Epilogue #2
A month after the Darcys’ daughter was born, Jane had delivered twin boys.
A year ago, she and Jamey had been blessed with a daughter.
Lady Edith, who was ecstatic to at last be a grandmamma, had confided that there were twins in her family, a generation before her.
Jane would have been happy with one, regardless of the sex, just so she was a mother.
Six months past, Charlotte had delivered a son, much to Richard’s delight.
Charlotte, Richard, and their two children were absent. They had travelled to visit the Lucases in Meryton so their children would have some time with their Lucas grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“William, when will your friend Bingley and his family arrive?” Lady Elaine enquired.
“In two days,” Darcy replied.
It had taken Bingley two years to grow to the point that he felt he was his own man in all ways.
During that time, he had realised that he had no desire to become part of the landed gentry.
To that end, Bingley had joined his uncle, John Bingley, in running the shipbuilding business Bingley’s late father had founded.
When Bingley re-established contact with Darcy, he had told him of his decision to take an active role in trade.
There had been no condemnation from Darcy, and the two had enjoyed a friendship of equals from that point on.
A year later, Bingley had met the daughter of a very well-to-do brewer of ale.
They had married six months later, and the Darcys, including a young Ben, had attended the wedding.
To date, the Bingleys had a son and daughter.
Since Hurst had inherited some six years past, the relationship with Bingley had improved greatly. The Hursts no longer looked for anyone else to pay for their lives. They had two sons.
When Bingley had been asked if he knew what happened to his younger sister, he had said that he knew not.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
What none of her family knew was that Miss Caroline Bingley had annoyed her fellow passengers, the crew, and officers to such an extent that her money for her fare had been returned to her, and she had been put ashore in the Bahama Islands.
All there was on the small island was a small fishing village, and Miss Bingley had been most put out, complaining bitterly to one and all.
A ship had called late one night to collect fresh food and water.
She had boasted how she had fifteen thousand pounds with her, and she would pay to be taken away from the god-forsaken island.
So desperate was she to be away from the nobody villagers that she had ignored how rough-looking the men were.
They put her in a longboat and rowed out to the anchored ship. On deck one of the men who had been ashore spoke quietly to the captain. The captain nodded.
Caroline Bingley’s belongings were seized, and she was thrown in the brig. The next day she was dragged up to the deck and was about to vent her spleen when she saw the black flag flying in the wind. It had a skull and crossbones on it.
“She don’ look any better in light o’ day,” one man spat out. “She be no good to us; send ‘er ta Davy Jones’s locker.”
Although she had no idea who this Davy Jones was, Miss Bingley knew she was in trouble. “You can keep my money; just let me go,” she begged.
“Yir money is ours already,” the captain barked. “Rather than make ‘er walk the plank, she can be our maid on the ship.”
For almost five years she toiled as a servant. The time had chased any of her former pretentions, airs, and graces from her person. One night in Port Royal, Jamaica, she and a longboat went missing. No one ever heard of Caroline Maleficent Bingley again.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Little Eloise made her way onto the shaded veranda and walked up to one of her grandmothers and sat herself on her lap. “You did not want to come play with us, Grandmama Cathy?” Eloise asked.
“I am too comfortable here with your other grandparents, little one,” Lady Catherine replied kindly.
Lady Catherine had mourned her daughter for a full year before she had rejoined the life of the family.
Gone was the lady who thought she knew all; there were no more pronouncements and no talk of the separation of the ranks.
She had softened greatly, and out of all of her nieces and nephews, she was closest to Elizabeth Darcy.
It had been the most natural thing for her to fill the role of surrogate grandmother to the new generation of the extended family.
It had taken Lady Catherine two years before she went to Rosings Park again. She had approved of the changes, and more importantly, she was sure her late daughter would have as well.
Lady Elaine and Matlock were also seen as grandparents to the children of the extended family beyond the ones born to their sons’ wives.
As Matlock approached his seventieth year, he planned to turn more and more of the running of Snowhaven and the other estates tied to the earldom over to Andrew and Mary.
Elli turned to her mother. “Mamma, where are my other aunts?”
