As much as he loved her, and as much as her touches were soothing, it was impossible for Edric not to be worried. He'd spent fourteen years as an auror without a number of colleagues even knowing where he lived, and now his personal life was gossip fodder—both in the workplace and the gossip rags. He'd hoped for a quiet, happy marriage far away from the public eye, but the letters had deprived him of the opportunity to plan for that.

In short, Edric was stressed.

"The 'easiest' solution doesn't matter, February," he groaned, resting his head against the back of his chair. "The easiest solution would be to pretend our marriage was completely caused by the letters, with no feelings between us existing before that moment." At least from a public relations standpoint, and maybe as a way to avoid nosy coworkers. "But doing it the easy way would put more of a strain on our marriage; I'm sure of it. I wouldn't be able to talk about you like as the wife I love and trust." No, he'd have to go around, pretending she was some sort of nuisance who'd invaded his life... or at least he assumed so.

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