Thank you ronaleem, Guest, and DimmDimms. I hope you and anyone else still reading will enjoy the extended epilogue.

Epilogue, Part 1

Two days later, Admiral and Mrs. Croft, Captain and Mrs. Wentworth, and Mrs. Holmes were bidding each other a final goodbye after an intimate dinner the five of them had shared aboard the Hibernia. In the morning, the Laconia would depart Antigua to begin patrolling the islands which belonged to the British Empire, for the ship was fully repaired and stocked with supplies, as was the Silvana. But as for the Juniper, well it had lived up to the more accurate moniker of the Junker and had indeed been junked, with its crew mostly divided up among the other navy ships in port.

Admiral Croft reassured Mrs. Holmes, "I shall do the best to buy the freedom of as many of those you have listed as I can with the funds you have entrusted to me, and further more, I pledge to contribute some of what I have to the cause, and Wentworth has given some money towards this as well."

Mrs. Holmes was pleased to receive his reassurances, even as she worried that having been scorned and humiliated by Anne and the rest of their party, Mr. James Weevelforth would cling even tighter to those he owned.

Mrs. Croft gifted Mrs. Wentworth a goodly quantity of cloth. When Anne protested, Sophia explained, "I do not doubt you will have need of these before long. When you have some extra time, it would behoove you to begin sewing some baby gowns, and some pilchers and clouts. Can I not see to the comfort of my future nieces and nephews, with which I think you will be blessed with before too long?" Anne then graciously accepted, embracing her beloved sister by marriage who had become the sister of her heart long before Anne married Captain Wentworth.

How did Mrs. Croft know just what to purchase? She visited a shop for the purpose of getting all she needed for her anticipated child and discussed at length with the vendor and his wife just what would be needed, and then bought enough for two. Yet in gifting such supplies to Anne, she never mentioned her own expectation. This was both because it was too new and special to share with anyone but her husband, but also that she feared that once again it would all come to naught and she did not want anyone's pity if that came to pass.

Anne wished she had some gift for her dear sister and brother, and said as much, but the reassured her that it had been their pleasure to get to know her, and to see her and Captain Wentworth happy together. It was a subdued party that made their way back to the Laconia, and a subdued couple that remained behind.

Anne and Frederick spent much of the rest of their evening writing letters, or rather Anne did for her husband had not much time for such a pursuit before he had to make further preparations for their departure in the morning. Captain Wentworth wrote Anne's father with the news of their marriage, with Anne merely writing a few lines of reassurance. In reading what her husband penned to her father, Anne thought he was rather kinder and more benevolent than she would have been in his place, and he made no mention of a hope for dowry or even her share of her mother's funds.

It was Anne who wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, Lady Russell, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Musgrove, and Miss Elizabeth Elliot. The order of her writing, and the number of lines she wrote, decreased as she went down the line, for her fondness for those she addressed declined with each letter. Each missive was to be sent off in the morning.

To the Robinsons, Anne wrote of her everlasting devotion for their plot to help reunite her with Captain Wentworth, and her great joy to finally be his wife. She also wrote learning from Mr. Dash and his praise for the fine quality of her tinctures that she had learned from them, and her hope that someday she would return to England and see them again. She wrote, "It would be my honor to host you both for as long as you might desire" and even added at the end "Whereas once I simply wished to learn from you the healing arts, I learned from you what true love in a marriage looks like and you are as parents to me in my affection for you."

To Lady Russell, she gave her regrets about leaving without properly bidding her goodbye, knowing how long it was likely before she would see her again, but noted "The marriage that might have been an evil when I was nineteen and Captain Wentworth had little funds, is a great good now and I hope you can be happy for me even though you probably think I have acted precipitously. Our love and affection for one another has only grown in the interim, but our maturity tempers our affection also, makes us more patient and kind with one another. I know you will be concerned with my welfare in living aboard a ship with so many uncouth men, but Captain Wentworth keeps them in check and I have a dear and constant companion by the name of Mrs. Holmes and she does very well in caring for me in your place."

To Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove, she wrote about missing them and wished her sister good health. To Elizabeth, she wrote that she hoped her flower garden would be magnificent this year and bid Jane to do whatsoever she should want with Anne's chamber and the items she had left behind.

In the morning she sent a cabin boy to deliver the letters for mailing, feeling not much regret at leaving behind those who she held in affection or should have by blood, in favor of her new life as Mrs. Wentworth.

While their ships sailed away, and the ships that they had relieved prepared to return to England, the poor souls from the Junker, the sailors that no one wanted aboard their ships, were busy at their shoreside assignment, in which they had the dubious honor of supervising the former slaves and future indentured servants. They had been moved from the slaver to be housed in an sugar refinery that had been badly damaged in a previous storm and abandoned. There was a roof over their heads in some places and not much more. They were fed rations by the navy and kept from leaving by soldiers serving as guards. The naval officials were anxious to indenture them locally so as to spare the expense of feeding them.

Admiral Croft who still had a few days before his ship would depart for Canada was concerned about what would befall the former slaves, and he spend a portion of almost every day (as he had from the start as his own self-appointed duty), to visit regularly and try to ensure the former cargo was being treated humanely. It was a task made more difficult in that those from the dark continent shared no common language, either with each other, or with the navy men. It was Admiral Croft that suggested within the first day that the indentured servants be allowed to determine where they should sleep and based on the clusters that formed, the navy should assign these groups a common family name. Furthermore he insisted, that however the people should eventually be divvied up, that those with a common family name be kept together.

Admiral Croft was determined that a decision should be made as to what to do with them before he departed and others who cared for them less were in charge of the deciding. As his ship had liberated them, others in the navy deferred to him. But while he lobbied for them to return to England (where he thought the terms of their indenturement would be less onerous and certainly less hazardous to their health), his voice did not carry the day. The Admiralty determined it was much more convenient to simply receive payment for them to work on the local sugar plantations.

Therefore, since that result was inevitable, Admiral Croft decided to use this fact to aid the slaves on Mrs. Holmes's list, by bartering for some to be indentured to work Mr. Weevelforth's fields in exchange for buying of some house slaves. But when he had Mrs. Croft write to Mrs. Holmes about what occurred, she conveniently left out some details that he feared might distress her (and there were further matters that she could not write about even had she wished it, for her husband had not told her everything).

Over the course of the next several years, until the year 1814, the Crofts, the Wentworths, and Mrs. Holmes were not reunited again. The timing did not work out for their two ships to be in port together again, for by the time the Hibernia returned from the role it came to serve in the War of 1812, the Laconia had been reassigned to serve in the far east. Therefore, their only intercourse was a series of letters they exchanged, many of which took six months or more to reach their final destination (though of course others were lost). While they were all fairly frank in what they wrote, not everything could safely be recorded on paper, so the accounts while true were also somewhat sanitized.

The purpose of the following account is not to give a recitation of every single letter between them, but to provide highlights of some of the most important letters and then clarify that which never made it onto the written page.

On April 3, 1812, Mrs. Holmes received the following letter from Mrs. Croft:

December 20, 1811

. . . I know you must anxiously be awaiting word of what Admiral Croft has been able to do for Mr. Holmes's relatives. He was able to purchase the freedom of twelve people all together, four that you specifically hoped for, and eight others besides. As you suggested, it was arranged for them to be taken to St. Kitts for resettlement with the help of the Methodist minister whose congregation is composed of many mulattos and former slaves. Mr. Hammet of the Westley Chapel was happy to help them and has much experience in this. The specific list is as follows, with a description of each . . . .

Mrs. Holmes of course was overjoyed. She read the letter to Anne and then commented, "Oh, how glad I am to know that Admiral Croft met with such success! I did not know the combined money would go so far, your husband and the Crofts must have been generous indeed. Oh, I hope that they shall be happy with their freedom and find much success. I am so glad that Mr. Holmes's niece and nephew are among the number, and Amy, too, but I wonder why his sister and none of the elder persons on my list were chosen. I just do not know why that should be."

