“We have indeed, Fanny. I will never forget how convinced I was that we would have a fifth daughter, and I could not understand why you looked so serene and happy when I came to see you in the early morning of that fateful day. It took me a while to comprehend what was staring me in the face.
“I will never forget the euphoria I experienced once I saw you were well Fanny. I was so scared with your size for that last confinement that God would call you home to Him. He did not, and instead, we were blessed with our sons. Look at where we are today. God has been very good to us, Fanny,” Bennet murmured to his wife.
“Yes, Thomas, He has been so very good to us. I love you as much today as I did the day that I married you, if not more so.” As she said the last, she kissed her beloved husband’s cheek.
Epilogue
The Elliots:
As much as the former Miss Charlotte Lucas had decried love as a necessary ingredient to a good marriage in the past, she was the first to admit hers was a love match. She loved her Patrick with all of her being and did until his passing many years later. Her first borne was a little girl, much to then six-year-old Grace’s delight. She went on to present her husband with two sons as well.
Once Grace was seventeen, her sister, Sarah, eleven, her brother, Everett, nine, and the youngest, Paul, seven, her esteemed father decided to retire to his estate Riverdale inherited from his maternal grandmother and the estate was smaller than Longbourn before Bennet’s epiphany.
At the time of his retirement, thanks to the prudence and savings of the vast majority of his earnings all invested with Edward Gardiner, Patrick Elliot had purchased a neighbouring estate and some extra land, so his estate was by then bringing in a clear profit of seven thousand per annum. He was able to settle five and twenty thousand pounds on each of his two daughters and forty thousand on his second son.
Grace, after her coming out season, was introduced to, and eventually agreed to a courtship with, the younger by two years David Fitzwilliam, who would one day be Viscount Hilldale and later, many years later, be Lord Matlock.
Sarah, Charlotte and Patrick’s second daughter, ended up marrying George Darcy, cementing the bonds that were already very strong between the Darcys and the Elliots. Their oldest boy Everett, named for his late grandfather, would eventually inherit the very prosperous estate of Riverdale and marry the second daughter of a baronet. The youngest Paul who, although with the fortune his father settled on him did not need a profession, after Cambridge decided to read the law and became one of the most sought-after barristers in the Kingdom. He married the daughter of a tradesman, a very wealthy one although that was not a consideration.
The Ashbys:
Anne, even though Sir Frederick had pointed out the danger after her first son Lewis was born of her being with child again, three years after Lewis’s birth bore a second son named after his Grandfather, Rudolph Ashby, the Earl of Ashbury.
Although weakened after her second son, Anne, who was close to all of her Ashby, Darcy, Fitzwilliam, and Bennet family, insisted, much against the advice of her doctors, on becoming with child again as she wanted a daughter.
Her wish was granted four years after Rudi, but the cost was her life as she was very weak after the birth and never recovered. She succumbed some months after her daughter, named Anne Elizabeth Ashby was born.
The whole family came to Sherwood Park for her burial, as she chose to be buried at her beloved husband’s estate rather than Rosings Park. Her first born son, Lewis, would eventually inherit Sherwood Park, while his brother Rudolph inherited Rosings Park when he attained the age of five and twenty.
Rudolph had lived at the estate from the time he completed his studies at Cambridge, learning all facets of managing his estate from the extremely proficient steward his Uncle William Darcy had recommended all those years ago.
He also received assistance from his uncles and aunts each year when the extended family came to Rosings Park for Easter. In what could only be viewed as irony, he married his cousin Pricilla Darcy, the seventh of eight Darcy children and the fourth and last daughter granted to the Darcys.
Lady Catherine, had she been alive, would have been seriously displeased the shades of Rosings Park would be thus polluted by her grandson marrying the daughter of the artful woman who had tricked her nephew into marriage.
Ian Ashby mourned his wife for a number of years, then when little Anne was five, he met Maria Carter née Lucas, who was visiting with her sister and brother-in-law along with the family for Easter. Her husband, Colonel Jack Carter, had died in the Canadas some three years previously and they had no children.
Less than a year later, Maria became Mrs. Ashby and little Anne finally knew a mother. She loved all three of the Ashby children as if they were her own, and they were blessed with a daughter a year after their wedding. They lived a very long and happy life together, and although Ian Ashby never forgot his Anne, he was a very contented man.
The Hursts:
Harold and Louisa Hurst lived on the estate he inherited when his father passed in Northamptonshire. They were always included in all family events of the extended family who counted them as fully fledged members. Louisa bore three children, two girls and a boy.
A month into their son’s first year at Oxford, Harold Hurst passed away from complications of heart disease. He was mourned by his beloved wife and children, as well as their large extended family and friends. His oldest finished his schooling and then came home to take over the estate. His mother lived with him until her passing many years later, never marrying again.
Both Louisa and Harold Hurst enjoyed a loving relationship until the day of his passing without the toxic influence of Louisa’s younger sister. Neither her children nor any of their cousins or friends knew that Caroline Bingley existed, and all were happier for their lack of knowledge.
Between their father and their Uncle Charles Bingley, the Hurst daughters had twenty thousand each and made very fine matches after second seasons. Louisa’s son married the only child from an estate that bordered the Hurst’s, and when her parents passed the estate devolved to her. It would eventually be passed down to Louisa’s second grandson. The older daughter, Isabelle Hurst ended up marrying Will Fitzwilliam, the heir to Netherfield.
Elaine and Reggie Fitzwilliam:
It was not too many years after the events described herein that the running of Snowhaven was passed onto Andrew Fitzwilliam, Lord Hilldale. Lord Matlock still participated in the house of Lords for another ten years.
Rather than be tied to their estates, when Reggie was not needed in town, they would sojourn at one of the estates of their children or nieces and nephews to spend time with the rapidly growing number of grandchildren, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
As much as Reginald Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Matlock, loved politics, he loved spending time with his beloved wife and visiting family even more.
The Earl and Countess were counted as grandparents to the Darcy children, the Ashby children, and the Bingley children. The Earl survived to see his first great-grandson born to David and Grace Fitzwilliam before he passed on to be with God in heaven. His Countess followed him ten years later, after seeing a slew of additional greatgrandchildren born.
