Epilogue
Even with twenty-two years of marriage behind them, William and Bethany Darcy looked very much as they always did, other than the beginning of streaks of silver in her hair and greying around the edges of her beloved husband’s locks.
Bethany was very thankful that Mother, who would reach the age of eighty next year, although very frail, was present to witness the upcoming ceremony.
Mamma, who was eleven years younger than Mother, was also present.
For many years, her two mothers had been best of friends, and in the last few years, they had become inseparable.
All Bennet grandchildren, called Mother, Grandmamma Amelia, so rather than just the six Bethie had delivered, she had as many as her best friend, Fanny.
William had become the sixth Earl of Holderness when his father went to his final reward some seven years previously.
Their second son, Bennet Robert, born two years after George, had become Viscount Conyers.
It had been very hard for Mother Anne without her beloved Robert.
She had, after her loss, put all of her emotional energy into the bevy of grandchildren.
By the time Thomas Bennet went to meet his maker, all of his children were married and had begun contributing grandchildren to the steadily growing horde.
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Giana had her first season in 1814. By that time, James was about to turn four and twenty. As soon as he noticed—a year prior to her coming out—that Giana viewed him as much more than a brother-in-law, he allowed himself to acknowledge the tender feelings he had for her.
A few days after her coming-out ball, James, who had been in love with her for some months, spoke to Giana and told her that as much as he wanted her to be his partner in life, he was not ready to take that step yet.
They decided they would court unofficially and, as long as they both desired a union between them, become engaged on Giana’s nineteenth birthday in March 1815.
Robert and Anne Darcy had been more than pleased that they would have their ‘baby’ daughter with them for one more year before she cleaved her life unto James.
Seeing that everyone in the extended family had been aware of the feelings flowing between the two, even before they admitted it aloud, there had been no one surprised when they became engaged on the first Monday of March in 1815.
The date of the marriage was decided to be the nineteenth day of May; the day James would reach the age of five and twenty.
Giana had, of course, married from Pemberley.
With a one-year courtship and more than two months before the wedding, none of the jealous society harpies could accuse the couple of having a hurried patched up marriage.
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By the time James’s father left the mortal world, he and Giana had been blessed with three children, two sons and a daughter. The heir had been named Robert Thomas for his two grandfathers.
Mary was married to Lord Winston Chamberlain, the Marquess of Hertford, in days after Twelfth Night of 1812 from Longbourn.
He was the only son of the Duke and Duchess of Hertfordshire.
They had met at events in London and Hertfordshire before, and then, especially after Mary and Petunia came out in April of 1811.
Winston requested a courtship once Bethie and William had left their wedding breakfast for Conyers House.
Four months later, he asked for her hand, which Mary granted without delay because she loved and respected him as much as he did her.
Before the previous Duke of Hertfordshire went to join his most beloved wife in heaven in 1821, Mary and Winston had three children, two sons and a daughter.
Lord Archie had died happy knowing he was to see his darling wife and that the continuation of the dukedom was assured.
Since then, Mary, Duchess of Hertfordshire, had delivered a third son and another daughter.
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When she had turned eighteen, Kitty had asked to be called Catherine. She, thereafter, came out in the little season of 1812. After not seeing him for a few years, Catherine met Sir Charles Bingley at a ball in London during the season of 1813.
The two became very close, and after a courtship and engagement, married from Longbourn in February of 1814.
As all of her sisters had married men with their own estates, when Catherine married she brought Netherfield Park with her as part of her dowry.
Even with that, Sir Charles purchased a larger estate, Rolling Hills, about fifteen miles northwest of Meryton.
To date, Sir Charles and Lady Bingley had one son and three daughters.
When they were blessed with a second son, he would be the heir to Netherfield Park, and if not, their eldest daughter would inherit the estate.
When Catherine and Sir Charles married, William and Caroline Collins were very pleased to become brother and sister to all the Bennet offspring.
By the time Catherine married, Petunia Smythe had met, become engaged to, and married Lord Wesley De Melville, Viscount Amberley, heir to the Earl of Jersey.
Even though at the time, Petunia suspected she was with child, she had stood as Catherine’s matron of honour—the two had become very close over the years.
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The Younges still owned their inn in Tickhill. They had met and married their partners some years past and were very content with their situation. Ever since they learnt the truth of their mother and George Wickham, they had never looked to blame anyone else for any ills in their life.
Over the years when Kiveton Park was occupied by any of the family, they made sure to give the Younges’ inn as much business as possible.
