Epilogue

Longbourn Village Church April 1820

A s they had watched each of their other daughters marry, Fanny and Thomas Bennet again sat in the front pew of the church. Mr Solomons, the man who had replaced Mr Pierce when the old clergyman retired four years past, chanted the liturgy of the wedding service, while their youngest daughter stood beaming with pleasure as she was being joined in holy wedlock to her cousin Abraham Bennet.

Less than a year ago, when Bennet and Fanny had noted the strong attraction between Lydia and Abe was more than that of cousins, they had invited James, his wife, and Abe to meet with them and Lydia at Longbourn.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

James and Charlotte Bennet had married in July 1814, after a courtship which had begun towards the end of 1813. Until that point, the two had been much in one another’s company and had slowly begun to fall in love. Before he had asked Charlotte Collins for a courtship, James had canvassed the opinions of Henry—who had been on a term break from Cambridge, Maria, and Abe. The latter was on a break from Eton where he was in his final year.

Rather than object, they had all asked him why he had waited so long to take another wife. They let him know that none of them thought that if he married again that it would diminish their late mother’s memory in any way. In the close to six years since they had been together, one daughter had been born in 1817. She was named Matilda Sarah and called Mattie in honour of James’s first wife, and Sarah for her maternal grandmother.

Sir William and Lady Lucas had been ecstatic, not because Charlotte was to be the mistress of Netherfield Park, but that after her terrible first marriage, she had made a love match.

If Charlotte jested with her friends about being their aunt from time to time, no one took exception to her jokes.

The tradition of having a decorated tree for Christmas was seen by the extended family the first festive season since James and his family had returned to England, celebrated in 1812. It was admired by all of the extended family. Similar trees found their way into the houses of all the following year. By the Christmastide after James and Charlotte married, the same tradition Queen Charlotte practiced, had spread to all households in Meryton, and further afield, as more and more saw, and fell in love with, the Germanic tradition.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Abe, his father, and stepmother had been shown into the drawing room. Lydia had told them of her seduction and the one-time huge error she had made when she had not yet turned fifteen. She had hung her head while waiting for the judgement she was sure was to follow. No man would want a woman who had been despoiled by another.

With his father and stepmother’s full support, Abe had railed against the long dead seducer and had said that his love for Lydia would have to have been a very thin, weak thing if he were to abandon her because of a mistake eight years previously, long before either of them knew the other existed.

Lydia had lit up with pleasure as she saw that she too could have a love filled life just like all of her sisters. She did not have to be relegated to being the spinster aunt she had thought she would be, especially as Abe had declared that he loved her. It was then that she discovered the absolute bliss of requited love.

The wedding would also solve the problem of who would inherit the expanded estate of Longbourn and the renovated and enlarged manor house when Bennet was called home to God. None of his other sons-in-law needed an additional estate, and they were all quite attached to their family names. As Abe had no estate, and was already a Bennet by birth, Mr Bennet had changed his will to leave the expanded Longbourn to his youngest daughter.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Neither Hilldale nor Darcy would ever consider changing their names for any reason given the long histories attached to both families. The latter had his main estate plus five smaller satellite estates, three of which were as large or larger than Longbourn. Although Mary and Hilldale only had the estate by the same name as his title, one day, many years in the future they all hoped, he would inherit all of the estates which were attached to the Matlock earldom.

Mary and Richard were more in love than they had been the day they married. Their first child, a daughter, Elaine Frances, called Ellie, had been born in January 1813. She was followed less than two years later by a son and heir, who was named Andrew Phillip. His parents, grandparents, and the rest of the extended family would ensure he would never follow the path to ruin his namesake had taken.

Subsequently, two more sons were born after Andrew. The first one was born a year and a half after Andy, as he was called by his family, and the next boy arrived in the world a little more than two years after the birth of his next older brother. Mary suspected she was with child again, and she sincerely hoped she would have another daughter.

Richard Fitzwilliam followed the example of James Bennet, his uncle by marriage, had begun. He employed as many former soldiers as he could, which became a practice adopted by all in the extended family. He and William Darcy were as close as brothers could be, as were sisters Mary and Lizzy. The two families spent time at one another’s estates when they were in the country and their homes in London were less than a mile apart.

Having nothing to do with how much they loved and respected one another, the Darcys’ relationship was not always smooth. As would be expected when there were two strong willed, sometimes stubborn, and passionate people as husband and wife, there would be disagreements and hurt feelings. They did have one ironclad rule: never go to bed with unresolved disagreements. They did not have many, but when they did, they would both argue their points with great energy. Eventually they would arrive at a compromise, always before they retired to bed together. Most of their debates were not contentious. They still loved speaking about their differing views on books, philosophy, history, and many other subjects.

