Page 41 of Ever After End

CHAPTER 40

T he next morning at breakfast, the engagements of Colonel Gordon and Miss Irving, Darcy and Elizabeth, Bingley and Jane, Mr Talbot and Miss Bertram, and Captain Lytton and Miss Crawford were announced. Miss Crawford and Miss Bertram were returning to Miss Bertram’s home, Mansfield Park, for their double wedding, But the Bennet ladies and Miss Irving would wed with the group on August fourth.

Messers Whittaker and Brentwood declared that their season at Ever After End had not been successful, but they were not bitter about it, and even suggested that they might try again next year. Darcy and Bingley generously offered to pay their fees, considering that they had shown up unexpectedly and taken two of the ladies from consideration.

Miss Dutton had not met a single gentleman at the house party that suited her, but she was unsurprised. “My mother made me promise I’d marry a gentleman, but all the gentlemen in New York want old money, and all the gentlemen here could pass for girls. Maybe I’ll travel the continent next summer if the war ends, as everyone says it must. Find me a gentleman that can handle himself, if you take my meaning. ”

Elizabeth was not certain that she did take Miss Dutton’s meaning, but she invited the American girl to stand up with her, and possibly visit her at Pemberley. Mr Bingley said that perhaps Miss Dutton might travel with him and Jane to the north when they visited his family.

“A Yorkshire gentleman is just what the lady requires,” Bingley insisted.

“I think she would do better with a highlander. Her name is Scottish, and a great number of Scots represent the immigrants who have settled in Tennessee, or so I am told. A highlander might do better at handling her and would not mind her slang,” Darcy differed. “I shall sound out my uncle on who we might invite when she visits. Matlock spends more time at his Scottish seat than I do mine.”

Elizabeth and her sisters had perfectly lovely gowns worn only once or twice that would serve as their wedding gowns, and Jane gave a lovely ball gown to Miss Irving for the wedding. Darcy and Bingley insisted upon paying for the entire wedding breakfast, and though his aunt objected, Darcy spoke with the local merchants, Lady Millicent, and Mrs Higglebottom, and saw to it that the bills were sent to him.

“You throw these parties to earn funds, Aunt, I could hardly allow you to spend your income on my wedding breakfast,” he insisted.

Expresses had been sent with all haste to Mr Gardiner and the solicitors of the men, and also an express with letters from all three gentlemen to Mr Bennet. Mr and Mrs Gardiner, with every intention of attending their nieces’ wedding, stopped on their journey in Meryton to learn that Mr Bennet had never even opened the packet, nor the two missives that Mr Gardiner had sent since. Mr Bennet was entirely disinterested in his daughters’ affairs, and only hoped that Jane’s marriage would take her away from Meryton, so that she might cease disturbing him about improvements on the estate.

He would not get his wish, for Mr Bingley announced that he had gone ahead of Mr Cartwright, and leased Netherfield, with an intention to purchase. “Jane will be close by so that she might oversee whatever she must attend to at Longbourn, and I will be there to assist her if she needs me.” It was suggested that perhaps Mr Bingley might invite Mr Cartwright for a visit to meet the beauties of Meryton, and this idea was met with a great deal of enthusiasm for a small celebratory house party at Netherfield.

Lydia and Kitty accompanied their aunt and uncle to Somerset for the wedding. Mrs Bennet was beside herself that Jane would marry a wealthy man so far from home where her mother could not enjoy the proceedings, for Mrs Bennet never traveled comfortably. Jane felt guilty, but Elizabeth and Mary quickly pointed out that she was about to marry for love without being compelled to wait for months by her mother, who would make such a spectacle of the arrangements that the entire debacle would be mortifying from start to finish. Mrs Bennet had, like her two youngest, improved in many ways, but some things would never change.

Mr Gardiner corresponded with Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley before departing London. His requirements for his nieces’ settlements were accommodated and more in their marriage articles. Elizabeth’s fortune was placed into trust. She had no need of it, and so she insisted on dividing it between Mary, Kitty, and Lydia’s dowries, though like their mother’s dowry, those funds would not be released until after that lady’s death, for she would see her mother cared for first. Mr Elwood had a modest but comfortable fortune, but Elizabeth wished for Mary to have additional protection in case she should be widowed, for her widow’s portion would be smaller than those of her two older sisters. Darcy’s settlement endowed Elizabeth with a fortune of fifty thousand pounds upon his death, and the right to remain at Pemberley, its dower house, or Darcy House in town for her lifetime. Her house in town continued to be let to save more funds for Mrs Bennet’s future support, to assist her after her husband’s death, and would likely one day be inherited by a younger son of Elizabeth’s.

