A/N: I'm not sure how many ways I can say this but I definitely do NOT own Pride and Prejudice. I really do love my reviewers; thank you guys so much!

Also, if you're interested, most locations in Michigan mentioned in this story are real aside from Meryton. Coopersville, Michigan is a real town near Grand Rapids as is Allendale, Michigan. Grand Valley State University is a real school, which is located about twenty minutes west of Grand Rapids, MI. Also, many characters in this story resemble or are inspired by people I know in the real world.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Something's Coming

Lizzie's POV

Alex and Hannah got married in November; the wedding was beautiful and I acquired yet another bridesmaid dress. I had no clue what I was going to do with all of these dress; maybe I could sell them on eBay. My dress for Hannah's wedding was admittedly beautiful. Her wedding colors were navy blue and silver and my dress was a navy blue "Audrey-style" dress with a silver sash. Hannah loves old movies and Audrey Hepburn is her favorite actress, so there were a lot of Audrey-esque elements to her wedding. Hopefully, this wedding would not include the element that was included in both of Audrey's real life weddings; both of her off-screen marriages ended in divorce. But I had slightly more faith in this marriage. The wedding party was as small as Alex had decided it was going to be. I remember the night he announced that when he got married, he was only having his brothers in his wedding party. I had quickly retorted to tell him that no girl would ever let him get away with that. Well, I was wrong. The entire wedding party consisted of the bride and groom, Kyle Kilpatrick as best man, Connor Kilpatrick as groomsman, yours truly as maid of honor, and Jenny Putnam as bridesmaid. Hannah didn't have any sisters, only a slightly loopy older brother named Christian whom she did not want in her wedding party. Don't get me wrong; Hannah and Christian are actually pretty close but he'd offered to kill Alex a few too many times for his sister's taste and now she was perfectly content to leave him out of her wedding party.

My maid of honor toast was good, but Kyle's best man toast had me in stitches and in tears. He told amusing anecdotes about his brother and teased him more than a little, but he also honored him, especially towards the end of the toast. "Many of you here today have met my brother at least once or twice in your lives and if you've met him once, you've become acquainted with his sarcastic sense of humor and his genuine love for his fellow human beings. Oh sure, Alex was once quoted as saying 'I hate people!' and I know he's told me that he hates me at least once or twice in his life. But these are merely signs of frustration or ridiculousness. There have been many moments in my life during which I have realized how proud I am to tell people that Alex Kilpatrick is my brother. A few years ago, a classmate of Alex's was telling me about what a hard-worker my brother was and how impressed he was with his work and then he remarked that 'but the best thing about Alex is his loyalty and his fidelity. He is honestly the best friend a guy could ever ask for. He's there for you no matter what and he's just so good.' That's a great explanation of my brother. He's just a good person. He's a loyal friend and he is just a good person. He's not perfect; I still remember the time he threw me down the stairs and beat me over the head with a rock when we were nine years old. And I'm still wondering why he did that, but normally, he's a good brother. Alex protects the people he loves very fiercely and it's great; it's good to know that your brother does love you. A few years ago, I found a photo of Alex and me sitting on the couch acting like picture perfect cute twins, at the age of twenty or so. We look so innocent and peaceful; I showed it to my mother and she wondered how tired we were to look that innocent." He smiled. "Having a twin is wonderful; I always had someone to play with, a constant best friend. We might have been a bit troublesome at times and maybe we still are, but in all seriousness, Alex, I have so much respect for you. You're a great brother, a loyal friend, and you have such a great heart for people. You're honest with me and with other people; you're not afraid to tell the truth. You're open with your faith and your relationship with God. You bring so much to your relationships and your friendships. It's a privilege and an honor to me that I can call you my brother, but more than that I can call you my friend. Hannah, it's been an honor getting to know you the past several years, even if I did meet you first and I'm very glad to be able to welcome you to the Kilpatrick family. We're more than a little ridiculous, but I think you'll find we're a very loving, fun bunch to be around. Congratulations on your marriage and I wish you the best in the years to come. Remember that we all love you and we only want the best for you. I hope to share in the joys of your future and in the famous words of a movie that Lizzie once forced Alex to watch many years ago, l'chiam and mazel tov! Now raise your glasses to Alex and Hannah!"