"Perhaps," replied Anne, "Admiral Croft found some way to discuss with them who they preferred to be freed and the elders thought that it would be easier for the younger people to adapt and find gainful employment; perhaps the elders did not want to be a burden."

"Perhaps," replied Mrs. Croft, still wondering.

What in fact occurred was that Admiral Croft was able to speak with a man who was neighbors with Mr. James Weevelforth. That man had heard from another man, Mr. Jones, who practiced animal husbandry and was sometimes called upon to treat slaves with illnesses and wounds, that when called to the Weevelforth home, he found a young male household slave of about the age of fifteen in a very grave state caused by blood poisoning of his wounds, wounds not from an accident but from being castrated.

Admiral Croft sought out Mr. Jones and heard a horrendous account from him directly. Furthermore, Mr. Jones raised a suspicion that Mr. James regularly treated his male household slaves thusly. It was Mr. Jones's theory from some hints that Mr. James Weevelforth dropped, and further from seeing the lightness of those within and some strong commonalities of their features, that Mr. James did not want anyone tupping the female household slaves as he thought it was his province to lay claim to the charms of all of the women, and so improve their race.

Admiral Croft got the navy to employ Mr. Jones to inspect the slaves of each plantation that had requested the opportunity to gain the use of the new indentured servants, in the guise that he must make sure that they would have humane conditions. It was Mr. Jones that spoke with the people on Mrs. Holmes's list and it was they that determined who would go. The bulk of those chosen were children who were old enough to work but young enough that they had neither been castrated nor opportuned by Mr. James. They would all be overseen by Mr. Holmes's niece and nephew, who would act as their parents.

Admiral Croft made sure that the indentured servants that Mr. James received were of a "family" that did not have any among them with features that might tempt the man to have them in his home. It might be rather grim to work the sugar cane, but this was a common indignity that he adjudged far better than what might await them in the house.

On September 25, the Crofts received the following letter from the newly minted Mrs. Dash nee Holmes:

May 31, 1812

. . . Mr. Dash long insisted that we ought to marry, but I had no wish for simply a practical arrangement. Yet, in seeing the goodness of the man, and how hard he works at his vocation, and his very patience with Mrs. Wentworth, his mates, and me, eventually I grew to admire him and accepted his suit. When we had cause to make port in Nevis to acquire some provisions, we were married by Reverend Kirkpatrick at St. Thomas, the same as the Wentworths. You will be glad to know that young Tim is doing very well and seems more at ease . . . .

What was left out of this account, was that once Mrs. Holmes agreed, Mr. Dash added on a condition. He would not marry Mrs. Holmes without visually inspecting her most private parts to make sure she was free of disease. Having seen how many men had suffered from giving into the temptation of women of easy virtue, he feared that perhaps Captain Holmes might have infected her from something he caught during a long voyage away from her.

Mrs. Holmes was mortified by the very idea, and suggested that if he thought it necessary that surely Anne could examine her, but Mr. Dash was not content with such a solution. After a very unpleasant week for everyone in sickbay, when they were at odds, Mrs. Holmes finally consented with the condition that Mrs. Wentworth be in attendance and Mr. Dash not touch her at all. If there was something he needed to see, Anne would be the one to touch her and make it visible to him. The inspection proved the temperance of Captain Holmes and that Mrs. Holmes was in as fine of shape as any woman who has borne a child may be.

On December 13, 1812, the Wentworths received the following missive from Admiral Croft:

May 27, 1812

. . . My beloved Sophy is delivered of a son. She gave us a little fright when it was time for her to be delivered, but she and Jonathan Frederick are doing very well. He is a large and well formed babe, with his mother's hair. You should have heard how the crew cheered when I brought him onto the top deck . . . .

This letter brought the Wentworths great joy, amplifying their joy that Anne would soon be delivered as well of her first child in a couple of months (although she rather worried about how much larger this child could grow, wondering if she would have to deliver a boy that resembled a baby Frederick at three months of age). Anne was not thinking of any risk to herself, rather her desire that the child would soon have a home outside of her.

