Epilogue

9 years after

"Land ho!" came a shout from the crows' nest.

Lizzy breathed a sigh of relief.
Their journey from England to here had gone well, but she had to admit that she longed to see some land again and walk upon some solid surface.

She did not regret their decision to join Elizabeth and Henry on their voyage to the Caribbean. Especially since they were making said voyage on Annamaria's ship.
During the years, Lizzy had met her friend a few times whenever the Diamond came to England.
Darcy and Mr Gardiner both started to use her and her ship in their business. Annamaria always found the best things at honest prices. This cooperation had made Gardiner's import even more prosperous.

For now, Mr Darcy had given the management of Pemberley over to his cousin, who had resigned from the army.
The Darcys' three children had gone to stay with their grandparents and near their cousins at Netherfield.

Lizzy missed her children, but knew they were in safe hands. And she was very glad for the opportunity to travel.

Through the years she had grown very close to Elizabeth. Little Henry was as a big brother to her own children. They had been jealous at him, that he got to travel and they had to stay in England. But when Lizzy had explained that Henry was going to meet his father for the first time, they had ceased complaining.

The boy was bright and had a very inquisitive nature. Even though he was only just nine years old, he had read many of the books at Pemberley library. He was especially interested in books about the sea, seafaring and legends.

His mother had told him about his father and the boy, seeing his mother's melancholy by times, when she missed her husband, was determined to try and find a way to have his father join them.

Fitzwilliam stood next to Lizzy and smiled at her.
"I can see you can't wait to be on land again," He said.
She laughed. "Yes, but I just know you are the same."
"It is true," he admitted. "I am curious what we will find. And I do hope we get to meet this Will Turner. In the past years I've heard so much about him, that I can hardly believe that I've never even met the fellow."

They both looked at Elizabeth and her son, who stood at the bow, looking towards the island ahead of them.

For Elizabeth, the years had flown past for which she was very grateful. It was not always easy to raise her child, but she felt blessed to have such good friends in the Darcys.
From since he was little, Henry was such a curious child. He talked when he was one-and-a-half and he could read when he was three. He always had so many questions that often Elizabeth had no idea what to answer. She was grateful for their unlimited access to the Pemberley library. Besides, often Mr Darcy, when he came back from a trip to London, would have bought yet another book for Henry to read. Mr Gardiner did the same. When he heard about Henry's interests about nautical stories and legends, he had his agents look out for books and more information to satisfy the boy. Elizabeth was so glad to have the Gardiners in her life. They had become like parents to her and they treated Henry as their grandson.

Three hours later the ship reached a little harbour on the island.

All of them had to adjust to walking on dry land again. Annamaria laughed at them.
"Don't worry, you will lose your sea legs soon enough," she said.
Annamaria, who had been on this island before, had found there to be some little villages where it was likely they find some place to live.

They were lucky and found a few cottages very near each other. The Darcys stayed in one and the Turners stayed in the other.

Darcy embraced his wife when they entered the little cottage. "Well, wife, I believe we haven't been together, just the two of us, since our honeymoon."
Lizzy laughed. "I believe you are right. But it comes with a cost, you know," she said mischievously.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Well, as we will have no servants, it means that you will have to light the fire every day yourself. Oh, and I will have to learn how to cook."
"I'm sure we will survive," he grimaced. "We could ask a lady in the village to help us out. What do you think?"
Lizzy nodded. "But let's first explore this place."

Soon they were settled in their little house and so were Elizabeth and Henry.
They found a lady who was willing to help both families, with some tasks in the house like washing clothes, but Lizzy was adamant that she would learn how to cook. Especially in the beginning this gave quite a few burnt meals and inedible food, - not to mention copious amounts of teasing by her husband - but after a few weeks she started to get the hang of it.

As the time drew nearer, Elizabeth could not hide her excitement, but she felt some dread as well. She remembered the story of Calypso and Davy Jones. Would Will turn up at the exact time? She truly hoped he would. Ten years was such a long time! But then she remembered how glad she was to have this chance to see him again.
He could have died on that day and she would have never seen him again.

The weeks flew past and Lizzy had taken to write down everything that happened, which was not very much; their life on the island was very tranquil so far. But she wished to tell her children all that had happened. She also wrote letters to her family, although very few ships visited the island. It was very likely that they themselves might arrive back in England before their letters.

Finally, it was the day, exactly ten years after Elizabeth had seen Will for the last time.
The Darcys had stayed at home.

Elizabeth had said she truly wished them to see her husband, but Lizzy hoped to give as much time as possible for the Turners to meet each other again, without having other people around.

It was still very early in the morning; the dawn had not lifted yet. When they walked towards the beach, Elizabeth heard her son sing her own childhood pirate song. She smiled. Then she pointed towards the horizon. "Pay attention Henry, so you do not miss the green flash."
He looked with big eyes in the right direction and after some minutes, there it was!

Elizabeth felt so many emotions at once that she really did not know what to do with them. There was much anticipation and happiness, but also some apprehension.

After what felt like hours, the Flying Dutchman threw out its anchor near the beach and a little boat departed from the ship.
Henry ran ahead of his mother, in anticipation of meeting his father.

Their meeting was indescribable to Elizabeth.

Will hadn't aged at all and looked as handsome as before.
She flew him around his neck.
"Oh Will, I have missed you so much."
"So have I, my love."

Then she introduced his son to him and both father and son took the time to get to know each other a little bit. Henry asked many questions about his father's life.
Elizabeth asked about the crew and heard that all of them remained faithful to their duty. He told her that Bootstrap sent his greetings.

Now slowly they made their way towards the cottages. Elizabeth told about all that had happened to her after their last meeting. Will was shocked to hear about her accident, but was glad that she had found such good friends.

Part of the day was spent talking; Will met the Darcys and they had a good time together. Will talked some time with his son, but after a while he really longed to be alone with Elizabeth.
The Darcys offered to look after Henry and the couple spent some hours together in each other's arms.

When they got dressed again, Elizabeth said: "I have missed you terribly all these years, but it was worth it. So often I have longed to be with you. I was glad to have Henry to care for, and to have friends to distract me, but here in your arms is where I belong."

Will kissed his wife thoroughly.

"Such is our fate! But I will cherish this day for the next ten years."
Then he smiled. "Do you think we made another child?" Elizabeth smiled back at him. "I hope so."

The end!

So, that's it! I hope you enjoyed reading this story! I've seen many other ideas in the reviews. Who knows, one day I could come back to this story and expand it. Oh, and before I forget, the two Elizabeth's are not twins or so, probably just doppelgangers. And their family does see the difference when they are together, so it turns out they are not entirely identical, but enough to confuse people.
Thank you so much for everyone reading, following and reviewing. Much Appreciated! Jolanda