Not tolerable enough to tempt me(Modern Pride and Prejudice)

Epilogue

It is now summer. Elizabeth has finished university and was preparing to start at Pemberley full time. 

Everything was going great. To say that Georgiana and Anne were not excited that Lizzie would be staying with them would be the understatement of the century. They were practically radiating with joy. William and Elizabeth had decided that they were going to share his room from now on so that boarding could still happen at the house. Next year, there will be a new boarder from Australia. He was starting his first year at the same university Georgiana would be going to. This detail caused William to become even more overprotective, thinking about his younger sister and that boy(Elizabeth and Anne were eventually able to calm him down once they reminded him of the result of their last boarder). 

For William and Elizabeth, they were so happy that sometimes they wondered if it would ever stop feeling like that for them. They moved all of Lizzie’s belongings into his room and they spent as much time as possible together. 

Lizzie also moved out of Will’s office and was given her own. She had already talked to him about making sure that she is not treated any different because they are dating. Now that they were not hiding their relationship, they decided to not hide at the office as well. When it was first announced, Charlotte was ecstatic, asking Lizzie so many questions. There were also some people who were not as happy. When they would make comments about how Lizzie was clearly using this relationship to boost her standing in the company, William made sure that everyone knew that those rumors were absolutely false and not tolerated. Eventually, everyone just got used to it.

As for Caroline, she has never been invited back to the Darcy house since that diner with the Gardeners and Jane. Elizabeth made sure to stay away from her when she went to school and just ignored her when she tried to cause trouble. 

Jane and Charles were still together and tried to visit each other as much as possible. Charles has already been to Canada to meet the Bennet family and they all adore him.

Speaking of meeting the Bennet family leads to where Elizabeth and William are right now and that would be in a taxi on the way to Longbourn. 

There was a mixture of emotions running through the heads of both of the occupants in the taxi. For the most part, Lizzie was excited to see her family again, but she was also nervous about introducing William to the family.

When she told them over the phone, she was sure that she could hear her mother screech from across the Atlantic ocean. 

Yet, here she was. About 30 minutes away.

William could tell that she was nervous and was trying to calm her down.

“Lizzie, you have nothing to worry about. I promise.”

“But what if they are rude or behave poorly. I would never forgive myself if I brought you here and they made you feel uncomfortable.”

He took both her hands and encouraged her to look up at him. “That wouldn’t matter because I wouldn’t care. I know how you feel about your family, but I also know that you love them. They are your family and that means that I am honoured to meet them. And as to your comment about them behaving poorly, it doesn’t matter because I will be by your side the entire time. If you ever want to just have some time to ourselves, I will make sure that happens. Okay?”

She took a deep breath “Okay.”

~~~

They arrived at the Bennet household and quickly got their luggage from the trunk of the taxi. They had barely even turned to the house before the door flew open and Mrs. Bennet was flying down the pathway.

“Lizze, you are finally home! And you brought a young man with you!”

“Mom, I have already told you that I was bringing Will with me.”

“Oh I know that dear, but I didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes now.” She quickly turned to William. “It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Darcy.”

He gave her a smile, something he has been working on over the last year. “Oh please call me William.”

“Very well then. Why don’t we all go inside?”

She guided Elizabeth and William to Lizzie’s old room, where they put their luggage down. Once everyone was seated in the living room, Mrs. Bennet continued to pepper them with questions and comments. Some of them were more rude than others and the times when she started hinting at Will’s wealth Lizzie made sure that they were shut down before her mother said too much. The rest of the Bennets who have never met William were introduced as well.

Eventually, it was dinner time and they all sat at the table. Conversation passed well between everyone and Lizzie was happy to see that her boyfriend got along well with her father. The rest of the evening continued to be rather enjoyable.

After a 2 week visit, they went back to London and Lizzie felt that it went a lot better than she thought it would have gone.

~~~

5 months later, Lizzie found herself wondering where Will was. He had told her to meet him in the garden at 6 o’clock, but he was nowhere to be found. She continued to walk around, but gasped at what she eventually saw.

The pathway through the garden was lined with beautiful white candles and the trees had twinkling lights hanging out of them. Her curiosity got the best of her and she started to walk down the pathway. She eventually reached a gazebo where she saw William standing there, smiling at her. She hesitantly walked towards him.

“Will, what is all of this?”

“Well, I had a thought and I wanted to ask your opinion on it.”

“Okay then. What did you want to know and why was this all necessary?”

He took a deep breath, then started. “Lizzie, I know that we’ve only been together for about one year, but you mean absolutely everything to me. I was such an arrogant, self-centered jerk when you first showed up, but you managed to make me see how terrible I was acting and I don’t think I will ever be able to thank you enough. I have loved you since almost the very first moment I truly saw what kind of person you are and for some reason, you have given me your love and that is more precious than anything money can buy. You are beautiful and kind and caring and determined that I thank life for letting me be in your life. You have changed my family for the better from almost the first moment you stepped into our house. I know that I never want to live apart from you from this day on. So, I want to ask you this with the greatest hope that you will agree.” He then knelt  before her and took out a beautiful ring, causing her to gasp in surprise, bringing her hands up to her mouth. “Elizabeth Bennet, will you give me the great honor and marry me?”

The moment waiting for her response seemed like hours even though it was barely a couple of seconds. The air was charged with anticipation as William waited to see what Elizabeth had to say. Luckily, she didn’t make him wait too long.

With a shocked cry, she launched herself at his kneeling form, knocking him over with the force she threw at him. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! Of course I will.” With each exclamation, she peppered his face with kisses. 

They both laughed in complete glee. He put the ring on her finger and looked at her intently. “I love you, Elizabeth Bennet.”

She returned the look. “I love you too, William Darcy.”

They both leaned in and kissed each other, knowing that they would be together forever. Even if they occasionally disagreed about something, there would always be those lovely, perfect moments that would make up for any argument. They didn’t know what would happen in the future, but there was one thing that they did know.

Elizabeth Bennet was definitely tolerable enough to tempt William Darcy.