Happy Christmas Eve! Wishing you all a marvelous holiday with your families.
This is a monster epilogue, which took on a life of its own. I hope you enjoy!
The Jello recipe I mention, I did an orange version of it for years and years. The version done here is one that just entered my mind as I was writing, but then I had to try it out and it really was good, better than the original in my opinion. When I made it as part of the meal I cooked Wednesday for Room in the Inn (a program where churches host homeless guys for a meal and overnight, with breakfast and then a sack lunch for the day) several of the guys called it "Fluff" so that's why I called it that, here.
Hannah Darcy's later adventures were inspired by the show Life Below Zero. You may recognize a nod to a couple of cast members of that documentary show. I hope life in Alaska like that can still be maintained decades from now.
Epilogue
A year later, everyone from the previous Thanksgiving meal was back with the Bingleys, with several additions. They had to add a second and a third table, which pushed on through into the connected kitchen, but fortunately they did not have as many overnight guests as before. The extra overflow were staying at a local motel.
As Jane and Charles Bingley looked out at the faces of their friends and family which spanned so many seats, both of them were feeling very blessed. Jane would have even confessed that she was feeling "misty" but in a good way.
Once everyone was seated, but the various dishes had not yet been passed, Bingley said "Before we all begin, would you indulge me for a moment? I'm not really the religious type, but Thanksgiving is all about being grateful, and this has been a really great year, so I was thinking that we should thank the Big Guy, all of us, if that is not too weird."
The other guests murmured their agreement, even Caroline who'd been known to complaint about this sort of thing in the past. Now feeling confident he could proceed, Bingley closed his eyes and began.
"God, thank you for all the blessings this year has given us, for how our table had grown." He opened his eyes and then instructed, "Now, let's go around the table and have everyone tell us something that each person is grateful for. Then I will finish up the prayer. You start, Q."
Q looked over at Louisa and she gave a little nod. "We've been waiting to tell you until this weekend, but in August Louisa got a positive pregnancy test. Our baby is due on March 16."
Congratulations rang out and it took perhaps five minutes before Louisa got to go next. "I am thankful that I haven't had any morning sickness, but that everything still seems to be going well with the baby's development. I am also thankful that I have talked Q out of all the ridiculous Star Trek related names. I had to veto Picard, Neelix, Spock, T'Pol, Lwaxana, Ro, Zhaban, Quark, Gowron, and a whole bunch of others. Archer, Kirk, Deanna and Kathryn aren't bad, could be contenders, but I don't really know what I'd want to call the baby yet."
Georgiana was next. "I am thankful that I am finally graduating high school in the spring, and grateful that I got an early acceptance at NYU."
Elizabeth was after her. "Oh, there are so many things to be grateful for, I am not even sure how to begin. I am so happy to be living in New York and studying neurology at Columbia, where Darcy, Gigi, Anne and my aunt, uncle and cousins are nearby." She looked at each person as she named them. "It has been super hard so far, and I probably shouldn't have even come out here for the long weekend as I've got so much work to do, but I just couldn't imagine not spending Thanksgiving with Darcy and y'all.
"I am also really happy that Darcy and I are dating, and to be in love." Elizabeth leaned over toward Darcy and ruffled his dark wavy hair before saying just to him "You are incredibly lovable, do you know that?" They both gazed into each other's eyes for a moment and everyone else couldn't decide if she was done or not.
Darcy leaned over and kissed Elizabeth's forehead and then they both kept looking at one another. "Ahem," said Bingley loudly, trying to break the spell and get on with it. "You know we do want to eat dinner, eventually!" Of course there was not even a hint of sharpness in Bingley's tone. He liked seeing how happy his best friend and sister-in-law were together.
"Ah, right. I guess it is my turn next," Darcy commented. "I am incredibly thankful that last year Elizabeth and I both fled our disastrous Thanksgiving meals and ended up here together. I had really liked her for a long time, but I kept screwing everything up so bad. It was only a year ago that we were finally able to sort everything out and find ourselves on the same page. And of course I am very grateful that she ended up in New York with us, because let's be honest, long distance relationships suck, but it would have been incredibly hard for me to sell the family business and move out here, but I would have done it for her."
Darcy looked beyond Elizabeth to Georgiana, "Gigi, do you think I should . . . now?"
"Go for it!" Georgiana grinned. She pulled out her iPhone and pulled up the video function, standing up and moving over and back a few feet until she had an unobstructed view of her brother and Elizabeth. She hit "record" and then gave her brother a thumbs up.
At that encouragement, Darcy stood up, pulled his chair out of the way and knelt before Elizabeth. He took her hand in his own. "Darling, most wonderful Elizabeth. I love you so much. You are an amazing woman, who I am clearly not nearly good enough for. Thank you so much for giving me a second chance. This year has been incredible and I do not want to ever be apart from you again. Will you marry me?"
