A/N

Epilogue as some of you had evinced interest.

It seems I had not informed at the correct place that I would be removing the story for editing and publication. I would like to apologize to those readers who were left in a lurch when I removed the story. A number of you had written that they had missed only last two chapters. I would be uploading those two chapters also today.

Some additional news from the story will be published on KU as "Of silver linings and glad tidings…" on 11 Feb 2021. Thank you so much to reader LauraMari for suggesting the concept of Silver Linings :)

And finally

If you have few minutes to spare, it would be great for a newbie writer if you can leave a review (something like ARC review) Since the book is available for pre-order, putting reviews is enabled even now. Would be truly grateful for your support :)

I would be removing the epilogue and last two chapters again as per the publishing requirements tomorrow. (5: 30 PM GMT)

Thankyou so much for your appreciation and support once again

Epilogue

July 1817, Pemberley, Derbyshire.

Elizabeth Darcy settled her three-month-old son, Alexander George Darcy in his crib, then straightened to peer down at him. The dark-haired sleeping boy looked so much like his father even while sleeping, that her heart turned over in her breast. She traced his soft, chubby cheek with a gentle finger, smiled at Clara, his nurse, before turning to leave the nursery.

After leaving the nursery, she made her way towards her favourite sitting room, as she was planning to read the letter she had received from Georgie earlier today. It was now nearly a year since Georgie left Pemberley after her marriage to Simon Townsend, Lord Hartwell. Simon was a Baron and had sizeable land holdings in Kent. However, he was a scholar too - a naturalist. While Darcy Senior and Simon's father had been friends of long-standing, the interactions between the younger generation had been intermittent, to say the least. In the April of last year, he had come to Pemberley as he was in the process of cataloguing some rare plants in Derbyshire. Their first impression of him was of a studious young man, completely immersed in his studies. They had assumed he would not have much time or the inclination to notice much beyond his work. But apparently, he did have both the time and the inclination - to notice Georgie. He also had the slyness to involve her in his studies, citing a lack of artistic talents needed for his scholarly drawings. Fortunately, for him, by the time Georgie came to know of his charade she was too far gone in love and chose to be flattered rather than offended. The two of them had married in September last year after a whirlwind courtship.

Elizabeth smiled at the remembrances as she opened her letter. Ah, it seems Georgie had recently made a special trip to Longbourn, just to compel Lyddie to spend some time with her in London. Poor Lyddie, she had become a project for all her sisters and Georgie too! Everyone seemed to be on a mission to get her to marry at the earliest. Who would have thought Mama would sit quietly enjoying herself at their expense, and all her daughters would be busy acting matchmakers. How times changed.

Georgie's letter made her thoughts flew back to the intervening years since her marriage. God had been extremely kind to them all these years.

Early in her marriage, she had had her doubts and misgivings about her acceptance in Fitzwilliam's family and the ton. She had his steadfast and unconditional support, and it had given her heart, but, still, she had been somewhat hesitant and uncertain. Great Uncle Darcy had welcomed her to the family with open arms but, the Fitzwilliams were a different kettle of a fish altogether. Lady Catherine had already made her disapprobation of that woman amply clear, and it had resulted in a breach between aunt and nephew. Though Anne had sent them her blessings in a letter, she had chosen not to openly defy her mother to attend their wedding. And Elizabeth could not really blame her.

She had accepted Lady Catherine's discontent philosophically enough, but the breach between her husband and his aunt had distressed her. It had then felt imperative that there be no further discord between Fitzwilliam and his remaining family members.

But, contrary to her misgivings, she had found it fairly easy to get the approbation of the Earl and Lady Matlock. She had first met them on her only visit to London before her wedding. She had been invited to tea at Matlock house. She had also met the viscount that day. The viscount had been warmly welcoming, however, his parents, while being polite, had been reserved and watchful. But her courage had risen at the almost inadvertent attempt to intimidate her. And she had tried her best to demonstrate that countrified young ladies from a small Hertfordshire town could behave as graciously as those from the upper ten thousand. Her attempts must have had some impact because Lady Matlock had smiled at her a tad more warmly while seeing her off.

