by C. P. Odom
The snows relented in the days that followed, and the guests gradually departed to their homes. The Bingleys were first to depart, and Darcy had the satisfaction of seeing his sister and his wife exchange an embrace and a kiss on the cheek before Georgiana and her husband boarded their coach. The embrace was undeniably stiff and formal, yet it showed a vast improvement over their previous relationship.
Only after the departure did he learn from his wife of another private gathering—one involving Elizabeth, Georgiana, and Caroline Bingley. In this second assembly, as in the first, unwelcome truths were faced and resolutions made to amend behaviour, but the person making the promises was Miss Bingley, and she made them to Mrs. Darcy.
Georgiana forced the meeting, during which Caroline had to endure the mortification of confessing her many machinations against Elizabeth and Jane, admissions necessitated by Georgiana’s stringent demand that Caroline either change her ways or be banned from the Bingley and Darcy households.
Caroline had never had occasion to meet Lady Catherine de Bourgh, but if she had, she would have easily recognised the iron determination exhibited by her sister-in-law. Georgiana’s demeanour was unlike any Caroline had ever witnessed, and she had no doubt what would be her due if she did not do as commanded.
The Reynolds party left the day after the Bingleys, and both Mrs. Reynolds and her husband were well pleased at being received so hospitably and being able to see their families again.
Mrs. Reynolds embraced Elizabeth warmly, thanking her for such an enjoyable visit, though she did say she wished she could also have said good-bye to Lady Fitzwilliam.
“But it seems she has not been seen since the day of the wedding,” she said slyly. “I do hope all is well with her.”
“Pray do not worry about Jane. Our concern should be more appropriately given to her husband.”
Both ladies laughed gaily, and Darcy and Captain Reynolds shared the glance husbands exchange when their wives are sharing confidences. Both families promised to visit again since it was plain that all parties greatly enjoyed each other’s company, and the distances would not be a severe problem, especially when the weather moderated.
“After all,” Elizabeth said as the family boarded their coach, “as my husband often says, we are an easy distance apart, for what is fifty miles of good road?”
This last comment received a somewhat uncomprehending look from Captain Reynolds and his wife though it was evident both Darcys found it highly amusing.
The Matlock party left a few hours later, deciding to take advantage of a moderation in the weather rather than wait for their son and his new wife to emerge.
“Please look after my son, Elizabeth,” Lady Matlock said as the servants bustled out the door with the luggage for the entire party. “I cannot tell you how happy I am he has finally decided to settle down.”
“I feel the same about Jane,” Elizabeth said with a smile.
“Dorothea and I watched everything with great enjoyment,” Edward Fitzwilliam said, “especially when Darcy produced that special license. Very entertaining.”
With this comment, the party descended to board their coaches and departed in good humour.
The last to leave were the Gardiners, who left on the following day, having decided to take advantage of the improved weather rather than to stay until after the new year as they originally intended.
“It was a delightful visit, Lizzy,” Mrs. Gardiner said, embracing her niece just inside the front door before venturing out into the cold. “I am pleased to see you and Darcy so happy. And to see Jane married! I am almost too happy. Now, if we could only have said goodbye to Jane and her husband—”
All of them shared a laugh at the comment, for Jane and Richard still kept to their rooms though they had sent notes to those departing, begging their forgiveness and promising to visit all of them soon.
“They must come downstairs eventually, you know,” Darcy said.
“Yes,” Elizabeth said wickedly in a whisper only the adults could hear. “I am sure Jane will return Richard’s clothing to him at some point.”
Epilogue
In early May of the following year, an express was received at Pemberley from Mrs. Bennet, who wrote to inform her daughters that her husband had passed on in his sleep the previous night. Her words were incoherent, but Elizabeth and Jane were able to discern most of the information therein and were not surprised by the news. In her previous letters to her daughters, Mrs. Bennet had written how hard the winter had been on their father. Mr. Bennet had not mentioned his declining health in the two short letters he had penned to Elizabeth but had emphasised his contentment in knowing that his family would be provided for, no matter what happened.
However, the provision of Mr. Bennet’s agreement with Darcy was not implemented for some time. It was nearly three months before Mr. Collins arrived to take possession of Longbourn, and whether he would have acted to evict Mrs. Bennet and her daughters was rendered moot by his wife, Charlotte.
“Mrs. Bennet has had the management of this estate for most of my life, and I will not see her and her daughters forced to depart before she is ready. Eliza’s husband made provision for their security, but it will take some time for Mr. Philips to put everything in order. They are welcome to stay at Longbourn until that time. Do you understand me, Mr. Collins? I will not have it otherwise—not at all!”
The stunned Mr. Collins never recovered from the shock, and his dream of becoming master of his own house quickly dissipated under the shrewd and forceful management of his wife. That worthy woman had been biding her time, concealing her plans from Lady Catherine de Bourgh as well as from her husband. Her ladyship’s erstwhile and weak-willed parson gradually and dejectedly was forced to the unwelcome realization that he had only traded one mistress for another, and events in the coming years proved one no less unyielding than the other.
It was thus some six months before Mrs. Bennet departed to the establishment designed for her and her two daughters in Meryton a short distance from her sister. She was thus easily able to walk to see Mrs. Philips whenever she had a letter to share from Mrs. Darcy or Lady Fitzwilliam. And, with a carriage at her disposal, she was well able to visit around the neighbourhood and pass on all the news of her two well-married daughters.
