Hi to anyone who made it this far, your support means a lot to me in the face of all the nastiness. I do want to thank the people who were kind enough to actually read the story and leave a review based on what you read there, whether you liked it or not. Peachy-Keen, I really needed to read your words, as I felt like just bagging the whole thing and leaving it unfinished, with the resolution just in my own mind. Valerie 1950, I would have responded to you, but you have disabled pms; I'll just say that this was supposed to have humor and not be a parody, although I did want to have some fun with Mrs. Bennet and some of the others. Now on to the end.

7.

Four years of political activity cannot be summed up quickly, but for Will it was an instructive time. He felt January 6th to be an awful event, but as the news reports came out he began to reason it through and put it in some kind of context. Yes, Trump could have done more to try to get people to stand down, but he didn't incite a riot. The more Trump got blamed, the more Darcy bristled a the revisionist history that made Donald Trump the most horrible man to have lived since Hitler.

Elizabeth wanted to cheerlead President Biden all the way. Trump not accepting the result of the election made her want to demand that Will admit he was wrong to support him. She was very encouraged by Biden's commitment to take on climate change and with each new natural disaster she became more convinced that doing just that was absolutely vital.

Elizabeth didn't push Will, she just hoped he would come to the conclusion that Biden was a better president than Trump would have been for this particular four years on his own. If Will did, he didn't talk to her about it, but as the months and years marched on, Elizabeth wasn't exactly thrilled with Biden. Obama 2.0 he was not, and his increasing stumbles made her concerned that perhaps there was some truth to the allegations that he was losing his marbles.

Amazingly they both agreed that it would be better for the country if both Biden and Trump would agree not to run again, so that there could be some fresh blood. But of course they didn't think that would happen.

Inflation wasn't hurting them as much as a lot of people, after all her husband had a successful company, Pemberley Industries (it was a diverse company that made various paper products), and they had money in the stock market. However, by February 2024, Elizabeth was worried that Will was really struggling as he kept working later and later, and simply rolling into bed each night long after she had gone to bed. Finally, over a weekend when he was actually around, she confronted her husband about it over dinner, a dinner she had worked hard to cook and which he was barely eating.

"Will, what on earth is going on with you? What's the deal with your work? You've come home late every night this month and you are always exhausted."

"I'm really trying, Lizzy, but I feel like everything is on the verge of falling apart and if I don't keep juggling that all the balls will fall." He set down his fork with a clatter and Elizabeth noticed to her surprise that her husband seemed about to cry.

"You know that I generally give all employees an annual one to two percent raise annually, and that the past two years I bumped it to between three and five percent, right?"

She nodded. "It was the right thing to do, and we could afford it."

"Well, as costs for our raw product and our packaging materials have gotten higher in the supply chain, I've had to raise our prices, too, and even so our margins are paper-thin. I haven't given us a raise in all that time, figuring we have our stocks and are doing okay. I've been trying to do my best to keep the price increases low, but our recent 10% increase doesn't look like it will be enough. We're hemorrhaging money right now (thank God the company is privately owned and I don't have to worry about stockholders who want to line their pockets) and we'll have to do something about it if we don't want to lay off workers, but I don't want to raise prices even more. It is a delicate balance as if we raise the prices too high, people will select other brands instead."

Will shook his head. "And then I just found out that us keeping our wholesale prices lower than our competitors hasn't always helped the consumer, because some of the stores carrying our products have been charging more than the suggested retail price, say like a 60% margin rather than the typical 50%, so the stores are profiting off our low prices."

Will tugged at his hair, evidently having an urge to literally tear his hair out. His brow was scrunched, showing lines that Elizabeth didn't even know could be there. "I wish I could do more for our workers, since their real pay is still going down given how much everything has increased in cost. Mrs. Reynolds wants to drop our sizes, fewer sheets per roll, fewer plates per package, and charge the same price, but it seems like it is cheating the consumers to do that. I'm just not sure what I should do."

