“Janine,” Zach said, distracting her, “what’s wrong?”

“What could possibly be wrong?”

“Obviously something’s bothering you. You look like you’ve lost your best friend.”

“You should’ve told me,” she burst out, running from the kitchen.

“Told you what?” Zach shouted, following her down the hall.

Furious, she hurried into her room and sat on the end of the bed, her hands in tight fists at her sides.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded, blocking the doorway.

“About…this woman you loved.”

“Marie? What about her? What’s she got to do with you and me?”

“You loved her more than…more than you thought possible. She was brave and wonderful, and I’m none of those things. I don’t deal with pain very well and…I’d like to be patriotic but all I do is vote and all I know in French are verbs.”

“What’s any of that got to do with you and me?” Zach repeated hoarsely, then threw his hands in the air. “What’s it got to do with anything?”

Knowing she’d never be able to explain, Janine shook her head, sending her bangs fanning out in several directions. “All you are is fond of me.”

“Correction,” Zach said as he stepped into the bedroom. “I cherish you.”

“It isn’t enough,” she said, feeling miserable and wretched and unworthy.

“What do you mean, it isn’t enough? According to you the only reason you married me was that I was a good kisser, so you can’t fault me for my reasons.”

“I don’t, it’s just that you…you never told me about loving someone else. Not only that, you admired her—she was a hero. All you feel for me is fondness. Well, I don’t want your fondness, Zachary Thomas!” She leapt to her feet, trying to collect her scattered thoughts. “If you cared for me, you would’ve told me about Marie before. Not mentioning her was a form of dishonesty. You were completely…unfair.”

“And you weren’t?” Zach’s expression darkened and he buried his hands in his pockets. “You didn’t say one word to me about Brian.”

Janine was so shocked she sank back onto the bed. Zach still glared at her, challenging her to contradict him. Slowly gathering her composure, she stood, her eyes narrowing as she studied her husband. “Who told you about Brian?”

“Your grandfather.”

“How did he know? I never said a word to him about Brian. Not one solitary word.”

“But obviously he knew.”

“Obviously.” Janine had never felt more like weeping. “I suppose he told you Brian lied to me and claimed to love me when all the while he was seeing someone else.” Another, more troubling thought entered her mind. “I…bet Gramps told you that to make you feel sorry for me, sorry enough to marry me.”

“Janine, no.”

She hid her face in both hands, humiliation burning her cheeks. It was all so much worse than she’d imagined. “You felt sorry for me, didn’t you?”

Zach paced the length of the bedroom. “I’m not going to lie to you, although I suspect it would be better if I did. Your grandfather didn’t mention that you’d fallen in love with Brian until after the day we took him to the doctor.”