A/N: I still don't own Pride and Prejudice

A/N: I still don't own Pride and Prejudice. I wish I did…and I really love all my reviewers.

Chapter Thirty: The Whole World and You

Lizzie's POV

I didn't need to worry about the baby being premature. My due date, April 15, came and went and I was still pregnant. However, Jenny did go into labor on my due date. Around 8:30 that night, I got a phone call from a breathless Kyle. "Lizzie, you're never going to believe who's here!"

"Did Jenny have the babies?" I asked. Hannah had emailed me that morning to tell me that Jenny had gone into labor around midnight the night before. She and Alex had driven up to Meryton with Gabriel that morning to be there when his cousins were born.

"Remember how Alex used to say that he was going to have ten sons starting off with twin sons?"

"All too well," I laughed, remembering when Alex used to tell me he was going to have ten sons and I would also retort that if he did that, I was going to have eleven daughters and send them over to flirt with his boys. "But he didn't start out with twins."

"No, but I did!" he exclaimed. I could practically hear the smile on his face. "We have twin boys! Jenny gave birth to twin boys about forty-five minutes ago. And they're both healthy and everything even though they were born early."

I grinned, thrilled for them. I was pretty sure that these two little boys were absolutely adorable. "What are their names?"

"Noah Joseph and James Andrew," he replied. "Jenny says you have to see them because they're beautiful. Personally, I think they're handsome and manly little guys, but you know how my wife is."

Finally, on April 19, 2011, four days after my due date and after Noah and James's birth, I went into labor during dinner. Will and I had just sat down to eat dinner when my water broke. My back had been bothering me all day but at that point in the pregnancy, that was par for the course. But then my water broke and Will took me to the hospital. Twelve hours of grueling labor later, Will and I welcomed Benjamin Michael Darcy into the world. He was a beautiful baby with big brown eyes and tufts of dark brown hair. He was a big baby at nine pounds, twelve ounces and twenty-two and a half inches long. But he was worth every minute of labor and every minute of pregnancy. He looked just like his father. He really did have Will's eyes and his ears. We named him Benjamin because it's a family name in my family and Michael is a family name in the Darcy family.

"He's perfect," Will whispered as he held little Benjamin in his arms. "Lizzie, he's absolutely perfect."

"And he's ours," I told my husband. "We have our very own little baby."

We took Benjamin home when he was three days old. His bedroom would eventually be Will's childhood bedroom but for now little Ben Darcy was going to be sleeping in his bassinet in his parents' room. My mom flew down from Meryton to help out with the baby although she spent more time doing things like cleaning the house, cooking meals, and keeping Emily out of my way than actually bonding with her grandson. Of course, I appreciated whatever help she was willing to give me. I got to spend more time taking care of my new baby and I didn't have to worry about where dinner was going to come from or anything like that. I also quickly learned to sleep whenever I could get a chance because Ben had absolutely no interest whatsoever in letting his mother get more than two hours of sleep at time.

But he was loved. Jane, Charlie, and Dominic came to visit Ben for a week bringing him plenty of clothes. His Aunt Katie stopped in for a weekend bringing the baby books and toys. Gianna gave me some of Emily's old toys and books. And many of our other friends and relatives sent the new baby clothes and toys. Ben had more blue and green clothes than he could ever hope to wear unless we changed his clothes five times a day.

Ben was born four days before Easter 2011 so we weren't able to go home and spend Easter with my family. We did, however, get to see Gianna, Emily, and most of the Fitzwilliam family for dinner on Easter Sunday. Mrs. DeBourgh and her family were still ignoring us but his Uncle George and Aunt Helena came out from Seattle along with his cousin Alicia, her husband, Rob, and their two kids, Hannah and Nathan. And George was there with his fiancée, Jessica. George was about thirty-seven and was finally engaged after all these years. Rick and Evelyn brought their four children, Connor, Logan, Caitlin, and their son, Aidan Conan, who was about seven months old. Evelyn, Helena, and Alicia made dinner so all I had to do was lie on the couch and hold sleeping Ben in my arms. I was a little overwhelmed by having so many people around but this was what Will's family wanted and had been planning on before Ben decided he wanted to be born five days after his due date. They were expecting him to be nine days old, not four days old. My mom was there, having arrived the day before, and for the first time in my life, she was really being my sanity.

