AN: I know it's been forever, I have this whole story basically written out but I've been struggling a bit with where it should end. This chapter is super short and just a little more insight into Darcy's thoughts, but the next one will probably be the last. Let me know if you have any suggestions on the ending or guesses on where it's going to go!
His head spins as he makes his way back to his study. The spring must have meant March, when he left Elizabeth with Jane at Netherfield so that she would not be alone in London as he handled business. Her family, at the minimum being Jane and her mother, along with Bingley must have been privy to the situation. How could they have all kept such a secret from him? What had he done to merit such deception by those he counted as his closest confidantes?
As he throws himself into the chair in his study once more, he forces himself to cease in placing blame upon his wife or sister-in-law. The letter suggested the most callous of treatment from her own mother and disdain from her husband could only make the situation worse. Although he has not felt so lost since the failure of his first proposal, he knows that anger can solve nothing.
Miscarriage. How far along had she been? She could not have quickened; he would have noticed those changes in her body. He tries to calculate but as his wife had just pointed out, gentlemen refrain from knowing any details of the female conditions which might cause either party embarrassment. And though their marriage has seen him consoling her on multiple occasions when the pain of her cycle has incapacitated her, she had also assured him of her inconsistency in that respect. In the spring, they had been apart for two weeks it could not have been serious enough to warrant long-term medical complications given such a short period of time.
Darcy shakes his head again. That sort of statement would win him little favor with his wife or anyone in her confidence. It might even speak to why she felt it necessary to hide the situation from him in the first place. He had always struggled with communication; he often took Elizabeth's openness and willingness to converse for granted and allowed her to open every discussion matter. Something that now very much seems to be coming back with a vengeance.
Though he cannot allow the blame to fall entirely upon his shoulders. He had assumed a mutuality in their partnership, matters that concerned them both such as this one should have been presented to him. Her unwillingness to communicate her maladies could endanger her, even now he has no ideas of the long-term effects of her spring incident. How can he be sure that he has not injured her further, pushed her past safety, if she never speaks to him about it?
He finds himself getting angrier once again. What right does she have to expel him from her chambers when she has provided him no information? This situation involves them both and he feels her pain like an open wound. How could he have gone months without knowing of such a loss? That they had created a life together that had been snuffed before even seeing the light of day?
Darcy cannot stop himself; he storms out of his office once again. He strides towards her rooms. Staff loitering in the hallways trying to catch wind of the drama startle and scurry out of his way. She would not shut him out again.