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Epilogue

Darcy heard a noise and sat up in bed. He looked over at his wife of nearly six years and saw that Elizabeth was sleeping soundly. It was 6:30 am and the kids, Ella, Arabella had been born a year after they'd gotten married and Ben, Benedict two years later, were sure to be still sleeping. He smiled to himself he couldn't believe how happy and blessed they were. He didn't know what had woken him, he shook himself and listened hard, maybe something had fallen over, an alarm had been tripped, nothing.

He turned back to Elizabeth. She was so beautiful. He was always reminded of just how perfect she was and thought that crossed his mind almost every time he looked at her. He had heard her been referred to 'as just tolerable', 'gorgeous', 'stunning' and even 'nothing to write home about' and all of them made him laugh because all those people didn't see her at all. Not the real Elizabeth Darcy. To him Elizabeth was the most beautiful woman in the world. No one could ever even come close although Elizabeth swore that Ella took the beauty crown in the family.

Even as he looked at her he felt the desire that he had for her rise up; he wanted her, to hold her in his arms, to feel her skin against his.

He reached out and touched her, and as always she stirred. She didn't even open her eyes but she reached for him and soon they were pulling themselves together. Elizabeth was moving to kiss him, this was what they always did, although it never failed to surprise him how they did it. She kissed him, just for a second, and he was about to pull her closer when she whispered, "I love you."

He loved her sleepy 'I love yous' the most.

He settled back into bed pulling her closer and the noise which had woken him up went off again. It was the alarm; he reached over and shut it off.

"Did you have to set it to go off so early?" Elizabeth murmured.

"Unfortunately," Darcy replied, making no move to get out of bed. They had a long day ahead of them.

"Georgie will get the kids ready," Elizabeth said pulling the covers closer, "it will be fine."

"You're the one who takes the longest time getting ready," Darcy reminded her. It wasn't true so he knew it would wake her up when nothing else would.

"I do not," Elizabeth was wide awake now. If she didn't love him so much she'd hate how well he knew her.

"And you're the one who insisted that we leave for Derbyshire in the morning even if the wedding isn't until tomorrow afternoon." Mary Bennet was getting married to Tom Bertram, the oldest son of Rt. Hon Thomas Bertram, the Secretary of State for Transport.

"You promised mother that we'd be there by ten," Elizabeth reminded him, "and supervise the setting up of the marquee and the decorations. Ella, Gina and Trudy have a final fitting today as well." Gina and Trudy were Jane and Bingley's twin daughters.

"I did, didn't I?" Darcy asked. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Mrs. Bennet had insisted that each of them have an active role to play in the wedding preparations although they had a wedding planner with a formidable team of people taking care of everything.

"And don't forget Aunt Catherine said that was definitely attending," Elizabeth said, "so of course Mother must be in a tizzy." It had taken a few years but finally Mrs. de Bourgh and Elizabeth had put aside their differences and become tentative friends.

"She's only attending because she wants to see you parents' house." The Bennet home had been featured in Architectural Digest.

"She's attending because Anne and Richard will be there as well and it will be odd if she isn't," Elizabeth corrected him. They could never agree on Mrs. de Bourgh, Darcy been ready to write her off when he'd learned of her conversation with Elizabeth a few months before their wedding but Elizabeth had convinced him to forgive his aunt – although she never did ask for forgiveness, and probably never would.

"I'll draw you a bath, shall I?"

"Why don't we shower together," she said instead, "it will be faster and save water."

"Have I told you how much I love your green ideas?" he asked her they made their way to the bathroom.

"Yes," she told him, "but I'm always up for a reminder."

000

Thanks for reading. I love Tom Bertram and Mary Bennet…I couldn't resist adding them.