I smiled as we all toasted the newlyweds. I remembered the night I'd made Alex watch Fiddler on the Roof with me. My first cat, also named Alex, had just died of cancer and so Alex the person came to keep me company and watch one of my favorite movies with me. It had really helped me to have someone watch that movie with me; plus it gave me an excuse to cry in front of Alex and Kyle. They were good friends, loyal friends as Kyle had said. I honestly had days when I wished I could marry one of them but I found a guy who is more amazing than they are, at least for me. Will Darcy was an amazing man; that's not to say that Alex and Kyle Kilpatrick aren't amazing. I think if you've been listening to me at all over the past several months you'd understand that I have a great deal of love and respect for the Kilpatrick twins. I even considered dating one of them for a time. But then I found Will. And I guess he's my Prince Charming….or something like that. He probably wouldn't describe himself like that, but maybe things like that make me love him more than ever.

Watching Alex dance with his mother made me wish I could fix things with my mother but the only way to do that was to dump Will and to start worshiping at the altar of Damien Wickham. I didn't trust Damien one bit, but my mother seemed to think he was the greatest thing on earth. Even my dad wondered why I didn't like Damien. He didn't have a problem with Will but he did admit to liking Wickham more. I looked at Will who was sitting with Jane, Charlie, and other friends of ours. Sometimes it seemed weird that Jane and I had so many mutual friends but we are only a year and a half apart in age so we had gone to school with a lot of the same people. And Will and Charlie were best friends which also meant we spent more time together. But I love my sister and I'm glad I have her. It's always nice to have one ally in your own family.

Thanksgiving was a few weeks later and it was a difficult time for me. I wasn't going to beg my mother's forgiveness but I wanted to be with my family. The Gardiners were coming to Meryton for Thanksgiving and I knew that unless I kow-towed before my mother and her whims, I wouldn't be welcome at the dinner table that holiday season for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. By the Friday before Thanksgiving, it looked like Will and I would be spending Thanksgiving alone. And then I happened to mention our predicament while talking to Kyle that afternoon. An hour and a half later, I was on the phone with Kyle's mom, Kathy, and I found myself and my fiancé invited to Thanksgiving dinner in Coopersville. I called Will and asked him if he would be willing to spend Thanksgiving with the Kilpatrick family. "This does include grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins, but it's a good time."

"Have you spent Thanksgiving with them before?" he asked.

"Once, but that was the year my parents took Katie and Lydia to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving when Mary said it was a stupid holiday and we didn't need to celebrate it as a family."

"I thought you spent a Thanksgiving with Jenny's family?" he asked, sounding a bit bewildered.

"That was my sophomore year of college; Lydia was eleven and spoiled rotten. She decided that we should spend Thanksgiving skiing in Colorado but the family left the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I had classes on Monday and Tuesday so I just went home with Jenny and spent Thanksgiving with her. And then my senior year I spent Thanksgiving with the Kilpatricks because my family was in the Bahamas."

"Okay, so when and why did you spend Easter with Steve's family?"

I smiled. "So, Lydia really likes going on trips and during my junior year of college, she decided that our family needed to spend her spring break, which coincided with Easter, in Paris."

"And your parents agreed to this? How old was she?"

"If I was almost twenty-one, then she was thirteen."

"And your parents just let her go to Paris?"

"They went with her," I explained. "And so did Katie and Mary. But Jane and I had classes during our sisters' spring break, so she spent Easter with some friends of hers in Ann Arbor, and I went home with Steve and spent Easter with the Logans. It was weird, especially since they have no daughters but it was worth it. It was better than staying in Grand Rapids and celebrating Easter alone."

