“Perhaps I should.” She took another swallow of the brandy, then smacked the glass down on a table. “Eleven years ago, when out of nowhere you said you loved me, I didn’t know what to say, so everything I did say was wrong. But after you left, I thought, ‘He’ll come back. Any minute now, he’ll walk through that door and then I’ll tell him that I love him as well.’ I thought, ‘I’ll tell him I never dreamed there could be anything between us beyond friendship. ’ After all, there were expectations as to whom I should wed and how I should live my life. I never imagined he thought of me as anything other than a friend or a sister, but I have always loved him.”

He stared in shocked silence.

“But the hours passed and I thought, ‘Surely, he’ll be back tonight. Surely, a man truly in love would fight for the woman he wants. Surely, he couldn’t be so cruel as to announce his love and then go on with his life as if nothing had happened. And then I’ll tell him that I love him and I always have.’ But the night wore on and morning came, and my wedding drew near and he didn’t come.” She picked up her glass, took another quick swallow, then set it back down. “And even as I walked down the aisle, I thought, ‘When he comes, because surely a man who claims to love a woman would stop her wedding, and then, then, I’ll tell him that I love him as well. Then I’ll tell him that I always have.’ But, of course, he didn’t come, or rather you didn’t come.” She struggled to remain calm. “And then I realized it was too late, this man who claimed to love me had not done anything to prove that love, had not fought for that love. Indeed, had he even meant his words? Had he regretted them the moment they were out of his mouth? Was it nothing more than a rash statement uttered in impulse?”

“I meant every—”

“Not that it mattered anymore, because I was married to Harold, who was a very nice man and did not deserve to be hurt the way I had been hurt. And I vowed he never would be. So I stopped thinking about what I would say to you. I stopped thinking about you at all, insofar as that was possible. I avoided your cousin. I forbid Beryl to speak of you. I was a very good wife to Harold and I did love him, although not in the way I had loved you.