Six Years Later…
Wiping away a bead of sweat that was falling down his face, Will ran over to where a red, tartan blanket on the grass and to the beautiful brunette who sat on it, cradling their newborn son. It was the hottest August on record and they were making the most of the summer holidays before the children were settled back into school.
"You look knackered." Elizabeth commented.
"I'm getting old." Will complained, sitting on the blanket next to her.
"Three kids to run around after, it will tire you out. But Alice seems to have the energy." Elizabeth laughed.
Will took hold of the newborn baby out of her arms to have a cuddle with him, their little boy who had been born three weeks ago.
"What are the others up to?" Elizabeth asked.
"They were playing with the football but Rose wants to go for a walk."
Elizabeth nodded, getting up from the ground and started to pack away the picnic basket as Will carefully put Henry back into the pram and together they walked over to where Alice was playing with the rest of their children. Rose, now ten, remained the same as she had been six years ago. Their eldest daughter still loved the outdoors and would often be found walking through the Pemberley grounds or in the stables and even walked the dog they had brought for the children, a golden retriever they had called Macey.
Tom was now nearing his sixth birthday in a few months and was the spitting image of his father in every way; having inherited all the Darcy looks but shared Rose's interest in animals, often fighting with his older sister on who got to walk to dog when they went out on family walks. Their youngest daughter, Alice-Jane who preferred to be called 'Ally', had turned four two months ago and was the spitting image of her mother; with only the Darcy curls from her father. Henry Reginald, had been born three weeks ago and as Elizabeth had expected, their youngest son was the spitting image of Tom. Having four children, she felt that their little family was complete now.
"I know that I've asked you a lot, but are you sure that you're okay with everything? Moving to Pemberley full time?" Will asked as he pushed the pram.
Elizabeth nodded, the large manor had enough room for all of them to have their own space.
"It's yours now and the house in Meryton was getting too small with all the children we now have." Elizabeth replied.
"But still…moving away from Meryton and Longbourn…isn't it upsetting?" Will asked.
"A little. I grew up there and I'll miss my dad and Longbourn, but we have to move to Pemberley. Rose is looking forward to starting her riding lessons. Besides, we still have our first home for when we go back to visit."
"I just feel like I'm asking a lot, uprooting our family away from everything. You having to quit and look for a new job. Moving away from Charles, Jane and the girls."
Elizabeth smiled.
"Will, there is a lot that we'll miss. Of course our kids will miss not being so close to Amelie, Hannah and Megan, they have a close bond with their Bingley cousins. But they won't miss a bitter grandmother and an aunt that never bothers."
In the past six years, a lot had changed. Mr. Bennet had a close bond with all four Darcy children and even his three grandchildren from Jane and Charles. Mary had graduated from university and got a job as a part-time music teacher and had an evening job as part of the orchestra at a theatre in Watford, working exclusively for the theatre and had fallen in love with a violin player named Penny; the two had gotten married a year ago and lived in a one bedroom flat in Watford with no plans to have children. Kitty was still in a relationship with Denny, both having finished university and had gone travelling. Lydia, on the other hand, still had no idea what to do with her life. She had failed her last year of sixth form and had worked in various restaurants and retail stores ever since, never settling down into one job. Lydia still lived at Longbourn with their parents and Mrs. Bennet refused to have anything to do with her Darcy grandchildren due to the fallout with Elizabeth six years previously. Elizabeth had tried on many occasions to reach out to her mother but Fran Bennet was never interested in apologising and burying the hatchet. Georgiana on the other hand, had met someone when she had started university at the age of nineteen, a man named Chris and they had married once they had finished and Georgiana had given birth to their child a year ago.
"You have a point there." Will said.
They finally reached the children who had been kicking a football around on the grass in Hyde Park. Alice Reynolds, or now Alice Darcy, had become the surrogate grandmother that their children had never known in Mrs. Bennet.
"Shall we go for a walk?" Elizabeth suggested.
The children nodded enthusiastically. With Ally getting a piggyback from Rose and Tom wanting one from his father. Will stopped pushing the pram with little Henry inside and helped his son up on his back.
"Dad, let's have a race." Rose said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Rosie, I don't think-"
"What's the matter? Getting too old, Fizz?" Rose asked cheekily.
Will grinned and chased after his daughters as they ran on ahead. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and laughed as she took over the pushing of the pram and walked at a slow pace with Alice.
"To think that he missed out on those three years with Rose at the beginning, you wouldn't think it now." Alice smiled.
"Definitely not. They have such a unique bond, he does with all of our children."
"He's very much the devoted father. I can't thank the two of you enough, for what you've done for me over the past six months."
Elizabeth turned to face the woman, now aged sixty-four, and smiled sadly. Alice Reynolds and Reginald Darcy had gotten married seven months after Tom was born and had lived happily at Pemberley, with Alice retiring as the housekeeper because of their relationship. Reginald had lived up to his promise, devoting his life after the transplant to being a better father and a devoted grandfather. Reginald had lived a happier life than he had done seven years ago and had lived to see three grandchildren born by William and one grandchild by Georgiana, a girl that Georgiana had called Annie.
"Don't be silly, Alice. You're family." Elizabeth stated.
"Only by marriage. I suppose I have been quite lucky although I have no children of my own. I was married to my first husband for thirty-five years and I never thought I would marry again after I lost my James. But I still had Pemberley, I still had my friends there and I still had the Darcys. I treated Fitzwilliam and Georgiana as my own and I cared very deeply for Reginald."
"He really did change in those last six years with us."
Alice smiled and nodded.
"He got given a second chance to be the man he always was, even underneath all the scheming and controlling, I always knew the real him was there and needed a chance to emerge. In the end, he died peacefully and content." Alice sighed sadly.