And then there was Will. I love my husband and he was great about making sure that I had my space. But he was also being very protective of Ben and me. After dinner, Will and I were sitting on the couch together; I was holding Ben in my arms and Will had his arm around my shoulders. He was just staring, mesmerized, at our son. "He's so amazing," he said. "He's so tiny and perfect."

"And he's ours," I said. "We get to keep him."

Little Benjamin Michael Darcy paid his first visit to Meryton in mid-June of 2011. Will and I wanted to have Ben baptized in the church where we got married. So we were having him baptized on Father's Day on the same Sunday that Jenny and Kyle were having James and Noah baptized. Will and I had asked Charlie and Jane to be Ben's godparents, since they had asked us to be Dominic's godparents when he was baptized in late February. Kyle and Jenny had asked Alex and Hannah to be Noah's godparents and then they asked Jenny's older sister and husband, Barbara and Matt Hughes, to be James's godparents. It was also going to be the first time that I got to see Abby Logan and Griffin Lucas-Collins in person. Griffin looked, from the pictures I had seen, just like his older brother. He was a chubby little blonde baby.

Abby Logan probably looked like her big sister but all I could tell was that Abby was absolutely gorgeous. She had beautiful dark brown curls and big brown eyes that were always watching something nearby. Ben was a watcher too, but not as much as Abby was. Ben's favorite thing to watch was his dad. Ben was mesmerized by Will but then Will was also mesmerized by his son. I couldn't count the number of nights I'd walked into Ben's nursery to find my husband watching our sleeping son. "Charlie's the exact same way," Jane told me when we were talking at her apartment on Saturday morning while our husbands were off talking shop and our sons were sleeping. "I don't think Charlie has been as fascinated by anything else in his life as he is by Dominic."

"It's so unbelievably amazing," I said. "We're married and we have children. When did that happen?"

My sister smiled shrugged. "Somewhere between kindergarten and now, I guess."

Saturday night, we all went over to Kyle and Jenny's for dinner. Ben and Cecilia Gobetti were in town with their two-year-old, Sophia, and their three-month-old daughter, Eva. Steve and Becca were there with Mary and Abby. Ethan and Char had Jack and Griffin; Charlie and Jane had Dominic. Will and I had Benjamin with us. Hannah and Alex had Gabriel with them. And of course, Kyle and Jenny had Noah and James. There were babies being passed around constantly. And the slightly older little ones were always looking for attention. With plenty more adults than babies, Sophia, Jack, and Mary could always find a lap to sit in or someone to play with them. I loved watching my husband play with the little ones; it filled my heart with warm, mushy feelings. I loved seeing him with our son. But it was also great watching him play more active, involved games with Mary and Sophia. Jack was very shy and wouldn't really play with Will or Alex or Kyle. But Mary and Sophia were both warm and bubbly and outgoing. And they were both spending the majority of time with anyone who would hold them. Kyle is her godfather and she adores him. But she was getting a lot of competition for his arms from Noah and James. So she had started seeking out attention from Will and Alex.

And they were both picking her up and spinning her around. Watching Alex with both little girls made me smile because when he was younger, he always said that he wanted ten sons, no daughters. And watching him playing with two little girls made me think of what I'd always thought about him. He would be a wonderful father to daughters. And I hoped that someday he and Hannah would give Gabriel a few younger sisters. But we'll see what happens. Kyle told me that Kilpatrick men can only make boy babies. I highly doubt that, having met his many female cousins who bear the last name "Kilpatrick."

"Are you happy with Will?" Char asked me later in the evening when we found ourselves alone in the kitchen. She had Griffin on her hip; Ben was outside with his dad.

