How I Met Jane Eyre
Hello, everyone. K.J.A. here again. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this all the way to the ending, if you have done so. Thank you all for your comments, and here we go. Enjoy.
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Chapter 17 – A Happy Ending, And a Perfect Beginning
After minutes of watching my children's expressions travel from excitement to anxious and back again, it was a relief for me to see that happy excitement had once more crossed their faces. I grinned with them as Janet spoke up once more.
"So, Papa, you and Mama then married this time? Properly, I might add?"
I smiled and chuckled slightly as I said, "Yes, Janet, your mother and I did marry properly this time, which is why we are here now, of course. The wedding was a quiet one, with me, your mother, the clergyman and another, I think, although now I can't be sure. All I do remember is that I was standing next to your mother, and that was all I really remember of that day: your dear mother, guiding me and loving me, as I loved her.
"The next two years of our marriage, I remained blind. Your mother and I both believe that it was this factor that brought us even closer. Your mother never tired of caring for me, and I did not mind it, for it was pleasant for me to feel your mother's arms around me always, tending for my every need, rather than some hireling or other. But then, towards the end of our second year of marriage, I felt that the sight in my right eye was clearing, and when I told your mother of this, we went up to London to see an oculist, who told us that if I kept doing the exercises and kept taking the eye medicine that he gave me, that my sight would return, and return it did.
I cannot remember the exact day or month when I regained my sight back, for I woke up next to your mother; and I must tell you, my dears, that I was never more happier than when I woke up that morning and saw your mother's beautiful angelic face lying on my chest; and when she woke up and I was able to look into her eyes again, my happiness only increased, for the sky was no longer black to me. When I told your mother of this, we cried into each other's arms, and as we did so, I sent up another prayer to God, thanking Him for tempering judgement with mercy.
"The sight in my eye wasn't that clear, oh no, for I could not read or write as much as I used to, but I could now find my way without being led about by the hand, which I was grateful for. And your mother and I were blest with another gift towards the end of our first two years together, my dears, because we were blest with our first child: you, Eddie," I said, turning my head to my son, and smiling at him as he smiled at me. "And then," I continued, "two years later, we were blest with another child: you, Janet," I said, smiling at my daughter, who beamed at me.
"But what of Adele, and Aunt Diana and Aunt Mary? And Uncle St John?" Janet asked.
"Well, you know that Janet got married, as I have told you, but not long after we were married, I allowed your mother to see her. When she found her and brought her home, she told me how thin and pale she looked, and how strict the rules of the establishment were for the poor child. She wanted to be Adele's governess again, which I wouldn't have minded, except for the fact that I (unfortunately) required all your mother's attention and care at the time. So Adele was sent to a school more closer to home, whose rules were far less restricting than the other schools were, and you both know what happened after that, so I'm not going to waste my time in repeating myself.
"Your Uncle St John did go to India on his missionary work and he died over there. I can't remember now how long it was after our marriage it was that his death came upon us, but it happened. Your Aunts Mary and Diana as you both well know got married to respectable gentleman in society, and are both loved by their husbands. And that is why alternatively once a year, they come to see us and we go to see them. It truly was a happy ending, and a perfect beginning for us all, especially for your mother and I, who, after all our trials and tribulations that we had undergone in our lives, had finally reached true happiness at last."
"Papa?" Eddie asked me. I nodded my head for him to continue when he hesitated, and he said, "If you don't mind me asking, how was the first night between you and Mama as man and wife?"
"Eddie!" Janet shrieked in shock, as I laughed at the boy for the nerve to even ask me such a thing.
"I'm afraid, my boy," I said, trying to control my laughter, "that what happened there will for ever remain between your mother and myself." Eddie looked quite disappointed at this, as Janet looked immensely relieved, but Eddie soon got over it, and we sat for a while in silence, although this time it was not awkward silence.
After we had sat like that for a while, Janet said hesitantly, "Papa?" I looked at her for a few moments as she took a few shaky breaths to try and steady herself, I asked her to spit it out, and she said slowly, "Well … don't you feel a-a little grateful to your father for sending you out to Jamaica and meeting Bertha after everything that's happened to you?" I was shocked by this, as was Eddie, and before we could ask her what she meant by asking such a thing, Janet said, "Would you both just here me out, please?" Eddie and I nodded after a few minutes had passed, with us thinking about what she had said, before Janet continued, "well, think about it, Papa: if your father hadn't sent you off to Jamaica, you would never have met Bertha, which meant that you would never have brought her to Thornfield; you would never have met Celine, which meant that you would never have cared for Adele, which also means that you would never have met Mama. Don't you see, Papa?" Janet said, looking at me imploringly.
I thought about what she had said for a few moments, before I realised (rather shockingly, for this was another epiphany), that what Janet said was true; and before I could tell her this, a voice from the doorway said, "Well, it's about time your father figured that one out. Thank you for pushing him in the right direction, Janet dear."