She was not sure if it was Fitzwilliam's evident love, her own conduct, Georgie and Richard's unqualified acceptance, Lord Matlock's surprising bonhomie with their father during wedding festivities, or a combination of all these factors, but things changed for the better soon after their marriage. By the time Lady Matlock had given a welcoming ball for the new Mrs. Darcy three weeks after the marriage, she had decided to accept the new addition to their family with an open mind, and more importantly an open heart. Her unambiguous approval and support during the ball had silenced a lot of jealous tabbies and their ilk.

The newly-weds had proceeded for their much-delayed honeymoon a few days after the ball. Elizabeth had wanted to spend her honeymoon in Pemberley in an attempt to know her husband better in his most preferred and familiar surroundings. Fitzwilliam had obliged happily enough. Though he did plan a short but blissful trip to the lakes, having come to know of his wife's third most favourite place in the world, without even the benefit of a visit!

By the time their first marriage anniversary came, Elizabeth was already with child, and they had decided to give a miss to the next season in London. Since Georgie had requested an additional year to make her debut in the ton, they could do so with a clear conscience. Consequently, Elizabeth made her second entry in the London society for Georgi's debut, in the beginning of the year 1814. At the time, she had already been married two years, had a six-month-old daughter, and the so-called scandal of their marriage had been long forgotten! The only cause for gossip the Darcys offered the ton was Mrs. Darcy's unusually bold and witty tongue and Mr. Darcy's sudden and uncharacteristic love for dancing, unfortunately only with his wife. The ease with which she had been accepted by her husband's family and the ton sometimes felt like a happy dream.

While life with Fitzwilliam had been blissful from the very beginning, taking over the responsibilities of the Mistress of Pemberley had come with its own set of challenges and adjustments. Apart from her husband's encouragement, the initial phase of adjustment had been made easy by Janey's presence nearby.

Immediately after marriage, William had chosen to continue with his living, and the newly minted couple had started their married lives from the parish in Matlock. Elizabeth had been very happy with the arrangement as she and Janey were to be situated so near to each other as they entered such a momentous phase in their lives. While Papa had been less happy with William's decision, he had accepted it gracefully enough. And utilized the initial years for the refurbishing of the new dower house.

By early 1813 the dower house was ready to be inhabited, and Papa had begun to gently nudge William to give up his living and move to Longbourn. Surprisingly, the most amiable William showed quite a stubborn side to his nature and continued to ignore all of Papa's subtle and not so subtle hints. Mostly because, he had no interest whatsoever in, what he had privately told Janey, usurping Papa from his own home.

However, Papa had been struck by a severe bout of pneumonia early in the year 1814. Following that, he had made Lydia write a letter to William replete with urgent warnings from Mr. Jones regarding Papa's pressing need for rest and recuperation. While the implications had been left to poor William's conscience, the letter had performed its job beautifully. By August of that year, Janey and William were installed in Longbourn. Papa and Mama had then moved to the dower house. The speed with which Papa had made a complete recovery soon after, sometimes made an amused Elizabeth suspect that poor William had been had. But now that he was so happy in his new role, she chose not to give words to her doubts. Moreover, she considered it a good thing that Janey's twins, Thomas and Hannah, were born at Longbourn. And that they would be aware of their heritage from the very beginning.

For herself, she might have felt the sting of Janey's leaving Derbyshire a lot more had Mary and Richard not settled in the county after their marriage. Oh yes, Mary had finally agreed to marry right honourable Richard Fitzwilliam, after they both had tied themselves and each other in knots for nearly eight months! In the process, she had accorded great amusement to Fitzwilliam. But Richard had been determined enough for both of them. And though Fitzwilliam had derived much sadistic amusement from Richard's uncharacteristically dismal attempts to woo Mary, he had done all in his power to help his cousin.

Elizabeth had been requested to invite Mary for an indefinite stay at Pemberley for Richard to continue his courting of her. And it was in front of the Pemberley lake that Mary had said yes to Richard's proposal in August of 1812. Theirs had been a long engagement, however, as Richard had been adamant on making Rosewood totally fit to receive his beloved bride. They had finally married in March of 1813 when both the bride and the groom had found themselves unable to wait a single day more, and the estate be…er… dashed! Elizabeth grinned as she remembered Mary's diatribe to her about Richard's pig-headedness just before the date of their wedding had been finalized.