Mrs. Dash did worry a bit about what her role as de facto midwife would entail. She did not want to be in charge of dealing with anything unexpected, and if anything happened to Anne or the baby, well she was sure Captain Wentworth would be ready to escort her over the side of the ship. Mrs. Dash reassured herself, however, that Mr. Dash had been present in the room when his first wife had been delivered of her own children and would be ready to assist if need be.

In fact, what Admiral Croft did not write was that when the time approached for his wife to deliver, they had some despair as to who could assist her. The ship's surgeon, while adequate to tending to every illness and wound of the men, knew nothing of the birthing of children. They had attempted to hire a midwife from Canada to attend her, but despite their generous offer regarding renumeration, none was willing to live aboard ship for a time of uncertain duration, when cannon balls might be exchanged at any moment.

Admiral Croft did his best to persuade his wife that she might reside with loyalists in Canada until she was delivered, but she was adamant that she would not leave him, not when she did not know when they would be reunited if they did so. In the end, they had to be satisfied by the purchase of some books that discussed the birthing of children. But as the time grew near, Mrs. Croft wondered why she had been so loyal to Anne as to not try to have Mrs. Holmes live aboard with them.

In the end, Sophia's laboring was horrible, with no one to reassure her of the progress she was making, and no one to explain that the baby had not turned correctly. The ship's surgeon was wary of touching the admiral's wife in too intimate of a fashion, so no one knew the baby was breach. After many hours when the baby simply did not seem to want to be born, Admiral Croft feared that his beloved Sophy and the baby would die from their ignorance of what was to be done (he wondered then why he had not thought to try to procure some forceps in advance of the birth).

Fortunately, it turned out to be a frank breach rather than a footling one, and Sophia was made of stern stuff. Realizing through the haze of pain that she had to get the baby out, she made the ship's surgeon haul her to her feet and she bore down with all her might until she felt as if she would poop her very intestines and organs out. Once the buttocks began to emerge, and Admiral Croft told her, "He is coming now," (even though he was uncertain as to just what he was seeing and had the fear that she was birthing some horribly deformed child), she found an inner strength and bore down mightily hard and it was Admiral Croft himself that caught the baby. The afterbirth then followed without any difficulty.

Then despite her best efforts, Sophia had trouble figuring out how to nurse her son and for a frantic day she feared that if she did not master this craft, her dear son would pass. In the end, to their great mortification, they had to seek the advice of a man who had milked cows before being caught by a press gang. He had to instruct Admiral Croft in how to handle her dugs and get those first drops of colostrum to coat her now peaked nipples. When her son tasted that, he instinctively knew what to do and the Crofts felt their novel approach was well worth it. That common sailor, once he had gained their loyalty with such an act, was recommended to be promoted to tend the livestock, a post at which he did very well.

On May 27, 1813, the Crofts received the following letter from Captain Wentworth:

January 3, 1813

. . . It gives me great joy to announce the birth of our daughters. Yes, that is correct, I have not made an error in my account. Anne was delivered of twins one week past, and I was told it was an easy birth. Sophia Anne arrived first and Mirabella Anne followed not five minutes later. Other than being a little small, they are in good health, and our delight. We call them Phia-Anne and Bella-Anne. They do not look the same as one another; Phia-Anne resembles the Wentworth family more, while Bella-Anne favors the Elliots. Anne's arms are always full, but she is very patient you can be sure . . . .

Frederick conveniently left out how he was getting such little sleep (for the girls never seemed to want to take suck as the same time, if Anne could even figure out how to nurse them at once), that he often left in the middle of the night to sleep in the wardroom instead, leaving the bawling babies to Anne and Mirabella, and how Mr. Dash was quite incensed that his wife had abandoned their cabin to return to her former quarters so that she could help with them. Anne was patient with their daughters, but far less patient with him.