I looked out over the back patio at my husband who was bouncing our son on his lap and I nodded. "Very much so," I told her. "I'm happier than I've ever been. And what about you? Are you happy with Ethan and your boys?"

She bit her lip and shrugged. That moment of hesitation told me far more than the words that came after it did. "I love my boys, and most of the time I think Ethan is a good husband, a good father. But I worry about him and I'm not sure I trust him. I think I love him but I'm not always sure. Do you remember that crush I had on Steve Logan in high school and early college?"

How could I ever forget that crush? She'd been head over heels for him for ages and it had been so obvious, painfully obvious. Everyone had known about it, including Steve. I looked back out at the patio and saw Steve spinning Mary around in circles. She was giggling and his face was bright with delight. Then I glanced at Ethan who was quietly sitting in a corner by himself while Kyle and Alex were playing with Jackson. Then my eyes flicked back to Steve who now had his arm around Becca's shoulder. Mary was still on his hip and he was gazing at little Abby in his wife's arms with pure adoration and delight. "Char, he's married to Becca now," I said slowly.

"Don't remind me," she said. "She got so lucky. I'm stuck with the guy who sits in the corner by himself while she gets the guy who adores his wife and children. Nobody ever writes on the Logans' blog to remark that Becca is looking fat."

Inside I was laughing at the idea of Steve ever calling his tiny wife fat. Becca was insanely tiny, even after giving birth to two children. "I'll admit that Steve has more tact that Ethan," I told her. "But there must be some good points to your husband."

"Elizabeth, look at me. I've probably gained thirty pounds since I got married; there's no way in hell I would ever fit into my wedding dress ever again. I'm not like you or Becca or Jenny or Hannah; I haven't stayed in shape since I got married. I'm fat compared to you. Ethan's right to call me fat. What I don't understand is why he had to do it on our blog. Sometimes I think he doesn't love me anymore."

I hugged her, partly out of sympathy and partly because I didn't know what else to do. I knew she's always had self-esteem issues and the only think I could really say to her was "But you're beautiful no matter what." But I didn't know what to say about her fears that Ethan didn't love her. "I could reassure you and tell you that he loves you," I told her. "But I don't understand my cousin. All I can tell you is that I love you and I'm here for you whatever happens."

"I don't know what I want to do. I don't think he'd ever leave me but I don't think he loves me anymore. I think I repulse him. And I don't think he really likes the boys."

Looking back out the window, I observed that Kyle was now swinging Jackson around. "Look at that," Char said, stepping closer to the window. "Ethan is ignoring our son while Kyle, who has his own kids, plays with Jack. You guys all married these great guys and I married a slouch."

I rubbed her shoulder. "Char, what you need is a day off."

She snorted. "Yeah, right, I can't get Ethan to watch Jack for a couple minutes while I go to the bathroom or change Griffin's diaper. How the hell am I supposed to get him to be a responsible parent so I can take a day off?"

"Maybe your mom would want to come visit the kids and keep any eye on them for you," I suggested.

"Then she'd have to leave the little kids," she replied. "She'll never go for that."

"Honey," I sighed. "Nick is nine; your mom can leave him with your dad and Elinor and Isaac for a couple days."

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I hate to impose on her like that though. You could never get Ethan's mom to come up and stay with us; he told me that."

I was pretty sure that my aunt would be more than willing to come spend time with her grandchildren. But I also suspected that the mother Ethan was referring to was actually his stepmother, Kimberley. And I couldn't see her taking a week off from her life to visit Ethan and his family despite his devotion to her.

The next morning Benjamin Michael Darcy was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church along with James Andrew and Noah Joseph Kilpatrick. It was an amazing moment for me to see my baby boy baptized alongside the sons of two of my best friends, one of whom I'd known since kindergarten. And through it all, I was amazed to think that I was a married woman with a baby. As I'd discussed with Jane two days earlier, I wasn't sure when all this had happened. I was an adult, I was married, and I was the incredibly blessed mother of a beautiful baby boy. Life couldn't have been better.