He had resigned his commission in the mid of 1812, months before Mary had agreed to marry him, with the aim to make 'Rosewood' solvent as soon as possible. Apart from seeking advice on land management from his cousin, the former Colonel had sought ideas for starting a stud farm to supplement his income. It had almost become an obsession for him to offer a life of as much comfort as possible to Mary. Though a little chary of his obsession, Fitzwilliam had stood behind Richard like a rock all the while as he could very well understand the need behind his cousin's actions. He had come up with a brilliant idea of shoring up investors for the project. Richard's father, his brother, the viscount, Uncle Gardiner, a couple of his friends, Charles, and Fitzwilliam himself had all shown their willingness to invest.

Now, nearly four years into the venture, it had started to show substantial profits. And at the most opportune of times, it would appear. Only a fortnight ago, Mary had confessed that she was with child, and as per the doctor, the baby was due sometime in late November. It was the most pleasing of news for Elizabeth, as her sister had begun to get a little upset at her inability to conceive. God has finally heard Mary's prayers, and Elizabeth felt it in her bones that now things would turn out just fine for the lovely couple.

Thinking of Mary's happy news reminded Elizabeth of Kitty's delicate condition. In two more months, she and Charles were to be blessed with a second child. Though the four-year-old Charlie Junior was the apple of his parents' eyes, both Kitty and Charles were hoping for a daughter this time. Charles had bought Netherfield soon after their marriage. For a while, he had vacillated between buying Netherfield or an estate somewhere in Derbyshire. He had been hoping to be near his friend and away from Mama's meddling. But with both herself and Janey having gone from Longbourn, Kitty had preferred to remain near her parents. Charles had been happy to oblige her. Fortunately, his misgivings about Mama's interference had soon been laid to rest. In fact, the sustained changes in Mama's temperament had continued to surprise one and all!

Kitty's book writing continued with gusto, with her husband, her son, and her sister-in-law, Lady Wyndham being some of her most ardent supporters. Elizabeth's lips quirked as she pondered over the metamorphosis of Lady Wyndham, Caroline Stanhope née Bingley! It amused her greatly that as soon as Caroline Bingley purposefully and deliberately tried to take a less mercenary approach to life and matrimony, both riches and a title fell into her lap! Ah, the perverse nature of destiny! If Kitty was to be believed, Caroline had been quite reluctant to allow a courtship to the Earl of Wyndham. But for some strange reason, Elizabeth shook her head at her catty thoughts, the Earl had been quite persistent and had ultimately worn down her resistance. They had married early in 1814 and, for all intents and purposes, seemed very content with each other and their world!

But the change in Caroline that Elizbeth appreciated the most was her genuine attempts to befriend Kitty. Elizabeth had never given words to her misgivings, but just like Mary, she too had worried for Kitty. And it pleased her a lot to have her misgivings be proved so wrong, and how!

Fitzwilliam had received a letter from Charles today itself. He had found an anecdote related by Charles to be so amusing, that for her edification he had read aloud a portion of the letter. It would appear Charles had found one of Kitty's sketches very amusing- yes, the very one which showed Caroline as a cat! Despite Kitty's request to burn, what she now considered an offensive caricature, he had kept it hidden in a drawer in his study. During a recent visit to Netherfield, the sketch had fallen in Caroline's hands while she was searching for some stationery item. Charles had described the mortifying incident most amusingly. Elizabeth smiled involuntarily, as she remembered,

"Really Darce, I felt as if my heart would give away as Caroline came out of the study waving the sketch. I did not even dare glance at my poor Catherine! I fully expected Caroline to enact a Cheltenham tragedy and would not have blamed her if she did. Instead, my very unpredictable sister stood in front of her husband, told him to be very careful in the future with her or else. And then she coolly waved the sketch in front of his nose. Jeremy sat studying the sketch for a long while, his mouth hanging open. Then he looked at Caro, I do not know what message passed between them, but they both burst out laughing and then sat giggling for full five minutes! They were so sporting, so charming about the whole thing that the awkwardness Catherine was feeling almost melted away. Sadly, I was not as fortunate, Darce. For the first time in my life, I was barred from Catherine's bedchamber for three successive nights. And frankly, I was truly worried that the portrait of that ass just might become a reality!"

