So, here is the last chapter, although there will also be an epilogue.
Chapter 11
"Mother, this is Elizabeth Turner," Lizzy told Mrs Bennet. "Now, as I told you in my letter, Mrs Turner is still recovering from a terrible accident, so she will need to rest a lot. Please do not overload her with questions."
"Miss Lizzy, what makes you think I could not refrain from being curious?"
Lizzy made the effort to not roll her eyes.
Then Mrs Bennet greeted Mrs Turner properly.
"Welcome Mrs Turner. I hope your stay here in the countryside will help to improve your health!"
Elizabeth smiled. Lizzy had told her of her mother's antics, so she felt prepared to meet Mrs Bennet.
"Thank you," she said.
Lizzy then took her upstairs to her room, so that they could refresh themselves from their journey.
It was two weeks since Lizzy had returned to Gracechurch Street after her adventure. Many things had happened.
On the Friday after they had visited the docks, Mr Darcy had come to call on her and had brought Mr Bingley with him. Lizzy had been delighted to witness the reunion between her sister and the gentleman.
Mr Darcy had later said to her: "I can now see how right you were. I am ashamed of my wrong assumptions."
Lizzy had smiled at him: "Please Mr Darcy, let us try to forget all those unfortunate events. My philosophy is that you should think only of the past when its remembrance gives you pleasure."
He had returned her smile; it looked so much better on him than the scowl she so often had seen before.
"I will endeavour to learn to apply this into my life, Miss Elizabeth," was his reply.
In the week following, he and Mr Bingley had called on them almost daily. Mr Bingley was told the essence of what had happened and had good-naturedly accepted the acquaintance with Mrs Turner.
After a week, Jane went home to Longbourn, on the scheduled date.
Lizzy stayed with Elizabeth until the latter was well enough to travel for a longer distance. Her health had improved a great deal. She was not so awfully thin anymore, and her headaches were less severe in nature.
Now that they knew why she was sick in the mornings, their worries about that had also abated. Besides, after the first week, she was not sick every morning anymore.
They had decided that Elizabeth would benefit from the fresh air in the countryside and Lizzy's parents agreed to have a guest over for an indefinite amount of time.
With tears in her eyes, Elizabeth had said goodbye to the Gardiners. "Do not worry, my dear," Mrs Gardiner had said. "We will see each other soon."
Elizabeth smiled through her tears. "Thank you so much, both of you, for all your care. I will never forget!"
Mr Bingley had said he would reopen Netherfield and hoped he would be allowed to court Jane officially. Said lady was so happy that she could hardly believe it.
Elizabeth was very happy for her.
She was surprised that she herself felt some disappointment that Mr Darcy would not join him for several weeks.
When they had seen each other last, he had told her he had business to attend to at Pemberley, but that he would come to Hertfordshire when he was finished.
During his visits at her aunt and uncle's she had gotten to know him a lot better than she had before. She had to admit she started to like him. His conversation was intelligent and he was not afraid of her opinion. He respected her own intelligence and inquisitiveness. Although she had noticed some of that in their debates at Netherfield during autumn, it still surprised her. She had surmised him to be a man that would like his wife to be demure and un-opinionated. And utterly ladylike. She was none of those and he seemed to delight in it.
Now it was good to be back home. She also enjoyed the company of Mrs Turner. Now that Elizabeth felt a little better and most of her memory was restored, her character became more visible. She was a strong, opinionated woman, who was not afraid of expressing that opinion. At first especially Mrs Bennet and Mary had to get used to her way of talking. During the years that Elizabeth had been absent from England, she had lost the affinity with that culture. Everything she had been through in her life up till now, had formed her into a person who spoke her mind and had come to disregard a society which solely depended on male leadership.
Of course this was something that Mary could not understand and therefore kept her distance. Mrs Bennet came to like the woman, especially after she heard that the lady was expecting. She commiserated with her that she would not be able to see her husband for a long time.
Elizabeth soon truly came to enjoy living at Longbourn. It was true, it was a noisy household – whenever it became too much she either went to her room or went on a walk with Lizzy – but she could see the affection between the members of the family. Lizzy's youngest sisters were loud and exuberant but seemed to enjoy listening to Elizabeth's stories and adventures.
Of course they all thought she made most of it up. Only Lizzy knew that most of it was actually the truth. Both ladies had quickly formed a strong friendship. They spoke about most things with each other.