Their first child, born in July 1813, was the much-anticipated heir to Pemberley. Breaking with the tradition which had formed William’s official familiar name, they named their son Benjamin Robert Alexander Darcy. He was known as Ben, as he would have been called had they used Elizabeth’s maiden name. Two daughters followed, about fourteen months between them. For almost three years, other than a miscarriage a year after their youngest daughter arrived, Elizabeth did not become with child. Just when she thought her childbearing days were over, in mid-1818, Elizabeth had felt the quickening. Their youngest, a second son, was born on the first day of January 1819.

Ben, much to his mother’s delight, looked just like his father, and by his height already, he would be at least as tall as his papa. His father was happy that their son had his mother’s outgoing character which was so unlike himself. Ben would not have difficulty making friends when he eventually went to school.

Just as his Elizabeth was pleased that their son looked like him, Darcy could not have been happier that their daughters’ faces were very similar to their mother’s. The eldest had the same colour of hair as her mama, but with the Fitzwilliam blue eyes like her father. The younger had her mother’s vibrant emerald green eyes, but her hair was very similar to her Aunt Giana’s, straight and golden blonde. The older Miss Darcy was taller than her mother had been at the same age, while the younger was of a similar stature to her mama.

As would be expected, the Darcy children were very close to all of their cousins, but especially to their Fitzwilliam and Bingley family who lived closest to Pemberley.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Jane and Bingley had purchased an estate in Nottinghamshire, as at the time none had been for sale in the Meryton area. The fact that both Lizzy and Mary lived on estates in the north was another inducement to seek an estate close to them. Sherwood Dale, just across the border from Derbyshire in central Nottinghamshire, had been ideal for them. It was considerably larger than Longbourn. Besides not wanting to change his name, Bingley had had no interest in a second estate, so Jane had not been an option to inherit Longbourn.

Little Charlie Bingley was born in November 1812. Everyone in the family agreed that it was only fitting that the eldest Bennet sister provide the first grandchild for her parents. Since Charlie, Jane had delivered three daughters: one in March 1814, one in August 1815, and a third in May 1818. Bingley was not unhappy that he only had one son, as he had only one estate to leave to him. Like the rest of the Bennet sisters did with their own daughters, Jane’s dowry would be divided between the three girls, and her husband would make the amount up to five and twenty thousand pounds for each.

Bingley still referred to his beloved Jane as his angel, and his three daughters, two blonde and blue eyed like their mother, the other with his strawberry blonde colour, and emerald-green eyes similar to Aunt Lizzy, were his little angels.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The Hursts had moved to Winsdale when Mr Hurst’s father passed away in mid-1812. Their son had been born soon after they arrived at the estate. They also had a daughter two years later, but no more children since then.

They were very happy and were close to the extended family, and unlike Miss Caroline Bingley they were accepted by all, including the noble members of the family.

The aforementioned Miss Caroline Bingley lived as a bitter spinster in a little market town in Yorkshire. She had initially lived with her Aunt Hildebrand in Scarborough, but after a tantrum where she broke many items, her aunt evicted her. As a way to feel some connection to the society she craved, but of which she would never be allowed to be a part of, Caroline had read the society pages religiously.

She had been outraged when she had read the announcement of the engagement of Miss Mary Bennet to Viscount Hilldale, but when she had seen the announcement regarding the engagement of the hated Eliza to the man she had wanted to marry, it had been too much for her and the catalyst for the epic explosion.

Before her aunt had her removed from her house, she made sure the solicitor withdrew all of the funds needed to cover the breakages caused by her niece. With that and what her brother had deducted, coupled with her own indiscriminate spending, Miss Bingley was left with less than three hundred pounds a year on which to support herself.

Hence, she had found a cottage in a village, just like the one she used to disdain so loudly while in Hertfordshire. It was a place where no one knew of all her humiliations. She had no contact with any member of her family from that day forward.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Catherine had married Lord Wesley De Melville, Viscount Westmore, and heir to the Earl of Jersey in February 1815, a few days after she turned twenty. They had married in a double ceremony with Maria Bennet and Lord Sed Rhys-Davies, the Marquess of Birchington. Maria, who became a marchioness after her long fascination with royalty, married into a family who were cousins of the late Queen Charlotte.

Even though Maria was two years older than Catherine and a year older than Giana, all three had come out together during the season of 1814. The three were introduced to the Marquess of Birchington and Viscount Westmore at their coming out ball which was held at Darcy House. While there was a budding attraction between Maria and the Marquess and Catherine and the Viscount, Giana was not interested in any man. She had her heart set on one man only and would wait for him as long as need be.

When the Duke and Duchess of Bedford had met all the Bennets in London once their son was courting Miss Maria Bennet, James and the Duke met for the first time since the latter had been so generous in making sure the former and his party reached England safely.

