For Gather Your Party on the Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry Forum.
Quotations from 'To His Fairest Valentine Mrs. A. L' by Richard Lovelace.
Eliza doesn't mean to snoop. Really, she doesn't. She's just tidying up his papers—because she's always tidying up his papers—when she spots it. A letter in her husband's handwriting with her sister's name looped at the top of the page. But that's not what catches her eye. It's the words—goddess, bosom, breast, wood-nymphs. It reads like a love letter, and one far more romantic than she'd ever received from the very same man.
She brings it up over dinner. She tries not to sound too accusatory, but Alexander immediately drops his cutlery with a clatter and glares at her.
"She's your sister, Eliza." He says it slowly, as she's a small child. As if she's anyone except his wife. "She's family. You should be pleased that we get along so well."
Eliza frowns, still staring down at the unsent letter in her hands. "You've quoted Richard Lovelace. Alexander, this letter isn't familial. It sounds romantic. Lustful, even."
"It's not uncommon to compliment a correspondent," Alexander responds sharply. "You are my wife, Eliza. I won't let you insult my integrity. Or your sister's, for that matter."
"Her bosom is love's paradise," Eliza reads. Much to her horror, her voice shakes on the last word. "That's more than a compliment, Alexander. Is this how she—how my sister—writes to you? Quoting poetry? Waxing lyrical about your body?"
But Alexander won't say another word on the matter. He pushes his plate away from him and, with a grunt, stands from the table and leaves the room without so much a glance in Eliza's direction. She crumples the paper in her hand. And the next time she sees him scrawling notes to her sister, she looks the other way. But she never stops wondering. Wondering what sweet nothings he's scrawling...wondering what he gets in return.