Little Women

I'm about done reading Little Women (amazingly, it's the first time I've read the book). The ending has been completely unexpected so far. I thought Jo would straigten up and marry Teddy as was his initial desire, but he ended up marrying her sister and Jo regarded it as best. It looks like she (25 years old) is going to marry someone around 45 yrs of age. I'll admit that I was disappointed and regarded sourly the twist in romance. I thought the book could have been written better to make that ending more palatable, could have prepared the reader to be more happy with it.
But really thinking about it, I suppose in reality the ending is better than the stereotypical romance story and therefore of greater value as a book. It is more true to real life when people don't fulfill their youthly spouse ideals (ideals should mature with the person); heroines should not always marry young men; life is not predictable nor entirely logical from a human perspective; and life doesn't always provide foreshadowing nor clearly point to future events as books may sometimes do. Real life is tortuous and the more interesting for it.