Despite his having earlier been in love with and proposed to Jo, it is Amy who Laurie ultimately marries.
Laurie, whose full name is Theodore Laurence, lives in the mansion next to the March family's humble abode. Early in the story, young Laurie keeps his loneliness at bay by watching the activities of the four March sisters, and his eventual friendship with Jo makes it soon feel like he is almost part of the family.
Laurie's eventual bride, Amy, is the youngest of the March sisters, and her biggest dream is to one day be a famous artist. It is in Europe, where Laurie heads to lick his wounds after Jo rejects his proposal of marriage, that he ends up spending a lot of time with Amy. The reason for Amy's being in Europe is that she had been invited to accompany a relative on a trip there.
While spending...
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a lot of time together, Laurie and Amy become close friends, and while I would argue that Laurie never feels quite the same depth of emotion for Amy that he had felt for Jo, the two become extremely fond of each other, and marrying her is also a way for him to officially join the family he feels already a part of. The fact that it is Laurie who proposes a toast to his mother-in-law on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday is indicative of the fact that Laurie has become an important family member.
Who was Laurie in Little Women?
Laurie is the March girls's neighbor. He is the "poor little rich boy" who lives with his wealthy and overprotective grandfather, Mr. Laurence. He lacks fun and companionship in his grandfather's big, empty house. He is being tutored at home by Mr. Brooke to prepare him for Harvard.
Laurie talks about watching the March sisters and mother from afar the first time Jo comes to visit. He reveals his loneliness:
"I can't help looking over at your house, you always seem to be having such good times . . . when the lamps are lighted, it's like looking at a picture to see the fire, and you all around the table with your mother . . . I haven't got any mother, you know." . . .
The solitary, hungry look in his eyes went straight to Jo's warm heart . . . Laurie was sick and lonely, and feeling how rich she was in home and happiness, she gladly tried to share it with him.
Mrs. March and the four girls embrace him as one of their own, making him almost a part of the family. They may be poor, but they offer him the joyous hi-jinks, friendship, and laughter that all his money can't buy.
Laurie is younger than Meg but older than Jo. He is dark-haired and darker-skinned, as his mother was Italian. He is high-spirited, and he falls in love with Jo, but when he tries to propose to her, she refuses to marry him. He ends up marrying Amy.