Will's POV

In June of 2021, we found ourselves in Meryton for a sad occasion. My father-in-law, Christopher Bennett, had just died of cancer. So Elizabeth and I gathered up our children and went to Meryton for the funeral and to help her family, especially her mother, out. Our oldest, Benjamin, was now ten years old and the oldest of six children. Nicholas was eight, Anna was six, Stephen was four, Mark was two, and Isabella was two months old. This was going to be a difficult trip for all of us. My children had adored their Grandpa Bennett and they were going to miss him.

Another complicated issue would be Ethan Collins's arrival. Two years ago, when Christopher was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he had sold the Longbourn to me. He didn't want Ethan to own it and the only way he could prevent that was to sell it to me and make it look like it was all my doing, make it look like I had forced him using the power of the Pemberley name and the fact that I was married to his favorite daughter. But Ethan's father, former part-owner of the Longbourn, had intended for his oldest son to inherit the hotel. Ethan's presence at the funeral and in Meryton afterwards was bound to complicate things.

"Especially when you factor in the divorce," Steve Logan pointed out. He and I were in the grocery store looking for food to stock up Mrs. Bennett's cupboards while her daughters and their families were in town.

I put a hand to my forehead and sighed. "I think I should just take a hint from my own father and have a heart attack right about now."

"Did he die while planning his father in law's funeral?" Steve asked.

I shook my head and glared at him. "You know what I mean. I'm not prepared to handle whatever drama may ensue from having Charlotte and Ethan in the same church or restaurant."

"Just be glad that Charlie is having the luncheon at the Netherfield."

"Oh, believe me; I am. This way I won't have to pay to have the carpet repaired and buy new dishes after those two are done."

Charlotte and Ethan's divorce eight years earlier had been anything but amicable. Of course any divorce that started with the wife informing the husband that she wanted a divorce while in the delivery room giving birth to their third child could not be amicable. Ethan had thought that Charlotte was joking until he found himself being served with divorce papers as he was about to inform the nurse that his newborn son's name would be Watson Reuben Collins. Instead, the little boy's name was Caleb Logan Lucas, no mention of his father's surname whatsoever. Within the year, Charlotte had acquired her divorce that give Ethan only occasional visitation privileges and had moved back to Meryton with her three boys.

"What I don't get is why she won't let Ethan see the boys," I said as we walked down the World Foods aisle.

"With Char, it's really more a matter of principle than anything else," Steve said as he put a few boxes of pasta in our cart. "She's pissed off at Ethan for the way he treated her and the kids during the marriage. And can you honestly see Ethan being a good father to his kids if you ever left them alone with him overnight?"

I shrugged, thinking back to numerous memories of watching Ethan sit in the corner of some gathering sipping on a beer while his children were in the hands of someone like Kyle or Steve or me. "Okay, I'll give you that one. But the whole divorce thing is a little bit weird."

"Not really," he replied. "The bit that was weird was the marriage." I must have looked surprised because he sighed and continued. "If you really want details on this, talk to my wife, Jenny Kilpatrick, or your wife. They're women; they understand this better."

"Okay," I said, waiting for the big spill. Damn, I was pathetic; I was forty-three years old, happily married with six children, and standing in a grocery store waiting for my wife's longtime friend to explain the inner workings of a relationship that had gone bottoms up eight years earlier.

Steve shook his head. "This might sound a little egocentric but whatever. You might have heard that Char had a huge crush on me in high school."

"That was almost twenty years ago," I replied.

"Granted, but here's the thing. Ethan had been interested in Char since the first day of junior year but she didn't show any interest in him until she needed a prom date for senior prom. And that only came after I'd already asked Elizabeth to go with me. Then she kind of strung him along for two or three years until I got my act together and asked Becca out. Once Becca and I were dating seriously, suddenly Ethan was a hot commodity for Char. They got engaged a couple months after Becca and me. They got married three weeks before us. Are you picking up on what I'm saying?"

"She was only interested in him when she couldn't have you?"

"Bingo and I'm pretty sure that he viewed me as competition. He was trying to one-up me. He wanted to prove to me that I couldn't steal her away from him."