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George Wickham completed his seven years of hard labour in New Holland. By then, his father had passed away so he decided there was nothing left for him in England. Lucas Wickham had saved over the years, so when he passed, he left five thousand pounds to his son.
Wickham took that money and studied the law.
As he had not been branded, he found ready employment in New South Wales.
By 1833, Wickham owned a thriving law practice, was married, and had fathered three children.
He named his son Lucas after his late father.
One thing George Wickham was sure of was that had his father lived to see what his son had accomplished, he would have been proud.
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King William IV stood when the Marquess of Carmarthen knelt before him. He took the blunted, ceremonial sword from the Lord Chamberlain and tapped George’s right shoulder. “Arise Your Grace, Lord George Osborne, the Duke of Leeds,” His Majesty intoned.
With that, it was done. With much help over the years, Bethany had been an excellent steward of the dukedom.
As soon as George was old enough to begin with a governess, light lessons of his future duties had begun.
As he got older; the lessons had become more intense.
From the time he entered Cambridge, he had assumed more and more responsibility for his birthright.
Since he graduated from university until this day, with help from his beloved mother and father, George had been running everything associated with the ducal seat.
It did not hurt that he, as did his siblings, had perfect recall like their mother’s.
Bethany looked up at her most loved husband. He would be fifty in April, but he was still as fit and healthy as he had been the day they had married, not to mention, devastatingly handsome. “Now I am nothing more than your countess,” she whispered to her husband.
“Regardless of your title, you are the queen of my heart and always will be,” Holderness growled in his beloved’s ear, so only she could hear.
Before Bethany could react, all those in the chamber bowed and curtsied as Their Majesties stood and exited the chamber.
Once the sovereigns had left, everyone—all members of the large extended family minus the youngest of the children—filed out through the double doors held open by the royal footmen.
From Buckingham Palace, they took the short coach ride through Green Park to St James’s Square and Leeds House. Bethany would remain the mistress until George married his duchess at some point in the future.
The Darcy’s third child, their first daughter, who had been named Elizabeth Rose and was called Lizzy by all, approached the group of Grandmothers—Aunt Penelope was considered a grandmother of all the Bennet grandchildren, just like Grandmamma Amelia was—with a smile.
“May I bring any of you anything?” Lady Elizabeth enquired.
She was seventeen, and, much to her father’s chagrin, she would come out during next year’s season.
“No, Lizzy, dear. That is very kind of you, but I believe we have all we need for now,” Lady Amelia, as the granddame of the group answered.
Lizzy smiled and skipped off to join a group of her siblings and cousins.
“She is her mother’s daughter,” Fanny observed. She turned to Amelia. “She looks so much like you and Bethie.”
“Like I used to look before my hair turned white and my face was covered with lines and wrinkles,” Lady Amelia returned with a smile. “It would be easy to choose her as our favourite granddaughter, but they are all wonderful.”
“You know what Fanny meant,” Maddie Gardiner scolded playfully. “Lizzy looks like Bethie, just as Bethie looked like you when you two met again.”
“I am not so very far into my dotage,” Lady Amelia teased. “I know what Fanny meant.”
After a while Fanny and Amelia were left seated on a settee on their own, Anne Darcy, Madeline Gardiner, Penelope, and Hattie Phillips had drifted off to go sit and talk to other family members.
“As much as I have always mourned the sixteen years Bethie was lost to me, I do not believe she would be half the woman she is without you and I both being in her life,” Lady Amelia mused. “I am only sorry Francis was not with me to see what an estimable woman she became.”
“I am sure he was smiling down on her from heaven, even before you reunited with Bethie,” Fanny opined.
“Now that I have seen our grandson assume the dukedom, I think I am ready to go join Francis. However, I am not in a hurry for God to call me home. Every day in the mortal world with this ever-expanding family of ours is a blessing.” Lady Amelia looked across the largest of the drawing rooms at Leeds House. “So many blessings in this room.”
“I miss Thomas all of the time, but I know I will see him again when it is my time to be called home to God. I have told you what I said at the time, and I will repeat it now. Everything changed when I found Lizzy as we named her then, your Bethie. How could she not be my favourite daughter when so much good was bestowed on us after she became part of our family? Until He calls me home to Him, my belief that He guided me to our daughter that day will be unshakable.” Fanny looked about the room.
“You have the right of it; this place is full of blessings.”
~~~The End~~~
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