Epilogue #2
Darcy strode to the stables and asked little Sammy to fetch Underwood. He took the time while he waited to enjoy the quiet. Hurst came out, perhaps also needing a bit of time away. They nodded to one another and traded smiles. Hurst said,
“St Agnes’ Eve—ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in wooly fold.”
It was their old game of quoting poetry as a challenge to the other person, whose task was to name the poet.
Darcy’s smile deepened, and he thought a moment before answering correctly, “John Keats.” He meditated a bit and then offered one of his own: “As the drop feeds its fated flower, As finds its Alp the snowy shower—”
Mr Hurst interrupted to say, “Far too easy, Darcy. The great William Cowper!”
They played another two rounds, each man besting the other exactly once.
When Underwood made his appearance, Darcy excused himself and led the servant inside to speak with Richard.
He checked in again with Elizabeth, then Georgiana, and finally he sat down in the drawing room across from Mary Smith, née Bennet.
“How are you faring today, Mary?” he asked.
Her husband had died two years prior, and her one child, a twelve-year-old daughter, was even more shy than his Amanda.
He flicked a glance at Amanda and smiled to see that she was tending to Mary’s Sarah, as she often did, helping her to feel comfortable with such a bustling crowd.
“Thank you, Darcy, I am well. I…I so appreciate your eldest daughter’s unflagging support. I hope you know how much everyone in the family respects and loves her.”
Darcy felt his smile grow, and he murmured thanks but then asked, “How fares things at Longbourn?”
Mary gave a brief, positive report that highlighted the recent pleasant weather and the rising income of the estate.
“And the Collins family?” Darcy asked. “I am so glad you chose to return to Longbourn, by the way. Mr Collins has been a caring cousin to all of you, and Mrs Collins is simply wonderful. I hope that you have been happy there.”
“Oh, yes. I dearly love Charlotte. And her Bill and Mary are sweet to Sarah, even though they are years older. It may not surprise you to know that, in the Collins’ home, there is always a wide variety of foods to enjoy.
And the entire Hurst family apparently comes every year, without fail, and so Sarah and I have come to know them during the two visits while we lived there.
All told, Sarah and I are quite content. ”
“I am happy to hear it. Remember, our doors are always open to you, as well.”
“Thank you. I knew I could come to you when your letters reached me, when Frederick died, but with your entire family in Switzerland for six months, I thought it best to go to Longbourn.”
Darcy nodded. “Our timing for that trip was good as far as avoiding warfare, but we were sorry to be so far during your time of need.”
Mary nodded. “Jane, Kitty, and Lydia offered for me to go to them, too, although neither Bath nor London seemed appealing to me at the time. But I think I chose well for Sarah…and for me.”
Cordelia entered the drawing room and sank down near the two.
“Thank you, Darcy, for fetching such a capable man to help my almost-grown children make very, very last minute plans to entertain everyone. I said, ‘Do it next year; we do not have the time or means to put on such a production,’ but you know Richard.” Laughing while shaking her head, she added, “He is one of those people who sees no impediments.”
“He is one of those people who hears the word impediment and meows!” Darcy said, thinking of his wedding day.
Cordelia laughed heartily at that. “At the time that he did that, I did not realise his meaning; I thought that he had, sadly, gone quite mad.”
“At any rate, you are most welcome for fetching a capable man who could help your children.”
“How are things at Rosings?” Mary asked Cordelia. “You have been there for…a decade?”
“Yes, about that long,” Cordelia replied. “Richard is becoming well known in the equine breeding world, and we are certainly doing better out of Kent than Cornwall. Better access to London, and therefore to everywhere in the world.”
“I always knew he would succeed,” Darcy said. “And your new steward is very capable. I have been impressed by the reports from this year and well remember last Easter when we visited and I was able to tour the estate and check the books myself.”
“We have been very blessed. Mostly by you, Darcy; if it had not been for you, we may not have wed, and I am certain Anne would not have left Rosings to Richard. We are entirely in your debt.”
“Nonsense. There never was a debt to me, plus you gave Oakhaven back to me a decade ago. As to you saying that, without my action, you and Richard would probably not have wed. I have to say that I disagree. Remember, Richard is a person who sees no impediments.”
Cordelia stood, crossed to Darcy’s chair, and kissed him on the cheek. “I hope that what you say is true, but I shall remain forever grateful to you.”
Richard chose that very moment to enter the room. “What on earth is going on here? Mary, have you been chaperoning my wife and the most impressive man of everyone’s acquaintance? Please tell me that there have not been many, many kisses.”
Mary grinned and said, “Not too many.”
Everyone laughed, but then Darcy remembered something and said, “I forgot to ask after Mrs Jenkinson. In her last letter to us, she sounded as if she was attempting to make light of some ailment.”
