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"It's all right," he said. "It was worth it. A
minute with you is like an hour back home without
you anyway," he added.
"Paul, please," I said, taking his hands into
mine. "Promise me you'll look for someone to love.
Promise me you'll let someone love you. Promise." "All right," he said. "I promise. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you, Ruby, even fall in love
with someone else, if I could."
"You can; you must," I told him.
"I know," he said in a whisper. He looked like I
had forced him to swallow castor oil. I wanted to stay
with him, to talk and remember the good times, but
Edgar was standing in the doorway as a way of
showing me Daphne was being very insistent. "I've got to go inside before she makes a scene
that embarrasses us both, Paul. Have a safe trip back
and call and write to me at school."
"I will," he said. He kissed me quickly on my
cheek and hurried to his car, forcing himself not to
look back. I knew it was because he had tears in his
eyes and he didn't want me to see them.
I felt an ache in my heart when he drove off,
and for a moment I could see that look in his face
again on the day he learned the truth about us, the
truth we both wished had been buried in the swamp
with the sins of our fathers.
I sucked in my breath and hurried to the front
entrance to see what new rules and orders Daphne
wanted to lay on my sister's and my head now, now
that we had no one to stand between her and us and
protect us anymore.
She was waiting in the parlor, sitting back in