Mary was quite content to stay with her mother, for Darcy’s solicitor on his specific instructions had provided an excellent pianoforte as well as a modest but well-stocked library in which to satisfy her interest. She had little attraction for social events except insofar as they might offer her an opportunity to exhibit.
She also had little interest in matrimony and most likely would have become a spinster had not her fortune of ten thousand pounds attracted the notice of the new parson at the Longbourn chapel when Mary was twenty-six. Since the parson was chosen by Charlotte rather than her husband, he possessed at least a modicum of intelligence and sense, and Charlotte managed to subtly inform him about Mary’s studious nature and the dowry established by her brother. Reverend Mayhew lost no time in stopping by Mrs. Bennet’s apartments for a pastoral visit, and Mrs. Bennet similarly lost no time in urging Mary to entertain them on the pianoforte. Their match was finalised nine months later, leaving Katherine the sole unmarried Bennet sister.
During this time, Kitty spent little time with her mother. Elizabeth invited her to visit at Pemberley, and she spent her days between that estate and the Fitzwilliam town house in London. An effort was made to improve her character and weak will by her two sisters; without Lydia to oppose such lessons, Kitty eventually discarded her affinity for scarlet uniforms and learned to control her impulses. Years later, she married a business associate of her uncle Gardiner and produced six children. As with her mother, all were daughters.
While Georgiana made her apologies to Elizabeth, the two of them never achieved the friendship Darcy would have wishe
d. They did manage, however, to establish a degree of cordiality that reduced discord whenever the two families had occasion to gather.
Bingley had no inkling that Elizabeth and Georgiana were anything other than dear sisters though he could not mistake the strained relations between Caroline and his wife that continued for several years until Caroline eventually married one of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s fellow officers.
With her own fortune and her husband’s income, they were able to settle in a small but stylish home in the west side of London. Caroline longed to become a prominent member of London society but gradually realised such an ambition was simply beyond her means. The realization had been bitter at first, but it led to a good result; she was persuaded to make her peace with all of her sisters: Georgiana, Elizabeth, and Jane. She and her husband were often invited to social events at the Darcy, Bingley, and Fitzwilliam homes as well as visits to Pemberley.
As for Lydia, none in the family ever found out exactly what happened to her. General Sir Richard Fitzwilliam was able to discover that she married an actor in a travelling troupe and departed with him to America, taking her young son with her.
Lydia herself never contacted any of her relations. Both Elizabeth and Jane were saddened, but they comprehended how much Lydia’s self-obsession had cost them and their family. The sisters were well aware that it might have been much worse, and they took every opportunity to thank their aunt and uncle Gardiner, who had been so instrumental in bringing about the happiness and security of so many loved ones.
Both Jane and Elizabeth flourished in their marriages, and such was their enjoyment of the close intimacies of married life that both had numerous children, Elizabeth five and Jane six. Their families were marked by a degree of health unusual for the time since all their children survived childbirth and lived into adulthood. Their friends complimented their good fortune, but Darcy was adamant that much of the credit belonged to Dr. Douglas, who had treated both their families for years.
Both sisters were secure in the love of their husbands and the respect of their friends and family. The Darcys were popular hosts about the neighbourhood and entertained with dinners and an occasional ball. The Fitzwilliam family usually joined them in the summer when London became unpleasantly hot, odiferous, and distinctly unhealthy.
Most of the family came together to enjoy Christmas, whether at Pemberley, Matlock, or in town. At such times, Mrs. Bennet was so dazzled by being in company with such fashionable families that she was uncharacteristically struck dumb and could only listen and attempt to keep herself from going distracted.
The occasions when the Darcys and Fitzwilliams could be together were special sources of happiness, for both sisters and the two cousins had shared so many common experiences. The society at such times was marked by a high degree of laughter and shouts of glee from their children.
Finis
About the Author
By training, C. P. (Colin) Odom is a retired engineer, born in Texas, raised in Oklahoma, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. Sandwiched in there was a stint in the Marines, and he has lived in Arizona since 1977, working first for Motorola and then General Dynamics. Colin raised two sons with his first wife, Margaret, before her untimely death from cancer, and he and his second wife, Jeanine, adopted two girls from China. The older of their daughters recently graduated with an engineering degree and is working in Phoenix, and the younger girl is heading toward a nursing degree.
Colin has always been a voracious reader and collector of books, and his favorite genres are science fiction, historical fiction, histories, and in recent years, reading (and later writing) Jane Austen romantic fiction. This late-developing interest was indirectly stimulated when he read his first wife’s beloved Jane Austen books after her passing. One thing led to another, and he now has five novels published: A Most Civil Proposal (2013), Consequences (2014), Pride, Prejudice, and Secrets (2015), Perilous Siege (2019), and A Covenant of Marriage (2019).
Colin retired from engineering in 2011, but he still lives in Arizona with his family, a pair of dogs (one of which is stubbornly untrainable), and a pair of rather strange cats. His hobbies are reading, woodworking, and watching college football and LPGA golf. (The ladies are much nicer than the guys as well as being fiendishly good putters.) Lately, Colin has reverted to his younger years and taken up building plastic model aircraft and ships—when he can find the time!
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