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T he Darcys welcomed a son one year after their marriage. Henry Thomas Darcy, Viscount Marston, would inherit the earldom one day. He was a cheerful child and bore a marked resemblance to Elizabeth. The Dowager Countess of Montrose insisted he looked like his grandfather and could not be persuaded otherwise.

Three more children arrived over the next seven years. Another son joined his brother in the nursery. Bennet James Darcy favoured his father in both looks and temperament, and was ever mindful that the Darcy estate came to him only because his elder brother had inherited the Montrose earldom. Like all Darcys before him, he became an honorable master who ensured Pemberley prospered under his careful stewardship.

Jane and Charles likewise welcomed an heir two months after Henry’s birth. They did not renew the lease on Netherfield Park, choosing instead to purchase an estate in Derbyshire, twenty miles southwest of Pemberley. Two more children, a boy and a girl, were added to their nursery. They were frequent guests at Pemberley, where their children were raised in close company with their Darcy cousins.

The Collinses left Kent as soon as possible. Lady Catherine's displeasure at her parson’s decision to appoint a curate made their situation at Hunsford untenable. Each new curate departed within half a year—beginning a pattern of appointing a man, only to have Lady Catherine drive him away within six months. Mr. Collins ensured each curate was well compensated, but no inducement could persuade any to remain long. The pattern continued until her death.

Georgiana was presented at court and married in her first season. She fell in love with a handsome viscount from a southern shire. Though Darcy initially disliked the idea that Viscount Wilton would take his sister so far away, he approved the match and gave his blessing. They had two children, a son and a daughter.

Caroline and Sir James married in July. Their wedding was elaborate and quite grand. They settled into a handsome townhouse and became frequent visitors at Darcy House and Montrose House when the families were in town. After many years of hoping for a child, God finally sent them a son, whom they loved and adored. Years later, to their great surprise, a daughter followed. Caroline’s fondest wish, to shareher life with a daughter, was fulfilled.

Elizabeth renamed her father’s company to Montrose Mill and Textiles, which became the most desirable place for employment in Yorkshire. Fair masters and improved working conditions attracted laborers from afar. The business flourished, and Mr. Gardiner, through his import and export connections, supplied the mill with cotton and wool. As Elizabeth’s profits grew, so did his, benefiting both their families handsomely.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet lived long and comfortably into their later years. Elizabeth remained ever close to them, visiting at least once a year and encouraging them to travel north as often as they pleased. The prospect of Pemberley’s library proved irresistible to Mr. Bennet, who twice annually dragged his wife with him to Derbyshire.

Master Thomas Bennet assumed management of Longbourn from his father upon his twenty-fifth birthday. He married one of Mrs. Long’s nieces and their union proved a happy one. The entail ended upon his majority, but he need not have worried. He and his wife, the former Miss Harriet Long, had four sons and one daughter, a neat reversal of his parents’ family. The remaining Bennet sisters also married well: Lydia, to a minor country gentleman from a neighboring county, and Kitty to a solicitor from Stevenage. They wrote often to their adopted sister and remained close.

Elizabeth’s curious tale became the fodder for gossip in Meryton. Wild theories abounded, but none ever discovered the truth of how the unassuming Elizabeth Bennet became not only a countess, but the wife of one of the wealthiest men in England.

She did nothing to gratify their curiosity, instead choosing to focus on her happy past, never allowing the shadows to take hold. “Today is a gift,” she said. “That is why we call it the present.” And no one could disagree.

I hope you enjoyed Shadows of the Past. It was an adventure to explore this alternate path for our dear couple.