Darcy fumbled a black velvet ring box out of his pocket and the closed box dropped and bounced under the table. Suddenly everyone was pulling back their chairs to help him look, all but Georgiana who was still filming.
Caroline recovered the ring box first and walked around the table to hand it to Darcy. Once, she would have been angry and sad that Darcy had not pulled out the ring box for her, but on this day, given all that had taken place in the past year, she just felt a little wistful. Someday, she hoped to be married, too, but to who that would be, she did not have a clue. She placed the ring box in Darcy's hand and walked back to her seat.
This time, Darcy held onto the ring box and managed to open it, revealing a platinum band with a large, square cut diamond. But he did not move to put it on Elizabeth's finger yet. "Well, will you?"
Elizabeth shook herself a little. "Did I not say anything yet?"
"Not a word," Jane confirmed with a smile, glancing back toward her husband as she remembered his own fumbling proposal, where he had pulled out the ring first and then been so tongue tied that it was Jane who had to ask, "Are you proposing?" Charles had sheepishly nodded and then Jane said, "Yes, of course, Charlie. There is nothing I want more!" He had slipped the ring on her middle finger then, which Jane quickly fixed before they kissed to seal their engagement.
Charles returned Jane's fond look, caught up in his own memories of his silent proposal. Then they both looked back at Darcy and Elizabeth.
"Of course I will!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "How could I say anything else but yes? Is this really happening? Is it?"
"Yes, my darling." Darcy confirmed and then slid the engagement ring onto her finger (the correct one, Bingley noted).
Naturally, several more minutes were used up while Darcy and Elizabeth kissed and then congratulations were offered, but finally it was Anne's turn.
"I am very grateful to be gaining a new cousin," Anne confirmed. "And I guess that makes me now related through marriage a couple times removed to most of you. But I am most grateful that I have my own future to look forward to. I didn't really want to get the bone marrow transplant. That was scary, and I didn't like that I was putting Richard through all of that."
"You are totally worth it," Richard commented from her other side.
"But still," Anne continued, "I am really, really thankful for it. Oh, and I am thankful that I am moving out of Darcy's apartment and I am so excited that I will get to be living in an apartment in the same building as my bestie Caroline, and best of all it is a place where I finally get to have a bunny. Yes, Will and Gigi have been great to live with, but I am ready to manage things without my family, and have a pet that really belongs to just me."
Richard went next. "I am grateful to finally be pursuing my civilian life and to be getting to know you all. It wasn't easy for my parents to let me come here, knowing that this was the first Thanksgiving I would be available for in years, so I am grateful that the Bingleys invited them too!" He gave a little nod at his mother, who sat just beyond him.
Richard's parents thoughts of gratitude revolved around getting to spend time with him and not having to worry about him getting wounded or dying in the Middle East anymore and then it was Caroline's turn.
Caroline enjoyed being the center of attention for a moment and told them all "Wow, I sure did not know how much my life would change last year, starting on Thanksgiving Day. I could have never guessed that a chance encounter with Margaret Gardiner would lead to such a fulfilling career. Margaret tried to give me a job, thinking that a full-time person was necessary, but instead I agreed to consult, showed them how to simplify 'the books,' introduced the needed software and trained them on how to use it, and then did the remaining recurring work that required my expertise for Swaddling Love as an outside vendor.
"It wasn't until I talked to my mom about my new job that she told me there were lots of times she had to leave me in a dirty diaper, because she just didn't have enough money to buy more and she had to make them last as long as possible. Sometimes she would take me to a church and put me in the nursery, in the hope that someone there would diaper me from their 'just in case' stash and she might be able to beg an extra or two when she picked me up."
When Charles and Louisa heard that they gave each other a look. To hear about how their sister had lived, when their dad could have done so much more hurt them both. But Caroline had hardly ever shared before about her childhood spent in general poverty, but Charles at least should have known based on how she showed up dressed each summer before his mother took her shopping.
Caroline added "During the process of fixing underlying issues at Swaddling Love, it occurred to me that there were probably a lot of places working with outmoded methods, so with the encouragement and support of my siblings, as well as the awesome Margaret Gardiner, I decided to found my own accounting company and apply these methods elsewhere. It is very enjoyable to make order out of chaos, to save small businesses and charities money that can be reinvested elsewhere."
Caroline did not want to give up her spotlight just yet and also figured she had lots of things to be grateful for that were worth sharing. She noted, "I am also thankful that I got to be friends with my high school schoolmate Mercedes again. It turns out, small world that this is, she was an executive with Swaddling Love, another success story from mentor Margaret Gardiner." Caroline tipped her head toward Margaret, who'd become a close friend during the time they worked closely together.
"And of course I am excited to be an aunt, and that Anne will be moving in just a few doors down from me. There are probably other things, too, but that's all I've got right now."
