A/N - This chapter is unedited. Please let me know if you see any issues or where you think the story might drag.
This is it! Let me know what storylines you'd like to see continued - or where there are gaps :) I hope you have enjoyed this story very much.
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Epilogue
Following the examples of their elder sisters proved fortuitous for Kitty and Lydia Bennet. After her schooling was complete, Lydia joined Kitty in visiting the Gardiners and participated in the Season with Georgiana Darcy. While neither Kitty nor Lydia were as sought after as Georgiana, they did have their share of suitors.
Kitty was the first of the remaining three sisters to fall. During the season after the twins were born, the girls continued with an art master, although only Kitty had a serious interest in art. While Lydia and Georgiana were working together, Kitty was more diligent in working with the instructor, the third son of a gentleman who chose to become an artist instead of joining the military or the clergy. While his parents were not happy with his choice of profession, they still provided him with a reasonable income which he supplemented by teaching and commissions for portraits. Slowly as they worked together, the two fell in love, and when it was time for the family to depart in mid-July that year, the young man, Benjamin Waverly, spoke to Darcy to ask him to approve his suit.
Darcy was reluctant at first, but as both Mr Waverly and Kitty were adamant about the match, he hesitantly agreed to a courtship. Since Kitty was to accompany the family to Pemberley for the summer, he permitted them to exchange letters. After just a few months of this, and with Elizabeth's encouragement, they invited Kitty's suitor to Pemberley to paint Alex and the twins, and this allowed both Elizabeth and Darcy to come to know the gentleman better. Eventually, after receiving the assurance this young man could care for Kitty sufficiently, he approved the match.
The wedding was scheduled to take place at Longbourn in November. A multitude of letters were exchanged between Pemberley and Longbourn to make the arrangements for the wedding and the breakfast. It was decided that Elizabeth would arrange for much of Kitty's trousseau in Lambton, although Kitty and Lydia would travel to Longbourn after the Harvest Festival in October to finalise the plans for the wedding and to order the wedding dress in Meryton. A sketch of what Kitty desired, along with her measurements, was sent from the dressmaker in Lambton to allow the dressmaker in Meryton to begin work on the gown. Mrs Gardiner sent the fabric from London as Kitty had selected something one day in the Spring when she was out shopping with her aunt.
When it came time for the Darcys to travel south, they once again leased Briarwood Manor for their stay. Jane and her husband would stay with his family at Netherfield for the wedding, while Mary remained in Derbyshire as she was with child and unwilling to travel in her condition. Several members of the groom's family stayed at Briarwood with the Darcys, filling the house nearly to capacity.
Mr and Mrs Bennet were pleasant during the visit, although Mrs Bennet did complain when informed the Darcys would not stay at Longbourn. They were only in Meryton for a sennight before the wedding and departed immediately after and had only attended one dinner at Longbourn during this time. Mrs Bennet was greatly disappointed with this and more so that Elizabeth did not bring the twins to visit.
"Mama, you do not even care to visit with Amelia, why would I bring my children to Longbourn only to have them sent to the nursery? They would be far too much for your nerves, and it is easier to leave them at home," Elizabeth said when she began to complain about not being allowed to meet her grandchildren.
Mrs Bennet just closed her mouth at this and then turned to speak to someone else. Her husband had admonished her not to argue with her second daughter, and she was unsure how to reply without appearing to argue, so she let it go. She did not really want to see the children, as she did not particularly like them; she just wanted to be able to tell her sister and neighbours that she had seen the children.
Kitty's wedding was everything Mrs Bennet could have desired, although perhaps not to the taste of the bride or the groom. Mrs Bennet decided to make up for missing the weddings of her least favourite daughters by making Kitty's wedding a grand event, but the limited budget kept her from going too far overboard. Therefore, it was a mostly tasteful affair, and the guests were made to feel welcome and well-fed.
When the celebration was over, the bride and groom departed on a wedding trip arranged by the groom's parents and would take up residence in a fortnight in a house paid for in part by Kitty's portion of the funds Darcy invested for her and in part by a gift from the groom's parents. The couple would live in a small house in London and would like a comfortable life, although probably not as well as the Hastingses and certainly not as well as the Darcys. However, they had many family and friends and would be happy living on the income from their savings and whatever Mr Waverly earned through his teaching and painting.
At the wedding, Lydia met a friend of the groom, Mr Henry Stirling, who had a modest estate outside of Bath. The two quickly became friends in the few days leading up to the wedding. Although she had planned to stay at Longbourn after the wedding, she went instead to the Gardiners, where she was courted by Mr Stirling for six months before he eventually proposed, and the couple married nine months after Kitty's wedding.
