“Shattered” — a new Elizabeth and Darcy short story (complete)

Happy February 29, that rarest of days! This month’s theme is “Alone Together,” so I thought I’d finish a short story from a few months ago, one that seemed relevant to this theme. But when I read back over the story, I didn’t like it–and so I started anew.

The idea for this story is actually one I’ve had for a while, but as I wrote it this past week, I was influenced by two current circumstances: my daughter’s illness…and my own! While I was nursing her (she’s fine now, slowly recovering from a...