Within a fortnight, Mr Audley and Miss Ashcroft announced their engagement. They would remain to see the others wed, but then return to Miss Audley’s home for her nuptials. Lord Chesley also proposed to Miss Bingley, who was incandescent with happiness. The couple would marry at his estate before winter, then would open Chesley House in Grosvenor Square for the season.

It is said that rain on one’s wedding day is supposed to be good luck, but Elizabeth was grateful that she need not arrive at the church with her petticoats six inches deep in mud. The sun was nearly blinding, and the deep blue sky boasted a number of cheerful clouds as Elizabeth rode to the church in her carriage with her uncle and sisters.

They received a surprise the day before the wedding. Colonel Fitzwilliam appeared, having been away on the front for more than a year. He called at Darcy House as soon as he arrived in London, then set out for Somerset immediately upon learning that he would soon miss his cousin’s wedding if he did not hurry. Darcy and Georgiana were overjoyed by his arrival, and Elizabeth was happy to meet and welcome anyone who brought her new family such happiness.

Colonel Fitzwilliam stood up with Darcy, and as Elizabeth peered at him over Darcy’s shoulder, she spied him grinning at her attendant. Elizabeth turned slightly and spied Miss Dutton grinning right back, and making eyes at the man who would momentarily be Elizabeth’s cousin.

Elizabeth and Darcy were the fourth couple to be wed, and they stood back when their vows were finished, and watched Mary and Mr Elwood speak theirs. Elizabeth hugged her younger sister tightly when her ceremony was complete, and later, when the register had been signed and they were all outside, she laughed and embraced her relations with joy, holding her husband’s hand tightly all the while.

“I do not think Miss Dutton will require a journey to Yorkshire or Scotland,” Elizabeth whispered as she squeezed Jane tightly to her again.

“I shall invite them both to Netherfield with Mr Cartwright next month,” Jane promised.

That is a good idea , Elizabeth thought as her new husband handed her up into his carriage and threw coins for the village children. Elizabeth and Darcy were to go to his family’s seaside cottage in Brighton for one month. Mary and Mr Elwood were to visit Ramsgate for one month, and Jane and Bingley were to Bath for two weeks before they went to Netherfield to open the house and prepare for their sisters, new brothers, and friends to arrive a fortnight later.

Georgiana would travel to Matlock House in London with Colonel Fitzwilliam and Miss Bates before joining the Darcys in Meryton. Lord Chesley, Miss Dutton, Mr Cartwright, and Mr Whittaker would join their party at Netherfield in a month as well, but at the enormous wedding breakfast that was held for the couples and the few relations who had travelled to see them wed, they all learned that Miss Bates would soon be leaving the Darcy family when Mr Irving announced during the breakfast that he had proposed to Miss Bates, and that she had accepted him. His daughter, now Mrs Gordon, was overjoyed for them. The wedding would be in Highbury in the second week of October, and the Darcys and Bingleys were quick to agree to attend.

At the wedding breakfast, Mrs Darlington stood and made a toast. “I cannot deny that this year’s house party at Ever After End has been the most eventful of any I have ever hosted in all of my time in Somerset. This is partially because a few of you were scandalously naughty !” She narrowed her eyes at Mr and Mrs Mercer, whose antics she had not yet forgiven. “But the shenanigans of my guests aside, this summer I have faced hardship on my estate, and received help from those for whom I am most grateful. Of all the unexpected guests, unexpected family, and unexpected joy I received this summer, I am most grateful for the unexpected blessing of seeing my beloved godson find his happiness here at Ever After End, and know that my dearest friend, his mother, is smiling on him today, just as the lost loved ones of all my guests are smiling on them. I congratulate you all, and will be very happy for you to name all of your daughters Theodosia.”

“We shall, Aunt, and when they are ready to marry, we shall avoid the London season, and send them here for summers at Ever After End.” Darcy raised his glass and smiled at his beautiful new wife.

“Is this the part where we live happily ever after?” Elizabeth asked her husband.

“It is my darling. We shall all live happily ever after.” Darcy promised.

~ The End ~