Their arrival at Longbourn caused much noise and excitement from all the children. Elizabeth immediately swept Tommy up into her arms and held him close. She had to tell him her news.
"Tommy, you are going to have a Papa." She almost said 'a new Papa' until she realized that he had never had one. "We will be going to live on a grand estate with a lake and a stream. There will even be a pony so you will learn to ride." Being almost four, the thought of a pony was much more exciting to him than having a Papa.
Everyone heard this news and continued to ask many questions about what had happened. While her Aunt Philips was pleased for them, she knew that everything would change at Longbourn with Elizabeth gone. Her brother Gardiner had to assure her that everything would work out just fine in the end.
After having secured the approval of Mr. Philips, Mr. Gardiner arranged for the banns to be read starting the very next Sunday. Then the Gardiners all returned to London after promising to return in time for the wedding. Mrs. Bennet and Mary returned home immediately after receiving Elizabeth's letter with her news, all aflutter with the excitement of planning another wedding. She acquiesced to Elizabeth's suggestion that Jane's wedding could be used as a model for her own, which made the planning much easier. Elizabeth was relieved as that meant that she would not have much trouble keeping the ceremonies quite simple.
All three Glenwoods returned to Netherfield so Jane could be with her sister during this important period. She managed to find time alone with Elizabeth so she could describe, with many blushes, the incredible feelings that being with a husband would bring. This assurance eased Elizabeth's concerns about that aspect of being a wife, although her times alone with Fitzwilliam had already diminished her worries. Jane's descriptions merely increased her anticipation of those expected pleasures.
Darcy and Georgiana brought Kitty and Lydia home a week before the wedding, but Georgiana insisted that she did not want to be separated from her new friends, so she asked to stay at Longbourn. No one objected to this request. Darcy had arranged for his lawyer to prepare the marriage settlement, which quickly won the approval of both of Elizabeth's uncles. With her approval, they transferred the guardianship of Master Thomas Collins to Mr. Darcy upon their marriage.
Darcy had a surprise for Elizabeth. Before their wedding, he found a quiet time to talk to her about a plan he had in mind. "My Love, I know what you suffered during your first marriage. I have long thought that the name 'Collins' must be hateful to you. You will soon become Mrs. Darcy, but Tommy will still be Master Thomas Collins. I took the liberty of asking my lawyers if we could legally change his name and they explained how this could be done. If we have him named Thomas Darcy, it could be confusing when we have our own son." The thought of what this entailed made Elizabeth blush. He continued, "Would you like to have him named Thomas Bennet to continue the Bennet line at Longbourn? That would not be a problem for me."
Elizabeth was certainly surprised at this suggestion as she had not thought about it. "My Dear, that is a wonderful idea! I admit that the name Collins does stir up some bad memories, but having Tommy named Bennet is so fitting. Bennets have owned Longbourn for generations and it would be perfect for this line to continue. I am sure my uncles would have no objection, so yes, please have your lawyers arrange for this to be done." She rewarded him with a kiss.
The wedding was all that Elizabeth had hoped for and all the guests who attended were sure that the former Elizabeth Bennet would finally find happiness. Of Darcy's relatives, only the Earl and Countess of Matlock attended, at Darcy's insistence. Their son Richard refused to come with the excuse that he was too busy with his new estate to leave for Hertfordshire. Darcy was relieved when he heard this as he had worried that Richard might cause a scene if he came.
While the Matlocks had doubts about Darcy's choice when they first heard about Elizabeth's history and position, they were won over after they saw how well the couple were suited for each other. Their support in town meant that Elizabeth Darcy would be accepted by society.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter Anne had been invited to attend the wedding, but his aunt did not even deign to acknowledge anything about this upstart who robbed her daughter of what was rightfully her position, at least in her mother's mind. Anne eventually met her new cousin and they developed a close relationship that lasted for years.
After the wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy left for an undisclosed location for a month's honeymoon. As he had promised, he was very patient with her the first time and she did experience that indescribable ecstasy that he had hoped she would achieve. With all her doubts forever extinguished, the couple enjoyed complete and frequent joining of their souls that resulted in five more children. Once again, the halls of Pemberley echoed with the sounds of laughter and running little feet. Young Tommy readily accepted his new father and was never treated any differently from his brothers and sisters. As he grew older, Master Thomas Bennet spent a lot of time at Longbourn and became its master as soon as he completed his studies at Cambridge and was deemed to be ready to assume his new role. His brothers and sisters continued to spend many enjoyable visits with him whenever they could.
The three youngest girls moved among the three homes: Pemberley, Longbourn, and Darcy House in London, and would not be separated. They considered themselves to be true sisters and had no secrets among themselves. Mary began to join them and benefited from their liveliness. Countess Matlock ensured they were all ready for their introductions into society and their debuts were great successes, attracting many young admirers.
One person who was not happy whenever he heard the names of Darcy or Bennet was the hapless Charles Bingley. After flitting from one angel to another for several more years, he finally complied with his sister's insistence and married a lady with a reasonable dowry from a family in a moderate level of society. It must have been merely a coincidence that her resemblance, beautiful, tall and blonde, to another angel who remained in his memory was quite remarkable. Too bad for Bingley that his wife's personality was quite the opposite of the one he abandoned. He regretted his actions until the day he died, but the angel in his memory never thought about him again. She was too busy managing their estate and four children.
As for Miss Bingley, after raging over the news that that wretched Eliza Collins had somehow captured her intended husband, she began to notice that she received fewer and fewer invitations to any social event. As she was no longer young, she was eventually forced to accept the hand of an older gentleman who was in need of a wife to comfort him in his dotage. She never had any children and died a bitter old lady whose resemblance to another old widow she never recognized.
As for this other domineering old widow, as soon as she heard that her other nephew had received an estate in Surrey and was in want of a wife, she quickly found a suitable lady for him. What made this lady suitable was that she was from a distinguished family and had a reasonable dowry; that her personality was similar to Miss Bingley's was simply irrelevant. Whether they would make each other happy was simply not considered. For the rest of his life, he railed against his cousin and the wife that he had stolen from him. Fortunately, their meetings were rare, so his rages were mainly confined to the bottoms of empty bottles that never really consoled him, no matter how hard he tried.
As for that other scoundrel who had had designs on Longbourn, he met a fitting end at the point of the sword of a very angry husband who returned unexpectedly to find his wife in a most improper situation with that unlamented rogue.
THE END
AUTHORS' NOTE: I hope you all enjoyed my little tale. My biggest problem writing this story was deciding how to have Elizabeth finally overcome her fears and accept Darcy's attentions. I acknowledge that this Elizabeth was quite different from the one created by the Immortal Jane until the end of the story. For all the other characters, I tried to stay as true to canon as I could.
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