'Lizzy,' Mrs Bennet screeched, 'the clothes have to be hung out!'

'As I well know,' Elizabeth Bennet sighed wirily.

On the way to London, Mr Bennet become lame and could no longer leave his bed. Her father now required constant attention. Half a year on from the terrible carriage accident that took her most beloved sister from this world days before her wedding to Mr Bingley and the chance of saving the their family, only Elizabeth still resided at a greatly diminished home. Longbourn had been leased to a family newly moneyed in trade and provided their only income. Kitty had married their middle son and therefore brought some respectability back to herself but had been forced to cast off her family. Mr Collins waited in the wings for his inheritance while refusing to acknowledge his cousins. Mary married Uncle Phillips son, now the Meryton town attorney. By changing her name, she avoided the fall from grace that the youngest Bennet sister brought upon their good name. Lydia had passed in child birth nine months after her loss to Mr Wickham, still unmarried to the man but living with him. Unable to claim any acquaintance with The Darcy's of Pemberley, the wicked individual had not bothered them again.

'We can no longer afford a housekeeper or cook or even more than the single maid to attend my father,' Lizzy muttered under her breath. They had let Lucy and Annabel go last month as Mr Bennet's medical bills increased. 'Mama is outraged still that we must do not only our own washing and cooking, but take more in to make ends meet. At least I will be out in the sunshine while hanging out the clothes.'

'What are we to do,' Mrs Bennet cried as her only unmarried daughter joined her in the kitchen, 'when you father dies. We will not even have the income from Longbourn. That Collin's man will take it away as soon as may be.'

Elizabeth chose to say nothing as she moved to start yet another copper boiling. The Gardiners had offered to take her in when the time came. They had not extended to invitation to Mrs Bennet believing one of her married daughters would do her duty. Mary would most likely take up the challenge but with a child of her own soon, she would be reluctant to have her mother give advice on how to raise her son or daughter.

'If only Jane had lived and married Mr Bingley,' a frustrated Mrs Bennet preferred to live in the past with her grand dreams of what might have been.

'We are lucky Papa became only lame,' Lizzy tried to get through to her mother. Even with all the trials of the last six months, Miss Bennet attempted to keep her slightly impertinent, witty demeanour. It had proved more and more difficult. Indeed life wore her down since that day she'd received Jane's note about Lydia's elopement. Until then she held dreams of becoming Mrs Darcy. However that great man had expressed his disapproval in every way possible before leaving her at the inn in Lambton. 'Should Papa have died, Kitty and Mary would not have been so well situated. Mr Collin's would have removed us from Longbourn months before we had to go and your brother in town would not have been able to take us all in. We would be in the hedgerows.'

'Had Jane, my dearest Jane lived to marry Bingley,' moaned Mrs Bennet.

Stopping the lady before she could run away with the thought, Lizzy stated in a rather cold tone, 'I prefer to see our cup half full rather than half empty. It is no use wishing for things we cannot change just as we should not wish for things we cannot have.'

With that Elizabeth Bennet removed herself from the kitchen in their small cottage. She still liked to walk. It gave time to think, however her thought these days were not so pleasant. Finding herself meandering towards the Longbourn churchyard, Lizzy easily found the family plot. Stopping before her sister's grave, she laid the wild flowers she'd collected on her ramble.

'My dearest sister,' tears appeared in her eyes as she knelt beside the grave, 'how I miss you. Even if you had lived, I doubt Mr Bingley would have allowed you to have anything to do with me while I carried the name Bennet. Lydia's foolish behaviour ruined us all. It is just as well your Mr Bingley came back to ensure Netherfield passed to a new owner and saw you in Meryton. Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were very good to have you at Gracechurch Street for the entirety of your courtship so you could escape the scandal. If I could change anything, it would be your final trip back to Longbourn to wish your family goodbye, for goodbye it surely would have been. As Mrs Bingley you would have been lost to us for every just as Kitty and Mary are now.'

'The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away,' the pastor, cautiously creeping up on the desolate young woman he'd known since childhood said in a calm, soothing tone.

'I fear he has taken more than I can willingly give,' Lizzy attempted to smile through her tears.

'When the time comes Miss Bennet, look to The Lord for your way,' Mr Michael's stated, 'for I do not believe this is all he has install for you. Right now your burdens are heaviest and your future must appear very dark. Fortunes can change. Have faith.'

'I try,' Lizzy's smile faded. 'But with each passing day, all hope becomes decreased in my estimation. I am tired.'

'You take on too much,' commented the Pastor, 'yet I know you must. You are devoted to your father and it does you credit. How well is Mr Bennet?'

'I fear he is not much longer for this world,' Elizabeth tried to keep a fresh set of tears from her eyes. 'Then I do not know what we shall do.'

It occurred a month later. Elizabeth went to the kitchen to prepare her father's tea and the concoction for his ever increasing pain. When she entered the sick room, she simply knew he was no more. Instead of the tears, the melancholy, she felt only relief quickly followed by grief at her emotions of liberation. Mrs Bennet when called did not take hysterics as Lizzy supposed. She looked at her daughter with sad eyes.