"Who would have thought Caroline could be so gracious and jovial?" Fitzwilliam had asked, and she could not but agree to the most pleasant surprise. The last line of the letter had sounded very intriguing, and Elizabeth had inquired about it from Fitzwilliam.

Surprisingly, she had received a roguish smile, and a "That is a confidential matter between friends, Mrs. Darcy." in response. Well, it would be a most pleasing experience, getting her husband to reveal the confidential matter tonight. Elizabeth smiled to herself and continued to muse on.

Lydia was the only one of them who had eschewed marital felicity till now, and, it was not for want of offers. She had her first season in 1815 along with Georgie. Kitty had been very keen to give her season the previous year itself, but for some reason, Lyddie had demurred. Fitzwilliam and Charles both had chipped in with Papa to make Lydia's dowry a very respectable fifteen thousand pounds. That, along with her recent connections to the Earl of Matlock and the Darcys, had made her a very eligible parti in the eyes of the ton. It seemed ironical to Elizabeth that her beauty, vivacity, and accomplishments were now playing second fiddle to money and connections in the marriage mart. Unfortunately, that was the way of the ton. Despite all the feting and adulation, Lyddie very thankfully had not lost her head and sadly neither her heart. In the last two years, she had received three offers of marriage that she had rejected, including one from Adam Blakely, who had recently become the heir to the Earl of Blackhaven. Adam was a much younger cousin to a school friend of Richard, Samuel Blakley. Sadly, Samuel, a soldier, had died fighting for his country in the battle of Waterloo. The tragedy had made Adam the heir of Samuel's father.

However, if Elizabeth had not lost touch with her role as a studier of character, the refusal had only hardened Adam's resolve. And she was very happy about that because she believed that he was perfect for Lyddie, even if the foolish girl was unable to see the truth at the moment. Well, no one could see into the future, but Elizabeth was very hopeful that it would not be too long now before Lyddie and Adam made a match of it!

Life had been nearly perfect in the last five years. The only thorn in the side had been Lady Catherine's continued bitterness. But the beginning of this year brought relief in that quarter too. To bring in the new year, they had all gone to Matlock. Providentially, Lady Catherine had decided to accept the Earl's invitation, after rejecting numerous invitations to visit, at the same time as the Darcy's. She had got one look at her grandniece, three-year-old Anne Elizabeth Darcy, and nearly cried. Lizzy, as Fitzwilliam likes to call his daughter, is an exact replica of her paternal grandmother Lady Anne, except that she has a head of dark hair instead of golden. She was the reason Lady Catherine addressed Elizabeth as Mrs. Darcy for the very first time in more than five years! While the endearing address of that woman has finally been laid to rest, the relations are still not truly warm between Lady Catherine and herself. Still, chilly civility is a great step forward from bitterness and acrimony. And all sides have decided to accept and move on. Primarily because no one has the heart to prevent the old lady from meeting Lizzy, but also because meeting cousin Anne no longer needs to be a clandestine affair!

Elizabeth smiled ruefully as she remembered the times Anne had to make unscheduled stays at Rosewood just so they all could meet, without Lady Catherine getting wind of it. Well that all was a thing of the past now, thankfully.

"Well, Mrs. Darcy, what is amusing you this fine day? "

She looked up to see her husband leaning against the doorjamb, looking quizzically at her. Elizabeth took a moment to study him. Except for a thin streak of grey in his hair, he had not changed at all in these years. And the grey only added more distinction to his looks. She stared for a moment more at his dear face, remembering all the times he had stood beside her like a rock in good times and bad. She sent out a prayer of gratitude to the almighty for bringing him into her life.

Suddenly she had a hankering to see a beautiful smile grace his face and replied teasingly, "I am trying to decide which method would be best to get you to share the details about that dreaded portrait from Charles' letter, Sir."

He grinned and came forward to stand in front of her, "And have you decided yet, Madam?" He asked as he drew her out from her chair and into his arms.

"Yes, but you would know about it only later on, Sir." She replied provocatively.

"I can hardly wait." He murmured huskily as he hugged her tight. Elizabeth closed her eyes and returned the embrace with equal fervour. Life would not all be a bed of roses, and there would definitely be challenges too. But with this man by her side, things would finally turn out well. She knew that for sure.

~oooOOooo~

This work of fiction is copyrighted to the author S. Neha and any duplication in part or whole is strictly prohibited.