Requested by: larryisrealhoes

So much time had passed since those nights full of passion and risky kisses. Eliza almost couldn't believe that had been a part of her younger life, a part that she had trouble reminding herself of. It wasn't until something several years later occurred that she realized a lot of things about her past.

She'd been naive, that was for sure. Women had always been her interest, until one specific gentleman stepped into her life. Eliza recalled melting at his touch and smile, and completely falling under a spell that wasn't visible.

"You love him?!" Maria had shouted at her, slipping on her shoes, as she charged for the door one evening. Her darling Eliza just had said something she'd never imagined to hear leave those rosy lips. She was in love with someone else, and a man for that fact.

"Please, let me explain," she yelled after her, tripping down the stairs. Eliza reached the other woman and attempted to reach out and take her hand, but she flinched away.

Maria gave her an unforgiving look, before throwing open the door and hurrying down the path. She hadn't even looked back. And she definitely hadn't let an explanation be said.

Because there was none to be heard.

Still heartbroken at the loss of a close love and friend, Eliza continued on her relationship with the man she had fallen for. His words crept into her thoughts and made a blush grow on those pale cheeks every time.

There was absolutely nothing more satisfying than being with him. Or so she told herself.

After an evening of dancing and drinking however, the man whom she'd been fantasizing and crushing on for months suddenly leaned close to her. Her heart barely had time to start beating, because seconds later he kissed her.

You love him. Maria's haunting words still lingered in the back of her mind as she kissed him back. It felt like relief, and it was everything she'd been waiting for.

But at the same time her heart tore itself apart at the decision for being in love with him.

In the blink of an eye, the two lovebirds became married. Eliza recalled looking out in the audience, with nervous energy, praying that one familiar face would be there. She was only given the plastered on grins from her relatives and friends in return.

And a kiss that sealed it all.

Marriage had a price though. The first few years turned out to be wonderful, more than either of them expected. Unable to be separated, their hearts and bodies connected whenever the opportunity came up. It was revealed as a lie only several years later.

"I don't understand. How could he do this to me? To our family?" Eliza stormed in circles around her sister, who'd arrived with the news of something tragic. For what seemed to be months and years combined in a cluster of affection, her husband had been having an affair with another woman.

She wouldn't have been taking it hard, if the woman had been anyone else. But it was the one person she wished it not to be. Maria.

Even she was married now, but without regrets it seemed, to blindly snatch her husband from her grasp. She had been a childish mistake in the past. Alexander was her husband on the other hand. The narrative had changed.

"That slut, how dare she steal my husband's affections a-and manipulate him into giving her love an-"

"Elizabeth!" Crossing her arms, and pursing her lips in a disproving way, Angelica glared into her sister's watery eyes. "This woman might have taken the affections of your beloved, but you have no right to call her anything of such language."

Eliza snarled, "Well, she has no right to take him away like that. That woman is cruel and a miserable influence on him. I-I can't stand this any longer." She tore the papers in half. Tears streaming down her face, and a rasp in the back of her throat, one thing was made as a mental note then and there.

A visit would be paid to Miss. Reynolds shortly after she had a conversation with her dear husband. Maybe a face to face argument would make their lost time even again.

"You pathetic creature," Eliza scoffed, the second the door to the household opened. She spent almost an hour sobbing at her husband, and trying to explain to her children why their mother had become so distressed. Surely they were all in bed now, but still curious.

Maria, hands on her hips, cautiously opened the door. Streaks of tears marked her cheeks, and she wore a skimpy, ripped dress. It wasn't the same woman she'd been close to when they were young and together.

"Wouldn't have expected to see you on my doorstep this late. How long has it been since we snuck back and forth to one another? I suppose your husband would be more than pleased to publish about that for the entire world to read." Maria covered her face, breaking down into shrill sobs.

"You're making yourself the innocent one in this game, Maria. Don't do that, we both know that neither of us are. Nor is my husband. But you are in the wrong, just as much as he is."

Gasping for breath, Maria held onto the door for support. "I'm being publicly shamed because of his goddamn writings, Eliza. Maybe you should keep an eye on him next time if you don't want him getting taken, if that's what's truly at stake here." She went to shut the door.

"Wait," she dryly called after her. Eliza focused on her shoes, and the front of her own chest, trying to formulate something clever. All that came out was, "I miss being with you."

"Lower your voice, unless you want to face the rotten truth of what goes on in this house," she hissed, glancing back into the darkened halls of her home. Maria's face turned pale, but she forced a strained smile in response. "That's the past, Eliza," she replied to the initial phrase.

"No, you don't understand. I miss being able to be comfortable with you, with any woman, and not look at him and fall deep. He came into my life at the time you meant the most to me. And now you stole the only other part of my life," she whispered, choking the words out.

"I cant forgive you this time, as much as I'd like to. You took his love and made it your own. I don't know how you ever touched my heart, Maria, but I'm certain now that I'm never letting you anywhere close again."

Stunned, from her doorstep, Maria watched in awe as the other woman hurried back down the steps and towards her awaiting carriage. She had a swing in her step, unlike any she had before, when they knew each other well.

If she could have taken everything back at that moment, the mistake of sleeping with that man, and breaking her heart, Maria would.

But she knew the price had been laid on the table the second she watched Eliza step into that carriage and not even look back. The secret had been told, and there was no erasing all the mistakes that had been revealed.

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A/N: Thank you larryisrealhoes for the request for a part two of this! Loved writing more of this plot. And sorry for it not being up sooner, or just updating infrequently in general, life's been busy and I'm doing the best I can. I'll have many more up soon!