** Heads up - sex scene. **

Edith lay awake in the early hours of the morning, her thoughts wrapped up in a single memory: the memory of the one and only night she'd spent enjoying Thomas' body.

They'd taken refuge from the storm in a charming hotel in town. The very second he shut the door behind them, he lost the reticence he'd been clinging to in the weeks since they'd married. He couldn't hide his delight as she tore his shirt from his torso and welcomed her greedy fingers when she drew them down his back. He'd wanted her so desperately he hadn't even bothered to remove his trousers; instead he let her pull them down just far enough to free the part of him that ached for her the most.

The first time they made love was all ragged breathing and a tangle of limbs, and while she wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world, the moment she treasured most was the second time he reached for her that night. Ever since she moved to Chicago, no matter how exhausted she was at the end of the day, when she finally crawled into bed she summoned that second memory from the deepest recess of her mind and let it thrill her awake. Why sleep, she thought, when thinking of it is so much sweeter?

"Dearest," he whispered against her temple as she lay against him, her arm draped over his chest. "My dear, sweet girl."

"Still awake, are you?" she murmured, curling her fingers to stroke his skin.

"How can I sleep now?" He kissed her forehead. "I won't get another wink, so long as I have you in my bed."

She giggled. "I hope you don't really mean that. A brilliant engineer like you needs his rest. You don't want to fall asleep around heavy machinery." She raised her head, thinking she'd catch the kindly smile he always had on his face when he looked at her. "What's wrong?" she asked when her eyes met his mirthless gaze.

"My love," he said softly. "My dearest, truest…"

And he kissed her, and eased her back, and she heard him moan when she parted her legs to let him rock his hips against hers.

He'd let her take him, the first time; let her get on top and ride him until they both were spent. This time it was he who made every move, he who urged her to lay back and enjoy. She gasped when he traced his lips down her stomach and kissed the sweetest spot between her legs, groaned and grabbed a fistful of his hair as his mouth lingered and his hands kneaded her thighs. The sounds he made when he took her made her stomach skip. "Darling…" he grunted, seizing her wrists, pinning them to the headboard, thrusting deep inside her. "Say you're mine…"

"I'm yours," she said as she gazed into his dark blue eyes.

"You're mine… mine alone…"

"Always."

"And I'm yours… I'm yours… forever…"

She couldn't let him go, not completely - not after the way he'd said those words. She'd spent months dissecting every other aspect of their time together, trying to suss out the ugly truth from the beautiful haze of fiction, poisoning her esteem for him. But, mercifully, her mind wouldn't let her tear this one apart. She'd fled Allerdale Hall, fled her father's empty house in Buffalo, fled from every spectre she'd ever seen or known. She promised herself that that one perfect, golden memory would be the only ghost she'd ever abide by again.

Downstairs, the grandfather clock struck four. She laid the memory to rest and folded her hands up under her chin. So much for getting an early start tomorrow, she thought as her thoughts slowly drifted away. You won't even be up for noon.

Sleep claimed her at last. The bed sheets tucked themselves beneath her.