Captain Wentworth also duly wrote letters announcing the birth to all of his wife's friends and relatives, with Anne dictating much of them and then changing her mind about what he should write. It made Frederick wish to tear his hair out, but eventually the letters were finished and those letters did go out.

While Anne had heard back from the Robinsons, Lady Russell, and Mrs. Musgrove after she wrote them about her marriage, Anne half wished she had not heard back from the latter two. Lady Russell had feigned concern, but seemed to do nothing but criticize Anne's choices and how wounded she was. Mary's criticism was less veiled, bemoaning Anne's abandonment of her, knowing how sick she always was, and complaining she was quite ill and would not be surprised if she died without Anne there to tend her. Yet despite that, Anne had Frederick write to her father and everyone else that she had written to before.

On August 9, 1813, Captain Wentworth received a mail packet containing letters from Admiral Croft and Sir Walter, but he was not able to bring them to his wife until he was off duty that night. They had already heard from the Robinsons and Lady Russell two months earlier, congratulating them on their daughters, with the second letter being warm enough that Anne had hope that when she one day returned to England that she would be happy to see her godmother.

When Frederick arrived with the letters, Anne was nursing both girls (having finally figured how to tandem nurse, which actually seemed to help them sleep better as once they were finished and fell asleep, they could both be put down in the cradle together for most of the night). It had been three months since Mrs. Dash had returned to occupying her own quarters at night (although she spent much of her days with Anne and the girls), and her small room had since become the girls' nursery. Once in the cradle, it was quite common for them to hold each other in their sleep.

He asked Anne "Which letter shall I read first? The one to the both of us from Admiral Croft, or Sir Walter's letter to you?"

"I should rather hear from the Crofts, for I do not want anything my father says to spoil my mood for what the Crofts have to tell us."

"Very well." And so, Frederick read their missive to her.

March 31, 1813

. . . How glad we are to hear of your delightful news, and how much we wish to meet your daughters. Sophia is very honored that you would name of one them for her, although she is not sure if "Phia" is the best shorting of her name. I have told her that you likely do not think you should call her "Sophy" as that would still cause confusion with her, although we may not in the future be in company enough for it to matter.

We have great joy in being parents ourselves. Jonathan has become an expert at crawling, so much so that we had to employ the men in sanding every board, for we feared him getting splinters in his hands. This is a matter you should probably attend to sooner than later. Lately he has been pulling himself up and taking a step or two while clinging to Sophia's skirts. I had wondered whether growing up upon a swaying ship would delay his walking, but so far it appears not. I only wonder what the poor child shall think of the land, when he first steps foot upon it. Will he know how to walk on steady land, or fall down? . . . .

There are rumors in the admiralty that many of us will be turned ashore in the next year or so. Now that we have Jonathan, I cannot say I will be unhappy if we are one of that number. I never feared for my men half as much as I feared for my son when we engaged in our most recent battle . . . .

Frederick knew he was reading a much sanitized version of the battle, given that the Admiral wished the account to be fit for his wife's ears. But Frederick would have been dismayed had he known the true extent of the losses; the Hibernia had in fact lost almost a dozen men and two other ships were sunk and all their crew with those ships.

When he concluded reading the letter, Frederick helped Anne by lifting one of the now slumbering babies (ignoring how his wife's dairy was on full display as she had not a free hand to do up the front of her short gown) and gently conveying Bella-Anne to her cradle (it was tied to the walls with rope, so that it could sway but could not turn over, no matter how rough the seas). Anne put herself away and fastened the buttons before standing up with Phia-Anne. She following behind him into their daughters' small room, placing Phia-Anne against her sister in the cradle. They then returned to read the next letter, which Anne read aloud to Frederick as it was addressed to her.

June 1, 1813

. . . I am glad you are in health, Anne, and I wish I could offer congratulations in such a situation, but how very unfortunate that you should have daughters, and two of them! I only hope they shall have as much bloom as Elizabeth. Of course, since your husband is not a landed man I suppose he does not need sons so very much as heirs compared to those of us who are . . . .

