Jeanie leaned back in her overstuffed leather recliner and flipped through a series of images and scenes on her magic mirror.
“I did an excellent job, this time,” she said as she watched Elizabeth and her new husband drive away from the wedding breakfast together.
Jeanie loved her job. She considered it far superior to the old-fashioned djinns, who simply granted straightforward wishes, ignoring how much harm they often did in the process. Jeanie, however, and other fairies like her, sought to spread as much happiness as possible while still granting only the necessary wishes.
In essence, this made Jeanie somewhat of a cross between a djinn and a fairy godmother, because granting the wishes of young ladies often meant acting as something of a matchmaker.
In Elizabeth’s case, matchmaking was not actually required, but it was simply a natural consequence of her wishes. The fact that she could hear Mr. Darcy’s thoughts but not his feelings gave her a better insight into the character of the man as well as simply making her more comfortable in his presence.
As for Mr. Darcy’s feelings on the matter, the wealth that Elizabeth had wished for went a long way toward soothing anypride he had, enough so that he did not make such a poor first impression as he otherwise would have.
Mary’s happiness in marriage was a more direct result of Elizabeth’s wish. Elizabeth had wished for Mary to know how pretty she truly was. While it seemed as though all Jeanie would need to do would be to implant the idea in Mary’s mind, it was in fact more complicated than that.
No one can truly know anything in a vacuum. Without some external support, Mary would quickly lose confidence in her appearance and revert back to her former behavior. In order for Mary to truly know her own beauty, Jeanie needed to bring in the one person who saw that beauty most clearly.
Alan Goulding.
Honestly, bringing him back home to Hertfordshire had been the hardest part of granting Elizabeth’s wishes. He was rather entrenched in his habits, and if Jeanie had not intervened, he would have stayed there until his father died fifteen years in the future.
Getting Alan to remember who he once was and who he had always wanted to be required interference on multiple levels. Jeanie had to get several of his friends to mention their country homes with fondness (an almost impossible task). Then she gave Alan a dream of Mary and of Haye Park.
He didn’t remember either of these things, but they set the stage for her coup de grace. Shortly after he awoke that morning, Jeanie had shoved images and memories of Mary into his mind one after the other.
When it was all put together, Alan finally realized how far he had strayed from his original path and how truly unhappy he was in having done so. Only then did he want to return home.
Jeanie watched scenes from Mary and Jane’s wedding with a pleased smile on her face. Never again would Mary be in doubt as to whether she was beautiful, though her definition of that word would likely change over time.
As for Jane, her wedding had little to do with Elizabeth’s wishes. Mr. Bingley would have fallen in love with and married her even without any interference from Jeanie. The only part Jeanie played was that Elizabeth’s closer relationship with Mr. Darcy brought Mr. Bingley to the point of proposing a bit earlier than he otherwise would, thus cutting out the opportunity for interference from outside sources.
Jeanie spent the next hour or so watching scenes from the Bennet sisters’ future.
Despite her new dowry, or perhaps because of it, Lydia ran off with one of the officers of the militia, one Mr. Denny. Their elopement took place one month after Elizabeth’s wedding.
While Mr. Denny wasn’t exactly the model of a good husband, he was far better than who she would have ended up with without her dowry. He, at least, was sensible enough to manage their money well enough that they always had at least one servant, a roof over their head, and enough food to eat.
Though he was reluctant to reward such behavior, Mr. Darcy, after some encouragement from Elizabeth, was kind enough to purchase an ensigncy in the regulars for Mr. Denny with a promise to pay for a promotion after two years of proving his responsibility.
While Mr. Denny settled into his new life fairly easily, it took far longer for Lydia to settle down. Her high spirits landed her in several awkward situations which gradually compromised her reputation among the other officers’ wives. Through it all,however, Mr. Denny was patient with her, knowing that she never meant any real harm.
As Lydia grew up under such understanding, she gradually learned to behave with more decorum. This led to her gaining more respect from others than she had ever known. She became aware that this all stemmed from her husband’s steady presence, and she fell more deeply in love with him than she ever thought herself capable of.
In the natural course of things, three children came to the couple. Their presence also had a calming and steadying influence on Lydia as she became aware of the great burden she had taken on by creating such little people who relied on her for absolutely everything.
Overall, though Lydia was only indirectly affected by Elizabeth’s wishes, Jeanie was still quite pleased with the result.
Kitty was even less affected. Even without the wishes, Elizabeth still would have married Mr. Darcy eventually, and Jane would have married Mr. Bingley. Kitty would have spent more time with her older, more sensible sisters no matter what happened.
Under Elizabeth’s and Jane’s influence, Kitty matured into a well-behaved young lady. Though it took a few years, eventually, she married one of Mr. Bingley’s business acquaintances.
Mary and Alan had a very happy life together, each of them lenient and forgiving of the other’s foibles but at the same time relying on their strengths. They were blessed with five children, and Mary was an excellent teacher and mother to them all.
Jane and Mr. Bingley soon learned that settling down at Netherfield, so close to Mrs. Bennet, was a surefire way to invite meddling. When they returned home after their weddingjourney, Mrs. Bennet made it a point to visit her daughter nearly every day.
Though Jane’s kindness and Mr. Bingley’s easygoing nature tolerated it far more than most would, their patience only lasted a month. They then returned to London to spend the rest of the winter and spring. The following summer, Mr. Bingley learned that an estate in Leicestershire, not twenty miles from Pemberley, was available for purchase, and he jumped at the chance.
Mr. Bingley did not renew his lease on Netherfield when it ended in September, and Mr. and Mrs. Bingley never returned to Netherfield. Instead, they were quite happy to be settled so close to Pemberley, where Elizabeth and Jane could relatively easily visit each other regularly.
The Bingleys were blessed with one child, a little girl with perfect blonde curls like her mother and a lively, almost mischievous, grin like her father.