The Gardiners were next and Caroline took the now toddler Edmund from Margaret while Margaret expressed her gratitude. "I'm thankful for an extra set of hands," she said while simultaneously mopping up her spilled sparkling apple cider that Edmund had managed to knock over. He had slithered out of his booster chair to reach for a roll during a moment of distraction. Then Margaret gave another couple of examples of gratitude relating to her family and the rise in overall donations to the charity she ran.
Caroline retrieved a snowman roll for Edmund to munch and within moments he was wiggling in her lap, trying to get to another one. "Yeah, he is really too little for the table," Margaret commented.
The three other Gardiner children who sat between their parents gave short answers. Susan said "Christmas is coming soon! I hope I get more Barbies. I want all the Color Reveals."
Cindy said "My bear" and cuddled a well-loved toy that was on her lap.
Peter said "No haircut!" As Peter's blond hair was about half an inch long all over, and cut with military precision, most of the adults were puzzled by Peter's comment, but were ready to chalk it up to the general oddity of small boys saying random things.
Edward Gardiner explained the last, "When Peter's done bad things to Susan's things, Susan likes to threaten to give him a hair cut. We have a picture after she gave him one for fun a couple of years back and of course it was plain awful, so Peter is saying he made it a whole year without being bad enough to get one!"
Margaret took up the thread of the story, as married couples often do, "It made getting him into the hairdresser rather difficult, because he saw it as a punishment. I kept trying, but I didn't want to inflict a kicking and screaming Pete on anyone."
Edward continued, "So I got a sudden inspiration and took him into the barber for a clipper cut, which of course to a boy his age is something totally different."
Edward then continued with giving his own thanks. "I am thankful for my lovely wife, that my children had received no serious injuries in the last year (believe me, they tried, we ended up in ER twice), that we only ended up with one hole in the wall, and that the cat's fur has finally grown out. She scratched up part of our couch and Susan thought she deserved it. Cats really have a rat-like tale when they are lacking all hair, and it sure reinforced her threat to Peter." Edward laughed; then it was Pauline's turn.
Pauline hurried to begin, unsure how long she would be able to hold it together with such gratitude in her heart. "I'm thankful to get to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner with friends that have been so warm and caring toward Paul. He really likes being around other people, but not everyone is nice to him. I don't really blame them; he's different and different can be confusing at first, but it is so awesome to be here with people who understand and get him. I'm also incredibly grateful, awed really at how God uses everything for our good, even a mother who tried to take her daughter back to Nashville last year," she smiled over at Anne. "Without Anne ending up in our backyard with Paul, I doubt that we would have gotten to be friends with Jane and Charles.
"I am also so, so grateful that they have agreed to be Paul's back-up guardians. Maybe my ex would have stepped up if something happened to me, but he hasn't seen Paul more than twice since he left when Paul was five.
"It has been such a weight off my shoulders, something I've been carrying for so long. I've been blessed with a career where I can get in enough sales while Paul is at the Center that I've been able to set up a special needs trust for him for someday, and of course he gets a little Social Security, but I worried about him ending up in a group home where maybe no one would really care about him."
Tears started rolling down Pauline's face then. She took off her glasses (she had traded in her blue frames for purple ones a few months back) and swiped at her eyes as Jane handed her a little pack of tissues from her pocket.
"These are happy tears, really. Jane, Charles, you did not have to care about me and my son, but you did. That means everything to me. I would have never asked you to take on the huge commitment that Paul is, but you just volunteered like it was nothing."
Pauline stopped then, wiping at her tears and blowing at her nose with several long honks. "I'm done."
While Pauline collected herself, Jane encouraged Paul, who was sitting between her and Pauline, to give his answer. "Paul, what are you thankful for?"
Paul again did not really have the words, but he knew what he wanted now. "Want eat."
"I agree," Jane said. "I'm thankful for all of you and that we have all this food. We've all really been blessed. Now Charlie, can you finish up? Paul and everyone else is waiting to eat."
"Yes," Bingley replied. "God, thank you for all of this. Good bread, good meat, thank God, let's eat. Amen."
As for those not at the Thanksgiving meal, Charlotte did indeed marry Mr. Collins, just before Christmas, four weeks to the day from when they got engaged. Charlotte birthed their first child on their first wedding anniversary and their second child eighteen months after that.
Collins was not a strong man and never would be, but he was biddable and when Charlotte was forceful in telling him why things should be a certain way, he scrambled to obey. She first used this technique to get him to please her in the bedroom and then expanded it outward to get him to do other things that she should he should, including in his role as pastor.