"Oh, babe, that's so unfair." Elizabeth got up and walked over to him. Will scrapped his chair to the side and embraced her from his seated position, wrapping his arms around her. "I know you are doing your best, thinking about everyone over yourself."

They retired not long after that, and recalling seeing the tension in his shoulders, Elizabeth offered, "Will, would you like me to rub your back?"

He did, and she did, and she worked very hard to loosen the hard knots that seemed to be everywhere. When she dug into a particularly hard spot he groaned and she paused. "Should I stop?"

"No Lizzy, I really need this. It's so kind of you." Elizabeth rubbed at Will's back until her hands ached, and then switched to a softer, more sensual touch, and he sighed "mmm, that feels good."

"I think I know something that might feel even better," she offered, "if you aren't too tired, and are game."

Will turned to his side, "Are you offering what I think you are offering?" He gave her a lazy, sensual smile. In answer, she kissed him and the loving that followed was very satisfying to both.

Elizabeth hoped they wouldn't go so long again without marital benefits, but unfortunately two days later Will had to fly out to Kentucky to address a problem with their toilet paper manufacturing facility and it kept him away for nearly two weeks. Elizabeth would have liked to go with him, but it just wasn't possible between her job and Lottie's baby shower the next week, with Elizabeth setting aside the weekend to work on all the details as she was the host.

Lottie wasn't a particularly punctual person when it came to thank you cards, but she made up for it with the attention she gave in each one, and the one that Elizabeth received on April 2, 2024, was filled with a full page of writing. One line in particular struck a little painful twitch in the bottom of Elizabeth's stomach. Lottie had written "I know it will happen for the two of you soon."

Elizabeth recalled meeting Lottie for lunch several months back at a little bistro over in August 2023, and hearing her announce, "Well I'm pregnant and I'm not sure how I should feel about it."

"You weren't trying?" At that point, Elizabeth and Will had been trying for several months with no success, and Lottie knew that.

"God no. I mean, I'm not sure this marriage is going to last and," here her voice dropped, "we've been using condoms each and every time. But this one, this one had to break, and I suppose I just had to be ovulating." Elizabeth knew that Lottie did not do hormonal birth control because it gave her melasma, and as she joked she didn't need anything else to make her look ugly. Elizabeth of course always told Lottie that she was pretty, but privately agreed that she did not need to add skin discoloration to the mix (and as it later turned out the pregnancy hormones had predictably done just that, in what was termed "the mask of pregnancy").

"Well you know, you don't have to stay pregnant if you don't want to," Elizabeth replied quietly. "I mean yes Roe is gone but Pennsylvania still has your back."

"Yeah, I know, and it is early yet, a couple of pills are all it would take, but nah, I can look after a kid even if Bill ends up out of the picture."

"He wouldn't though," Elizabeth replied. "I think Bill'd be very proud and very involved."

"I know," Lottie twisted her thin lips. "That's more appealing if we stay married than if we don't." She shrugged. "I'd rather have it be you that's pregnant than me, but I figure I'll keep the little guy, gal, whatever. I don't have a good reason not to, I make enough money, I'm old enough, and I always figured I'd have a kid or two. Might as well be this one." She shrugged, not particularly enthused.

"Well, I'll be here for you," Elizabeth replied, "whatever you do."

"I know, that's why I told you before Bill. I'm trying to work up the courage to tell him. Once I tell him, it will be real and it will be a commitment to follow through and have the kid. I mean, you know he'd never forgive me if I ended it, probably think I was going to hell or something and that would end our marriage right there. I haven't given up on it yet, but . . . ."

A couple of days later, Will told Elizabeth. "I hear that Lottie's pregnant. She told you first, right? I got it from my aunt. She's thrilled and is already dubbing herself the godmother. It was good to hear her happy about something, it's been hard for her ever since Anne . . . ."

Elizabeth sighed, "Yeah, I know. Everyone knew it was coming, but your aunt was in such denial. Poor Anne, in the end I think it was a mercy. Lottie wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing, but since she's told Bill, and he's probably telling everyone, I guess she decided to see it through."

