“
I was so lonely,” he heard her say, and he felt her body shaking. “There seemed no point in saying yes, no point in saying no. So, I simply did as he wanted.”
“Your father?” Henry said, with understanding, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her hair gently. He held her close, in the dark of the foyer, letting his hands and his arms speak for him.
She was safe, they said. She was loved, they said. He would never let her feel that way again.
He felt her nodding.
She lifted her head. “You did not let me finish before,” she said, her eyes widening with some unspoken news. “In the alcove. You distracted me.”
She hit him playfully on the chest as he grinned at the memory of how he had indeed distracted them both.
“But I had been trying to tell you…” She began.
“Wait,” Henry said, with a frown. “Did you hear that?”
“What?” She said, looking ever so slightly annoyed. “Let me finish this time, please, Henry.”
“A baby,” he said, looking around the foyer wildly. “I thought I heard a baby.”
He looked back and was shocked to see her looking unconcerned.
”
”