"But you didn't want to."

"Elementary, my dear Darcy," he replied before putting two gallon jugs of milk in the cart. He sighed. "Honestly, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but that's the way Ethan works. He's not logical."

"You don't have to remind me. I'm just afraid that he's going to look for some way to try to take over the Longbourn."

"But his dad sold his share in the place years ago. And then you bought the whole thing from Mr. Bennett a couple years ago. You made him a member of the board of directors for Pemberley Corporate and things were fine. You even let him keep living in the penthouse."

"And I plan to keep Mrs. Bennett and Maddie and Hayley there as long as necessary," I added.

"But you're worried that Ethan is going to screw with things."

"I know he'll want to make trouble. He's banked his whole life on someday being able to get out from under my aunt's thumb and being able to control something great like the Longbourn. And then I come in and snatch the Longbourn up before he can get his paws on it."

"And it's just one more thing that someone else has grabbed up before he can get it."

I nodded. "I'm not going to make the Longbourn part of Pemberley. That wouldn't be right. There are people who live there year-round. I can't just throw them out on the streets so I can add more hotels to my glamorous chain. But at the same time this means I'll never open a Pemberley resort up in Meryton."

"Is that good or bad?"

"It's fine; I have a way of making money up here now and I'm satisfied."

"You are a businessman," Steve remarked. "You think about things in ways that I'd never dare approach. I'm not saying that it's bad thing but it's something I've noticed over the years. I don't see it as much as I used to but every now and then I see some reminder that you really are a lawyer and the head of a large corporation."

Elizabeth told me that every now and then herself. She let me know when she thought I was getting too focused on business and ignoring her and the kids too much. One of her favorite ways to do that was to just silently hand me whoever the smallest child was and then walk away. One recent Saturday when I'd been sitting in my office while she'd been outside with the kids, she'd simply walked into my office with little Isabella on her hip and handed the baby over to me. "I've got the rest of them outside but I think Bella wanted Daddy," she'd said.

I took my tiny daughter in my arms and held her with sheer delight. She was so tiny and perfect; all of my kids were amazing. I looked out the window at the backyard where Ben and Nick were playing catch while Anna and Stevie were playing in the sandbox and their mother was pushing Mark in his toddler swing. They were mine, my amazing children and my wonderful, beautiful wife. I looked at my baby in my arms. She had her mother's dark brown curls and gorgeous dark brown eyes. Thankfully, of our sons, only Stevie had inherited his mother's curls. Ben, Nick, and Mark all had my straight, manly hair. Anna and Isabella both had their mother's curly hair, but then I've always thought that curly hair looks better on girls than it does on boys.

The funeral went off without a hitch. Mrs. Bennett definitely bawled her way through the whole thing but I understood how she felt. Her husband was dead and now all she had at home were Lydia's two daughters. Mary was living by herself in an apartment in downtown Meryton while still working at the front desk of the Longbourn. Katie had married Nick Logan, to everyone's shock, a few years earlier and now they were happily living in Denver. Lydia was off in California most of the time and rarely paid any attention to her family. But she'd deigned to come home for her father's funeral after numerous loud, emotional, threatening phone calls from her mother. Lizzie was living in Chicago with me. And Jane and Charlie were still living in the penthouse of the Netherfield albeit with a five children. Dominic had four younger siblings; Mary was eight, John was six, Norah was four, and Christopher was two.

Looking around Banquet Hall #3 of the Netherfield I saw numerous familiar faces. Steve and Becca now had six children, four girls and two boys; the Logans were a brilliantly good-looking family but more than that they were good-hearted people. They were still happily living in Meryton as were Kyle and Jenny Kilpatrick and their large brood of seven children. I was amazed by their family; I knew that they only had one more child than us but at the same time, I knew I made far more money than they did. I knew how I could support six children without making Lizzie work. But there were time when I wondered how Kyle and Jenny made ends meet.