After that, Elizabeth had wanted to become pregnant even more. Lottie was her best friend and how much more fun would it be for them to get to raise their babies together? Jane's Alex was already two years old and the Bingleys had decided to be done with one. But months had gone by and her period kept showing up as regular as clockwork.

Elizabeth read the line again "I know it will happen for the two of you soon." A new thought occurred to her, and a burgeoning hope. When was my last period? She tracked her period with an app to know when to test, but wasn't particularly diligent in logging into the app otherwise and had silenced its notifications because it was always bothering her about stupid things. Elizabeth was pretty sure she had not had a period in March. She opened the app and read "Period past due. Pregnancy test recommend. Click here for ten early signs of pregnancy."

Long story short, she did, she was, and Will was thrilled. They had a pretty good idea of when it had happened, too. While they were given a tentative due date by the doctor, it was firmed up after an ultrasound, and when the doctor told them, the Darcys looked at each other and both said "On election day?"

The doctor smiled indulgently at them and replied, "Babies almost never come on their due dates and first babies are notorious for being late. Still, go ahead and vote early just in case."

By Spring 2024, Will was firmly back in the MAGA camp. The primary process had reassured him that Trump was who his party believed had the best chance to capture the White House again (even though he rather liked Nikki Haley). Will did not think that Trump had the best temperament and had some serious doubts when it came to the man's personal ethics regarding women (he hoped rather than decisively believed that Trump's accusers were making things up), but he saw the New York civil fraud case as political payback and thought Trump stood a much better chance of turning the economy around than Biden could.

However, with a pregnant wife, the last thing Will wanted to do was to upset her, so he made a point of not bringing up politics with her. As always, he saw their relationship as much more important than scoring a point or proving himself right and her wrong. Elizabeth on the other hand did not hesitate to bring politics up, with him and everyone else.

Elizabeth found out that her mother was scornful, actually scornful about how weak and frail she believed Biden had become. "He's an old, old man, ought to be in a nursing home." When Elizabeth pointed out that Trump wasn't much younger, her mother replied, "But he's still a bull, raring to go. I wouldn't kick him out of bed."

Elizabeth knew that Mary was upset that despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade a recent news story revealed that the rate of abortions had actually increased in the county. "I don't get it," Mary complained. "Even though people can travel to other states for abortions, you would think that just the fact that it isn't as easy to get abortions some places would make people more diligent about birth control and not getting pregnant in the first place if they don't want to have children." Elizabeth didn't know what to tell her as she, too, thought birth control over abortions to be a good thing. Mary was still a Trumper, for as she told Elizabeth, "Maybe individual state restrictions don't work, so if the Republicans win maybe we can at least get a restriction on late-term abortions."

Elizabeth had also made sure that before the midterms that Lydia was registered to vote. Unfortunately, that had not translated into Lydia actually voting in the midterms or the primaries. Lydia had one excuse after the other for why she hadn't voted, but Elizabeth was committed to the fact that no matter what, Lydia would be voting in the general election, even if she had to drive Lydia to the polls herself.

As for Will's desire to see more Trump voters out there, the Bingleys, or at least Chuck for sure, were firmly in Trump's camp, surprisingly because of Caroline. Caroline had lived with the Bingleys without too much trouble for a few months before getting her own place as covid restrictions easing made her feel better about living on her own, because she didn't fear a lockdown again. It was Caroline that had gotten Lou to agree to go into rehab after Hank Hurst overdosed for the first time on Fentanyl (but fortunately didn't die). It was also to Caroline's place that Lou went after she finished her intensive inpatient program (paid for by Chuck of course) since Hank had relapsed multiple time and then died from you guessed it, a Fentanyl overdose since there was no Lou there to call 911 or administer the Narcan. It was the trafficking of Fentanyl over the border that had Caroline up in arms for Trump, knocking on doors and making phone calls. She talked to anyone who would listen, telling them "We need to elect Trump and close the border. Fentanyl is a killer and it is coming for your families. My brother-in-law died from a Fentanyl overdose, and it could have taken my sister, too. Yes, closing the border won't stop it all, but it will help."