"Alice, you may not be related by blood but Will and Georgie think of you as a second mother and the children absolutely love you. You're family and family look after one another and we want you to live with us at Pemberley, to carry on being a grandmother." Elizabeth replied.
"You have no idea how much that means to me, Lizzy." Alice smiled.
The two women shared a smile before they carried on walking. The last six months had been devastating after Reginald had been told that despite having not touched a drop of alcohol in six years, the liver that he had been donated from Georgiana was starting to be rejected by his body. Due to his age and another donation not recommended, both from the waiting list for donation and from a live donor, Reginald had been told that his liver would eventually stop working and would lead to kidney failure and other organs shutting down. They had inquired whether there were stronger doses of his anti-rejection medication that he could take but Dr. Knight had told them that there was nothing that they could do. Reginald had spent the last eight months of his life spending most of his time with his grandchildren, children and his wife, making final arrangements for his will and resting. During the time that Reginald had left to live, Will, Elizabeth and their children spent every weekend at Pemberley to make the most of their time left with him and Reginald had been thrilled when Elizabeth had announced her fourth pregnancy and also sad at the thought that he may not get to meet his new grandchild. And although Reginald had been right in his prediction of dying before Henry had been born, Will requested that they honour his father's memory by having 'Reginald' as their new son's middle name.
"I think I have a good idea, Alice. You've done more for my children than my own mother has."
They had nearly caught up with Will and the children on the bridge when they saw that Will had stopped, a couple with a young boy with them.
"What was that game you were playing?" the young boy asked Rose.
"It's called Pooh sticks, you grab a stick, any size, and go to the side of the bridge that the water is flowing down and throw the stick into the water. Then you run to the other side of the bridge and whoever's stick comes out first, is the winner." Rose explained.
"Mummy, can I have a go?" the young boy asked.
As Elizabeth and Alice arrived where Will was standing, the blonde haired woman looked down at her son and nodded.
"Of course you can, Billy." The woman replied.
The little boy beamed happily and ran along with Elizabeth's children to find a stick each. Elizabeth's eyes met the blue ones of the woman she hadn't seen in seven years, a woman who once wanted to destroy her in order to lay claim to her husband.
"Eleanor Clarence." Elizabeth said stiffly.
"Eleanor Marks now, this is my husband, William Marks." Eleanor replied.
Elizabeth bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing. Although Eleanor's husband had no resemblance to her own, she found it rather funny that her once rival would settle for a man named William after everything that had happened.
"Eleanor was just apologising for her behaviour towards us all those years ago." Will said, his tone impatient.
Eleanor nodded.
"I was a selfish person back then and after I was thrown out of Netherfield at Charles and your sister's wedding, I did some reflecting and accepted that I wasn't going to be Mrs. Darcy. I met William and we had our son Billy-"
"Which is also short for William, I'm guessing?" Elizabeth asked.
Eleanor nodded again.
"And are you still in touch with Caroline and Wickham?" Will asked.
Eleanor shook her head.
"No, I haven't seen either of them since. Wickham sort of vanished into thin air and as for Caroline, the last I heard she was on her second divorce, penniless and childless but still as bitter and selfish." Eleanor replied.
The children, having all found a stick each, dropped their sticks into the water before running to the other side of the bridge to watch whose stick would emerge first. They watched as Ally cheered that her stick was the one to win and all of the children walked back over to where their parents were stood.
"Daddy, Daddy, I won!" Ally boasted with pride.
Will bent down and smiled at his daughter, lifting her into his arms.
"Well done Alice." Will smiled.
"Mum, can I have another go?" Billy asked.
"Please dad, can we have another go?" Tom asked.
Will looked to Elizabeth and she shook her head.
"Sorry Tom, mum says no."
"Aww Mum!" Tom complained.
"Darling, we have to get back to the house, Henry needs his feed soon." Elizabeth stated.
"Well, it was nice seeing you. Let's go Billy." Eleanor said.
With the complaining from Billy, Elizabeth watched as Eleanor, her husband and child walked in the opposite direction of the bridge. A long time ago, she had detested Eleanor and while this was the first, and she hoped the last meeting, between the two women, it was nice to hear that her husband's ex-girlfriend had apologised to Will for her actions all those years ago and that the woman had found happiness and had a family of her own. Hearing the news about Caroline didn't surprise her, however.
As the Darcys started to walk out of Hyde Park and begin the thirty-minute journey back to the Chelsea house that was now Georgiana's, Elizabeth came to the conclusion that if people really wanted to change, then they could. Reginald certainly had, he had tried to make amends for his past behaviour and had spent every day since Charles and Jane's wedding reception trying to change and be a better person and if what Eleanor had said was true, then she must have changed to be a wife and mother to someone who could give her love in return. But in the case of her mother, Lydia and Caroline Bingley, it was evident that they never were going to change and it was simply down to not wanting to.
But none of those people mattered to her now. The father-in-law that she had come to admire for wanting to be better was gone and they were now grieving as a family and about to move their little family to Pemberley on a full time basis. This transition was the next step for them and she knew that as the summer turned into autumn, the autumn would definitely bring more changes to the Darcy family
The End
A/N: So that's the epilogue, I hope you liked it. Sadly, this definitely is the end of Autumn Changes now and once again, thank you for reading, reviewing and following this story since I started it a year ago. I will miss writing this but as I've said, the one shot that follows this story will be posted later today, it'll be called Slipping Through My Fingers. A new story that I've been writing alongside Autumn Changes will be posted next week and will be called A Hidden Kindness if you have any further interest in where I take the P&P characters.