Epilogue

One Year Later

Pemberley House, Derbyshire

“L izzy, I am here!” Mrs Bennet’s voice echoed through Pemberley’s grand entrance hall.

“I take it your mother has arrived,” Fitz said with a chuckle.

Elizabeth glanced at him. “Do you think so?” she asked, bursting into laughter as they made their way towards the front door. The windows were open to let in the breeze and thus Mrs Bennet’s arrival had been announced to all within earshot.

“I dare say yes,” called Charles as he emerged from the drawing room alongside Jane, who had a distinct glow about her.

“Wonderful,” said Elizabeth, and the foursome made their way to the front door together. The two couples had been anticipating Mrs Bennet’s arrival for the past few days. Determined to attend the birth of Jane’s first child, due in a few weeks, she had announced her intention to travel north and spend the last month before the birth with the Bingleys, who had purchased an estate very close to Pemberley.

She planned to stay for several weeks afterwards. Initially, the sons-in-law had not been certain this was a good idea, but both Jane and Elizabeth were pleased to know their mother would be with Jane.

While Mrs Bennet could be vexing, her nerves had made an almost miraculous recovery now that her two eldest daughters were married to wealthy gentlemen. Though the entailment over Longbourn still loomed like a dark cloud over the family, Fitz—after some consideration, Elizabeth had felt she should call her husband by his true name, though she fondly reminisced over her days with Georgie—was in talks with his aunt to convince her to persuade Mr Collins to break the entailment in favour of the Bennet family. Given that Mr Collins was still mortified over the actions he had taken regarding her husband, Elizabeth felt fairly confident that her cousin would agree sooner or later.

“Not this trunk, this trunk goes to Farnsworth House,” Mrs Bennet’s voice drew her out of her contemplation. “I am just stopping here to see my daughters. Ah, Jane, I should have known you would be here also!” Mrs Bennet said as she rushed over to them. She hugged Jane and Elizabeth, and then curtsied to Charles and Fitz, which was a habit she had not been able to break. Her eyes went to Jane, “Goodness gracious, you should not be travelling in your condition.”

Jane placed a hand on her stomach. “Mama, it is a ten-minute carriage ride from Farnsworth House to Pemberley. I would hardly call that travel.”

“Well, I’ll have no more of this,” she said. “Elizabeth, Mr Darcy, you shall have to come and collect Jane and Mr Bingley from now on.”

“Very well, Mrs Bennet,” Fitz said with a smile.

“You are such good sons-in-law. Both of you are. Much better than that greengrocer,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Can you believe that he will not give me a family discount? Who has ever heard of such a thing?” She shook her head and made her way inside while the foursome smiled at one another. Their sister Kitty had been married all of four months, but already Elizabeth had heard much about the newest Bennet son-in-law. To say that her mother was displeased with Kitty’s match was an understatement. She had been spoiled, of course, by the addition of Charles and Fitz to the family, and Elizabeth was sure that in her mind she had already imagined that her remaining three daughters would also marry high-ranking gentlemen. A greengrocer was not what she had in mind. At least Mary was involved in a courtship with a solicitor, and if all went well, she would be wed by year’s end.

“How is Papa?” Jane asked.

“Mr Bennet is very well. The new gamekeeper Mr Darcy recommended is working out fabulously,” she said, giving Fitz a grateful smile. “Lydia keeps distracting him from his work. I wish she would not do so.”

“Do not fret,” Elizabeth said. “The military will be back soon, and Lydia will be thoroughly busy.”

“I hope so,” Mrs Bennet said. Then she turned around to the group. “Did you hear the latest about Mr Wickham? He has been arrested in Dover.”

Elizabeth gasped while Fitz’s eyebrows rose. They all exchanged looks. Elizabeth was the one to speak, “Arrested? For what?”

Mrs Bennet shrugged. “Something to do with him impersonating some high-ranking person or other. But he had a lot of charges against him as it stood, so we shall not have to worry about him anymore. I suppose you could call on him in prison and see if he could shed some light on how you came to be in the condition you were in, Mr Darcy.”

“I will not have any need for that,” he said. “I remember now.”

“You do? Well, the mind is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? I never thought you would ever recover any of your memories considering the horrible state you were in.”

Indeed, it had been quite miraculous the way Fitz’s memory had recovered. Over the last year, it seemed day by day, memories returned. He had almost a full grasp of his life before, and it was something that had been delightful to discover alongside him. Every time he recovered a memory, he would share it with Elizabeth, it was as if both of them were experiencing it together.

Georgiana, who was currently staying with their uncle, Lord Matlock, had been a big help in uncovering these memories, as had Fitz’s cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. At first, Elizabeth had suffered with a lingering fear that perhaps he might remember some things that would change things between them, but that hadn’t been the case. In fact, they were closer now than ever.

The previous week, Fitz had finally remembered exactly what had occurred the day he ended up injured by the roadside. It had been as he suspected. He had decided to walk the distance from the inn to Netherfield as a way to help his stiff legs after a lengthy carriage ride. Mr Wickham had followed his carriage from London on horseback and saw an opportunity to speak to Fitz to once again beg him for money. It seemed Mr Wickham saw his life in danger, due to having borrowed considerable amounts of money from some unsavoury characters, leading him to take drastic action. When Fitz had refused, a fight had broken out, which ended with Fitz receiving a blow to the head. They would likely never know why Mr Wickham had decided to leave his coat draped over Fitz—but that was just a minor detail and did not affect their life at all.

“Well, where is this tea then?” Mrs Bennet asked, interrupting their thoughts.

“This way,” Jane said, and led their mother into Elizabeth’s drawing room where tea had been served. Fitz was right behind them when Elizabeth called softly, “Georgie.”

He turned, a smile on his lips. She still called him Georgie on occasion, when it was just the two of them together.

“Yes, my love,” he said.

“I want to tell you something,” she said. “I wanted to wait, but my mother has a way of detecting these things, even though it’s early days.”

“Early days?” he said, puzzled.

“I am with child,” she said quietly. His eyes widened, and his lips parted. “I have suspected it for a few weeks, but I am certain now.”

“Lizzy,” he said and hugged her tight. “I did not think that I could be any happier than I already was, but you have made it so. My darling, darling Elizabeth. How blessed I am to have you.” He caressed her cheeks and then pressed his lips upon hers.

They had kissed many times between their first kiss and now, and every time she felt his soft lips on hers, Elizabeth’s stomach fluttered, and her very spirit soared.

She took his hands and they stood for a moment in tranquillity and quiet, knowing that the next chapter of their life was about to unfold before them.

THE END

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