Epilogue
“Come, Robin, we’re almost there,” called Elizabeth as she crested the hill.
“I’m coming, Lizzy,” returned her ten-year-old brother.
They reached the top of Oakham Mount and he looked out at the view surrounding him.
“I never tire of this view,” she said wistfully.
“Do you miss it when you are away in Derbyshire?”
“I am not away in Derbyshire. It is my home now.”
“But you said this morning that this would always feel like home,” he said, perplexed.
“Yes, because I grew up here. I know every tree and stream and farm. But the lot of women, or most women, is to move to their husband’s home, as I did when I married Fitzwilliam.”
“Will this always be my home?” he asked.
“Yes. Longbourn is yours already. We’re just helping you look after it until you’re older.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “When do you think I’ll be old enough to look after it on my own?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps two and twenty? Papa was five and twenty when he began managing Longbourn.”
“I wish he was here now,” said Robin.
Elizabeth sighed. “As do I. But we were very lucky to have him with us as long as we did.”
Robin sighed and agreed, absently kicking a stone on the path. “When will Kitty come back again?”
She ruffled his hair and repressed the urge to pinch his round cheek. “She will return in six months, and then you will live with her and Mr. Thurston at Netherfield until you are old enough to live here alone.” She squeezed his soft hand. “Are you nervous about her being gone so long?”
“A little,” he said softly. “I am happy to stay with you at Pemberley and with Jane, too, but I have never been away from her so long before.”
“I know, dearest. It cannot be easy. But Bennet and Alex and Charlie will keep you so busy the time will rush by, and she’ll be back before you know it.”
He smiled shyly and she led him back down the hill. “Come. I want to visit our parents before the wedding.”
The two made their way into Longbourn’s small graveyard and Elizabeth placed the flowers she had picked on her mother’s grave.
She said a few words and touched her fingers to her lips before placing them on the headstone, then left Robin to himself.
She knew he liked to tell their mother about his goings on and had visited her grave weekly since she passed four years ago.
She traced the year on her father’s headstone, 1817, and sat with her legs stretched in front of her, leaning back against the cold stone and settling in for a good chat.
“Well, Papa, Kitty is finally marrying tomorrow. I know we thought it would never happen, but Thurston is a good man. He must be, for he has waited for her long enough.” She laughed lightly.
“You would be very proud of her, Papa. She has taken excellent care of Robbie. He is a good boy. I know he is only ten now and much will change soon, but I think he will be a fine man. Fitzwilliam says he has an excellent head for numbers and believes he will manage the estate admirably. He took him along when he was riding the estate with Bennet when we were last all at Pemberley. Who knew that would become a holiday tradition? Anyway, the boys are more like cousins than uncle and nephew, you saw that, but as they’ve gotten older it has only become more pronounced.
“They remind me of Fitzwilliam and his cousin Richard. I nearly fainted when I saw them racing around the lake.” She sighed.
“He is so like you, Papa, but I see Mama in him, too. He has her liveliness and your mind. And of course her blue eyes. The bluest eyes in Hertfordshire.” She laughed lightly as she remembered her mother and her constant boasting about her children’s beauty.
“He shall be very handsome, I’m sure of it.
He has your nose and hair. It was blond when you last saw him, but it has gotten quite dark now and I believe it will be as dark as mine when he is grown.
“I will have another babe in the summer.” She rubbed her swollen belly absently.
“Fitzwilliam desperately hopes this one will be a girl. He has never said it, but I believe he worries how he will provide for so many sons. Obviously, Bennet will inherit Pemberley, and Alex can take over Everbrook, the small estate to the north his grandfather bought. Fitzwilliam purchased a small estate in Staffordshire recently that is planned for Tommy, but that still leaves Jack and Peter without. I’ve told him that Peter is not yet two; there is time to save, and of course there is the Kympton living, but you know how he worries and plans. ”
She sighed. “He takes such good care of us; I cannot believe I almost didn’t marry him all those years ago. Thank you, Papa. I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for seeing in him what I didn’t and convincing me to give him a chance. I cannot imagine my life otherwise.”
She looked up as a shadow fell across her face.
“Are you finished talking to Papa, Lizzy?”
“Yes, Robbie, I am. Help your sister up?” She held out her hand with a smile and he pulled her to her feet. “Oh!” she cried. “Do you want to feel the baby?”
His eyes lit up. “May I?”
“Of course. The boys do it all the time. Here, put your hand here.” She placed his hand on her abdomen and his eyes lit up when he felt a tiny kick on his palm.
“Oh!” he cried.
“Isn’t it wondrous?”
He nodded. “Do you think it will be another boy?”
“You don’t think five boys is enough?” she teased.
Robin laughed. “I suppose. It would be nice to have a girl, though.”
“You think?”
“Mhmm. What do you think you would call her? If it’s a girl?”
“I like Sophie or Helena. Or Jane, after our sister. What do you think?”
“I like Jane. None of her daughters have been named after her, well, Agnes Jane, but second names don’t count, do they?”
“Of course they do!” cried Elizabeth. “You are Robin Thomas after our grandfather and father, and Bennet’s second name is Fitzwilliam after his father, and of course Alexander draws his name from Fitzwilliam’s second name, which was his grandfather’s name.
A name is very important, Robin. It mustn’t be chosen lightly. ”
He nodded. “Would you name her Agnes if Jane hadn’t already?”
Elizabeth smiled sadly. “I don’t know. Mama was Agnes Jane, so I probably would have used it in some fashion, but as you know, I only produce sons. Well, until now.” She looked at her belly.
“Are you sure it is a girl, then?”
“I have a very strong feeling.”
He smiled her father’s smile at her and they walked into Longbourn together.
The End