Henry VIII unto his mistress Anne Boleyn, before they were married.

'My Mistress and my Friend:

My heart and I surrender themselves into your hands, and we supplicate to be commended to your good graces, and that by absence your affections may not be diminished to us, for that would be to augment our pain, which would be a great pity, since absence gives enough, and more than I ever thought could be felt. This brings to my mind a fact in astronomy, which is, that the further the poles are from the sun, notwithstanding, the more scorching is the heat. Thus is it with our love; absence has placed distance between us, nevertheless fervour increases – at least on my part. I hope the same to from you, assuring you that in my case the anguish of absence is so great that it would be intolerable were it not for the firm hope I have of your indissoluble affection towards me. In order to remind you of it, and because I cannot in person be in your presence, I send you the thing which comes nearest that is possible, that is to say, my picture, and the whole device, which you already know of, set in bracelets, wishing myself in their place when it pleases you. This is from the hand of

Your servant and friend,

H.R.'

My Life As It Is

Let me start at the beginning. My name is Isabella or Bella, as I like to be called, Marie Swan. I'm 26 years old; I am married to my high-school boyfriend, and all time best friend Jacob Black. I'm a writer of romance books. Tragic romances, to be specific.

I'm not a sour person and I love the idea of being in love and having those feelings, I have nothing against it; I, just, am one of those people who have come to the reality of it all, I gave up a long time ago with it. When I realised the loss in mine and Jake's relationship of love, I spent the whole day crying and couldn't believe it, that is when my belief in it died. Also the day I decided to put my English degree to good use and become a writer. I decided to write the impossible of my love. But being how I am, they all became tragedies rather than happy ending; I didn't know how to write a happy ending. And probably never would know how.

All my life I had been the little girl, dreaming of being a princess, deep inside of me. But when my parents split up at the age of 8, all of that disappeared. For a long time I had lost Jake, my childhood best friend. I moved back to my hometown of Forks when I was 15. And we started dating from then.

My parents had never affected my views on getting married to him, because he was my best friend and boyfriend. I had known him all my life and the only changing he had done in 7 years, was growing up. He was great. And of course I had my two other friends, Rosalie and Alice. Though we had grown apart after the wedding. Alice contacted me every now and then but Rose and I hardly ever spoke apart from when she was with Alice.

Alice was a top designer, married to male model, Jasper Whitlock. Alice Brandon Whitlock, she would never get rid of her name, like me. She had her own clothing line, which Jasper would model, on the men's side of it. They were a match for each other, she was loud and bouncy all the time and he was mellow. I don't think I had ever seen him angry or overexcited, apart from when their baby, Cynthia, was born. She was named after Alice's sister who died at the age of 3 from leukaemia. They are a great family, perfect.

I had longed for a baby for quite a while now, but Jake couldn't have them. We had discussed adopting but never really sorted it out. It was for the best, you can't bring a child into a loveless family.

Rosalie was happy to be just a stay at home mum; she had two adopted children, as she couldn't have kids either. Ever since she was stabbed. Emmett had found her in her apartment, bleeding. At that time, she was with her ex, Royce King. He was abusive towards her and when she started seeing Emmett as a friend, he went out drinking and came home, raped her and stabbed her. Emmett found her as she was going to run away that night. He got to her just as Royce stabbed her, after the rape. He knocked Royce unconscious, called the police and ambulance. He never left her side while she was in hospital, he held her hand when she found out she couldn't have children, he stayed by her side while she cried on his shoulder. He married her a few months later too. She was content with her two kids and Emmett. Carmen and Sam were great kids and were lucky to have Emmett and Rosalie. They were twins in the care home, 6 year olds.

I did envy my friends sometimes, having perfect families and kids, but I think to myself at least I didn't go through what Rosalie did, she was a strong person and made it through.

Plus, I had my Jake; he was my rock, literally. He worked out a lot, being a fitness trainer at the local gym. He was great and really hot, but what are looks and personality when you don't love someone. We weren't intimate very often, he had work and I had my writing and book signings and press conferences, my stuff. It was probably only once a month, but we didn't seem to mind.

I knew there had to be something in him, deep down, that knew the truth.

