A/N: Thank you all SO MUCH for reading my winter tale! I have loved reading your comments, and you've all made me so excited to write my next Darcy and Elizabeth adventure! Thank you again! xo Caitlin

Chapter 19: Elizabeth

Two Years Later

"Can I see her? I must see her! I demand that I see my wife!"

Darcy burst into the bedroom, his hair wild and his eyes even more so. However, he skidded to a stop on the floor as soon as he saw her—and their newborn son.

"Lizzy," he gasped, coming to the side of the bed. "My darling, my love. How can you look so beautiful after all of this?"

"By 'all of this' I assume you mean providing you with an heir?" she said. "Darling, meet your firstborn son, little Fitzy."

"Good God, woman, we are not naming him Fitzwilliam."

Elizabeth laughed. "Thank goodness. Though he will have your last name, and your good looks, and hopefully your wild hair."

He laughed and ignored the women in the room, laying down gently next to her. "My God, he's amazing. He's perfect. May I—can I?"

"You can touch him," Elizabeth whispered, glancing up to see her mother and Jane's amused expressions. "You can hold him."

Darcy sat up and slowly, gingerly, took the small, swaddled infant into his arms. Elizabeth leaned back on the pillows and smiled. She was exhausted after two days of labor, and longed to sleep and eat. But she could not stop watching the sight before her: her beloved husband, holding their firstborn child.

"Hello there," he whispered tenderly. "Welcome to the world, sweet boy."

Elizabeth's eyes filled with tears, and she saw matching ones fall from her husband's eyes when he closed them, leaned forward, and gently kissed the baby's head, which was indeed covered with a thick thatch of dark curls.

"He's so tiny," Darcy said, gently rocking him. "And you—you are amazing. You are so strong, my sweet Elizabeth. I paced that hall for the past two days, but they wouldn't let me in." He grinned and arched a perfect eyebrow. "What took you so long, my sweet?"

She laughed out loud, then covered her mouth so as not to wake the baby. "You are lucky I am so tired, or I would throw a pillow at you. Throw anything nearby, really. 'What took me so long'—well, I'll tell you."

But she was stopped by the loud caterwauling of an infant in the room next door.

Darcy almost dropped their son. "What—who—is that a baby?" he gasped.

Lizzy grinned, and then Jane appeared, holding another infant in her arms.

"That took me so long," Elizabeth said. "Darling, meet your daughter. She was quite stubborn, much like her mother, but she is here at long last."

Darcy's mouth hung open, and he looked wildly from the babe in his arms, to his wife, to the little girl crying in her Aunt Jane's embrace.

"Elizabeth," he said. "Lizzy."

Mrs. Bennet came to take the baby boy.

"We'll leave you two for a moment," Jane said. "You need to get some rest now."

Elizabeth nodded, kissing her mother and sister, and thanking all the women who had come to help her labor for so many long hours. When they had all left the room, Darcy turned to her and shook his head.

"Just when I think you can surprise me no more—you do. I am shocked. And humbled. And grateful. And—and I am just so happy you and the babies are well."

And then he climbed into bed and gathered her into his arms, and Elizabeth smiled and shifted slightly, finding a comfortable position.

"I just want to sleep for just a bit," she whispered, "You know, a fortnight or so."

He laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Sleep, eat, hold our amazing children. My love, my life, do whatever your heart desires."

She closed her eyes, curled into her husband's warmth. "I will sleep now, and then eat. And then we will stare in awe at those two small, beautiful creatures."

"Yes," he whispered. "As always, you have the most brilliant plans."

"Just hold me for now," Elizabeth said.

"Forever and always," Darcy replied.

And then they both slept in each other's arms. And Elizabeth dreamed of swimming in deep, warm water. And when she surfaced, her husband pulled her up from a river and onto firm ground. But this time it was summer, and she had been swimming in the clear, still lake behind Pemberley. Her dream-self dried her body under the hot August sun, and watched her husband teach their toddlers a version of nine pins in which the children almost always won.

And when she woke up, she told Darcy about her dream, and he promised that one day, that would indeed happen.

"I know," Elizabeth whispered happily, sitting up and looking through the window at the snow-covered grounds of Pemberley. Soon the winter snows would melt, and then world would turn warm and green and lovely again. "For you always make my dreams come true."

Darcy smiled and joined her at the window. "More snow," he sighed.

"I don't mind." She smiled cheekily. "It reminds me of when we met."

He laughed and pulled her against him, and then they heard the twins, crying in the hall.

"Well, here they come," Elizabeth said. "Are you ready to start this new adventure together?"

Darcy kissed her tenderly and smiled. "Always. Wherever you go, I follow…as long as it's not a frozen river. Once was more than enough."

Elizabeth laughed and kissed him. And then the doors opened and her mother and Jane brought the twins inside. And so began Elizabeth Darcy's next adventure. It was one of many, through warm days and wintry nights, through the long and wonderful years, and always with her husband by her side.