They had been married for four years when it happened. Their little daughter was soon going to be three and another little baby was moving about in Edith's belly. But she still hadn't dared to tell Anthony her terrible secret.

She had had it on the tip of her tongue so many times, but she had just never been able to get it out, she was so afraid of his reaction.

Anthony was such a good man. Edith was well aware of the fact that she didn't deserve him. But by some miracle he had fallen in love with her, and finally they had married. She didn't want to risk losing him again, or at least losing his love. Lovers are supposed to be able to talk about everything, but to talk about this thing was just impossible.

But one evening when they were going to bed and Anthony started talking about that dinner with the salty pudding, he said something that Edith hadn't heard before.

"I think your mother invited me there to court Mary. There were rumours in London that Mary... well... wasn't exactly a virgin. Not that I would care about that. But I think your mother wanted to see her decently married as soon as possible, to put a stop to those rumours."

Edith was stupefied.

"But how could there have been any rumours?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. "That was before I sent that..."

Anthony looked at her with his usual friendly and loving smile on his face.

"There were rumours, believe me, malicious gossip, you know the thing. I heard them myself."

"But..."

Suddenly a decade of guilt fell from Edith's shoulders. Her exposure of Mary had been bad, but people in London were already saying awful things about her before that. She couldn't hold back a broad smile of relief.

"And what do you mean by that? Before you sent what?" Anthony added, having reflected a little more about his wife's strange behaviour.

Edith realised that she had to tell him. Hesitantly and stuttering she told Anthony the whole sordid story.

"I think now that Pamuk forced himself on Mary, it is so unlike her to risk her reputation like that", Edith concluded. "But no one forced me to write that horrible letter."

Anthony was quiet for a long time, trying to reconcile what he had just heard with the kind and wonderful woman Edith was. His sweet and lovely wife, his daughter's loving and caring mother. Had she really been a mean and revengeful young girl like that?

Edith looked at him in fear. He looked back at her sternly, she had never seen him quite like that before. Had she lost him now?

"I think what you did was horrible", Anthony said at last. "But you are not a horrible person. There must have been something that made you do this."

Of course there was. Edith had written that letter to protect Sir Anthony from Mary and her manipulations. But she could never tell him that, it would be to throw the guilt on him.

"I was just young and spiteful. But I have regretted it for many years by now. I haven't dared tell you about it, I was afraid I would lose your love."

Anthony smiled at her again.

"Of course not. That will never happen. And we all do bad things from time to time. Even a good person can do that."

Then he put his arm around her and kissed her, and soon they had both of them forgotten all about Mary and Pamuk and letters and everything else. Except each other's bodies and the deep and magic love they were feeling for each other.

...

AN: Thank you for reading!

I have always wondered what will happen when/if Anthony finds out about Edith's letter.

I haven't read nor written any fanfiction for quite some time so I just throw in this short one to show I am still here. I don't think I will ever be able to catch up on the reading. And the next chapter of 'The Tangled Web...' is very far from finished.