One thing Will and Elizabeth did agree on was that when Biden decided not to run for reelection that there should be an open primary to decide it. But once Kamala was the nominee, Elizabeth chose to see the good in it. While she thought an open primary could have resulted in a better candidate, she didn't like people knocking Kamala for being a strong, independent woman, and she really wanted the glass ceiling of the presidency to be broken by someone. She also thought people were too hard on Kamala for not having all her own policy positions figured out when she had for three and one half year been towing the Biden line on everything and had such a short time to figure it all out. She also knew that Lottie was really counting on a President Kamala; she was actively campaigning for her even though it meant pushing for son Jaron around in a stroller. Elizabeth was so inspired when she heard that, that she joined Lottie in knocking on doors despite having to haul her gravid belly around to do it.

Occasionally someone had the nerve to mention the irony of a new mother and an expecting one to be campaigning for someone who advocated "abortions on demand" but Lottie had a preprepared answer for them: "Democrats aren't against babies, but all babies should be wanted. A twelve-year-old shouldn't have to bear her rapist's baby and a woman shouldn't have to get so sick before getting medical help that she ends up dying."

When Trump got shot through the ear, Will couldn't help himself in announcing, "That might be the election right there. That might be the making of him."

"Yeah, right," Elizabeth replied. "I know he and everyone on his side will be saying that God saved him, but all the hard-core Ds are wishing he bought it today. It would be pretty ironic if it was the two Veeps running against each other, wouldn't it be?"

On the first early voting day, Will and Elizabeth were there, just in case. Will was glad that this election Trump had talked about "banking your vote" and Elizabeth thought it was possible she might go into labor even before her due date. As a smaller woman, she was all belly and looked further along then she already was. Her appearance made her think her baby (they had resisted learning the gender and planned to have a post-baby shower, once the election season was over and done), was perhaps "cooking" faster than the typical 40 weeks. After that, Elizabeth tried to no avail to get Lydia to the polls. Lydia said she would go on election day and Elizabeth had to be satisfied with that.

Finally, the day of the election dawned, but neither Will nor Elizabeth was up early. Elizabeth had been having contractions the night before, and her early assumptions that it was just more Braxton-Hicks went away the harder and more steady they became, but before they were five minutes apart they slowed and finally stopped at about 3 AM. The Darcys then slept in until about 9 AM as they had the day off.

The Darcys avoided the TV that morning, and by about noon, Elizabeth was having fairly steady contractions again. She had wanted to go take Lydia to the polls, but Will was having none of it. "Call your mother and have her take her. You're about to have a baby and the only place you are going today is the hospital." Elizabeth was by nature a stubborn person, but she knew that her husband was making good sense. However, she was convinced that her mother was unlikely to be much help, so she enlisted Jane to do it instead.

Will would have taken Elizabeth to the hospital the night before, but was glad he hadn't insisted, considering how things turned out, but that evening when she was still having contractions that by his timing were closer than five minutes apart, he was raring to go. Elizabeth had no intentions of going anytime soon as she was soaking in their warm Whirlpool bathtub, with an especially helpful jet at her back and she knew getting up and ready would feel horrible. She insisted again and again "I don't want to go in too early."

Finally at about 7:30 PM, Will was fearing that Elizabeth would give birth in that very tub. He called up Jane and explained the situation. Jane came over right away, leaving Chuck watching their preschooler.

Jane took one look at her sister, who couldn't focus enough on Jane to utter more than "Hi," and insisted "We're going to the hospital now. It's time."

Jane's take charge attitude surprised Will, although maybe it shouldn't have. Jane could be firm when the situation called for it, and she had plenty of experience telling her child "no" and deciding things for Alex. Jane placed a loose dress over Elizabeth's head when she finally got her out, explaining "In case we don't make it there, this will make it easier, and if we do make it there, this will be easier to exchange for a hospital gown."