Perhaps things would not have worked out so smoothly had Ms. de Bourgh not been serving a six month prison stint and then been in a luxurious treatment center for another six months after that. While she was away, the new Mrs. Collins got her husband to change many things about how the church was run with nary a complaint from the elder board (who were "yes men," always before for Ms. de Bourgh's ideas, but now for Mr. Collins's which were exactly as Charlotte worded them for him). The elders had no objection when Mr. Collins proposed sharing space with a younger church, and eventually the two congregations merged, each pastor running a different service, but combining service projects, church potlucks and the like.
Where as his congregation had done little for the community other than running a canned food drive at Thanksgiving every year, now they were doing so much more. They began with housing homeless men at the church through the Room in the Inn program twice a month during the cold part of the year. Charlotte was amazed about how involved all the "grey-hairs" got, several men in their seventies serving as Innkeepers and staying overnight with the guys, the women cooking amazing meals. The church also set up a food pantry which included gently used clothing and other new necessities of life, like underwear, socks, toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers and wipes, began to run a tutoring program, hosted a once a month free babysitting night to allow parents some much needed R&R, and ran a Vacation Bible School.
When Ms. de Bourgh finally returned from treatment, she was a much humbler woman. Even she could see how vital the church was now, and how it was very much serving the people. Although she had the Collinses over for dinner frequently and offered suggestions that were more like commands, once the Collinses were home, Charlotte always got her husband's head on right and made sure he was convinced against any of the bad suggestions. However, when there were good ones, she let her husband run with them.
Elizabeth married William Darcy in a beautiful outdoor wedding in Central Park and they waited until Elizabeth finished with her schooling and had a couple of years under her belt with her permanent job before starting their family. By this time, the Bingleys already had two children.
As things turned out, the Darcys' first child, Andrew, was born within three months of the Bingley's third child and their second child, Samantha, was born two weeks after the Bingleys' fourth child. It was evident from early on that Andrew and Samantha were both very intelligent and attractive children, and as they grew it was evident they would be tall like their father.
Andrew and Samantha each had large dark eyes and curly chocolate brown hair. When Andrew was deep in thought, he liked to wrap a curl round and round around his finger; when Samantha was concentrating, she would twist two wavy chunks around each other. They delighted their parents doing all the cute things that parents store up and tell each other. Given the various stories they heard about other people's children, both of the Darcys were quite convinced that their own children were quite exceptional in getting along, not doing stupid things and staying uninjured for the most part.
As the years went by, there was always a huge gathering at the Bingleys' for Thanksgiving, though of course who could attend each year varied a lot. Pauline and Paul were always there, but then they were frequent visitors back and forth between the Bingleys' and their home the rest of the time, too.
Paul became an honorary uncle to the Bingley children and was always good for rolling a soft ball to the little ones and sneaking the preschoolers a few potato chips or a cookie when they were hungry. He would tell on them, though, if they made too big of a mess "messy mess" or were mean to one another "Big, no no." When other kids were present, they started to call him "Uncle Paul," too.
Over several years, eventually Darcy and Elizabeth came to tolerate and then actually like Caroline. It helped that Anne liked her so well.
The Gardiners became something like an extra set of parents to Caroline (for she was Caro no longer) and encouraged her ambitions in expanding her business. Caroline's accounting business became very successful and eventually managed accounts for nearly 5% of the charities nationwide before expanding to offer low cost accounting services to people starting businesses in economically depressed areas, with their services being entirely free for the first six months with a "pay it forward agreement" where companies if successful after five years pledged to pay for the accounting services for two small businesses in their area for their first six months. No one thought Caroline's model would work, and the pay it forward agreement was not even legally binding (or if it might be, Caroline never tried to enforce it), but about 85% of their success stories ended up doing that and more.
It was a good thing that Darcy and Elizabeth came to like Caroline as not only was she with Anne and the Gardiners a lot, but five years after meeting during the Bingleys' second Thanksgiving dinner, Richard Fitzwilliam and Caroline Bingley were married. As Darcy and Fitzwilliam were practically brothers in all but name, that meant Caroline was around a lot.
The Fitzwilliams then waited another five years to start their family. Caroline delighted in giving her two children all the things she never had, but Richard was there to keep her from going too overboard.
Just around the time that the Fitzwilliams got married, Georgiana met "the one." Cassidy Smith was a man of middling height and average features who was quick to laugh and smile. There was really nothing remarkable about him at all, but for him being a very kind and considerate person who always tried his best at everything. When they began dating, he applied this work-ethic to their dating life, making notes on what she did and did not like, and planning dates with the express purpose of pleasing her.
Georgiana was head over heels way too fast for her brother, but Richard and Bingley helpfully reminded Darcy "You fell just that fast and hard for Elizabeth, don't you remember?"