“Aunts Kitty and Anna will not be here because they are giving you some more cousins, and Aunt Lydia and Uncle Braiden are to arrive next week,” Elizabeth responded. “Aunts Emily and Priscilla and their families are at Holder Heights with the Carringtons.”
“But Aunt Jane is here, and she is a Carrington?” Eloise was puzzled.
“Yes, Elli, dear, I am a Carrington. However, your Uncle Jamey, our children, and I are here with you for a month before we go to Holder Heights to spend time with those there,” Jane explained.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Emily, Kitty, and Anna had come out together during the season of 1814.
Thanks to the house’s massive size, the joint coming-out ball had been held at Holder House on Park Lane.
Word spread that Kitty had a substantial dowry, and she was courted by many fortune hunters.
As the men discovered there were many restrictions governing the release of her dowry, those needing an infusion of funds sought other, easier targets.
Emily was courted by and married Lord Francis Russell, the Marquess of Tavistock. He was the eldest son and heir of the Duke of Bedford.
A month later, Anna began to be called on by Lord John Russell, the first Earl Russell and the Duke of Bedford’s third son.
They were married eight months later. Not to be outdone, in the same ceremony with Anna, Kitty married the duke’s second son, Lord George William Russell, who was an officer in the army.
When they married, he had just been promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
The infatuation Kitty and Lydia used to have with officers had nothing to do with the former’s choice of husband.
To date, they each had two children, and as Eloise had been told, each was close to her lying in for a third time. Fanny was to leave in two days to be with Kitty.
Lydia and Priscilla had come out together during the season of 1817.
Even though the former had been eligible to come out during the previous season, she chose to wait.
Her experience with the long-dead seducer had made Lydia much more cautious around members of the opposite sex who were not family members.
Priscilla met Lord Wesley de Melville, Viscount Westmore and heir to the Earl of Jersey, about halfway through her season. They were married in February 1818.
Being much more careful, Lydia reached her majority before she met Braiden St James, the second son to a country squire in Wiltshire.
Even though he was only a ‘spare’, Braiden’s father had taught him estate management alongside his older brother.
After Oxford, he had read the law. He and Lydia had met at the home of a mutual friend.
They had taken things slowly and fallen in love.
The wedding was in January of the current year.
Seeing that his fifth son-in-law had no estate of his own and was well versed in estate management, Bennet made St James and Lydia the master and mistress of Rosings Park. St James went from being on his way to becoming a barrister to master of an estate twice the size of the one where he was born.
None of the extended family knew yet, but Lydia had missed two months’ courses and suspected she was with child.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
After looking in on her youngest sons in the nursery, Elizabeth made her way down to the study she shared with William. She had her own desk under the windows, so she always had a good view of the park, lake, and the forest beyond.
When she entered the study, Elizabeth noticed that William had the door to the secret storage compartment open.
He had ordered it repaired and restored to how it looked before he struck it with his fist that fateful day.
Now, it was a place where family keepsakes were housed.
Other than sentimental value, they had no worth.
Among other things, there was a lock of each of their children’s hair, each one tied in a ribbon.
Also, there were some love letters they had written one to the other over the years of their marriage.
The pouch containing the letters his late parents had written was resting against the back of the void.
“William, are you adding an item?” Elizabeth asked.
“No, my beloved wife, I am not. It is nice to know how to open this door without having to drive my fist into it,” Darcy said with a smile.
“Sometimes I am still in awe of how the long-lost letters I found here changed the course of all our lives, and especially, the way the ones from my parents washed away the rest of my improper pride.”
“All I know is that you are the best master, landlord, man, husband, brother, and father. I love you, William,” Elizabeth said as she entered the warm circle of his welcoming arms.
“And you, my beloved, are everything I wanted in a wife and so much more. I love you, my Elizabeth.
They stood, her leaning back against the well-muscled planes of his chest, watching the nurses and governesses rounding up the children to herd them back into the house.
All was right with their world.
~~~The End~~~
Keep Reading: A free copy of ‘The Discarded Daughter’ follows.
The Discarded Daughter
Book 1 – Discarded
Book 2 – Recovery
Book 3 – Reunited
Book 4 – Loving & Living
A Pride & Prejudice Variation
By Shana Granderson, A Lady