Will drove, but maybe Jane should have done it instead, because he figured he probably committed half a dozen driving violations on the way. As he drove, the probable results of the election were the last thing on his mind, except for vaguely hoping that if they had a daughter, that Elizabeth wouldn't make a last minute shift from their planned name of "Anne" to "Kamala." Given the evident pain she was under, and the knowledge that far more was still to come, he though he would probably say yes to any name she suggested.

Although Elizabeth could barely walk by the time they made it to the hospital, her contractions were coming at a fast and furious rate, and she was told it was too late to get an epidural (which had always been her plan) it wasn't until almost 11 PM that she was told to push. Will held her hand and pulled up on her leg as the doctor suggested, with Jane on Elizabeth's other side.

Their daughter arrived red and screaming at 11:23 PM. After a quick rub down and diapering, she was presented to the Darcys. Elizabeth kept saying over and over, "She's perfect, she's perfect." After Elizabeth tried nursing their daughter (the nurse said it was normal to only get a little colostrum for the first few days), she drifted to sleep and Will held their daughter in his arms until she cried in the middle of the night and Elizabeth tried again. Jane had long since left after being given permission to share the news with the family as Elizabeth said she didn't want to think about all of that just now. Will had insisted that they be given strict orders not to visit until after noon, as Elizabeth needed to get some sleep.

Not long after that, Will accompanied his daughter to the nursery and assisted in giving his daughter her first full bath. He left her in the nursery as the nurse suggested it would be a good idea for both of them to try to get some sleep and they would bring her back in a couple of hours when it was time for her to nurse again.

Elizabeth was sleeping when he got back, so Will settled himself down in the reclining chair that was meant for the fathers. He must have been very tired for he fell asleep quickly despite how uncomfortable it was, and even slept through his daughter's next feeding. He only partially roused during her next feeling, vaguely hearing Elizabeth say "You like that milk, baby girl? Is is good?"

Will didn't rouse until morning when the nurse brought their baby back in the rolling bassinet. She noticed that Elizabeth was still sleeping and said, "Your baby needs to eat again soon, but you can let your wife sleep for a few more minutes, but once the baby starts fussing, it'll be time."

As the nurse was exiting their door, he heard some people outside the room commenting on what seemed to be election coverage. "Yes, it is all decided but she hasn't spoken yet." The closed door silenced whatever else they might have been saying.

Will thought to himself, I guess that Kamala Harris has already won, but she's probably trying to make sure that enough of the vote is in so Trump can't say she's calling it too early. It had not occurred to Will in all that time to turn on the TV in the room or check his phone for the news (he had used it to take innumerable pictures of their daughter and to text Gigi who was away at college). Will did not think the election would be decided that quickly, but had no idea about what the returns had been like this time. Usually the little red states came in first, making it look like the Republican had a big lead, but the swing states would take longer and of course California had a lot of electoral votes and its polls closed later. Of course a decisive victory might be called earlier in the night. He was a little disappointed, but figured he would get over it quick. His daughter was certainly ample consolation and way more important to him than any election.

He had just resolved himself to this result, that Kamala had won and Trump had lost, that he checked his phone and to his astonishment quickly realized that Trump had actually won, and quite decisively, too. It was being projected that he would win all the swing states including Pennsylvania and the popular vote, too. Under his breath, Will muttered "Thank God."

"What was that," Elizabeth muttered, suddenly awake.

"The election results are in. Trump won."

"Trump won?" Elizabeth looked confused. "Are you sure? Already?"

He handed over his phone. "See for yourself."

Elizabeth shook her head. "I can't believe it. Lottie and so many others will be so disappointed."

"How about you?" Will asked, concerned. He was happy but he didn't want it to be at the expense of his wife being sad.

"Oddly enough, okay. Maybe I wouldn't have been if we hadn't just had Miss Princess here, but I must be jacked up on happy hormones or something for getting through this all and with no epidural or anything. I just feel tremendously accomplished to be done and have this as my prize." She turned a happy face toward Will.