'Is this his draught?' she asked.

Nodding, Elizabeth handed it to her mother when instructed to do so silently. Taking the cup, Mrs Bennet retired to her own chamber. Fearful for her mother's mental state, Lizzy would get to that later. For now she had far too much to arrange. After sending the only maid for the apothecary, she quickly penned letters to her sisters and the Gardiners in the hopes they would be recieved.

'Please,' Lizzy requested of Mr Holden, Meryton's doctor when he finally arrived several hours later, 'will you see to my mother before going? The pastor is here and I need to speak with him in regards to my father's funeral.'

'I will see you in the parlour on my way out,' Mr Holden nodded.

He returned to the small room almost immediately. 'Miss Bennet, when did you last see your mother?'

'Not more than three hours ago, I have had much to do since coming upon my father,' she stated with a curious look on her face until she saw the two gentlemen exchanged expressions of regret. 'My mother has passed also,' Lizzy knew it. 'She took my father's elixir.'

'I believe Mrs Bennet might have added something more potent for her pain,' Mr Holden suggested.

'Miss Bennet,' Mr Michael's guided the young woman to a chair.

'All will be well,' Lizzy managed a sad smile. It took several minutes for the men to finally leave, reassured she had a maid to keep her company and help arranged the bodies. The pastor agreed to take care of the funeral arrangements as no men remained in the family or resided close enough to complete them. The cost, Elizabeth knew would almost entirely wipe out her share of her mother's five thousand pound dowry. Jane's share had gone long ago.

Mr and Mrs Bennet were laid to rest two days later. Miss Elizabeth Bennet could not attend due to her sex. Mr Phillips and his son as well as Mr Burnside and is three sons, the new tenets of Longbourn joined the Paster and Sir William Lucas as the only mourners. Even a year after Lydia's foolish elopement the Meryton community still shunned the Bennet family, even in death. Mr Collin's agreed to remain at Huntsford for another year and allow the Burnside's time to take another house in the area. Mr Bingley solved the issue by offering them Netherfield which had remained unoccupied. So, a little more than a fortnight after their funeral, Longbourn saw the removal of one family and the arrival of another.

'I am completely alone in the world,' Lizzy muttered, dressed in her traveling clothes. Everything she owned had been packed into trunks, the furniture sold and the cottage given up as she could no longer afford to keep it. Her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner had sent a man servant with their coach to retrieve the last of their nieces and remove her to London. She would not reside with them long, even if they wished it. 'I have to make my own way. Once I get to town, I shall start applying for positions for that is to be my life now. I have not the smallest hope that anyone will solicit my company when they uncover my history. I am bound for a life of servitude.'

Shortly after the second anniversary of her parents' death, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, now three and twenty, made a name for herself. Never one to dwell on the past, she had taken employment, not as the governess she supposed for that did not suit her at all, but a new boutique owned by a dispossessed French Countess able to escape the guillotine. A lively wit and slight impertinence had won Miss Bennet favour with the older ladies come to Brighton to bath in the sea. Soon the shop became highly sought by the fashionable set due mostly to the young woman's management and the Countesses eye for fashion. Dresses were delivered on time and to an exacting standard rarely found even in London.

'Miss Bennet!' exclaimed an astounded Caroline Bingley as she entered the upmarket establishment.

'Is it still Miss Bingley?' Lizzy asked with a rise of her eyebrow. Her heart shattered in two at the thoughts of the man who had owned it since that night at Pemberley and the possibility this woman had finally captured him.

'Lady Benning,' Caroline tittered. Unable to keep her good fortune in check, she stated snidely, 'I married Lord Benning two winters past. Charles has recently married my new sister, Lady Hanna.'

'I am delighted for you both,' Elizabeth kept the smile on her face. Truthfully, she wished Mr Bingley well in his future.

'Oh,' Caroline couldn't help the glee appear on her face, 'I have come for a new gown to wear to the Darcy's wedding next month.'

'Then let me show to our best salon,' Lizzy managed to keep the bile in her stomach somehow. After introducing Lady Benning to the Countess, Elizabeth called in an assistant to take over. 'I will beat this,' she mentally berated herself on the walk up the stairs to her apartment. 'I will be happy. Mr Darcy can mean nothing to me. I knew that day at Lampton I should never see him again.'

However, that day proved harder for Miss Elizabeth Bennet to bear than the rest of her misfortunes. The loss of her parents she could cope with, for they should predecease their children. The loss of her home, of Longbourn would have occurred if she'd married. Each day the loss of Jane became easier to cope with. The loss of hope, that one day she would meet again the man who had stolen her heart, devastated the young woman.

'This too,' she muttered into her tear stained pillow, 'will pass.'

I am really a HEA author. I have left this open. Perhaps if I feel in a better frame of mind as some point in the future I will offer another, happier chapter. I hate to say it but the issues here are drawn from my own life and daily struggle with a disabled parent, chronically ill child and little extra money in the budget. There are days living just becomes too hard and today is one of them. However, writing this has been cathartic. Thank you for reading.