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W illiam? May I come up?” Elizabeth poked her head above the hayloft floor and looked at the figure sitting in the open door at the end. He leaned against the frame, a stalk of hay in his teeth, master of all he surveyed.

“Of course.” He sat up, flinging the hay stalk to the ground below.

“I saw you coming. I was hoping you were coming to see me.” He reached out his hand, and Elizabeth picked her way over to him through the hay.

She sat down beside him, each of them dangling their legs over the edge of the hayloft window.

“Aren’t you coming in? The children and their families will be here soon.”

“I know. I just wanted to come up here and think for a while, before the crowd descends on us.”

“I’m glad the weather’s good, and we can have the celebration outside.It will keep the grandbabies occupied while we get the lunch—I mean, the dinner—ready.”

“It’s hard to believe,” he said, “that they’ve all truly flown the nest now.”His dark eyes were heavy with veiled emotion. “David is the last one to finish college, and they’ve all gone.”

“It’s a new phase of life for us, but we’ve been making our way toward it for some time, since Joseph left home—what was it, eighteen years ago? Goodness, it doesn’t seem that long.”

David Darcy’s was the latest in a long line of Darcy college graduations.

Joseph, of course, was the first. He was a pediatrician now, living in St. Louis with his wife and daughters.

Thomas became the heir apparent to Pemberley.

After finishing his agriculture degree at the University of Kentucky, he had returned home to help his father run the ever-expanding Pemberley Farms, now a commercial farm for grains, soybeans, and tobacco.

Thomas lived with his wife and their brood of five just up the road in a large farmhouse.

Richard had tried his hand at many things, and now was back in school, studying to be an architect.

Susan, the only Darcy daughter, was studying to be an archeologist, currently pursuing her Ph.D.

And now David was heading off to Vanderbilt’s Medical School in the fall, still undecided about his specialty.

He insisted he wanted to return home and practice family medicine in the community where he grew up, but William and Elizabeth knew he might change his mind, especially if he met some Tennessee beauty who wanted to live somewhere else.

Elizabeth, Mrs. Reynolds, and Georgiana spent the years after the War developing their line of Pemberley Preserves.

Mrs. Reynolds’ Raspberry, Elizabeth’s Elderberry, Pemberley Peach, and other cleverly named varieties now adorned the shelves of little specialty food shops all over the Southeast. Georgiana and her family now ran the business almost exclusively—precocious little Maggie grew into a marketing genius.

Unwilling to return to her teaching position at the Meryton Elementary school after starting her own family, Maggie began helping with the accounts, and soon the business had expanded three-fold.

Her sister Ruth was happily married and living in Nashville.

There had been sad moments along the way: the passing of Mrs. Reynolds in 1959 and Dr. Bennet in 1962.

William had to say goodbye to his best friend and brother-in-law the winter before last.Sheriff Fitzwilliam’s heart began to fail about two years before, necessitating his retirement from the sheriff’s office—he had been re-elected every term—at the ripe old age of seventy-three.

The third heart attack was too much for the man with “the biggest heart in three counties,” as he was eulogized.

William was comforted by their last conversation, in which Richard was able to reflect on his good fortune to have had Georgiana, the four daughters they shared, and a friend who was as close as any brother could be.

The temporary safety net Ed Gardiner provided for the Bennets back in 1932 became permanent.

Dr. Bennet never returned to academia. By the time faculty positions began opening up again, he was really too old for the stress of a tenure track position.

Jane and Charles, who had married in June 1934, settled permanently in Glasgow.

Mary had married paunchy Mr. Sears, and then she replaced him as librarian when he passed away.

Kitty and John Lucas had a farm and wood-working shop outside of Franklin—and six children to help them work it.

Lydia tried her hand as a country back-up singer in Nashville, making ends meet as a diner waitress in between singing gigs.

About a year later, Ed and Madeline Gardiner welcomed Madeline’s nephew, a handsome young vet named Peter McGaughey, so Ed could ease into retirement.

Peter found himself completely smitten by the vivacious youngest Miss Bennet, and he stole "Nashville’s brightest jewel"—as Mr. Lucas declared—to be Mrs. McGaughey.

“Are you going to take a slew of pictures today, Mrs. Darcy?” William tried to look serious, but she knew him well enough to catch the fleeting spark of amusement in his expression.

“Of course,” she replied, feigning haughtiness.

“And I plan to get several of the graduate’s papa, so don’t you start hiding from the camera.

”She put her hands up in front of her face and imitated clicking the camera shutter.

Lizzy had developed an avid interest in photography, and the last twenty years of their lives had been chronicled on film and in pictures developed in her dark room.

“I hate having my picture taken.”

She batted her eyelashes at him. “But the camera loves you, Mr. Darcy—you’re so handsome.”

“You best be careful with your flirting. I know we conceived at least two children in this hayloft.”

She sputtered a laugh. “You are incorrigible! I can’t believe I ever called you Mr. Serious .”

He rubbed his fingers over his lips in an attempt to hide the grin that was threatening to escape them. His rough, work-worn hand reached for her wrinkled one. They sat, fingers intertwined, for a long time—until the sound of a station wagon rolling up the driveway broke the silence.

Darcy released her and stood up slowly, extending his hand back down to her in invitation. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”

She put her hand in his, and they made their way down the hayloft stairs—the ladder had been replaced years ago—and up toward the house. A little girl with brown braids and sparkling eyes was racing toward them, a tow-headed toddler hot on her heels.

“Papaw!” She threw herself at him, and he scooped her up in his arms, kissing her on the cheek. “Hello, Katie Kat,” he rumbled in a deep voice. The toddler ran up and hugged his leg before turning and reaching her arms up to Elizabeth.

William Darcy looked behind him at the barn, ahead of him to the house and its waiting company, and to his side at the woman who had shared his life, and God willing, would for many years yet.

He took a deep breath and filled his lungs with the heavy, sweet-smelling Kentucky air.

There was a time, long ago, when he didn’t think he would ever be a happy man.

Every day, he thanked the Lord that he had been wrong.

Finis