"I bet it was," my fiancé replied. "Well, if she's sure that we won't be intruding on family time, tell Mrs. Kilpatrick that we'd love to come for Thanksgiving, but we're not staying at her house. I'd feel like we were really infringing on family time if we did that."

I smiled. "Actually, Mrs. Kilpatrick said that she'd be willing to let me stay at her house and you'd be welcome to stay with her brother's family."

"Are you serious? She put that much thought into all of this? Lizzie, she does realize that we're not her children or anything."

"Will, you have to remember that this woman wants to take care of me. My mother currently thinks of me as the daughter she never had while Kathy thinks of me as the daughter she never had."

"Fine, tell her we're coming. Should I just fly to Grand Rapids now?"

"Yeah, and I'll pick you up from the airport."

"All right then, I'll see you Wednesday," he said. "I love you, Lizzie-lou."

"I love you too, Will."

Telling my dad was a little bit harder. My dad was having a hard time dealing with my exile from the family. On Saturday, we had lunch at the Panera near my apartment. "Lizzie, I don't like the way this spat between you and your mother is playing out. I know that you don't like Damien very much although I don't understand why. But this is Thanksgiving; this is a family holiday. How can you spend this with the Kilpatricks? They're not your family; we are your family."

"We're a family?" I asked looking into my father's tired brown eyes; I'd always been told I had my father's eyes. My mother has blue eyes, so it was always slightly obvious to me that I must have my dad's eyes. I looked at those tired brown eyes and sighed. He'd worked so hard at the hotel for so many years that he'd never really put much time into his family until it was too late. Family vacations to Paris or the Bahamas were unheard of when I was growing up. We went on trips occasionally but Dad was still too busy for family time during those functions. And I'm pretty sure that he's still that way during family trips.

I sighed and looked at my dad. "Dad, think about this. While I was in college, I can think of at least four or five occasions during which I spent a major holiday away from home either because you had taken Mary, Katie, and Lydia on some vacation that's purpose was strictly to shut Lydia up and make her stop whining. Six years ago, I spent Christmas with the Kilpatricks and as far as I know, you had no problem with the fact that your wife flat out told me she didn't want me around for the holidays."

"That's not true, Lizzie. I wanted you to come home; I was sad that your mother told you not to come home. I wanted to see you especially when I hadn't seen you since August."

"I was in Meryton for a couple days over break and I saw Jane but I never saw you."

He set his cup of coffee down on the table in between us and sighed. "Elizabeth, you have to understand that your mother is a very difficult woman to live with. If I had gone to see you, she would have divorced me; she told me that much."

"So it's more important to you that you don't test mom's threats of divorce despite the fact that she is well-known for being a drama queen."

"I am a partner in this marriage; I cannot take threats of divorce idly. I'm not sure what I would do if your mother filed for divorce."

I sighed and looked down at the sandwich on the tray in front of me. I love Panera's food but right now, my dad was making me lose my appetite. I love my dad very dearly but I don't enjoy sitting around watching him give in to my mother's every demand. I know he doesn't want to get divorced and I know that he still loves my mom, but he also needs to look at what's best for him. Is it really healthy for a man to stay with a woman who emotionally manipulates him? My mom uses her "nervous condition" to get whatever she wants. She whines and cries her way into everything she wants. And she trained Katie and Lydia to be the exact same way. And my dad had become blinded to that.

"Do you realize what Mom has become?" I asked him slowly. "She has basically disowned me because I don't like Damien and because of my relationship with Will. I know she doesn't like Will, but that's because Damien keeps telling her stories about horrible things that Will supposedly did to him. Has it ever occurred to you Damien has no one to back up his stories or prove his stories besides Lydia and she only defends the stories because they're what her husband spouts to her?"

"You're just bitter," my father protested quickly but the look in his eye told me that I was getting somewhere with him and to keep pushing.

