Soon enough, they were crossing the bridges at the southern end of the lake and headed for their boulder. As Her Grace was walking with her husband, only Biggs was following them at a respectful distance.
When they reached their boulder, William placed a blanket he had brought with them. As the temperatures cooled it was becoming too cold to sit on the rock without one. With the blanket in place, they sat side by side, their hands linked.
“That day we met for the first time in April of this year, even though I insulted you, you kept your equanimity,” William stated as Elizabeth rested her head on his shoulder.
“Neither of us were on their best behaviour that day,” she owned.
“True, but my beloved Elizabeth, you showed your grace that day, as you have many times since then, and it had nothing to do with your rank,” William asserted.
“I have always tried to be more than my rank, a level of society I never wanted, and would have gladly given up had I borne a daughter,” Elizabeth mused. “We will make sure that Will understands his responsibilities to those who are dependent on him, and educate him so he shows grace to all and understands it is more than a way to address him.”
“Like his mother always has, and always will; her grace is unlimited.”
Elizabeth turned her head and kissed her husband silencing him. Some fifteen to twenty yards away, Biggs turned around and found the birds on the wing very interesting.
Epilogue
Meryton, May 1833
The vast extended family had come together for the wedding of His Grace, Lord William Robert Alexander Darcy to Miss Edith Sarah Portnoy, eldest daughter of Charlotte and Lawrence Portnoy.
“If Mrs. Bennet had been alive, Charlotte’s daughter about to become the next Duchess of Hertfordshire would have surely caused her an apoplexy,” Lady Jane Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock said quietly next to her sister, the Dowager Duchess of Hertfordshire.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The afore mentioned lady had taken a walk in October 1807 to try and burn off her anger at reading of Lady Elizabeth Darcy’s success of birthing a son. As the weather was rather foul, unbeknownst to her a snow storm was blowing in, none of the watchers thought she would venture out of doors.
When she was not seen for a few days, one of the men watching over her braved the frigid temperatures and entered her cottage. He had seen no sign of her there and also the bed had not been slept in for some time. A search had been mounted and after a day of searching, her frozen body had been discovered in a shallow gully. Evidently, she had tripped or slipped and more than likely become unconscious. The cold had done the rest.
When the final report from the man in charge of the watchers had reached Elizabeth, she had passed the information on to her sisters, but like her, none of them chose to mourn the woman.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“I dare say you would be correct,” Elizabeth agreed.
“We are all much better off for her not being in our lives,” Jane stated.
Jane and Andrew had moved to Snowhaven when Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam had passed away peacefully in his sleep some six years previously. Lady Elaine, the Dowager Countess had joined him in heaven just over a year ago. Just as Elizabeth had predicted, Jane had refused the gift of an estate in addition to the massive dowry Elizabeth had bestowed on her. Per her vow to herself, Elizabeth had not argued to convince Jane to change her mind.
Elizabeth looked to her side where her beloved husband sat. At almost fifty a fair amount of his hair was grey, but he was as handsome as he had been that first day she met him near the lake. Next to her husband sat her Mama. Lady Anne, just into her seventh decade, was rather spry for one of her age. Her beloved Robert, close to eighty by then, had gone to his final reward just on five years after his brother and best friend, Reggie. As sad as she had been to carry on without the other half of her heart, on her Robert’s deathbed, Lady Anne had promised him she would not give up on life and their bevy of grandchildren.
As the adopted mother of the other four Bennet sisters, when added to William and Anna’s children, she had over thirty grandchildren.
Taking her husband’s hand as she looked at her firstborn with pride as he recited his vows, Elizabeth felt nothing but contentment in the life God had granted her. Ben, the first child born to her and William, was standing up with his older brother.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Benjamin Robert Darcy had been born in July 1809. Edward William had arrived in February 1812, then the twins, Annabeth and Joshua were next in January 1815. Almost four years had passed and Elizabeth had thought she would not be blessed with another child when she started missing her courses and then felt the quickening before the end of 1819. Mary-Jane was born in May 1820. The youngest Darcy, Alexander Frank, joined the family in December 1822.
Since Alex’s birth, Elizabeth had never conceived again. She and William agreed seven were more than enough.
The Darcy offspring not involved with the wedding, were interspersed among their many cousins. Edward was sitting between two beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed Fitzwilliams. Elaine Madeline was seated on his right. She was called Ellie by everyone and was Jane and Andrew’s eldest daughter, born about a year after Annabeth and Joshua.
Before that, Jane and Andrew had been blessed with three sons. Andrew Reginald was born in March 1808, twins Richard William and George in February 1811. Ellie arrived in January of 1813. Until Ellie’s birth, Jane had been convinced she would only have sons. After Ellie, almost three years later, Madeline joined the family. Four years after Maddie, Catherine and Paul were born.
The other blonde seated next to Edward was not one of Jane’s daughters, but the eldest daughter of Mary and Richard Fitzwilliam.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
