Epilogue
Longbourn, Seven years later
“I am so excited you will be my sister on the morrow, Lydia! Helen Bingley, née Jacobson, enthused as she helped her best friend dress for her wedding. “How did you choose between Tommy and Will to act as your ring bearer?”
Six and a half years earlier, Charlotte had delivered twin boys, Thomas Junior, the heir to Longbourn, and William, named after his grandfather Lucas. They were known as Tommy and Will; thankfully they were not identical twins.
“The little tykes raced their ponies and Will won by a nose. He groused a little, but Tommy conceded he lost fair and square,” Lydia explained.
“I still cannot believe that I won Tim’s hand.
I fell in love with him the first time I visited your parents’ estate.
I always worried he saw me as naught but another sister. ”
Lydia had decided to wait until she felt ready to enter society, and it was not until she was twenty that she chose to come out again. After two years at the Wrightfield School and a year at a finishing school in London, Lydia emerged as an accomplished gentlewoman in every sense of the word.
She could have come out at eighteen, but it was her decision, which was fully supported by her father, Charlotte, and all of her sisters. The Lydia who made that particular decision was unrecognisable as being the same girl who had almost ruined herself and her family at fifteen.
Did you wonder what happened to the black-hearted libertine Wickham?
After three years at Marshalsea, he angered the wrong person, who put an end to the wastrel’s life.
His death was investigated, but because no one came forward who witnessed the attack, the case had been closed.
Over the years before his death, he had written to Darcy in an attempt to manipulate him into helping, but after the first insincere letter, any subsequent ones had been consigned to the fire unread.
No one mourned his passing, not even Mrs. Younge.
Lydia had not been aware of it, but she caught Tim Jacobson’s notice the first time she visited Janet’s Well; his affections for her had grown with each subsequent meeting.
As the two families became closer, he had the pleasure of spending more time with the object of his love.
He had waited through her first season, but just after she turned one and twenty he requested a courtship, which led to a betrothal, and it progressed to this day when he and Lydia were to be married.
“Considering you will be his wife in two hours, I think not,” Helen smiled at her sister of the heart and soon so be sister-in-law.
“Lydia, you are radiant,” Charlotte said as she entered Lydia’s bedchamber. Francine Sarah Bennet, called Fanny to honour the late Mrs. Bennet, now two, held her mother’s hand tightly.
“Mama, Lyddie so pretty,” the youngest Bennet exclaimed.
After her twin sons, Charlotte had become with child one more time, and Fanny would likely forever be the baby of the family. Her father was delighted that his youngest daughter seemed to be a copy of his second one in looks, intelligence, and character.
There was a knock on the door and Lady Catherine Rhys-Davies, Marchioness of Birchington, entered her sister’s chambers.
“Oh, Lyddie, that gown is perfect on you,” Kitty gushed.
Like her four sisters before her, Lydia had chosen a plain gown with few adornments.
The one she was wearing was an ivory satin dress with empire waist, puffed shoulders, and a medium-length train.
Kitty had come out when she was nineteen, with her sister Gigi and her Aunt Mariah, who were both eighteen.
None of the three had accepted any offers of courtship in that first season, though there had been more than a few who tried to approach them.
Any men brave enough to make the attempt had to pass through the gauntlet of Darcy, the Fitzwilliam brothers, the Lucas brothers, Sir William, Bennet, and Lord Matlock.
In her second season, Kitty met Lord Sedgwick Rhys-Davies Junior, the Marquess of Birchington, who was six and twenty.
There was an instant connection, and Lord Sed requested and was granted a courtship in the second month of that season.
The two were married six months later from Longbourn, as Kitty was determined to marry from her home.
The Duke and Duchess of Bedford, who approved of Kitty whole-heartedly, agreed without reservation to the location of the wedding.
Given that Lady Rose, the Duchess of Bedford, was a cousin to Queen Charlotte, Princess Elizabeth represented the crown at the wedding. Kitty had borne a son who was now almost two, and she suspected she was with child again.
Charles Bingley was waiting with most of the family not busy with helping the bride prepare in her chambers.
He had mourned his sister Caroline for a full year and had matured during that time.
He sent a letter to Darcy hoping all connection between them had not been severed and was delighted to receive a reply inviting him and the Hursts to spend Christmastide at Pemberley some five years ago.
The Jacobsons, who were now fast friends with the Bennets, thanks to the strong bonds of friendship between their respective daughters, were also present.
That is when Charles Bingley met eighteen-year-old Helen Jacobson for the first time.
She was to come out in February, and Bingley had been fascinated by her.
She was not like any woman he had pursued before; her complexion was opposite that of his blond angels.
After her come out he began to call on her; a few months later he requested a courtship; soon after that they were betrothed.
They had been married four years and had one daughter.
Helen was with child again, though she had not yet felt the quickening.
It was ironic to Bingley that by his marrying an inconsequential country squire’s daughter, one his late sister Caroline would have decried as having no wealth or connections to speak of, he would gain connections all the way to the royals--once Lydia married his brother Tim.
His late sister would have boasted of the connections far and wide.
Louisa and Hurst had been blessed with only one child, a son who was six.
Lady Georgiana Carrington was sitting with her husband, sister Elizabeth, and her brother.
She met Lord Brandon Carrington, the Earl of Harrington, around the same time Kitty met her husband.
At first, she showed no marked interest in the Earl, but over the months of the season, she warmed to him and began to develop tender feelings.
They married just before her twentieth birthday and so far had been blessed with a son and a daughter.
Mariah Jamison entered the drawing room with her husband. At the end of Mariah’s second season she met Robert Jamison, the son and heir of the Jamisons of Oakmont in Bedfordshire, at an assembly in Meryton. They danced twice that night, both enjoying the other’s company.
Robert requested, and Mariah had happily granted, permission to call on her.
A month later, he was granted a formal courtship; within three months the two were married from Lucas Lodge.
To date, Mariah and Robert had a daughter who was nearing three and, as was obvious to anyone with eyes, Mariah was with child again.
She was in her fifth month of increasing.
In June of the year Bingley was invited for Christmastide, Elizabeth gifted her husband with a son and heir, Bennet Robert Darcy.
Two years after Bennet, a second son, Alexander Edward, was born, followed by the baby, Annabeth Jane.
The Darcys were more in love than the day they married, but that is not to say all was smooth sailing.
As might be expected of two strong-willed individuals who were stubborn, although each would accuse the other of being so while being unable to admit they themselves were, there were disagreements from time to time.
However, the couple never allowed a day to end in anger and always enjoyed making up afterwards.
Pemberley once again rung with the voices of children, which added to the life the new mistress had brought with her.
The annual harvest ball was reinstituted; a Twelfth Night Ball was held each year the Darcys were in residence at Pemberley for Christmastide; and the Darcys became among the most popular families in the neighbourhood as they regularly entertained and accepted invitations, something Darcy had eschewed since his father had passed away.
As her husband and other family members believed she would, Elizabeth Darcy—as did her sisters—became a force in the Ton helping to set fashion trends.
Invitations to balls, dinners, and soirees at Darcy House were coveted.
The fact the Darcys only spent part of the season in London increased rather than diminished their popularity among polite society.
The only complete season they were in London was the first season their sisters came out together.
Jane and Andrew were seated with Mary and Richard, Lord and Lady Matlock, and Lady Catherine.
Anne, under Mr. Starkey’s care, had exceeded all expectations and lived two happy and full years after the double wedding in February 1811.
Lady Catherine never reverted to the person she was before, cared for her daughter with much love, and held Anne’s hand when she slipped from the mortal world.