"I'm bitter. Dad, you forget that I dated Damien for a while a few years ago. I know what he's like; I've heard all the lies he tells about the Darcy family. But you know what? I've allowed the Darcys to present their side of the story and I've learned some interesting things about your precious Damien. But if you don't want to listen, I'm not going to talk about it. I know how you and Mom feel about Will and his family."

"Lizzie-belle," he said with a slow sigh; there it was his pet name for me. I hadn't heard it from his lips in months; Kyle called me that name when he was being more big-brotherly than normal and Will calls me Lizzie-lou, but my daddy hasn't called me by his favorite pet name for me in ages.

"Lizzie-belle," Christopher Bennett repeated, as if for effect. "I love you and I value your opinion. But your mother and I just do not understand what you see in Will Darcy besides his bank account."

I looked at my father and sighed. "Do you really think that I would stoop that low? Yes, Will Darcy is loaded, but I'm not marrying him for his bank account. I'm marrying him because I love him. He treats me like a princess and he genuinely cares about me. He's loving and faithful. And you know what? I'm sick and tired of defending Will to my family. If you can't accept the man I love, then I'm sorry but I can't choose the family over Will. I love him and I'm not going to reject him because of what Damien says about him."

My dad took a deep breath. "I'm going to respect your decision to marry Will, but I want you to work on making the peace with your mother soon. I want to have the whole family together for Christmas."

"I'll try, Daddy," I told him. "I can't promise you anything, but I'll see what I can do."

By the end of our lunch, Dad and I were on amicable terms. I promised him I'd talk to Mom after Thanksgiving and that I wouldn't let the Kilpatricks completely adopt me. "I know they love you and you love them, but we are your family."

I hugged him. "I know you're my family and I love you; I just like feeling at home." I know the last bit was a dig at him, but I couldn't resist.

Wednesday morning, I woke up around nine o'clock to the sound of my ringing cell phone. Jenny, Kyle, and I were leaving for Coopersville around one after Jenny got off work, so I couldn't figure out who would be calling me. I opened my phone to see that it was my mother. "Hello?" I mumbled.

"Elizabeth?" my mother almost yelled. "Are you there?"

"Yes, Mom," I said turning on my bedside lamp and sitting up in bed. "I'm here. What's going on?"

"Why aren't you at work, Elizabeth? I tried calling you there, but all I got was your voicemail."

I sighed and looked at my clock which told me in bright, glowing green numbers that it was 9:03 AM. "Mom, it's the day before Thanksgiving. We don't have school today."

"Oh," was all she said.

"So why did you call me, Marybeth?" I asked. I know I'm not supposed to call her by her first name but she hasn't exactly been acting like Mommy Dearest of late and I didn't feel like being Miss Respectful of My Mother.

"Well, you know that Lydia, Damien, and Madison were supposed to arrive last night for Thanksgiving," she began. Actually, I didn't know this because no one had bothered to tell, which actually didn't really bother me since I wasn't planning on celebrating Thanksgiving with them. But my mother kept talking. "But then, when I went to the airport to pick them up, Damien wasn't with them. At first, I thought it was just due to his job or something but it wasn't. Yesterday, Damien told Lydia that he didn't love her anymore and he didn't want her or Madison in his life anymore. He packed up all their clothes and promised to send the rest of their things to us when he got a chance. Lizzie, the poor girl; you've got to help your poor sister. Lydia is six months pregnant and her husband kicked her out and she needs to recuperate but she has to take care of Madison and she just doesn't have time for everything she has to do."

I was about to get asked to do my mother some sort of favor; I could sense it. Mom always built up the horribly pathetic nature of Lydia's situation before she asked me to do something for her "dearest baby." I sighed. "What do you need me to do, Mother?"

"Lydia needs someone to take care of Madison for a while," my mother replied. "And I figured that since you're not doing anything for Thanksgiving, you and That Man could take care of your niece over the weekend while your sister relaxes and catches her breath."

