I’d started to cry, and he brushed his thumbs beneath my eyes.

“I know you’re scared, and that’s okay. I know you’re not used to someone keeping his promises. And I know it’s going to take time for me to break down all those walls, but damn it, Sylvia, you’re going to let me try. You’re going to let me stick around. And you’re going to let me love you, and prove to you that we can build something so real and so strong, it’s unbreakable.”

“Henry,” I whispered, shaking my head. “What did I do to deserve you?”

He smiled gently. “You came looking for me. That very first night you were home, you came looking for me. I’ll never forget that.”

“I must have known.” I couldn’t help smiling.

“You must have known.” He briefly pressed his lips to mine. “And I knew it too, that very same night. When I walked you back home through the snow and stood there with you on the porch, I never wanted to kiss someone so badly in all my life.”

I gasped, laughing a little. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “You don’t recall how fast I took off?”

I tried to think back. “You know what? I do remember that. You said something about being able to give in to a woman, and then the next second, you were gone. But I kept thinking and thinking about what you’d said—I couldn’t get you off my mind.”

“The feeling was definitely mutual.”

“I heard you had a visitor earlier today.”

He nodded, giving me a crooked grin. “I did. Surprised the hell out of me.”

“When she told me where she’d been, I nearly fell over.”

“She’s a good kid, she and her brother both. I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.”

I looked up at him, searching for certainty in his eyes and finding it there. “This is real, isn’t it? The way we feel? Even though it happened so quickly and unexpectedly?”

“It’s real, Sylvia. Trust me.” Then he smiled. “Trust you.”

* * *

That night, I invited Henry over to have dinner and watch a movie with the kids and me. He stopped on the way and picked up cupcakes for the kids, and he brought me a bottle of wine.

“Thank you,” I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek and pulling the corkscrew from a drawer. “Want to open it? I’m just finishing up the sauce for the tenderloin. Then I’ll give you a tour of the house.”

“Perfect. It’s a beautiful house. I can see why you fell in love with it so fast.”

“Thank you. There’s work to be done, but I’m in no rush.”