours or risk permanent banishment to York with no more funds at her disposal, Caroline Bingley Dalcy finally learned to temperate her manners and to be kinder to the servants. She thoroughly despised that the servants preferred Mr. Dalcy’s mistress to herself and after seeing that Miss Darling spoke softly and was generous to those beneath her station, she soon began to emulate the young woman and followed her examples.
Surprisingly, Miss Darling and Caroline developed a deep friendship where they assisted each other through difficult times of loneliness, and after Mr. Dalcy’s contract ended with his mistress, they remained friends for decades, even after Miss Darling married her last patron and became cousin to Lady Jersey.
Mary indeed married Sir John and became Lady Metcalfe, spending most of her time with Dowager Lady Metcalfe and counselling Anne de Bourgh in managing Rosings Park. Anne, even with her weak constitution, surprised all of her neighbours and lived to the age of one and forty, with her friends at her bedside and many mourning the loss of a great mistress.
The biggest loss was felt by Mr. Collins, who with his wife Charlotte’s many years of guidance and subtle pressure to behave as a godlier parson, cried profusely at the grand lady’s funeral. Lady Catherine had passed away three years after being banished to the dower house and losing all of her family and friends, and the parish flourished with Charlotte and Miss de Bourgh’s gentle hand. The Collinses were dearly missed when they retired from the parsonage to take their place in Longbourn with their two sons several years later.
Mr. Bennet lived to be a ripe eighty years old, spending much of his time travelling between his daughters’ various homes. The Bingleys had moved to their own estate located twenty miles from Pemberley and he and Mrs. Bennet spent every Christmas with the Darcys and the Bingleys, whether in Derbyshire or London. With Darcy’s advice, Mr. Bennet finally forgave Mr. Collins and taught him to be a respectable master of Longbourn, and with the newfound leisure of his time, he took his wife to travel to Scotland and Ireland to enjoy their retirement.
Even after his wife predeceased him only three years before his own passing, he continued to read as many books as possible and spent time with his precious grandchildren when he was not in the magnificent Pemberley library.
Kitty married also a Mr. Metcalfe, although he was a cousin to Sir John but had £4,000 a year and fell madly in love with Lady Metcalfe’s younger sister. They married after a whirlwind of a one-week courtship and then a three-week engagement.
Lydia married the love of her life, Lieutenant Denny, at the age of three and twenty. Her parents did allow her to come out after she turned eighteen, but after spending many months with the Darcys and learning from Georgiana Darcy on how to comport herself as a lady, she declined several offers and waited until Denny was able to inherit his father’s estate of £2,000 a year. They had been in love for several years and although Lieutenant Denny proposed to Lydia ten times before she finally accepted him due to his financial situation, Lydia always joked that Mr. Darcy had proposed to Lizzy a hundred times more and that she was worth the wait.
Georgiana surprised everyone who knew her by falling madly in love with an older man of fifteen years, and although her brother was initially hesitant, Darcy finally consented and Georgiana became Viscountess after she married her cousin Robert Fitzwilliam.
After the viscount’s first wife died during childbirth, Robert finally understood his deficiencies as son and husband and determined to change his ways. After spending several months with the Darcys and flourishing his friendship with the once-stoic cousin, he fell in love with the young Georgiana Darcy who was one and twenty at the time and pursued her relentlessly for three years until she finally loved him in return.
Richard and Miss Grey were finally able to marry a year after the colonel proposed to her and when Anne de Bourgh passed, she had willed Rosings to her cousin and the Fitzwilliams became exceptional owners of the estate. The Darcys had continued their tradition of visiting Rosings every Easter after Anne took place as mistress, and the Fitzwilliams and Darcys gathered yearly to continue their friendship and to raise their children together as close as brothers and sisters.
~*~
Darcy and Ellie had only one absolute rule in their marriage, and it was to consider the other’s view before making decisions that would affect them both. They never spent the night apart and even if furiously angry with each o
ther, and they spoke about it and came to a compromise, even if it was a temporary truce.
Their marriage grew stronger as result and they were able to counsel their family and friends of what they learned from it, teaching them patience and compassion, especially when it came to raising their children.
Darcy always gifted his wife the best his money could provide, but the grandest celebration was reserved for November twenty-seventh, as it was the most significant date in Darcy’s life, when he had begun his unconventional courtship with the woman of his dreams and fell completely head over heels in love with her.
Elizabeth reminisced the same day as the first time Darcy had spoken his words of love to her and they both treasured that day above all birthdays and anniversaries.
They often wondered what would have happened if Elizabeth had remained in Hertfordshire instead of leaving for London, but they knew it was their destiny to be together, even if different choices might have been made.
November twenty-seventh would always be celebrated as the day they had begun their lives together as partners in life and the innumerable joy that they experienced together. It was all due to the headstrong, prejudiced woman seeking to correct the pride of a taciturn, aloof man, who had once deceived himself that she was tolerable and not handsome enough to tempt him.
Fin