But we stayed together no matter what, neither of us would look at another guy/girl and we never had fights, we didn't go off with friends all the time, or get completely plastered when we went for drinks. We were in what you would call a content relationship. No drama, no fuss. And that was fine for both of us. Sometimes I would fantasise about having an intimate, over the top relationship with him, but everybody does. Everyone fantasises about the person they love, whether just a crush or married couple. Some people even fantasise about celebrities, it's what humankind does, they fantasise about better lives.

Jake and I were content.

I sat at my computer, repeatedly deleting and rewriting parts of my book. Every now and then running my hands over my face and through my hair. Breathing out harsh breaths.

In my mind scanning the words. He moved his hand over her body...ran his hands over her body...ran his hands over her silky torso...smooth torso...

I just couldn't get it today, writer's block had hit me hard this time and there was no way I could get rid of it. I had gone for short walks, long walks, nights out. I had even gone back to Forks to visit Alice and my dad, Charlie. Nothing would help me. I was the best-selling writer of three award-winning romance books and now I was only on my fourth and I couldn't get past chapter one!

My mind was full of ideas, but when it came to putting them on paper I was stuck.

I came back to reality when I felt the pressure of Jake's hands on my shoulders. My hand swung up in reaction almost hitting him. Luckily, he dodged my attack.

'Jake! I'm so sorry!' I cried out.

'Its fine, Bella. You would think I would know by know when you're in the mode.'

'Mode?'

'The 'Bella is concentrating very hard and should not be distracted by sudden touching or noises' mode.'

'I have a mode?' I shook the idea out of my head. 'Sorry, how was work?'

'It was okay, just the usual clients. How's the writing?' He said walking backwards into the kitchen, smiling at me.

'Frustrating, I just can't get past this paragraph. It's like the story doesn't want to be finished or something.'

I heard the fridge close and he came back in with a beer. 'Here, have a sip, it will calm you down.' As I began to chug down half the beer, he continued. 'Maybe you need a break, Bells.' I handed him the bottle back, which he eyed the half empty bottle. He gave me a look.

'I'm stressed.'

'I can tell. So how about the break, get away for a few weeks?'

'But I've done that, Jake. It didn't work.'

'That's because you were with people you knew.'

'You mean go away on my own or something.'

'Yeah, I'm sure Carlisle will say the same thing.'

'Maybe, but where would I go?'

He took another swig of beer, thinking. 'I'm not sure, ask Carlisle.'

I thought about it for a second. Picking up my phone and dialling Carlisle's number, I gave Jake a look which he knew meant 'you better be right about this'.

'Bella! So good to hear from you again!'

'I'm surprised you say as I call you every day.'

He laughed, 'What can I do for you, Bella?'

'Well, you know that I've had writer's block for such a long time now, it's finally starting to get to me and Jake has suggested that I get away for a while on my own this time. I was wondering if you had any suggestions for where that place could be and if it is a good idea?'

'Of course, it will do you a lot of good, Bella! We can't have our best writer getting stressed. And as for my recommendations, you should go to Rome. The city of love, the atmosphere and culture will do a lot of good for you and your books. The romantic air is just what you need.'

'Thank you, Carlisle; you've been a lot of help. I shall book the flight and text you my dates.'

'Okay, Bella. Take out at least 3 weeks. Enough to clear your head and gets some new idea, also enough time to actually see some sights and have fun.'

'Thanks, Carlisle, I will. Bye.'

'Enjoy yourself, Bella. Bye.'

I turned to Jake, who was finishing off the beer and leaning against the couch.

'I will book my flight to Italy right now.'

'Good, Bella. Enjoy it.' He smiled.

I returned the smile, and then turned back to my computer to look for flights.

It was going to be great.

I had always wanted to go to Italy and now I was. The centre of all my dreams, I really couldn't wait.

The flight was all booked and I would leave tomorrow. Jake and I had decided to cuddle up on the couch and watch Angels and Demons. Every now and then he would pull me closer and kiss my head or my neck or even nibble at my ear. In return I would lean up and kiss him. We weren't in a completely empty relationship. We still kept it alive and that was the best part, that we were actually committed to staying together this way.

It was our way of saying goodbye for now.