Fortunately, Cassidy fell just as hard for Georgiana and within two months they had proclaimed their love to one another and he proposed not two weeks later. Georgiana, worried that her brother would not approve, but also desiring greatly to marry Cassidy, united these two goals by flying with him to Vegas on their three month dating anniversary to tie the knot but not telling anyone what they had done. She wore her wedding ring on a long chain she tucked into her shirt, and no one was the wiser.
Darcy greatly disliked how his sister moved in with Cassidy after only three months, but could not find it in his mind to hate Cassidy. The guy was just too devoted to doing anything to give her the slightest pleasure.
Darcy was worried when they announced their engagement some three months later. He confided in Elizabeth, "Gigi is just so young; I just don't want to see her make a big mistake."
Elizabeth snorted and replied "She is twenty-two, older than I was when we started dating. Older than I was when we got engaged."
Darcy of course could not argue with that logic, but in his mind Georgiana was still a little naive girl.
Darcy was a bit mollified when the wedding date was set for the following year, had more or less accepted that his sister would marry this guy by the time of the wedding. The formal ceremony was everything anyone could have wanted and Cassidy and Georgiana continued on happily with their married life, Georgiana thrilled that she could finally wear her ring and be called Mrs. Smith.
The Smiths had three little girls and Cassidy was just as good of a father as a husband. Georgiana had a sedate, quiet kind of life that she found fulfilling.
It was a gradual process, but Paul learned to make his own sandwiches and then how to fry eggs. One Thanksgiving Eve as his mother was making pies for the Bingleys' Thanksgiving feast, Paul asked "Help?"
Pauline tried to have Paul help with the pies but he kept telling her "No" and then "Me do." Then he looked through a cupboard and brought her a box of Strawberry Jello, his favorite gelatin flavor.
Pauline asked if Paul wanted to make Jello for Thanksgiving and he smiled and nodded. She helped him make the Jello (she was still nervous about Paul being around a hot stove), but had not yet added the cold water when Paul asked for "More."
Pauline agreed that just plain Jello would look a little sad so she pulled out frozen strawberries and mixed them into the cooling Jello, before adding the water with ice cubes. When it cooled a little, she let Paul stir it. Pauline liked how it gelled so fast, and guessed the frozen strawberries were helping it. She dumped the combination into a large Tupperware container. It only filled it about half full.
"More," Paul declared, so Pauline took some Cool Whip from the fridge and held the container as Paul scooped it onto the container. He stirred and then she helped him stir. It made a pretty pink color. She did the last bit of stirring to mix in the gelatin that was in the corners.
"More," Paul insisted, so Pauline went rummaging through her cupboard and fetched a bag of colored mini marshmallows from the pantry. They mixed those all in, Pauline doing most of the mixing because now the container was rather full. Paul tried unsuccessfully to get the lid closed for a while, but Pauline got it for him when he seemed to frustrated to continue. Then Paul carried the container to the fridge, with Pauline holding the door open. They would let it chill for the next day.
The next morning, Paul kept opening the fridge and pointing to the container. "See?" He asked his mom, in what she thought was a note of pride.
Later that day, Paul was so proud when he brought his "Pink Fluff" to dinner (although Paul called it, "Fuffy-Fuffy.") and everyone made sure to take a scoop to honor him, whether they expected to like it or not.
Paul gradually learned how to make this treat all by himself after years of careful supervision by his mother, and every year brought it without fail. Fuffy-Fuffy became a Thanksgiving staple that went around the table along with the typical turkey and mashed potatoes and something the kids especially looked forward to eating, a sort of dessert before dessert.
The dish was so popular that when the other families couldn't travel to Indiana, they started making "Uncle Paul's Fuffy-Fuffy" too. It was the first dish that most of the Gardiner children and then Hurst, Darcy, Bingley and Fitzwilliam children made, although everyone had their own variations, the Hurst children topping it with shaved chocolate and chocolate syrup, the Fitzwilliams using cherry Jello with cherry pie topping, and the Darcys preferring orange Jello and canned oranges.
As for the Darcys, when their son Andrew was nine and their daughter Samantha seven, Elizabeth told her husband "Will, they are growing up so fast. I've been thinking about it and I really would like another one before it is too late. Our children are such amazing people, and really we'd be depriving the world to not give them some more like them."
"The world, huh?" Darcy replied. It was obvious to him that this was really about what his wife wanted for herself. But as Darcy did want to make his wife happy, and had been feeling a twinge of regret now and then that they hadn't any others when he saw the littlest Bingley (who was baby number six), who was now three-years-old. After much debate and cajoling from his wife, eventually Darcy said "I guess I wouldn't mind another little one, but as it is your idea I expect you to do most of the work."
By that of course, Darcy meant diaper duty and burping, but his wife thought he meant her pregnancy. Darcy was not enough of an ass to actually carry through on that and did his share. Naturally, as such things often work out, both Elizabeth and Darcy had forgotten how much work and tiredness was caused by caring for a newborn, or maybe it was just that everything was harder now that they were older. Sometimes in the middle of the night when Darcy was changing a diaper, or Elizabeth was spat up on by her baby who had just finished nursing, one or the other one would say "Why did we decide on another one?"