A shade crossed both Richard’s and Cordelia’s faces. Cordelia answered, “That is our current sorrow. She has been feeling poorly for a few months, and the first four medical experts we consulted were not sure what was wrong. But it has finally been diagnosed as a cancer.”
“I am so sorry to hear that,” Darcy said. “Elizabeth and I found Mrs J very warm and interesting when we used to visit Anne each year.”
“Well, Mrs Jenkinson’s sister has come to her, and that is the only reason we did not back out of our holiday plans. But Mrs J is still eating, so we may still have her a few more months….”
They talked a bit further, and Darcy extracted a promise from his cousin that he would let Darcy know if there was anything that he could do for the lady.
Other guests began to enter; people chatted and milled about, and Darcy looked for Elizabeth, who was his anchor in situations like this.
Of course, she knew he needed her; when he spotted her at the doorway, she was walking straight to him, smiling at everyone but not conversing even with those who attempted to interrupt her progress.
She excused herself right and left and never allowed herself to be distracted. He moved towards her, as well; in moments, they were united.
“How are you doing?” they asked at the same time.
“I am well,” they replied at the same time.
Richard stood and cleared his throat authoritatively. The room hushed and turned towards him. His unusually serious mien made some brows crease in anxiety.
Darcy did not worry. His cousin was almost certainly gearing up to tease him.
“I have a very important question for Georgiana,” he said.
Everyone stared back and forth: Richard, Georgiana, Richard.
A beat later, he asked, “This constant eye contact, these secret smiles, this we-must-be-together-at-all-times attitude, asking each other the same question at the same time, replying with the same words at the same time—did you have to put up with all of this for years?”
“Oh, yes, I did!” she cried out dramatically, entering into the spirit of the tease. “I often felt invisible!”
Everyone laughed. Even Darcy and Elizabeth. But they also interlaced their fingers, murmured things to one another, and exchanged tender smiles.
“Benjamin, Amanda? How can you stand it?” Richard asked.
Ben stood up, smiled slowly, and asked, “Are you envious, Cousin Richard?”
Darcy, Elizabeth, and Richard’s faces all blanked, just for a moment.
But then the three laughed again, as did everyone else, and Richard reached out to reel his wife closer to his side.
“That is an excellent question, Ben. It just so happens that I am not. I am, in fact, very grateful to your parents. When we are in the dining room, I will toast them, and you will see why I am not envious and why I am so thankful.”
Those words had hardly escaped his lips when Mr Baxter, the man who took over as butler when Mr Grant retired, announced, “Dinner is served.”
They did not move into the dining room, as usual, because Darcy and Elizabeth wished to have children (although not babies) as well as adults at the table, for Christmas.
A table for 40 entailed moving several tables into the ballroom, dressing them in identical holiday linens, and decorating the whole with greenery and red paper roses.
With the enormous chandelier above the table and sconces clustered together on the walls, it looked very festive, indeed, and Elizabeth and Darcy allowed their guests to sit wherever they wished.
As soon as everyone settled into chairs and were furnished with drinks, Richard rose to give the promised toast:
“Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls: We have all gathered here to celebrate a family holiday together, and though we have many and varied surnames, we are family in either blood or friendship, and for the most part, both.
I want to toast the season, to thank everyone for coming from so many far-flung places, to wish everyone well in the new year, and—most of all—I wish to toast the couple who brought us all together.
“Darcy and Elizabeth, you are wonderful as individual people, and you are completely amazing when together, as you have been for so long now.
I imagine I speak for everyone when I say that we treasure your kindness, your generosity, your intelligence, your counsel—but most of all, we are all so very grateful for your example!
Seeing your love for one another has made me a better man, and especially a better husband and father.
I look out at all of these faces, and I see many others who have also had the privilege of seeing your loving gestures, hearing your loving words, feeling the palpable love you have for one another.
And I cannot help but think that many of us owe you more for the example of deep, true love than even for the enormous measures of support we have been privileged to receive from you.
“Thank you, Darcy. Thank you, Elizabeth. God bless you both.”
The table erupted with applause, glasses were clinked together, and Darcy felt the tears in his eyes. He had his eyes riveted on Elizabeth, drinking in her response to Richard’s toast: she, too, had tears in her eyes, and her smile was radiant.
She mouthed “smile” and pointed to her own lips, and Darcy realised that he had unconsciously dropped his impassive mask over his features.
He made himself smile at Elizabeth, and then he turned to Richard and sincerely thanked him—and smiled at him—and then he ran his eyes up and down the table, smiling at all.
He rose and said, “Happy Christmas to all! Let us drink and eat and make merry!”