One couple who I knew had no trouble making ends meet was Alex and Hannah Kilpatrick. Six years earlier, Alex had gotten a job at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles working for Dr. Alex Wentworth, a young pediatric neurologist who had made quite the name for himself and had taken Alex Kilpatrick along for the ride. Now, Alex was the assistant head of pediatric neurology at the age of thirty-nine and more than capable of providing his wife and six children with a comfortable lifestyle. Looking at Alex bouncing his infant daughter, Stella, on his lap, I knew that life was treating him well. And as I talked with Kyle after lunch, I knew that regardless of how much money he made every year, this was a man who was truly happy with his life, who truly believed that he was living his life the way he was supposed to be.

Charlotte Lucas and her three sons were there. Ethan was there too, of course but that didn't really seem to bother Charlotte too much. She'd been dating David Poynter-Hull, a British business associate of Charlie's and mine for the past several months and seemed to be quite happy with him. For once in her life, Charlotte wasn't settling for mediocre or selling herself short. I could see Ethan simmering each time he saw his ex-wife with David but what could he do? It was her life. We all make our own decisions and sometimes you just have to live with the decisions that other people make. That was a lesson that Ethan Collins could really stand to learn.

Ethan was sitting with his mother, his stepfather, and his half-sisters looking rather uncomfortable as his ex-wife and his three sons sat with Char's boyfriend and various members of her family. In the years since the divorce, Ethan had never remarried or even dated anyone seriously. Char, on the other hand, had dated a few guys before settling down with David about a year ago. Elizabeth didn't think they'd get married anytime soon but she wasn't sure. Looking at the other couples among our close friends, I saw far more of a tendency towards "until death do us part." Looking at Kyle Kilpatrick with one arm lovingly draped around his wife's shoulders and the other holding his little daughter, Katharine, in his lap. They looked like a peaceful family. This picture, of course, did not include Katharine's older brothers, Noah, James, Matthew, and Isaac. These four Kilpatrick boys, along with their cousins, Gabriel, Lucas, and Daniel, were running around like the Energizer bunny. They were chasing each other around, much to their mothers' chagrin. It was giving me a window into what raising Kyle and Alex must have been like for Kathy and Mike Kilpatrick. They had to be the two hardest children in the world. They were energetic and they seemed like they'd been the children who were always in trouble.

That night, I was putting Stevie and Mark to bed when Anna came up and attached herself to my ankle. I looked down at my six-year-old in her pink Cinderella nightgown. "What's up Annabelle?" I asked as I put two-year-old Mark in his bed.

"I love you," she said, still clinging to my ankle. "You're the best daddy ever."

Once I'd tucked her little brothers into their beds and kissed them on their foreheads, I picked her up in my lap. "I have to help Stevie and Mark say their prayers."

"I'll help too!" she said, leaning against my chest.

After an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and the little boys' petitions that ranged from Grandpa's soul to our pet dog back in Chicago, I shifted Anna onto my back for a piggyback ride and headed towards her mother's old bedroom that Anna, Isabella, Elizabeth, and I were sharing that week. "Daddy, I love you so much. I love you more than Uncle Charlie or Uncle Nick or Uncle Steve or anyone else except Mommy and Jesus."

Lizzie was sitting on the queen-sized bed we were sharing breast-feeding Isabella and Anna bounded up on the bed. "Mommy, I love you and Isabella. You're the best mommy ever."

My wife kissed the top of our older daughter's head. "And you're the best Annabelle ever."

"I knew she loved me the most," Anna said as she made herself a little nest in the bed next to her mother.

"What are you doing, Miss Anna?" I asked, picking up my daughter. "That's my spot on my bed."

"But I get to sit by Mommy."

"I want to sit by Mommy," I told her.

"But she's not your mommy; she's just your friend, Elizabeth."

I sighed as my wife laughed. "Actually, Anna," Elizabeth said. "Daddy is my husband and I am his wife."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we love each other very much and we will spend the rest of our lives together and have children together."

"That sounds fun," my daughter announced, bouncing on the bed. "When can I get a husband?"

