They spent the next day together meeting with tenants and apologizing for their tardiness claiming a headache on her part. The tenants were happy to meet her and accepted her apologies easily. She spent a quarter of an hour with each, getting to know them as best she could. They spent the rest of the week and part of the next week meeting them all.

Wanting to improve their marriage felicity Elizabeth forced herself to lie with Fitzwilliam each night and even stay in his bed as long as it took him to fall asleep, though she could not bring herself to sleep beside him.

Fitzwilliam seemed to appreciate it and slowly the anger he felt seemed to disappear, much to her relief. She could not imagine how horrible he could make her life if he so desired it.

One thing that she did fear was happening was that he was holding back her letters, preventing them from being sent. She wrote to Charlotte on a near daily basis and yet she had only gotten the one letter back. She could not imagine that Charlotte, who had grown more hungry for Elizabeth after her marriage and not less, would suddenly decide to not write her.

It would be well within her husband's rights to prevent her from sending her lover letters and slowly the pain in her chest at the thought of never seeing Charlotte again, or even hearing from her, built. She forced herself to continue to lie with him every night but, after he fell asleep, she went to her own bed and cried herself to sleep.

The stress of it all was making it difficult to focus on anything or to sleep at all. She soon became more withdrawn than she already was and she stopped looking at herself in the mirror as she looked pale with deep bags under her eyes.

A month of this passed and Elizabeth, who had continued to write the letters and desperately hope that this one would get through, became even more desperate. With no friends here and all of the staff being loyal to her husband, she had no one to turn to for help.

Finally, she managed to go to Meryton where, after pretending to peruse the shops, she stopped by the post office and managed to send off a letter. In the letter, she asked Charlotte to send her next letter to Jane and have her send it to her.

It was for naught though as not only did she receive no post from Charlotte, Jane's next three letters spoke not at all of Charlotte.

With all of this going on she hardly noticed that Jane spoke of Lydia going to Brighton with the Foresters.

Elizabeth, by this point, was insensate with horror and fear. She had previously thought that her husband was not planning to punish her but it was clear now that he was. It was the worst form of torture to not be able to speak with Charlotte or even hope to speak to her again.

At least when Charlotte had married they had exchanged letters often.

She now wished that she had not given in to Charlotte's desires and had said no to Mr. Darcy's marriage proposal.

When she managed to sleep she dreamt only of Charlotte and the cottage. How she missed those days. How she wished that they had been able to live there for the rest of their lives instead of being cruelly separated by the men they had married.

How she was supposed to live without Charlotte she had no idea.

Georgiana arrived at the two-month mark of their marriage but mercifully she was a quiet girl who seemed to know when Elizabeth wanted to be left alone, which was nearly all of the time these days. For a short time, Colonel Fitzwilliam stayed with them and he seemed surprised and saddened by Elizabeth's change in nature, which helped not at all.

By the time three months since her marriage had passed, she had nearly stopped eating or attending to the house. She sat at meals and played with her food while her husband tried in vain to get her to eat or speak of anything at all. They still lay together but she simply laid in the bed and allowed him to do as he pleased.

One day, shortly after the three-month mark, she was sitting listlessly on the balcony, not enjoying the sunshine or the beautiful day. In her hands was the one letter she had gotten from Charlotte. She went nowhere without it, desperately afraid that it would be taken from her. She wished she had something more; a picture, a lock of hair, anything.

"Mrs. Darcy? Your husband wishes to meet you on the stairs out front. He says you will have a guest soon."

Her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, Elizabeth supposed, must have come to visit at last, as their letters suggested they would.

Unhappily she allowed Miss. Everglot to help her straighten up then she went down to do as her husband bid. No doubt she would have to smile prettily like the passive painting that she felt like most days. Hopefully, her aunt and uncle would be understanding and would leave shortly.

As she walked down the stairs she found herself getting dizzy and she tried to remember if she had eaten that day. She had no idea.

When she arrived on the front stairs she found her husband staring blankly out at the grand lawn. Elizabeth wondered what he had to be unhappy about. He had the wife he desired all to himself, not to mention ten thousand a year.

"So you are to meet my aunt and uncle," she said softly.

He turned to face her with a frown on his face, "No, I have not received word from them of their arrival yet."

Elizabeth frowned wondering who could be visiting but said nothing. She was simply too tired to truly care.

After a time of silence where he was clearly waiting for her to ask who it was, he grimaced and said, "Your visitor is Mrs. Collins."

She startled violently at that, "What?"

"She took a hackney to Derbyshire and I sent a carriage to meet her upon receiving a post informing me she had arrived."

While Elizabeth tried to process this he added, "She is here at my behest."

Feeling quite stupid and like she had missed something she asked, "Why?"

He turned to her now and studied her face for a moment before pulling her into a kiss that was most passionate on his side and most confused on her side.

"I wish for your happiness," he said breathlessly when he pulled away. "I care for you deeply, I love you most ardently. If she is what will make you happy then I will happily host her indefinitely."

Elizabeth stared up at him in bafflement.

"You may act however you like with her here," he continued, "the servants are instructed not to speak a word of your mistress to anyone. You may be as sapphic as you please."

"You—My mistress?"

