It had not taken many months before Miss Jane and Patrick Elliot were in love with one another. In his role as the rector of Hunsford, Elliot had to work very closely with Miss Jane as she continued with her passion of helping any who needed it in the Hunsford area.
The fact Grace had started to call Jane ‘Mama’ a few months after she returned from her sister Mary’s wedding had not hurt. They started courting in August of 1811 and announced their betrothal when the family came together at Pemberley for the Christmas season that same year.
Jane married the man she loved in February of 1812 and was happy to move back into the parsonage as the wife of the current clergyman. They had married from Netherfield Park, and Uncle Edward walked her up the aisle at St Alfred’s in Meryton. Although some years later than her younger sister, Jane had finally fulfilled their sisterly pledge to marry only for the deepest love.
Elizabeth, Darcy, and Georgiana had attended the wedding only after Mr. Jackson, Pemberley’s physician, assured the master, his wife who was six months with child, would be able to journey there safely, without any harm to herself or the babe, as long as there were frequent stops so she could stretch her legs.
In an abundance of caution, Darcy planned for a five-day journey each way, rather than the normal two plus days. Lydia stood up with Jane who had glowed with happiness as Uncle Edward escorted her to her groom. Unlike her previous experience, this time she was more than willing to be joined with a clergyman.
The Darcys returned to their beloved Pemberley without incident for mother or the babe she carried. In May, everyone except Anne, who was not up to a long journey, arrived at Pemberley in time for the birth of Alexander Edward Robert Darcy. His parents chose a name they liked rather than attempt to continue the tradition Darcy’s mother attempted to institute by naming the heir to Pemberley with his mother’s maiden name.
Richard and Charlotte attended the birth, as their daughter Sarah Elaine Fitzwilliam was almost four months old so able to travel. Andrew and Marie attended with their one-year-old son, little Reggie—as did Andrew and Richard’s parents, who doted on their grandchildren exceedingly.
When Mary and Bingley arrived at Pemberley, it was obvious Mary was with child. The Bingleys had located an estate less than twenty miles southwest of Pemberley, Oakwood, which they had purchased early in 1812, giving the Gardiners another reason to visit the area.
Kitty Bennet was being courted by Franklin Lucas at the time of Alex’s birth. The couple married in April of 1813, just after Kitty’s nineteenth birthday. They settled at Lucas Lodge and Sir William slowly turned the running of his expanded estate over to his son and heir. Between Kent and Derbyshire, Sir William and Lady Lucas had many families to visit.
Lady Tiffany Fitzwilliam came out in 1812, at the age of eighteen. She did not express an interest in any young man until she met James Carrington, Viscount Amberleigh, at Giana’s coming out in 1814. After a few months of calls, the two courted and became betrothed. They married in early 1815.
Giana had long held a tendre for Johnny Lucas. He loved her as well but he had not given any clue until she came out. Giana and Johnny married in a double ceremony with her sister and cousin, Tiffany.
The Darcys gifted the couple with one of their secondary estates, Brookfield Meadows, not ten miles from Pemberley. To hear Darcy tell it, he was selfishly keeping Giana close to Pemberley.
Brookfield Meadows was home to a renowned horse breeding programme and Johnny Lucas had a deep and abiding passion for horses, so it was a perfect situation. Thankfully Tiffany and James Carrington were close by as well, just across the border in Staffordshire at their estate Amberleigh, not far from Hilldale. With Snowhaven ten miles east of Pemberley, there were constant visits between the extended family’s estates in the area.
Lydia Phillips fell in love with her father’s head clerk and the two were married in 1816. Thanks to her father investing her dowry with his brother Gardiner, and with Lizzy’s additional ten thousand pounds, combined with a legacy her husband had, the couple’s funds were sufficient to purchase the Great House at Stoke, less than four miles from the centre of Meryton.
By the time Lilly Gardiner came out in 1818, Gardiner had handed over the running of his business to a competent manager, which allowed him to retire to his country estate.
In mid-1816, Thomas Bennet passed away in his beloved library with a half-finished glass of port in his hand. He was discovered three days later when one of his few remaining servants noticed a strange smell. He had died as he lived—alone.
When his will was read, it was revealed that Longbourn had been left to Elizabeth. She did not want it. In consultation with her husband she sold it to the Elliots for the princely sum of one pound. Before making the offer to the Elliots, Elizabeth spoke to her other three blood former-Bennet sisters, none of whom wanted the estate.
The Elliots, who in four years of marriage had added a son and daughter to their family, had been astounded when they were offered Longbourn for a pittance. They accepted, but with the caveat they would only move after a new clergyman was installed at Hunsford and someone could be found to run Jane’s charities competently.
Anne de Bourgh maintained a close friendship with Jane Elliot, and her phaeton could be found at the parsonage on many days. The two had a friendship as deep as the one between Elizabeth and Charlotte.
By February 1817, the five Elliots were living at Longbourn. Jane did not want to be separated from Anne so she was invited to live at Longbourn, which she accepted. Mrs. Jenkinson received a generous pension and went to live with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. Anne lived at Longbourn with the Elliots for two years and witnessed the birth of the baby of the family, a son, in 1818.
One morning in June 1819, after the family had returned from spending Easter at Rosings Park—a long established tradition—Anne failed to ring for her breakfast. She had become steadily weaker over the years, but Jane and Patrick hoped against hope she would remain among them for a long time yet.
Jane went to check on her friend and sister. She discovered Anne unmoving and cold; she had slipped away in her sleep. Anne looked peaceful and happy in repose. Expresses were sent to all of the extended family and the next day Anne made her final journey back to Rosings Park, to be laid to rest next to her beloved father.
Anne's mother, Lady Catherine, had passed away two years after being placed in the asylum in Scotland and had been buried there. Against all odds, Anne had survived her mother by almost six years.
The only other death was Fanny Bennet’s. She had raved about the ‘evil one’ for well over a year. When the orderlies came to bring her breakfast one morning, they found her lying on the floor, eyes open and unseeing. It could not be determined if she died of an apoplexy or her heart had given out. She was buried in the cemetery at Bedlam reserved for those not claimed by family members. In the end, she received the same treatment she had attempted to visit upon Elizabeth; she had been banished, save her banishment was for eternity.
Of Caroline Bingley, not much was heard. She met and married a wealthy tradesman in Boston. In the Americas, it was wealth more than anything which determined status and the man, a Mr. Johnstone, was exceedingly wealthy. After the letter about her marriage to her brother and sister, roughly a year after she arrived in the New World, there was no further communication.
What of the villain George Wickham. All of his pleas for Darcy to excuse his debts fell on deaf ears and the man was still where he belonged. In debtor’s prison, where he would remain until he breathed his last. Too late, he had learnt there were consequences for his behaviour.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Mama and Papa, how much longer until we see Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Rich, and our cousins?” demanded four-year-old Maddie Darcy, the baby of the family and a copy of her mother in looks and character.
“Maddie,” said Alex, who was feeling very grown up at almost fourteen and preparing to begin his studies at Eton in September, said, “we will arrive soon. Look! There is the Hunsford parsonage, so we will be turning into Rosings Park any minute.”
“Is that where Aunt Jane and Uncle Patrick used to live?” Mary-Jane, who had recently turned seven, asked about one of her namesakes.