"When you're old like me," I told her.

"That's boring but it's better than having to wait until you're as old as Grandma."

Later that evening, I was walking around the apartment making sure that all of my offspring were safely asleep in their beds. As I adjusted the blankets over eight-year-old Nicholas and smoothed ten-year-old Benjamin's hair, I understood the look of sadness I'd seen in Ethan Collins's eyes earlier that day. He could never have moments like this with his sons. He could never tuck his children into their beds or watch his wife tenderly hold their baby. But then he'd pushed his wife away. He'd insulted her and offended her. Maybe he hadn't known what he was doing but he'd done enough to offend her and drive her away. And not only had he lost his family but he would never inherit the Longbourn. Maybe he'd deserved what had happened to him. But it was still sad to see a man who had once had to much fall so far.

Three years later we were in Meryton again for a funeral but this was a funeral that I had not been at all expecting. Becca Logan had died at the age of forty-one after a hit and run driver had hit her car one night when she was driving home from visiting her mother who was in the hospital with pneumonia. Becca left behind six children. Mary Logan, the little baby I'd watched grow up, was now fifteen; Abby, the premature baby who had worried so many people, was now thirteen and a budding soccer star. Their brother, Michael, was eleven and the spitting image of his father. Jacob was nine and bore more of a resemblance to his mother. Elizabeth was seven and their youngest, Julianne was five and inconsolable over her mother's death.

I looked at my eighteen-month-old daughter, Elinor, who was ensconced in my wife's arms and I was filled with an overwhelming sense of compassion for Steve. He was a single father now. I didn't know what I would do if Lizzie died and left me alone with our kids. I loved my wife and our children but I couldn't raise them without her. Granted Steve had his and Becca's families nearby to help out but things would never be the same without her. My heart went out to their poor children who would never get to see their mother again in this life. But a very selfish part of me was glad that it was Steve who lost his wife and not me. I wasn't sure I would be able to survive without my Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Anne Bennett-Darcy and I had come a long way. When we met in November of 2007, I was attracted to her at first sight and she hated me. Okay so I insulted her but whatever; I think we moved beyond that. We married in June of 2010 and our first child was born in April of 2011. She's had seven root canals in her life, three of which have been since our wedding. And after seven children, she was more beautiful than ever. And she also introduced my sister to the man she married nine years ago. Gianna and her husband, Connor Kilpatrick, were sitting in front of us at Becca's funeral and seeing them standing there with my absolutely gorgeous sixteen-year-old niece, Emily Darcy-Kilpatrick, was a reminder of how thinking of others and caring about the world around you can change lives. Gianna's decision to keep Emily despite the circumstances of her conception was selfless. Connor had to sacrifice his desires a thousand times to make his relationship with Gianna work. And as parents to Emily and to their three other children, they both had to make daily sacrifices, as all parents do.

The past seventeen years have been a roller coaster but they've been totally worth it. And after the funeral, I heard Alex singing the song "The Whole World and You" by Tally Hall to his three-year-old daughter, Stella, and I smiled. As he sang to his daughter "No one's better than you," I knew that for him, nothing was better than being a father. He made at least six figures a year, but the most important things for him were the happiness of his wife and children.

And the same was true for me. Sometimes I get too caught up in work but all Lizzie has to do is hand me one of our beautiful children or just yell at me and everything clicks into place. The best thing about all of this was that your children really sincerely thought that no one in the world was better than you, their parent. But Lizzie is a better person than I will ever be-if only because she has forgiven me for a being a jackass a thousand and one times.

"And that, my dear," I said kissing her behind her left ear. "That is why I will always love you. You make me a better person and I can't live without you."

A/N: THE END!! Yes, it is all over. Please read and review. I know it's insanely long but I couldn't go beyond this chapter. It had to be the end. And please feel free to check out my other story, Much More than a Fairy Tale, which is a modernization of Persuasion. A few characters from this story will occasionally pop up in that story. Oh, and "The Whole World and You" is a real song by the band Tally Hall; you really should check them out.