Catherine had accepted a courtship from Lord Westmore days before Maria had agreed to be courted by Lord Birchington. Therefore, it had seemed right that they should marry in the same ceremony. St Alfred’s in Meryton had been the church where they married as it was far larger than the one near Longbourn.

The two huge footmen guards, Biggs and Johns had moved to Birchington when Miss Maria married to continue as her personal footmen-guards. Her husband felt much more secure with the huge men in charge of their security.

So far Maria had two sons while Catherine had delivered a daughter and then a son.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Bennet looked one pew behind him and to the left where Henry and his wife Giana sat. He caught James’s eye and the two smiled.

There had been no surprise that the two had fallen in love. Although it was not something about which was spoken, the two had been in an unofficial courtship almost from the time they first met. Anyone in the family could understand why during her season Giana refused requests to call on her, many of which had been from sons of the nobility.

Both fathers turned and faced the front where their respective youngest children were solemnising their vows.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

As planned, Henry had enrolled to study at Cambridge although his Uncle Thomas had valiantly tried, and failed, to convince him to enrol at Oxford. Being older than his peers, Henry had worked day and night on his studies. He had also taken additional classes. All of his efforts had allowed him to graduate in a little more than two school years, rather than the normal three.

Not long after Henry had graduated, he had asked Georgiana Darcy for a courtship, which her two guardians had approved without making too much sport of Henry. A month later they were engaged, and were married in January 1815, just after Epiphany, six weeks before the double wedding.

A year after the Bingleys had moved to Nottinghamshire, Purvis Lodge was offered for sale. James had purchased it with an eye for it to be for Abe one day. As things had worked out, James made the estate a wedding present for his eldest and new daughter-in-law. It was his intention that he and Charlotte would switch estates with Henry and Giana in about ten years.

So far, Giana and Henry had three children, two sons: one born at the end of 1815, and another born in April 1817. Their youngest, a daughter, was born in May 1819.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

To accommodate all their married daughters and their families, which included James and his two previously married children, the Bennets filled up three pews rather than just the front pew.

He looked across the aisle where Lord and Lady Matlock—who were some of his and Fanny’s best friends, not just co-grandparents—sat next to Anne de Bourgh. Bennet smiled. Not only had Anne de Bourgh survived her mother, but she had also lived some years longer with her weak heart than the doctors had predicted she would. Mrs Jenkinson, her companion, sat behind her. Next to Mrs Jenkinson were the sisters, Mrs Annesley and Mrs Doubtfire.

Given the hand the latter had in moulding Lydia into the lady she was today, the youngest Bennet would not have agreed to marry without the lady present in the church, who until that morning, had been her companion.

When Giana had married, Mrs Annesley joined her good friend, Mrs Jenkinson, at Rosings Park, and now Mrs Doubtfire would be returning to live there with them after the wedding.

Bennet knew that one day Rosings Park would go to one of the sons in the extended family who did not have an estate of his own in his future. The three companions would have a spacious cottage to share for the rest of their days after Anne was called home by God.

Bennet was happy for the sisters being able to live out their days in company with one another and never needing to work again. Mrs Doubtfire had been nothing short of a miracle worker in the transformation she effected in Lydia.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Lady Catherine de Bourgh had lingered for less than six months. It was not the difficulty in feeding her which had ended her life, but another, even stronger apoplexy. She had never let go of her anger, which the physicians opined contributed to the second and fatal attack.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

In the pew behind the Bennets were the Gardiners. All of the men in the extended family invested with him. Gardiner had purchased a small estate near his wife’s beloved Lambton and would move there once Eddy was ready to take over the running of the business. At that time Phillips would retire and live with them at Dove Dale.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Bennet looked at his Fanny who, even with her hair streaked with grey and some lines on her face, was as beautiful today as she had ever been to him. They were more in love than they had been at any stage since they began courting all those years ago. Fanny looked back at him with love shining from her eyes just as Mr Solomons was intoning the concluding prayers and blessings.

“Thomas, you seem deep in contemplation,” Fanny observed.

“I was just thinking of all of the blessings He has bestowed on us to this point in our lives. He certainly has been very good to us, has He not?” Bennet responded.

“Yes, we have received many blessings,” Fanny agreed, “but never forget that much of this would not have occurred without your decision to leave your study and take charge of everything connected to our family.”

Bennet did not argue. Rather, he kissed his wife on her forehead just as the rector announced the new Mr and Mrs Abraham Bennet. While the couple and witnesses made their way to the registry, the Bennet brothers and their wives, while they all waited for the newlyweds to return to the nave, were surrounded by their children as well as the grandchildren who were old enough to attend.

As he looked around Bennet knew this was his true wealth, worth more than all the gold, diamonds, and gems in the world—the love of family.

~~~The End~~~