The last night the Rochester's spent in Ferndean was an oddly quiet one. Jane lay in her husbands arms and yet there was nothing said between them. Jane knew they were both quietly reflecting on their own experiences, their own final night in this house. She had only been happy here, there was nothing to tarnish her memories of the house. But for her husband she knew that moving would be a long awaited break from a haunted past.

She turned over on her stomach, her outstretched arms laying easily on his chest.

"Are you well?" she asked softly

Edward nodded his head.

"Yes, all is very well" he replied.

"Then why has all the brightness left your countenance? Why do you sound so unlike yourself?"

He lay for some time in silence before answering her and when he did, Jane could tell he was fighting back emotion from rising to the surface.

"Jane, knowing that you lay next to me, your naked body resting over my outstretched arm, knowing that in doing so you must feel protected and loved, that you must trust me...it is hard for me to fathom what I have been given. Tomorrow we are to move into our new family home, just the two of us, as husband and wife. I cannot help but think tonight you are no more substance than one of your shadows which often came to visit me at night when I lay alone".

Jane sadly moved forward, resting her chin lightly on Edwards chest.

"I am here, my husband. I am here in every way possible. I know you know this, and I know regardless you are tortured by old fears. Perhaps we both must become better at trusting that when things are good, they are good".

Jane reached to play with Edwards fingers from the arm that he rested his head on. She did not raise her face from his chest but the feeling of his fingers in hers was a sensation she often craved.

Edwards face turned to kiss her extended arm that reached across him and smiled.

"Jane, you are right. Fear must never plague any precious moment we spend together".

He kissed her forehead gently, speaking softly into her ear.

"Souls such as ours were never meant to be severed, and I do not intend to try it again any time soon".

. . .

Jane and Edward had very few personal belongings to take with them, and as a result little was brought to the carriage on the morning they left Ferndean for the last time.

"Are you not even a little sad to say goodbye to this house?" Jane asked, holding Edwards arm as she took in her own final view.

He shook his head and turned to her.

"No, Jane. I cannot say that I am, really. I am only excited to have a home with you where we reside together. I have no wish to keep this place in my memory, or our lives. However, if I cannot legally rid myself of the god forsaken place then perhaps we shall have a refuge from each other when we are old and gray after all".

Jane laughed, admiring his resolve to leave the past behind him, the casting off of one final burden.

"I shall keep it in the back of my mind for reference" she teased, watching the few belongings being tied to the top of the carriage. "Let us go"

He smiled at her and kissed her temple before turning and leading them to the carriage. Jane helped him find the step of the carriage as she was ushered inside. George closed the door behind them, wishing them well. He would arrive the same day with his wife Maria, but they would stay on until all had been taken from the house.

The ride to their new house was not so very long, but it was long enough for Jane lay with her head on her husbands shoulder, her eyes begging to close. Edward smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"You are tired, Jane?"

"No, I am quire well" she said, half-heartily.

"You may be well but you did not sleep soundly last night. You tossed and turned, your breathing was no so deep as it is in moments of peaceful sleep"

He had been right, Jane was strangely caught up in her own fears of changing house, for her whole life had been a tradition of being hastily uprooted and moved without warning or delay. She was not worried of the man who sat beside her, but these things still were heavy on the mind of a person wishing for sleep.

"What is it that weighs on your mind, Jane?"

"Last night I was thinking of moving. I was thinking of how at one time, I was terrified of moving- of being dragged from place to place without ever having a space to call home".

Jane looked up at her husband, who was looking at her with deep concern.

"It is a silly fear now" she continued "and I know quite well that such a fear shall never plague me again. But it simply left my mind full of feeling, of reflection and gratitude. For the first home I have ever known, is you. And who could ask for a more beautiful home than that?"

Edward planted a long, gentle kiss on Jane's lips before she let her head rest once again on his shoulder. She yawned slightly, trying to stifle it silently but it was to no avail for Mr Rochester had heard.

"Sleep, Jane. I am here and I will be here when you wake".

"We shall be arriving soon, I mustn't"

"Shh, not another word, my darling"

Almost before his sentence had ended, Jane had drifted into sleep.