Of course they loved little James, who was just as adorable as the others had been, with a cute way of laying his hand on Elizabeth's breast as he nursed, as if to claim it as just belonging to him. Both Darcys couldn't wait until he would finally sleep through the night while his older siblings had learned to sleep through most anything.
But eventually James did, and eventually he was mostly potty-trained. It was then that Elizabeth said, "I feel kind of sorry for James, growing up without someone close to him in age. He needs a younger brother or sister."
This comment was clearly illogical to Darcy, because Andrew and Samantha sometimes seemed to more or less tolerate each other rather than being that close. Darcy replied, "He has plenty of cousins, he can make friends. You asked for 'just one more,' not a set!" Darcy's memories of the past two years were apparently more vivid than his wife's.
However, as he knew he would from almost the beginning, Darcy gave in again and little Hannah arrived two years after that (too late in Darcy's opinion to be a particularly good companion to James).
To Darcy at least, it was clear from the beginning that their youngest child, Hannah, was a different sort of Darcy from the rest. She had the dark hair and eyes, but her newborn hair was straight and stuck straight up, and she was the lightest, being delivered at term weighing in at only five pounds.
Hannah stayed small, but was early to crawl and to walk. She was the only one of their children who learned how to climb out of the bed and unlock the doors before she could barely toddle around. She managed to defeat the baby gate and climb to the top of the stairs while her parents slept, but was intelligent enough to scream and cry at the top of her lungs when she realized she could not get back down. Unlike James's cry, her siren blasts were enough to rouse Andrew who was the first to reach her and rescue her from her plight.
Hannah's early adventurousness was only a portent of things to come. As a fourteen-year-old, Hannah snuck out in the middle of the night and took the car. Fortunately, it was while the Darcys were visiting the Bingleys, so she didn't make her first excursion at driving in the middle of New York City. She got away with it for three nights in a row, but the Indiana cop pulled her over when he clocked her at eight-seven miles per hour after the rural highway speed limit had gone down from seventy to thirty-five for a town which only consisted of perhaps half a dozen businesses.
Hannah arrived back to the rental house in the back of a police car, and needless to say her parents were not thrilled.
While Andrew was assuming most of the mantle of Darcy Industries, Samantha was finishing her M.D.-Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins, and James was on the Dean's list at Columbia and majoring in Chemistry, Hannah was not going to college and was instead driving around the U.S. on her Harley (which had a sidecar for her dog to ride in, for she had always been fond of dogs). When they questioned her decision she said "Why should I get a degree when I will just get taught what I could learn online or from books instead? Acquired knowledge isn't worth anything when anyone can just look up the answers. You should be glad that I have my own hog rather than riding on someone else's b*tch seat."
Hannah was the child the Darcys always worried about, but of course as she was an adult, there was nothing they could do. However, although she lived with a string of guys, she was not beholden to them and did not get into drugs or end up with a criminal record.
Anne remained single her whole life. Anne never lived in Nashville again but did visit her mother regularly after her mother successfully completed prison, rehab and probation. Anne lived in New York City for a few years, but then purchased and enjoyed herself at a modestly sized property she purchased in upstate New York, and had several bunnies that lived half in her basement and half in her yard. She also traveled extensively and was fond of taking cruises with whichever friend was ready to escape her regular life for a while.
Eventually, when her mother died, Anne returned to Rosings, but the huge house just did not feel like home then. She sold Rosings and it was eventually converted into a fancy hotel.
About three decades after that first Bingley Thanksgiving meal, when the Bingleys were at the end of their fifties and about to be empty nesters as their youngest surprise (lucky number seven who was born the year after Hannah Darcy) was finishing high school, Paul moved in when his elderly mom suddenly passed away. Paul and everyone was sad, of course, but Pauline had a proper send off at a memorial service that almost all of the past Thanksgiving guests attended. Paul transitioned easily to his new living arrangements and was a frequent guest at the homes of his "nieces" and "nephew" that had settled nearby.
Paul never learned to tie his shoes, count money or keep a job, but he was loved and gave his love freely, offering a tissue and patting anyone on the shoulder if he thought the person was sad. Despite his lack of accomplishments, Paul's influence was felt widely among the families who knew him.
When Hannah Darcy was in her thirties, she finally found a purpose. She moved to the Alaskan wilderness and used that prodigious brain power she had inherited to learn survival skills from a series of boyfriends who had grown up there. Hannah became very fond of sled dogs and as a result found the best single musher she could and lived with him and learned all the skills to training the dogs. Then, when she turned thirty-eight, she bought a large spread and set about building her own house, workshop and eventually acquired a whole team of sled dogs. She was very far from any civilization, but she liked hunting, fishing, and being completely self-reliant. That was sure not something that was taught in books or online.
