A Dangerous Courtship
Page 14
THE BEGINNING
EPILOGUE
After a short engagement, Darcy and Elizabeth, and Colonel Fitzwilliam and Jane, were married in a dual ceremony performed outside the family church near Longbourn on Saturday, April 13, 1811. The weather was warm and it was a beautiful day as many attended. The cousins each stood up for the other and the same applied to the sisters. Following the wedding and a private wedding breakfast, the two couples returned to live in town.
The weddings were such a grand affair and all were happy the weather cooperated because so many people attended and the church was not big enough. Each family was well represented, with relatives and friends and many officers and friends of both men. The Gardiners were the first to be invited and arrived a few days before the wedding to help the family. Mr. Bingley and his fiancee attended as did Doctor Williams and Doctor Jones. Mrs. Pierce attended along with Mr. Jennings and Mr. Adams.
Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam’s Aunt Catherine did not attend. She would not let go of her silly notion that her daughter, Anne, and Darcy, would one day marry, so when Darcy’s uncle told of the wedding, she refused to attend and neither did Anne.
Lord and lady Matlock had earlier blessed the marriage and before that, Richard Fitzwilliam had introduced Miss Jane Bennet to his brother, who also blessed the marriage. Less than a month later, the brother died and Colonel Fitzwilliam resigned from the army. He then took the title of Viscount. A week later, Charles Bingley married Miss Baxter in town.
The following year the Darcys spent their first Christmas as man and wife at Longbourn as did Jane and Richard Fitzwilliam. Three weeks later, Elizabeth celebrated the birth of their first child, a boy, early in January of 1812 and two days later, Jane had a son. Elizabeth named her son Thomas after Mr. Bennet and Jane named her son after Richard. Every Christmas for the next four years, the extended families joined at Longbourn.
Three years later Georgiana had fallen hard in love with an earl and they were married at Pemberley in June, a year after they met. That wedding was also a grand affair and all the extended families attended. Georgiana would later have a daughter and the following year a son and two years later she delivered twins, a boy and a girl. She was well pleased that she finally had the large family she had wished to have.
Marry had met a man who was studying law and they had married two years after her sisters but they had not yet started a family. Kitty, who married a year after Mary, already had a son and was pregnant again. Lydia had recently become engaged to an officer in the army and was living at Longbourn.
Mr. Thomas Bennet and Mrs. Bennet were never as happy as when they visited with their children and grandchildren. Mr. Bennet particularly enjoyed visiting Darcy House and Pemberley and perusing the great library and reading to his grandson, Thomas, who already showed a strong interest in reading and listening to stories.
Mrs. Bennet had become more serious, and along with Mr. Bennet, they saw their daughters grow in maturity much as their own relationship grew closer. They particularly enjoyed their spring visits at Pemberley, where Mr. Bennet would read in the great library when he was not visiting with his Lizzy and the others.
The Darcy’s saw the Gardiners the most and Darcy and his sister developed a strong friendship with the family and all the friends remained very close.
Ten years after their marriage, Elizabeth and Darcy had a total of five boys and three girls and Jane and Richard had three boys and three girls. The Bennets finally had the boys they had hoped for earlier.
Late one night at Pemberley in Darcy’s study, Elizabeth asked her husband when he first recognized he might love her.
“Elizabeth, I believe I was done in when you told me that I had given up on trying to go through that door opening at the dance.”
“Yes, William, it took you some time to discover that we could get along much better going together as opposed to one another.”
“And what about you, my dearest Elizabeth?”
“There were many moments when I felt I loved you, but the first time I knew for sure was when I first saw you at Longbourn when mama was sick. When I came downstairs and found you at our home speaking with my sisters when my mother was sick. That was when I knew I loved you and always would.”
“Then be assured, you will aways have my love.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are extended to Word-2-Kindle.com for providing my cover and helping me with my formatting and to my husband for his understanding and for putting up with my many hours working on this story.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my best friend, my husband. Thank you for coming into my life.