~~P&P~~

Elizabeth was starting to worry, it was now four days since they had arrived at Pemberley but these sudden bouts of nausea and dizziness continued and even though she had been going to bed early and sleeping in and taking naps nearly every day she was exhausted. She had been working so hard to hide her sickness and exhaustion from everyone but she knew that if it continued much longer there is no way she can keep it secret. Is something seriously wrong with me she wondered, but dismissed the idea because the illness came and went, she had many times when she felt perfectly fine surely if it were serious she would not have these periods of relief, she was sure that it was just her body getting use to the new environment, schedule and foods that she now had.

She had observed patterns in her sickness too, it seems the nausea comes on mostly in the afternoon and evening, but the dizziness is less predictable, just yesterday she had a sudden dizzy spell while coming down the stairs in the morning and had to grasp the railing and lower her self to sit for a few minutes to keep from tumbling down the stairs, luckily no one was around to observe her. She also has been making a habit of going for walks in the gardens in the afternoon and shortly after dinner to help hide her sickness. The times when Fitzwilliam elected to join her she was able to employ the fresh air and her own stubbornness to keep herself from losing her composure, but one time with Georgiana she could not hold it in and bolted for the bushes. Georgiana had been so worried but Elizabeth managed to convince her not to tell Fitzwilliam about it if she promised to go right to bed and get some rest. Elizabeth sighed, there would be no escaping to the gardens today, the thunder clouds were already overhead and would not hold their load for much longer, perhaps she should come clean to Fitzwilliam and see a doctor. It was just then that a footman interrupted her thoughts by knocking on the library door announcing that she had a letter. She permitted him entrance, thanked him for the letter and dismissed him.

One look at the writing on the envelope and she knew the letter was from Charlotte without even reading the address. She tore into the letter excited to hear from her friend:

Dearest Lizzy

I hope you are well and that marriage agrees with you although I am sure that it does after seeing the love in your and Mr. Darcy's eyes at the wedding. I am so thankful that you invited us to share in your day, I know it must have been a bit awkward to have my husband there but it pleased me that you seem just as determined as me not to let his or Lady Catherine's opinions come between our friendship.

I must confess that it took every ounce of my persuasion to convince my husband to go against Lady Catherine's boycott of your union, luckily she never went so far to forbid us from attending but she let her displeasure be known, which I am sure you are well able to imagine. However a few weeks before your wedding I discovered something that would tip the scales in my favour. It brings me so much joy to share with you that I am with child Lizzy. I am so excited and so is my husband and I was able to use our shared happiness in addition to his concern for my wellbeing to convince him that I should be around friends and family as much as possible and that we could use the excuse of your wedding (sorry to refer to it a such) to inform my family about the joyous news. I did have to threaten Mr. Collins severely if he were to reveal the information before the wedding though, I did not want to take from your day.

I am so ashamed that it took me so long to realize that I was with child, by the time I contacted the doctor he estimated that I was nearly three months gone, although I comfort myself with the knowledge that no one has ever educated me on what to watch for. The obvious sign was not something I noticed because my courses have always been unpredictable. Also my symptoms were not as severe as I now understand most women experience. I only had a few instances of nausea severe enough to loose my composure, although regrettably one such instance occurred while we were in the company of Lady Catherine, I will let you use your imagination as to how that played out. I was extremely tired though but again I did not know that that was a symptom. And the dizziness only bothered me if I got up to fast so I had become use to rising more slowly.

Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk, and the good of finding out so late was that we did not have to keep the secret for very long, I am sure I would not have been able to do so.

Lizzy I hope that you will consent to join me for my confinement I know that you probably would not want to be near Rosings but you and Mr. Darcy would be welcome to stay here and I swear I will not take offence if you wish to stay at the Inn, you are newly weds after all. You are my dearest friend and other than my sister and mother I can think of no one else I would want by my side and my sister is still not married so it would not be proper to ask her. As much as I would like you at my side I will not hold it against you in the least if you are unable to come. I have struggled the last month over asking you not wanting to make you feel pressured but I know you would want the choice, and I will respect it no matter what.

Love always

Charlotte

Elizabeth smiled with happiness for her friend "of course I will be there for her" she thought "I would never let that bitter old bat or the odious Mr. Collins keep me from my friend in a time of need." She rose to go write a reply to Charlotte but as she rose the dizziness struck her hard and she fell back to the sofa. Her face paled, "the dizziness, nausea and exhaustion, surely not, it is too soon" Elizabeth thought as she came to the startling realization that she was experiencing everything Charlotte described, but much more severely apparently. But she couldn't be pregnant they have only been married for just over a month. Charlotte has been married for nearly a year, but her rational side remerged and reminded her that duration of marriage was not a requirement to conceive. Thats when she realized that though they had been married for over a month she had yet to get her courses, and unlike Charlotte she had always been quite regular. "Oh dear lord" she whispered drawing her hand to her stomach. As soon as she did she knew without a doubt that she carried her and Fitzwilliam's child in her womb. Tears of joy, overwhelment and fear fell down her cheeks.