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She took his hands and pulled him to sit beside her. "Never," she said fiercely. "I love you. I don't care if this isn't right, if you're too young. I can't wait anymore. I love you so much. If I can't be your wife yet, I want to be your lover. If that's okay..."
"S-sure."
She kissed him, still clasping his hands. Then she lowered her gaze and a fresh tear slid down her pale cheek. He freed one hand an
d wiped it away, then leaned down, trying to meet her eyes.
"What's wrong, Adele?"
She shook her head.
"Please tell me."
She nibbled her lower lip, then lifted reddened eyes to his. "I understand why you didn't want to help me last night."
"What?"
"With Robyn Peltier. I needed your help catching her, so I called and left that message - " She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You're right. This is my problem."
"I never said that. If you left a message, I didn't get it."
She looked away. "That's okay, Colm. You don't need to lie - "
"Lie?" His voice cracked as he got to his feet. "I'd never lie to you, Adele."
She reached for him, but he sidestepped her grasp.
"That's not fair, Adele. I've never lied. Not to you."
"I'm sorry."
He looked away, but let her catch his hand, pulling him back to her.
"I'm sorry. I just thought - " She squeezed his hand. "I wouldn't blame you. I've gotten you into this mess enough already."
"You didn't get me into anything. I offered. You were in trouble and it wasn't your fault. I was happy to help, and I would have been happy to help last night if I got the message."
"Your mother must have forgotten to tell you."
His mother took the message? That explained it then. She hadn't forgotten, but Colm was happy to let Adele think that, and shield her from the truth - that his mother hated her. She'd been trying to discourage friendship between them for years. Then, last fall, when she'd caught them kissing behind the communal building, she'd exploded and gone to Niko. Colm had crept after her and listened.
His mother had wanted Niko to cancel Colm and Adele's betrothal. She'd said it wasn't right, a nineteen-year-old girl making out with a fourteen-year-old boy, and that only proved what she'd suspected for years - that there was something not quite right about Adele, something sneaky, manipulative, wrong.
Niko had laughed it off. She was just having trouble seeing her baby grow up and let another woman into his life. After that, his mother had worked on Colm directly, trying to convince him Adele couldn't be trusted.
Colm loved his mother. His father had left the kumpania when he was two, but he'd never felt the lack. His mother had made sure of that. He knew that she was just looking out for him, but he wasn't a child anymore and he wished she'd see that and let him lead his own life.
As angry as he was, though, he trusted his mother would come around, and he wasn't going to say anything to turn Adele against her, so he nodded and said, "Yeah, she must have forgotten. But if you still need my help..."
Adele chewed her lip again, hands clasped, gaze down.
"Adele, I'm here for you. Just tell me what you need."
She did.
* * *
HOPE