"Mother, William and I are spending Thanksgiving with Alex and Kyle's family in Grand Rapids."

"Surely their mother wouldn't mind if you brought Madison along. She's a good baby, or at least I'm sure she'll be good for you."

"Let me call Mrs. Kilpatrick and see how she feels about this," I replied. "I'll get back to you in about half an hour."

Kathy Kilpatrick told me that it was fine if I brought my baby niece with me. Kyle told me I could even bring her in the car with me if I promised that she'd behave. So that was how I found myself spending my Thanksgiving with my eight-month old niece who wasn't really in the mood to travel or spend time with strangers. She wanted a warm bottle and someplace cozy to sleep. But first, I had to take her from her playpen in my parents' living room. When I picked her up, Katie gave me all of Maddie's things that had been left in the living room. "Mom and Lydia are at the mall getting Lyds some 'retail therapy' or something," my twenty-year-old sister told me. "But Lydia said to tell you she's very grateful you can take her kid off her hands for a while."

I frowned. "I'll put it on her tab. Can you give me a hand getting all this stuff down to my car?"

"Oh sure," Katie replied. "Just let me throw on some shoes."

I smiled as my sister walked out of the room. Katie was a cute girl who was starting to liberate herself from Lydia's influence. She was studying nursing at Meryton Community College but she was going to transfer to Michigan State in January. Oh sure she still dyed her hair blonde and wore trendy clothes, but she was also happier than she'd been when she was merely Lydia's puppet. She might have been running around the house in outfits that included pieces from stores like Victoria's Secret PINK but she was so cute. I loved my little sister even if she was mad at me for not liking Damien. But I was doing what they all wanted and getting Maddie off their hands while Mom helped Lydia "recover" from the Damien situation. And if recovering took retail therapy, I wasn't going to ask. I always thought my sister was too young to be getting married especially to someone who was thirteen years older than her. But no one had ever asked for my opinion and when I'd tried to give it, I was ignored or told that I was stupid. I wasn't expecting to be told that I was right now and I had no intentions of saying "I told you so" to anyone no matter how much I might want to.

Katie helped me put all of Maddie's things in my car and then helped me settle our niece into her car seat. After I shut the car door, my little sister hugged me. "Have a good Thanksgiving. Dad, Jane, Charlie, and I will miss you."

I smiled. "Thanks, Katie. Have a great weekend and give my love to everyone."

We hugged again and I was about to climb in the car when she grabbed my arm and looked me dead in the eye. "Lizzie, listen to me. I'm sorry about this whole mess with Mom and Lydia about Damien and I'm sorry about my part in it. For what it's worth, I'm sorry and I believe you now. You were right about him and the next time Will Darcy is in town, I'd like to give him a second chance."

I hugged my little sister and told her that I'd try to give her that opportunity. "And tell Dad to call me when he gets a chance."

"I will," she told me. "And don't let Kyle's family steal you from us."

So I spent Thanksgiving with Will, Maddie, and the Kilpatrick clan. I'm not sure how much Mrs. Kilpatrick liked it when I took Maddie back to Meryton with me, but she has one married son and Kyle and Jenny are getting married in July, so she's bound to become a grandmother within the next few years. I told Will about Katie's offer to give him a second chance and he said that he was more than willing to take her up on it at Christmas. "I don't know if my mom will ever give you a second chance," I told him. "And I doubt that Lydia will. She'll find a way to hate you for your role in her marriage to Damien."

"Don't worry," he said, kissing my forehead. We were saying good-bye in the Kilpatricks' living room before Alex and Hannah dropped him off at the airport on their way back to Ann Arbor and Kyle, Jenny, and I drove back to Meryton. "I can live if your mother and Lydia won't forgive me. I'm just glad that one of your sisters is willing to extend an olive branch to me."

A/N: Okay so I was originally planning on giving Will plenty of time to talk in this chapter but it didn't happen. But I hope you guys like this chapter. Have a great holiday season and I hope to have another update soon!