He nodded, "That is the term. Technically it is usually reserved for men but I am not upset with you for your desire of her."

"How did you even arrange this?" she asked in confusion.

"I sent an express post to her and her husband inviting her, and only her, to visit for as long as she pleases whenever she pleases at my expense. Mr. Collins wrote me back that he had sent her by hackney that very day and that she may stay as long as she likes."

Elizabeth was stunned beyond belief, "You have been planning this—" she broke off, not sure how long he had been planning it for.

"For about a week, well perhaps longer than that. It simply took me until last week to get up the courage to send for her. I realized that I had not seen you smile the entire time that we were engaged and married. Your smile lights up every room and your eyes most finely. It is what first drew me to you. I told myself that it was because you were being demure, but upon reading her letter I realized it was because you missed your lover. I would rather see you smiling with your lover every day than see you miserable alone with me."

She swallowed the overwhelming emotions she was feeling. She needed some way to thank him but no words seemed equal to the task. At last, she pulled him into their first kiss where she initiated it.

He seemed quite pleased with this when they pulled apart.

"I will leave you to greet her in peace."

She shook her head, "If it is too difficult then I bid you to do as you suggest, however, if you can handle it, I believe it would be best to greet her as man and wife. There will be plenty of time later for private greetings later."

He seemed quite pleased with that as well. After their conversation, they did not have long to wait, and soon their carriage was pulling up the drive. Elizabeth could not help but notice that it was their finest carriage and she felt an unfamiliar surge of warmth towards her husband.

When the carriage stopped before them he waved away the footman and personally helped her from the carriage.

Elizabeth nearly cried at the sight of Charlotte and was less than composed as they greeted each other. Charlotte studied her with a critical eye and seemed concerned by the conclusions she came to.

"Mrs. Darcy, how do you find yourself this afternoon?" she asked.

Elizabeth swallowed down the tears that threatened to overwhelm her, "I— I am well, thank you. How— how were your travels?" her voice quivered and sounded weak and Charlotte looked slightly alarmed.

"The road was good and the people friendly," was all she said.

"Elizabeth, how about you show her to her rooms? They are the ones directly next to yours. I will have the servants send up a meal for the two of you," Fitzwilliam said.

"Y–Yes, I will do that. Thank you," Elizabeth answered softly. Before she led Charlotte away she kissed him on the cheek which he seemed quite pleased by.

"You and your husband seem to be getting along well," Charlotte said as they entered her rooms.

"I— he— he arranged for you to come here. I thought— I thought he was holding back my letters from you. I thought I would never see you again—" Here Elizabeth could not continue and she broke down crying.

Charlotte rushed to hold her and then made them sit down when Elizabeth swooned.

"Dear Eliza, it is all my fault. I was kept most busy, exhaustingly so, by Lady Catherine who saw fit to take me to task for my behavior before your marriage. My husband too tried to take me to task however I was able to put him down quite quickly. Lady Catherine was not so easily handled though and she kept me so busy that I nearly did not sleep many nights. And for a time— but regardless I was so busy that I could hardly read your letters, let alone respond to them. I am so very sorry, my dear. I did not mean to hurt you so."

Before Elizabeth could say anything there was a knock on the door to the sitting room and, upon being invited in a maid walked in with a tray with two bowls of soup on them.

"The cook said to eat slowly Mrs. Darcy, as you have not been eating enough lately, and eating too fast could make you sick."

Elizabeth flushed as Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the exchange, "Thank you. I will do so."

The moment the door closed Charlotte said, "You have not been eating enough? I thought you looked too thin but then I thought that it must be the nature of high fashion gowns."

"It has— it has been hard to live without you. It was even harder than when you married. At least then I could write to you and eventually see you. But with my belief that he was keeping my letters from you, I could not even hope that I might be able to visit you. I—" Once more tears filled her eyes and Charlotte pulled her into a tight hug.

"I am so sorry Eliza. I did not realize how bad it would affect you not to have me write you." Charlotte held her as she cried out all the stress and frustration she had been feeling. When she began to calm some Charlotte said, "Eat dear. It will all be better after you eat."

Elizabeth did as she was told and ate slowly with Charlotte watching her like a hawk.

Elizabeth did feel better after she ate, the dizziness that she had been feeling abated and her head felt more clear.

"You look tired, have you been sleeping?" Charlotte asked once they had finished their meals.

Sheepishly Elizabeth shook her head and muttered, "Not very well."

"Very well, we will get some sleep then before dinner," her lover said and dragged Elizabeth into the bedroom. Recalling her husband saying that they would find no trouble with the servants she summoned the maid assigned to Charlotte and asked her to wake them a half hour before dinner so that they could ready themselves.

The moment she lay down in Charlotte's arms she fell asleep, content that her favorite person in the world was there for her.

She felt refreshed and ready for a meal by the time they were woken up.

Dinner was another light meal and Elizabeth applied herself to the conversation as she had not in months. She found Fitzwilliam smiling at her throughout the meal and she realized it must be due to the large smile that was gracing her own face. Charlotte, too, seemed pleased and it was the happiest meal that had been held in the dining room in some months. Even Georgiana seemed in a pleasant mood.