Anne leapt up, her frustration showing as she distractedly shook the offending page. "Oh Frederick, I do not know why I should expect anything more from my father, but why is he unable to give us a simple congratulations?"

"Do not take it personally, my darling." Frederick responded, the voice of reason. "Should you like me to read the rest to you, or perhaps skim it and decide if there is anything you might want to hear before we throw it over the side?"

"No, I wish to read whatever he writes, but I cannot promise to not be angry about it."

"Nor should I expect it of you. He has certainly given you plenty of reasons to be angry already."

Anne sat on the bed a couple of feet away from where her husband sat and began to read again.

. . . As Captain Wentworth is by all account a man who has gained much prize money, and given that he (a mere commoner), presumed to marry into the family of a landed Baronet without even having the courtesy to come see me in the year 11 to ask it of me, I do not think it would be objectionable for me to believe that he might feel obligated to help me with the matter of a loan . . . .

"He thinks you should give him a loan? The gall of that man, that did not so much as give you what was due you for me."

"I am willing to loan him whatever you might wish, if you think he actually needs it, for the sake of family harmony. Perhaps it might even help him to like me."

"No," said Anne, "he certainly cannot need it. Should he not have enough extra from my pin money that he retains?"

"As you wish," replied Frederick gently.

Anne flung the letter aside off her lap and it fluttered to the floor. "I think there cannot be anything else worth reading here."

Frederick scooted closer and placed his arms about his wife to comfort her. She nestled her face into his neck. As his affection undid her, Anne sniffled, and told him in a tear-thickened voice, "I should not care about him and what he thinks of you or me, or our daughters, but somehow I still do."

Frederick understood that when his wife was in such a mood, there was nothing that he could say to make her feel better. All he could do was hold her, rub her back, and let her talk it out and cry if she needed to do so. He was not much surprised when she sobbed and her tears wet his neck.

He would have rather had Anne work out her frustration with him in a more physical way as she had on some occasions before she was large with the babies and they arrived, but there had not been much engagement in any marital duties in the last eight months, likely less than what could be counted on one hand. He would not make the mistake again that her clinging to him, or even kissing him might mean anything other than her needing his comfort.

Yet to Frederick's surprise, once Anne dried her eyes she began to kiss him, but not only that, to divest him of his coat and shirt. He remained passive, hardly returning her caresses for fear that she would call a halt to all such activities, and feeling himself to be so hard that he might toss off at the slightest provocation.

"Do you not desire me, husband?" Anne asked in confusion after a few minutes in which she had removed all of his clothes that covered his top half, and he had yet to touch a single button her hers.

"More than anything," Frederick panted out, "but I would not wish to presume . . . ."

"Presume all you want and you cannot be too wrong," she replied.

Can anyone at this juncture doubt the devotion of Captain Wentworth to his beloved wife, or how he proved it to them both? In fact, while the first interaction was too fast for much satisfaction for either, they had hardly caught their breath before he was able to go again, this time at a slower and more languorous pace that made every part of Anne feel loved (well at least every part of her but her breasts, which Anne implored him not to touch, as they were already leaking and she did not want them to gush).

Afterwards, lazy and spent, and having some hope of sleeping a few hours before the babies needed her again, Anne said, "It has been far too long."

Frederick was only too happy to agree with her and had the hope that their next bout might not be too many days away. As much as he loved his daughters, he rather hoped that it might be some years before Anne caught again, for he did not want to regain her loving only to have it vanish soon with another pregnancy.

A well deserved sleep soon claimed them both, and when the girls began to fuss it was almost five a.m. Frederick fetched them for his wife and counted his blessings as she nursed them in the pale light. He was feeling more content than he had in some months and hoping that feeling would stay all day. Anne, too, felt the magic that being with her husband had been, and looked forward to when they might do something similar again.

A/N: I am going to conclude this story with a second part of the epilogue which will cover a little of them being turned shore in the year 1814. Of course everything will be different as the Wentworths are already married. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see occur then, please let me know.