Note: This chapter disregards the end of chapter 56 and all of 57, and takes the place of chapter 58. In other words, I rewrote the entire ending. I don't own Great Expectations because I'm not Charles Dickens, obviously. This is how I thought it should've happened:
I did indeed visit Biddy and Joe. Finding them both well, I went on to join Herbert. He and Clara were soon married. They insisted that I live with them in the room formerly occupied by old Gruffandgrim.
I had heard nothing of Estella for three years. The last I knew was that Drummle had died as a consequence of ill-treating a horse, and I am sorry to say that I felt no remorse connected with his demise. He died just before Estella was to have their child. Beyond that, I had no news of her.
One day, while I was in the office, a well dressed man walked in the door.
"Is there some one here by the name of Mr. Pip?" the man asked.
"I am Mr. Pip," I said, rising to shake his hand.
"You were acquainted with Mrs. Bentley Drummle, formerly Miss Estella Havisham?"
I nodded.
"It is my duty to inform you that she has died from a fever, last week."
I was stunned. Estella, dead? I felt as though I had been dealt a heavy blow.
"Her will names you as her sole heir under the conditions expressed in this letter."
I opened the letter with trembling hands. It read as follows:
Dearest Pip.
As you are reading this, you already know that I am dead, and that you are my heir. I give to you my only daughter, my little Belle, to raise as your own. Teach her to love, dear Pip! Teach her to have a heart big enough to hold the world!
I give you all my money, which is quite a fortune. I also give you Satis House for your own. Fill it with light and laughter, and it will always be enough house for you. And as for my jewels, sell them! They are but petty trophies for my cruelty, and reminders of what heartlessness can do to the world.
Do not weep, Pip, now that we must part. I have made my peace with God, and I hope through this to make it with you. Forgive me, dear Pip, if you can ever find it in your heart to do so. I remain, in death as in life,
Estella.
"Will you return with me," said the man, "And settle these legal matters?"
I agreed to this, but did not tell him what he could not understand: these were not legal matters, these were matters of the heart.
A week later I met little Belle Drummle, now Belle Pirrip. My breath caught in my chest when I saw her. The curling hair, the bright eyes, the gentle features, all Estella.
"Papa?" she said, looking at me curiously.
I could not find the words to answer. I only held her tight and willed myself not to cry. I then went to visit Biddy and Joe to tell them of my latest expectations. Little Belle was fast asleep on Joe's shoulder when I had finished talking. I turned to Biddy.
"You know, Biddy, that this child will need a mother," I said.
Her eyes grew wide, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Joe grinning.
"Years ago you loved me, and I was too blind to see it. I wonder, Biddy, if you could learn to love me again?" I took her hand and knelt before her, "Dear, wonderful Biddy, all along it was you. You said once that you did not want me to become a gentleman. Marry me, and make me a good man in spite of it."
Biddy put her hand to her mouth and I could see tears in her eyes.
"Yes," she said finally, "Yes, I will marry you, my dear Pip."
Joe cleared his throat and turned his face away to cover his own tears.
Thus began a new chapter in my life. Something dawned on me as I sat there in the old forge, gazing up at Biddy. I realized that her expectations, and Joe's expectations, and little Belle's expectations; they were the greatest expectations of all.