Will asked her another question, one he had been wanting to ask her for a while, after she got some sleep. "Are we still naming her Anne? I haven't heard you call her Anne once since she arrived."

"I don't know. Let me think about it." After Elizabeth nursed their daughter again, she fell back asleep and Will had the privilege of changing their baby's diaper and then snuggling her.

When Elizabeth next awoke, she took up their previous conversation as if it had never been interrupted. "I still like the name Anne, to honor both your mother and your cousin, but I'm not sure I want it to be her first name anymore."

"Well, what else do you have in mind?" Will was open to just about any name.

"Is it too corny, with her being born on election day and all, to name her Liberty?"

"No, not at all. I like it. But does she look like a Liberty?" Will picked up their daughter and swept off her cap. Her "cone head" was already resolving, and she had soft brown hair and the dark blue eyes that all babies have, although there was a good chance they would be blue like her parents' eyes were. He was sure she would be a beauty yet highly intelligent and spunky like her mom. "I think that could work."

"Oh no," Elizabeth exclaimed, "what about those stupid commercials? That's probably why that idea for her name is in my head."

At Will's blank look, Elizabeth explained, "You know, those Liberty insurance commercials." She found the commercial on his phone and played it for him.

Will considered, "Yeah, those commercials are all over the place, but I don't think that nixes it. The concept of liberty has nothing to do with insurance. What do you think of Liberty Anne?"

"I like it."

When they family members arrived (all in a massive group, reminding Will of a herd of elephants), Elizabeth proudly announced her name to everyone. "This here is Liberty Anne Darcy."

There was much ooh-ing and awe-ing and everyone had to hold and touch her. Elizabeth thought it was much different than it would have been at the height of covid, or even when Alex was born, that they could all be in there. But then it turned out that they all couldn't be in there, and a nurse kicked them all out.

Will and Elizabeth were just as glad to have Liberty Anne to themselves for the next couple of days, although of course they descended again when the Darcys arrived home. Elizabeth was surprised when Lydia turned out to be their first visitor.

While she was holding Liberty, Lydia said "Don't be mad, I feel really bad especially since you named the baby after me, but I didn't end up voting. I was just so confused about who to pick."

Elizabeth didn't really buy the excuse, but as there was nothing to be done then she simply said, "Her name is Liberty, not Lydia. She's named that because she was born on election day. Will you promise me to vote next time?" Although Lydia agreed, Elizabeth had her doubts about whether she would follow through.

Right before Lydia left she said, "Even if you can't admit it, because our sisters would be jealous, I know she was named after me. We each have 'L' names, and an 'i' and a 'y' and her 'b' is a backwards 'd' like in my name."

When Elizabeth told Will about the conversation, he said "I'm sorry, but your sister is a . . . ." he self-censored himself.

"Ding-bat? Goof-ball? Egotistical and self-centered? Tell me something I don't know."

"Well if Liberty's named after anyone, it is you," Will announced, leaning down to place a kiss on Elizabeth's forehead and then Liberty's too. You both have 'Ls,' 'i's,' 'b's,' 'e's,' 't's,' and 'Lizzy' has a 'y.' I'll claim the 'r' for Darcy."

"You silly man," Elizabeth replied, "we can share the 'i's' and the 'L's."

"Deal," he replied, smiling happily at his delightful wife and daughter.

A/N: And there we leave it. In a lot of respects this chapter was the epilogue, so that's all you get.

I accidentally closed this document without saving after an hour and a half of typing. Writers, always, always save as you are going along. As a result, I had to recreate what I had as a "memory draft." But I think it actually turned out better than what I had written originally. Anyone who has made it to the end, I thank you. It is a relief to check this off my list and turn to other things.

For anyone curious about having their babies born on their due dates and who find that part of the story far-fetched, my first and third pregnancies ended with my sons being born exactly on their due dates. It does happen.