*-The only characters that are mine are the Rochester children.
Sudden
It came on suddenly. They were about to sit down to dinner when Edward collapsed.
"John!" Jane called out.
"Get the physician!".
"Yes, ma'am".
Within an hour, Edward lay in bed, and the physician had completed his examination.
"I believe your husband's heart is failing, Mrs. Rochester. I can only give him something to ease the pain, but that is as much as I can do. I suggest you prepare yourself and your children for the worst".
With that, the physical was escorted out.
"Mother?" Their younger children, Thomas age 16 and Helen age 13 walked up to her.
"Your father is fine" she motioned for Sophie to escort them to their rooms.
"Well?" Edward asked as she returned to their room.
"You shall be fine; it will pass in a day or two" she tried to hide her fears but he knew better.
"You lying witch, tell me the truth" the way he said witch, brought a smile to her face.
"You will recover" they both knew the truth, but for now, the lie was enough.
For the next five days, he languished in bed.
"Mother, Adele has arrived".
"Mama, how is he?" Despite the fact that she was not born to either of them, Adele was treated no differently than any of their other children. She was living in Paris with her husband and three children, but not a fortnight went by without correspondence between Adele and her adopted parents.
"As best as he can".
"May I see him?".
"He is resting now, perhaps when he wakes".
Within an hour of Adele's arrival, Edward and Jane's oldest son, John arrived. He was in his second year at Cambridge and hired a coach as soon as he received the post from his mother.
"Mother, what happened?".
"He collapsed, the physician can do nothing".
"He is asking for you, madam" Edward's nurse appeared.
"They're all here, even Adele".
"Why did you summon them?".
"They came to see you" she pushed the hair from his eyes.
"I love you" he said quietly.
"And I you" she kissed and let him hold her for a few moments. There were so many memories in this room; she knew this would be one of the last.
"Mother, may I come in?" Helen knocked on the door.
"Come here, child" Edward reached for his youngest child.
One by one, all of their children entered the room and said their goodbyes.
Finally, they were alone again.
"I will wait for you, Janet" with that, he took his last breath.
The next few days were full of funeral preparations. Jane did not know how long or how hard she had cried, it had been many years since such emotions had come out of her.
"Mother, I was considering, perhaps I should take some time off from school…" John knocked on what had been the door to his father's study, where his mother stood.
"Do you think I am unable of taking care of this family and Thornfield without your father?" her eyes flashed.
John knew his mother well; she was quiet, but never incapable. His father had been blinded and his hand permanently injured by the fire set by his first wife, even after his sight was recovered, Jane was often by her husband's side when business affairs became difficult to handle alone.
"I did not mean that you were unable to, I only wished to help…".
"I know what you meant, dearest, but your father would want you to stay in school".
Mourners moved in and out of the little church in Hay, where Jane and Edward had married, where their children had been baptized and where Edward was to be remembered and then to be buried.
"Jane, I am so sorry, your Edward was a dear man" her cousins, the former Miss Rivers greeted her.
Others mourners passed through the church and then two hours later, Jane, with their children beside her, watched her husband's body being laid into his final resting place.
She blinked and a year and a half has passed since Edward's death.
Their anniversary, John's 21st birthday and his graduation from Cambridge had come and gone.
He would be returning home in a few days and Jane would be beginning to prepare her son for the task of becoming master of Thornfield.
"Good night, mother" Helen called out from her room.
"Sleep well dearest" Jane replied. Thornfield had become so much larger and emptier since Edward's passing and Thomas's entrance to boarding school earlier that year.
"Would there be anything else tonight?" her maid asked.
"No, that will be all, thank you".
She climbed into their bed, reaching for him, as she did every night. The first few months after he died, she could not bring herself to sleep in their room, retreating to the room she slept in while she was still Adele's governess.
She slowly returned to their room and in the beginning, slept in the middle of the bed. But she soon returned to her side of their bed and got used to sleeping alone.
As she fell asleep, she didn't know she was being watched. He watched her sleep, he could not leave Thornfield, not until he knew Jane and their children were healing. And she had healed.
"I will wait for you, faerie" kissing her on the cheek, he could feel the white light surrounding him. When the time was right, she would join him, but for now, his time had come.
The end