Especially Lizzy noticed that she enjoyed this, as Jane spent more and more time with Mr Bingley. She came to realise that likely very soon, Jane would leave home to marry Mr Bingley. Their close relationship would never be as it was before.
Mr Darcy came back and he continued to court Lizzy as he had in London.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner invited Lizzy to join them on a tour to the north in the summer. Lizzy was excited about the invitation, but then was wondering if Elizabeth could not come with them.
However, Elizabeth declined.
"It is very kind of you, Lizzy, to think of me. But by that time I will be close to my confinement and travelling great distances would not be wise and very uncomfortable besides."
The pregnancy progressed well. The ladies realised what a miracle it was that not only Elizabeth herself had survived her accident at sea and subsequent illness, but that her baby had also survived it. Of course they had to wait to see how the child would be when it was born.
Mr Darcy invited the Gardiners and Lizzy to stay at Pemberley during their tour. From there he could show them the county and Mrs Gardiner could visit her old friends.
Jane stayed at home to look after the Gardiner children. She was helped in this by Elizabeth.
Sometime before Lizzy left with her aunt and uncle, the militia would leave Meryton and move to Brighton. Lydia was invited to join her friend Mrs Forster and go with them to Brighton.
Mr Bennet, warned by Lizzy and Mr Darcy himself about the dangers of it, forbade her to go.
Lydia behaved as a very petulant girl and Mr Bennet would have given in – just to get rid of her endless noise – if not for the joint efforts of Lizzy and Mrs Turner. Between the two of them they managed to divert her thoughts from the situation.
"Once Lizzy leaves, who will I have to talk to?" Elizabeth said, a bit cheekily. "Jane will be occupied by the children and Kitty will visit Maria Lucas."
Even though Elizabeth was about the same age as Lizzy, it was because she was a married woman and had suffered a lot, that Lydia looked up at her. The fact that the lady was the wife of a captain of a ship with a very important mission, raised her highly in Lydia's esteem. Elizabeth of course never told what mission that was, but declared it to be strictly confidential, only known to the parties involved.
Elizabeth, being an only child, greatly enjoyed living in this family and felt how it would be to have sisters.
Lizzy very much enjoyed her visit to Pemberley. She came to know Mr Darcy's sister and they soon became good friends. The more Lizzy saw of Mr Darcy, the better she came to know him, especially at his own home. Very soon she realised that she started to fall in love with him.
Before they left to return to Longbourn, Mr Darcy took her apart when they were walking through the garden, and proposed to her a second time. This time, with her whole heart, she said yes.
Both of them felt to be the happiest of people!
Their joy was complete to learn, upon their return, that Mr Bingley had asked Jane to marry him.
It was decided to have a joint wedding in August.
Elizabeth was happy for her friends, but it also made her melancholy. She missed Will terribly and there was nothing she could do about it. Many a night she cried herself to sleep, hugging the chest closely to herself. The beating of his heart made her feel calm again, but how she longed to see him, to hold him in her arms!
She was glad that she was carrying his child. It would give her something to live for and make the wait bearable.
The wedding was a grand feast. Mrs Bennet had outdone herself and the two couples only had eyes for each other.
After their honeymoon, Lizzy and Darcy would return, so that Lizzy could be with Elizabeth for the birth of the child. And as soon as it was possible to travel, Elizabeth and her baby would return with them to Pemberley. Mr Darcy had a cottage on his land, situated fairly near the main house, where Mrs Turner could live. The ladies could then visit as often as they liked.
On a sunny day in September, Elizabeth gave birth to a healthy son. Mrs Gardiner had come over from London and assisted her. After the birth, Lizzy entered the room to admire the baby and to congratulate her friend.
Freshly back from her honeymoon, Lizzy looked very happy. Married life became her well!
"How are you going to call him, Elizabeth?" she asked.
Elizabeth looked very tired, but smiled. "I will call him Henry, after your uncle. For I do not know what would have happened to me, had he not found me on that day in London!"
"Henry Turner, a beautiful name!" Lizzy said.
"And he looks just like his father," added Elizabeth. She smiled again while she nursed her new son.
So, what do you think? Maybe this chapter is a bit of a rush. I am sure it would be possible to prolong this story and go into detail on some points. But for now, after the epilogue I declare this story finished. I hope you all enjoyed reading it! :-)
