My dearest Charles,

Can you believe it's been a month since we had tea together? Time seems to move quicker and slower at the same time since that day. I await your letters with baited breath and each one transports me closer to you. Your words come to life in your voice, your kindness warms my heart - which is yours, always.

There is a bit of an atmosphere in the house, which I heartily dislike, but it cannot be helped. Mother needs to understand that I am capable of making my own decisions and that includes writing to you, which I do with much joy. Though I would much rather see you in person again.

I am not too proud to say I miss you.

I missed you after that ball a long time ago and I miss you now after this ball, after the lovely tea we had. I miss your voice and your presence. I miss being able to talk to you directly, finding my pen and paper a poor replacement for my voice and ears.

I know Yorkshire is not so very far away and I know the time will come when we'll be able to be together again, but the wait is long, my dearest.

Forever yours,

Elsie


Elsie and Mother fight. Not every day, but often and it is starting to take it's toll. He is getting irritated with the pair of them and he has found Anne crying in her room twice since their return. He is worried about his wife. In the five years they have been married, she has not cried a single time - that he is aware of. Now it's been two times in one week and he is blaming his Mother more than his sister, but he knows that it must be the tension that is constantly hanging around them.

It hurts him that Anne is starting to be unwell from the pressure. He wishes he could make things easier for her, but the way Elsie is grooming her for the task of running the house on her own is blatantly obvious and his mother has done nothing but sneer and by now he is contemplating taking Anne to London for a long extended stay, or maybe to the South of France. Anything to prevent the exquisite creature he is privileged to call his wife from leaping from the bed in the early morning and hearing her vomit.

He needs to talk to Elsie about it. Mother will not listen to reason, he knows but he will not have Anne's life ruined over a fight that is based solely on his sister being courted by a wealthy man who has custody over a large estate in Yorkshire. A good man of patience and character who looked at Elsie as if she was made of gold. Why this is something to have shouting matches over is a mystery to him.

All he wants is peace, something Anne has given him and he held in the palm of his hand for five years and is now marred by a coldness in the air at dinner, his wife keeling over before breakfast and tears at tea.


"Dear Brother, you are smitten." He shakes his head a bit, being roused from a lovely daydream.

"Sorry, what?" He doesn't pretend he has heard what Beryl said to him anymore, knowing a barbed remark will be hurled his way with good humour and a sting.

"Since you went to that ball last month, you've been preoccupied." Beryl says with her usual diplomacy.

"Have I? I hadn't noticed." He replies, but he knows he has been. His mind is constantly on Elsie, on her letters, the memory of her in her beautiful light coloured ballgown. He can see her lifting her teacup to her lips, he can hear her voice as she asked him about his life. Her bold handwriting stands out from the other letters he receives daily.

Beryl scoffs at him with a knowing smile. "You should ask her to stay."

"You know as well as I that I can't. An unmarried lady staying with a well-known bachelor? Tongues will wag incessantly."

"Invite her brother and his wife." Beryl insists.

He shakes his head. "According to her letters, her sister-in-law has been poorly." He sounds a bit defeated and he doesn't like it, but he is a patient man and he will wait for Elsie till he breathes his dying breath.

"Hmm." He can see Beryl is cooking up a plan and it worries him. Beryl's plans are usually not the most subtle.

"Do not do anything that makes this any harder, sister." He tells her sternly. She looks at him with feigned innocence.

"Never, dear brother." She smiles widely. "Never."


Dear heart,

Life goes slowly now I know you will write to me and I await your letter, unable to think of anything else but your loving words. Of course I was a bit concerned when a letter bearing your crest arrived with unfamiliar handwriting and it felt like a cold hand gripped my heart like a vice. Fearing the worst I ripped open the envelope, pulling out a letter that came from your sister. I was so relieved, my love!

She has asked me to visit her, so we can get acquainted and I am inclined to take her up on her offer, just as soon as my brother opens his eyes to what is going on around here. I am giving it another two weeks. If he's not caught on by then, we'll have to tell him.

Your sister tells me there would be room for me at the Dower House and that she is very much looking forward to meeting me after hearing so much about me. What have you told her of me? Please tell me you have not put me on the highest pedestal you could find - though I am afraid I am guilty of putting you high up there as well.

Are you well? I ask only now and it seems an afterthought, but I wanted to end my letter to you with this question so you know that your wellbeing is always on my mind.

I miss you, my darling.

Yours, always,

Elsie


"Yes, his sister." Elsie explains. The girl is looking energetic, happy even. It's been a long time since she saw her daughter so spirited. Of course they fight because Violet doesn't want to give her daughter up to a whim, to a doomed affair.

"Why would his sister invite you?" Violet asks while she drinks her tea. It's an innocent enough question, but it comes out as a sneer. She didn't intended it to be. Not much.

"I don't know, Mother. Maybe it's like she said in her letter and she wants to meet me, get to know me." Elsie's reply is uncommonly neutral and Violet studies her daughter. She looks like her father with her strong built and dark hair. Her blue piercing eyes and her authoritative voice are traits that come from Violet and she is both proud and slightly irritated.

Her daughter stands as tall as Violet does, she radiates the same confidence. Elsie knows who she is. She is so many parts of her father - the caring, the positive, the optimistic - but she is also carrying parts of her mother, who can be sarcastic and extremely curious and who feels that anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Maybe the plain truth is that she doesn't want to see her daughter go. She just doesn't want to lose her girl. Which is unfair and selfish. She has been known for selfish acts, but she wants what is best for her children and if she cannot trust her child when she is going on forty: who can she trust?

So Violet sighs. "If you feel you've got to go, you got to go."

And with those words she sets her daughter free.


A/N: Dear reader, I do hope I am not disappointing you with this chapter. I promise things will speed up soon. Please don't hesitate to let me know how you feel about this chapter; reviews are always very welcome.