Mrs Bennet was happy to have another one of her daughters married to a landed gentleman, although Mr Stirling's income was a third of what Mrs Bennet believed the Darcys' to be. Nonetheless, the matron was exceedingly happy to have all five of her daughters married, although she remained resentful that out of all of her children, Elizabeth ended up married the best. That status was improved further when Georgiana Darcy married the second son of a Duke in her third season. While not titled, he still had a substantial fortune, and the connection only raised the Darcys higher in society.
Shortly after the Darcys' seventh anniversary, the final payment is made between Longbourn and Pemberley, paying off the five thousand pound loan. The Darcys presented the Bennet daughters each with a sum of money from the payments, which amounted to nearly two thousand pounds each after the interest from the investments. When Bennet discovered that the money was given away, he was at first angry, but it did not take him long to realise that Darcy and Elizabeth had done for him what he should have done all his life. Had he made any effort whatsoever, he could have ensured all of his daughters had dowries instead of expecting others to ensure his children and wife were provided for.
As his children left home and married, Mr Bennet managed to put aside additional funds in addition to the payments he had made to Darcy and left Mrs Bennet with a widow's portion that was more than double what she expected. Mr Bennet found in the seven years he was required to work to improve the estate had been more interesting than merely staying in his bookroom and reading, and with no children at home, the house was quieter and more peaceful as well. He no longer had to hide to get the quiet he wanted, and he found his wife a decent companion.
Despite this, the Bennets were never invited to Pemberley and only united to London by Jane. Mary rarely travelled that far, being very busy with her parish, and Kitty's home was not large enough for guests. These visits were rare as Mr Hastings did not particularly care for his mother-in-law since she always managed to slight him, believing him to be little better than a tradesman. In reality, the Hastinges income was higher even than Lydia's husband, but Mrs Bennet never did understand that fact. Mrs Bennet was invited to Lydia's home once and argued with Lydia's mother-in-law and was banished from that home thereafter.
All of the sisters did occasionally get together at Pemberley. The Darcys invited them all each summer, but usually, only one or two managed to make the trip, and every three or four years, they all were there together. No one ever addressed the fact that their parents were not invited, but the Bennets were also not missed at these.
Mrs Bennet had only grown more resentful as her comments became more biting toward all of her daughters over the years. Three years after the loan was paid, Mrs Bennet passed away in her sleep, and all of her sisters mourned her, not for what she was, but for the mother they wished she could have been. Mr Bennet lived another five without her, spending most of his time at Longbourn.
His death, however, brought to the fore his lack of an heir. William Collins had been declared dead a decade prior to Bennet's death when he was bitten by a bug in Africa. His wound festered, and eventually, the man died from an infection, which the locals believed was due to the bad spirits the man had all around him. Since no one else bitten by this particular insect had ever died before, the villagers believed this was a reasonable explanation. It took a year or two for the news to travel to England, leaving Charlotte a widow in truth.
Charlotte chose to remain unmarried and enjoyed the privilege of running her own home. She often visited Elizabeth at Pemberley and aided Mary in her charitable endeavours within the parish. Darcy ensured she never wanted for anything, but when she was forty, she travelled with the Darcys to London for a season. While there, she met an older Viscount who had several nearly grown children, and the two became good friends. He proposed at the end of the season, but Charlotte did not immediately accept. However, after some thought, she decided companionship was more desirable than independence and agreed to the gentleman's proposal. She never had her own children, but she became 'grandmother' to that gentleman's grandchildren and found she enjoyed the title very much.
Since no male heir was to be found, the Bennet daughters were permitted to decide for themselves what to do for it. It was offered to each daughter in turn, and after Jane and Elizabeth turned it down, Mary and her husband accepted it. The two moved to Hertfordshire with their four children, three boys and a girl, and continued to modernize the estate and make it even more profitable. The sisters also agreed to give the family Mrs Bennet's portion, and they used that to update and upgrade the house itself.
Several years after their marriage, the Darcys finally heard what happened to the Bingleys. Darcy encountered Mr Hurst in his club one afternoon during the season, and Mr Hurst informed Darcy about what happened to his former friend.
Miss Bingley's banishment from London had been permanent as no one wanted her to live with her after his spiteful behaviour toward Mrs Darcy. Bingley went north with her, and while there, his intended broke their engagement due to the embarrassment presently attached to his name. Bingley wanted this but decided not to return to London for some time either, and once it became apparent that no man in England would take Caroline as a bride without a substantial dowry, the brother and sister decided to venture to America. The Hursts had not received a letter from them after the first announcing they had arrived somewhere in Virginia.
The Darcys were exceedingly happy. In the decade after their marriage, they added five children to their household, Alex, the eldest had been followed by the twins, Maddie Anne and Wills, and then two more — a boy they called Henry James after Lord Matlock and another girl they named Helen Eleanor, who they called Ellie. Pemberley thrived under their care, and the hallways rang with the sounds of the children who were reared with an emphasis on acting responsibly and avoiding allowing resentment to fester.
Copyright 2023 Melissa Anne
Author's Note: What do you think about the story overall? What about the conclusion?