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The two were no less in love today than they were when they married. If anything, they were more so.

In October 1822, the Earl of Matlock had been called home to God. Lord and Lady Hilldale had become Lord and Lady Matlock. Thanks to years of learning about her future role from Mother, Jane was more than prepared to take on her new position. They had not joined London society again until the Little Season of 1823. They, along with Anne and Richard, had joined Lady Elaine in mourning the beloved patriarch for a full year. Darcy, Anna, and their families had observed six months of mourning for the late earl.

Since rejoining society, Jane had joined Anne, Elizabeth, and Anna as one of the leaders of the Ton.

Lady Elaine was not allowed to move to the dower house at Snowhaven. Rather, Jane and Andrew insisted she remain in the manor house. She divided her time between the houses of her two sons, the Darcys, and the Smythes. She was a surrogate grandmother to the children of the latter two families.

When Jane and her family had lived at Hilldale, it had been a little over thirty miles between the estates the two eldest Bennet sisters lived at. Hence, the closeness between Jane and Elizabeth was maintained easily with much time spent at each other’s estates and the cousins growing up more like siblings than cousins. As there was less than ten miles between Snowhaven and Pemberley, they saw one another even more when in the country.

As much as Darcy had not wanted his sister to ever leave his house, she had married the young Earl of Granville, Lord Harry Smythe, in April 1814. What made losing his sister to the protection of another man slightly more palatable was that Granville was just across the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. From one estate’s mansion to the other was just shy of fifteen miles. As much as Anna loved her sons, and she did, she was hoping that the child she had just felt quicken would be the daughter she hoped for. She prayed that God would make it so.

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The coaches had just been moved to the carriage house and stables—also greatly enlarged—when the conveyances with the family from Kent arrived. The lead carriage contained Anne and Richard Fitzwilliam and their three daughters and son. Next one was the one carrying two sets of grandparents, Collins and Osborne. The final family coach was the one that Bethany and Clem Bennet and their two sons rode in. Their daughter and youngest son had ridden part of the way with their grandparents.

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The Rosings Park Fitzwilliams could not have been happier if they tried. Contrary to how she might have been had Anne ever taken the cordial her mother and former companion had attempted to feed her, Anne was as healthy as anyone. She had carried her children and birthed them without even a minor complication. Their son, the second child born, was named Lewis de Bourgh Fitzwilliam. Thanks to there being no entail on Rosings Park, he did not need to change his family name.

Except for the year of mourning when the late earl was called home to God, the whole of the extended family joined the Fitzwilliams at Rosings Park each year to celebrate Easter. The summers were spent in Hertfordshire or Derbyshire, and they met with their family members in London when they were all in Town.

Collins Clem Bennet had been born in early March of 1812. He had been followed by a sister, a brother, and the youngest, another son. While Bethany and Clem’s older son would have Collins Hollow one day, his younger brother would be the master of Willow Ridge after Grandpapa Paul went to his final reward. As the boy was only seven, the last thing on his mind was his future estate.

Ophelia and Clem Collins had never regretted their decision to move to the dower house at Collins Hollow and allow their son and daughter-in-law to take over the reins as master and mistress of the estate.

Collins and Bennet had become very close friends over the years. The latter was delighted that the former enjoyed books almost as much as he did. If that was not enough, his cousin was a very good chess player. When Matlock had been alive the three had always challenged one another. Now, it was only the two of them of that generation. They did play against the younger men from time to time.

Bethany’s parents had essentially retired as well, and Clem Bennet managed both Collins Hollow and Willow Ridge, working closely with the steward of each.

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The last group were those who lived closest to Longbourn. The Gardiners, Falmouths, and Hattie Phillips arrived from Netherfield Park. Last of all were the Ungers who had walked from the parsonage in the Longbourn Village.

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After he completed his time at Oxford, Eddy Gardiner moved to London to assist in managing his father’s business concerns. Lilly was married to the son of Gardiner’s partner, a man named Falmouth. Falmouth held five and twenty percent of Gardiner and Associates, and his son was training to work with Eddy, his brother-in-law, to manage the business. May and Peter were still at home.

When Frank Phillips had been called home some four years past after contracting a bad case of influenza, the Gardiners had invited Hattie to live with them. She could have joined Fanny at Longbourn’s dower house; however, Hattie chose the Gardiners as their offspring were younger. She had never been blessed with children of her own, so she looked forward to watching them grow. She called on Fanny, and Fanny on her, a few times each week.

Unger had been William Bennet’s curate. When Bennet shared his plan to move to the dower house and turn Longbourn over to William Bennet, the latter, with his Mary’s agreement, had given up the living and recommended his curate. Bennet had preferred the man to the position.

Unger and Kitty, now called Kate, had been in love for some time, but it was understood he would not be able to offer for her until he had a living of his own. Hence, as soon as Unger received the living in 1814, some months before Bennet turned Longbourn over to William and Mary, after the latter couple had moved to the manor house, he proposed to and was accepted by Kate. She was just twenty at that point. It had been expected that Mary would marry a clergyman, but not Kate. Hence, everyone had been vastly surprised.

In their eleven years of being blissfully wed, they had four children, three sons and a daughter.

While all the family was present, their children would reside at Longbourn with their cousins while Unger and Kate would sleep in their own bed.

Fanny, Bennet, and Lydia would be with their family members every day. Lydia would sleep at the mansion while Fanny and Bennet would return to the dower house each night.

Lydia was a favourite aunt to all the children in the extended family. She taught the girls all she knew about fashion.

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Charles Bingley remained in Scarborough working in the business his father had built. He married a local lady the year he turned thirty. She looked nothing like the angels he previously chased. To date, they had two daughters and a son. Although he maintained his connection to Darcy, Bingley only saw him once every year or so.

After Hurst’s father passed away, he took over as the master of Winsdale. Thanks to what she had learnt when she was the mistress of Netherfield Park, Louisa Hurst was a very good mistress of her husband’s estate. They had been blessed with two sons.

Miss Caroline Bingley lived in her fantasy world as an inmate of The Happy Place for ten years. One day, she had a flash of lucidity and tried to escape by climbing out of her window. She was almost thirty feet up; hence, she fell to her death.