When Hannah turned fifty, she began talk of eventually settling in a town with a doctor and a store when she got older. But it was lucky that she had not yet done so for when she was fifty-two, a private plane crashed on her land as she was taking the dogs out. She mushed them over to the crash and was able to rescue (one by one), the four passengers, a couple, Sidney and Maria Smallhouse, their uncle Ted Smallhouse and their daughter Ariana. Hannah tirelessly cared for them and used all the skills she had learned over the years to treat them. Then once she was confident they would be okay a couple of days on their own, she took the dogs south to the nearest town and arranged for an air rescue.
Caroline Fitzwilliam always did the best to give her children everything she never had, and it seemed to her that her oldest daughter's life was going completely according to plan when she became an attorney and then married a successful banker, John Parker. When JJ (short for Jennifer Juniper, yes the Fitzwilliams really did name her that, not even knowing of the Donovan song, instead intending to name her for their mothers) and her husband decided after five years of marriage that it was time to start their family, JJ told her mother all about it. Caroline was with her for all of it, including two early miscarriages. Caroline was even with her at the appointment where JJ learned her severely bicorn uterus made it unlikely she could ever carry a child.
JJ was miserable and her parents did not know what to do, but when Thanksgiving approached the Bingleys suggested, "Why don't you all come to Thanksgiving at our house. Maybe being with family will help cheer her up."
JJ did not think anything would cheer her up, but she and John flew out with her parents for the long weekend, mostly to please her mother. When they arrived at the Bingleys, JJ's sadness was so evident to Paul that before she had even taken off her coat, she got tissue and some pats from him. Over the course of the weekend, Paul did the same thing seven times.
JJ did not really enjoy her Thanksgiving weekend, although she did her best to put on a happy face it was too hard to see all the children in attendance and to know that she would never have her own. But when she returned home, she kept thinking about Paul giving her tissues and patting her.
Some months later she asked her husband "What would you feel about fostering children with special needs?"
Two years later she and her husband began providing foster care to a little girl who became brain damaged when shaken by her father. Eventually they were able to adopt her. JJ's longing for a biological child never completely went away, but she did not think about it while caring for her increasing brood, some with special needs and some not. Some of the children returned to their families, but they eventually adopted a set of three siblings, the youngest of which was blind.
When Louisa's daughter-in-law Corvette (who just happened to be the daughter of Makani and Mercedes Kaʻanāʻanā) learned her second child, a boy, would have Down Syndrome, and went seeking support from her parents, she was surprised by their reaction. Although neither of her parents specifically mentioned the option of abortion, her mother Mercedes opined "It is hard enough being black. Now black and disabled . . . the kid wouldn't stand a chance, no chance at all. I sure would not wanna live that way." Her father expressed his concern that "It just wouldn't be fair to your son to have a brother like that and I worry about what it would do to your marriage. You can try again later."
When Corvette tearfully told her husband, Archer, about this conversation, he asked "Vette, how can your parents know what they would want if they were born that way? Remember Paul? He still enjoys his life and he gives so much to everyone. And what about your cousin JJ's kids?"
Corvette told her husband then, "We both wanted this child so much. I get why abortion is an option, but I never thought about doing that to a child we planned. I don't know if I can be as strong and brave as JJ. She has taken on so much. I am scared about what kind of life he and the rest of us would have, but he is still our child."
"I feel that way, too," Archer told her. "Maybe we just need to know more about what he will be like."
They found a support group for parents with Down Syndrome children and learned that despite all the challenges that most of their children were happy and if a child had a heart problem that surgery was usually a viable option to successfully correct it. With this reassurance, Corvette was able to enjoy the rest of her pregnancy and have hope for little Cadillac Picard Hurst's future.
Of course it wasn't easy. Sometimes people stared or made rude comments and Corvette and Archer were busy taking their son to many speech therapy appointments to help correct his tongue thrusting, and medical appointments. Cadillac required two heart surgeries and each time his parents were incredibly worried, but he pulled out okay.
Corvette became an awesome advocate for her son, but nothing could make Cadillac like his peers. He took all his classes in the resource room and didn't "graduate" (he got a certificate of completion rather than a diploma) until he was twenty-one.
More than once, Corvette came home and cried when hearing about all the normal things the other mothers' children were doing: attending prom, going to college and so on. While she had those things with Benz, she knew she would never have them with her younger son, but she realized what she was disappointed about wasn't really bothering her child, it was her issue rather than his. Still, it was hard to be friends with a mother whose son was on the varsity football team with hopes of playing in college, when Corvette just had Special Olympics bowling to look forward to her son doing. While she enjoyed those sorts of events, and the supportive families who participated, she had to let go of a lot of things to accept what was.
