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Emmeline frowned. “I am not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”
“No,” he replied, smiling, “but it is nice of you to fuss over me.”
“You are incredibly stubborn,” she said. “It is quite vexing.”
Straightening from the wall, Oliver remarked, “You need not worry about me.”
“How can I not?” she asked. “You are my husband.”
“I can assure you that I have been in much more harrowing situations than this one,” he said.
She eyed him curiously. “How is that even possible?”
Oliver opened his mouth, then promptly closed it, and she found herself curious about what he had intended to say. Finally, he spoke. “It matters not.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?” he asked.
“For a brief moment, you thought about letting me in, but you changed your mind,” she remarked. “Why is that?”
“Because I am trying to keep you safe.”
“From what?”
Oliver’s gaze grew remorseful as he replied, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”
“Even after everything we have been through, you still don’t trust me?” Emmeline asked as she tried to keep the hurt out of her voice.
“It isn’t about that.”
“Then what is it about?”
“As I’ve said, on multiple occasions, I am trying to keep you safe.”
Tossing up her hands, she asked, “From what?”
“From everything!” he exclaimed as he took a commanding step towards her. “I don’t want you to become tainted by the evils of the world.”
She tilted her chin stubbornly. “Then you have underestimated me.”
Oliver huffed. “I don’t understand why you aren’t satisfied with me and what I have given you.”
“I want the real you,” she implored, walking closer to him. “You have kept part of yourself hidden from me.”
“It is not a part of me that I share with very many people.”
“Can I not be one of them?” she asked hopefully as she placed a hand over his heart.
Oliver glanced down at her hand before saying, “You are asking too much of me.”
“Am I?” she breathed.
Reaching up, Oliver took her hand and lowered it to his side. “What if you don’t like what you see?”
“That is impossible.”
“Why is that?” he asked, his eyes imploring hers.