The three of us jumped at this voice and looked towards the door; and standing there, looking as lovely as she always did, was their dear mother, my Jane, my love, my wife.
As soon as I had calmed myself into a rational way of thinking, I decided to tease her, by saying, "How long have you been there, witch?"
"Long enough," she replied in the same teasing tone, with laughter dancing in her eyes, as she walked over to me and kissed me, lovingly and gently, which set my heart aflame, as it always did whenever Jane kissed me.
She then looked over at our children as she sat down next to me, holding my good hand in one of hers. Our children smiled at us, and as we sat there, in our golden ring of serenity, I realised that this was the true meaning of family; for where your family is, that is where your heart resides, also.
Anyway, after we began to relax in each other's company, after the unexpected revelation of my wife standing at the door, Janet then asked, "Mama, when did you begin to fall for Papa?"
I looked at my wife, for I wondered at this, too. She smiled slightly and said, "Well, my little one, I suppose I loved him since the first moment I met him, just like your father loved me since the first time we met," she smiled at me and I smiled at her as she said this, before Jane continued: "But I suppose, I first started to realise that I loved him was the morning that followed the night of the fire."
"Really? It was that morning?" I asked my Jane incredulously. She only nodded at me, and I said as I chuckled slightly, "Well, if I had known that, I would never have thrown that accursed party in the first place." We all laughed at that then, for so many years had passed since then, that it just felt right to laugh.
After the laughter had settled, Janet then asked, "And is it true that you accepted no gifts from Papa?"
Jane smiled sweetly at our daughter as she said, "Yes dear, that is true. The only thing that I wanted - that I've ever wanted, in fact - is your father's love. Nothing else will serve as an equivalent gift for me, I'm afraid," she finished in a teasing tone, with light pouring from her eyes. I kissed her hand in acknowledgement for what she had just said.
It was only then that we noticed that Eddie was lost in some thoughts of his own. "What is it, Eddie?" Jane asked him softly.
"Well, Papa never told us how Mason and Briggs knew that he was already being married to Bertha. So, how did they know?" Eddie, Janet and myself all wondered about this, until I noticed that Jane was avoiding everyone's eye, mine in particular.
"Jane?" I asked her softly, and she jumped and looked at me with sad, apologetic eyes. Eddie and Janet looked at her, too, in surprise to see their mother look like that; but she had eyes for none but me.
"Edward ..." she said slowly and softly, as the tears started to brew in her eyes. "Please forgive me for what I did. It was a long time ago, and I didn't know -"
"Jane," I said, worried now about what she was going to say, "take a deep breath and be composed before you tell us anything." She did so, and when she had composed herself, she told us all that when she had gone to visit her Aunt Reed on her deathbed, that her aunt had kept news about her Uncle, John Eyre of Madeira, from her, and that she had written to him, not long after I had proposed to Jane the first time, and told her uncle that we were to be married. It turns out that Mason was an old friend of Mr Eyre's before he died, and that was how he knew of the news and how the wedding was stopped.
"I'm sorry, Edward. I hope that in time you can forgive me," my darling wife finished into the stunned silence, as she turned her head slowly away, and as I looked at her, I saw a tear fall slowly from her eye. After a few minutes had passed, I turned her face towards mine, and I gently brushed that tear away, before I said, "Jane, I am of course shocked that this happened, but that was years ago. Look where we are now: we have a home and two loving children who we have taken care of very well, with all the love and care that we could ever bestow on them. So what I am trying to say is, don't be afraid that I will lash out at you, be angry at you or will not love you anymore, for none of those things will happen. I love you, Jane, and I always will." The look on her face was one of pure, unadulterated joy, as she leaned in and kissed me once more. I felt rather than saw our children breathe sighs if relief, as we then got up and headed to the dining room for dinner.
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Later that evening
As we got into bed that night, Jane looked at me and asked, "Edward? Do you think you would go back and change anything of our life together, before we got married, I mean?"
I looked at her for a few moments, before I said, "No, my darling, I would not." And when she looked at me questioningly, I said, "I would not change anything, Jane, because if I had gone after you the morning that you left, I am pretty sure that we would not be as happy as we are now." She smiled at me as I said this, as we began to kiss, which slowly lengthened and deepened, as we continued to live blissfully and peacefully for the rest of our lives, in our own Happily Ever After.
And that is the story of How I Met Jane Eyre.
The End
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So, that's it for the story. I'm sorry if some of you are disappointed with the ending, but that's the way I'm writing it, so if you aren't satisfied with it, tough. This is the last chapter of this story, but I should mention that there will be an explanations and acknowledgements chapter, so look forward to that, and in the meantime, please R&R. See you soon.