However, when Corvette was struggling, Archer was strong, and she supported him when he was the one having a hard time instead. They did make it work and she was pretty sure it brought them closer together as a couple.
When "Caddy" finished his school career, he got a position bagging groceries and was proud to be holding down a job. During his spare time, he put together easy puzzles along with watching videos of every possible permutation of the Star Trek universe with his now retired grandfather, Q.
Q and Caddy attended every Star Trek convention they could, with Q having taken Caddy to his first convention when he turned thirteen. Cadillac after trying out many permutations of Star Trek costumes (including several that Q disapproved of since they were from offshoots of a related universe that he did not think was quite kosher), finally resolved upon a costume that he pulled out every time.
Caddy enjoyed dressing up like a Ferengi, just so he could go around and deliver two memorized canon lines in a disparaging tone (which had taken quite an effort for him to master). To Star Fleet officers he would say "You work with your females, arm them and force them to wear clothes." To alien species he would say about Star Fleet "And they shamelessly clothe their females. Inviting others to unclothe them. The very depth of perversion."
Of course Caddy would usually burst out laughing, forcing those around him to break character and laugh, too. Needless to say, he and his grandfather had a lot of fun together. Everyone who knew them called them "two peas in a pod" oblivious to the fact that they looked nothing alike, Q being a tall old white man and Caddy having the obvious Down cast to his face with mocha skin two shades lighter than that of his mother.
While Cadillac's life might not have been a success to the large world, Archer and Corvette, their older son Benz, and their whole extended family were eventually glad to have him in their lives.
When Jane Bingley turned sixty-five, she said "I am getting too old and tired to host Thanksgiving. Someone else ought to take it up." As the families had grown, the Darcys, Hursts and others only occasionally attended as they were occupied with their own families.
Fortunately, her daughter Beth Jones was happy to take up the mantle and only lived a thirty-minute drive away. The Bingleys and Paul happily attended Thanksgiving dinner with the Jones the rest of their lives.
Over the years Jane taught her children and the children of her guests how to make the gingerbread cookies and it was a tradition that they all decorated them together the day after Thanksgiving. This was another tradition that was carried out in several homes, with Beth taking over the baking in her home when Jane resolved to give that up at seventy-five.
Hannah Darcy had a wake up call when the plan crash happened on her property in Alaska. She knew of course that if anything happened to her, she was going to die right there on her own property, but this incident really brought it home for her, so the next year she moved to an Alaskan town of less than two hundred, so if something bad happened she would not be completely on her own. There she met again Ted Smallhouse. Ted was a good decade younger than Hannah, but was quite impressed by what this feisty, woman of less than five feet could do and accomplish on her own. Intrigued by both Hannah and her skills, he hired Hannah to teach him various survival skills and then how to mush the dogs. Eventually, they moved in together.
Ted was the first and only boyfriend of Hannah's that her parents liked and approved of, so naturally when Ted eventually proposed and was accepted, her parents were happy but given their advanced age were not up to a trip to Alaska to attend, which would involve getting to Fairbanks and then taking two puddle jumpers.
However, the Darcys were able to attend virtually, for the chapel in Hannah's town had everything set up for 3D projections, including smell, and given their wealth, the Darcys had the same set up in their own home (which is how they had met Ted before). Therefore, Darcy could toddle up to the front with his daughter virtually on his arm, smell the expensive gardenia flowers they had flown in for the wedding and he and his wife could be seen by her friends and their children, who were sitting "beside" them in the front row.
Afterwards, Darcy said to Elizabeth, who was still drying her tears of happiness. "Well, I guess I can die now that Hannah has someone to take care of her."
"More like she can take care of him," Elizabeth rejoined. "But Will, no talk of dying on me. I need you around for as long as I can get."
"Alright," he replied, putting his arms around his wife. Elizabeth had grown stout and jowly. She still dressed well and cared about her appearance, but had quit coloring her hair, which was relatively thick for a woman her age. Elizabeth still had her curls even if they were white and had ample curves now.
Darcy routinely called Elizabeth "The hottest Grannie ever" and meant it. He liked how her eyes always lit up when he said it, so he said it quite a bit. They had six grandchildren, a pretty modest amount compared to the Bingleys' twenty-three.
As for Elizabeth, she still thought Darcy was still handsome despite his deep wrinkles and balding pate. He might be stooped, but it just made it easier for her to reach his lips.
The Darcys were feeling romantic after the wedding, so they exchanged a series of sweet kisses throughout the day. Then they fell asleep at around 6 pm watching the news while sitting on the couch.
The end.
Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and for all the reviews in the past 24 hours. I loved every minute of writing this story and savored every review, follow and favorite. Merry Christmas to all. Now what do you want me to take up finishing next?