George Wickham married Mary King and he adored his wife, who was demure but kind and was happy to travel anywhere with the man who fell in love with her freckles. She knew that he had loved her before she received her inheritance and Wickham had stayed true to his word that he would love her for the rest of his life. Wickham quickly rose in ranks to become a Major and eventually a Colonel, after proving his valour during a Luddite rebellion that turned deadly in Lancashire. He continued to write to Mr. Darcy often and even named his first son Darcy Wickham, in honour of the gentleman who had been like a father-figure to him for many years.
Charlotte Collins sent frequent word of the parish’s success and although keeping Mr. Collins’ estate for their son, William Collins formally denounced his rights to Longbourn and offered it to Mr. Bennet to give to his heir as he wished. As father and son both declined the estate, the entailment legally ended and Mr. Bennet was free to choose an heir.
Since Lizzy had been the first to marry, Mr. Bennet had wondered who should have his beloved estate. William would not only have Pemberley and Netherfield, but he also had Darcy House in London and Victory Cottage in Ramsgate, which had been part of Lizzy’s settlement. The Darcy family was extremely wealthy and it did not seem fair for Lizzy’s son to have Longbourn as well.
After Lizzy gave birth to two daughters in a row and Mrs. Bennet fussed that she would be doomed to have five daughters like herself, Mr. Bennet breathed a sigh of relief when Jane and Charles had a son a year after their marriage. Mr. Bennet willed Longbourn to Thomas Bingley, his first grandson from his daughters, and Mrs. Bennet rejoiced that Jane would become mistress of Longbourn and that she would not be tossed into the hedgerows.
Mary Bennet did eventually marry after she came out into society at the age of eighteen. Against all expectations, she married a first cousin of a duke with £8,000 a year and became a leading lady of the ton. Although Lizzy had never cared for the opinions of the haute monde and attended science lectures and debated with politicians with William’s full support, the ladies of the first class had no choice but to accept Elizabeth Darcy and her eccentricities due to her connections to Lady Anne, Lady Matlock, and Mary Cavendish, who endorsed her to everyone of any standing.
Kitty and Lydia Bennet were thrown into the paths of many rich gentlemen but they both declined numerous suitors and looked for worthy men who would love them regardless to fortune or connections. The girls each had £10,000 dowries after Mr. and Mrs. Bennet worked hard to increase them and Lizzy generously gifted her sisters from her trust. They did eventually find their partners in life at the ages of two and twenty and twenty years old, Kitty marrying an older but handsome officer by the name of Captain Pratt, and Lydia choosing the youngest Lucas son, who had just turned one and twenty and had been in love with Lydia since the age of eight.
~*~
Several Years Later
“Do you recall when Richard pushed you down over there and I attacked him in rage?” William asked at Rosings Park’s lawns under their favourite tree. “I burned in anger that someone dared to touch you and I loved you dearly then. I loved you like I did Georgiana but I did love you as a part of my family.”
Lizzy smiled, “You were always so protective over me and I appreciated that I had an older brother who would play with me and teach me. You were then and still are my best friend, and I love you with all of my heart.”
William smirked, “And what would you have done if I married Caroline Bingley? If you did not stop me the first time, I might have fallen for her traps and been miserable for the rest of my life.”
“I would not have allowed it!” Lizzy retorted, “Jane told me that Colonel Forster had been interested in Harriet Goulding after meeting her at Haye Park after the Gardiners quit it, but after seeing Caroline Bingley at Purvis Lodge, he fell madly in love with her and she is quite occupied with her second child in two years. He is much older than she but has enough energy to keep his wife from causing trouble while they move from one place to another with the militia.” Lizzy giggled, “Perhaps if you had gone as far as to the altar with Caroline, I would have ridden inside the chapel on Snowflake to rescue you; perhaps to kidnap you to Gretna Green to make you marry me.”
William laughed merrily, “I would have come most willingly, Lizzy. You on a horse, coming to rescue me inside a church, it sounds like the basis for another novel, Elizabeth Bennet Darcy.”
Lizzy smiled, “Well, I have begun another book, husband, and this one is titled, The Adventures of Hattie and Alex and it is loosely based on our sister’s courtship with Alexander. Do you think they will mind? I changed many of the details and used Georgie’s middle name instead.”
“They will not mind, Lizzy, and will be honoured that their love story will be immortalised in a novel. Your first book was received widely and I heard it is a favourite of Lord Byron. He was seen laughing several times at Whites when he was reading through it.” William responded. “It is only ironic that our awful middle names were meant for us, and Georgie’s terrible name is that of the female Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut and that her husband was named after Alexander the Great,
