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“They were not there before the war.”
He stood, trying to shake off the sudden restless energy swimming through his veins. “This I have been told.”
She stood and met him in the center of the small cottage. Simon’s gut clenched as she used the tip of her finger to trace the jagged scar that ran from his upper chest and curved down to his ribcage.
“You do not remember how you got them?”
“I recall some.” He cleared his throat, not wanting to let on how her nearness distracted his senses. “This was the one that felled me and almost brought about my demise.”
Fannie pressed the flat of her palm right above his chest, tracing the rough raised skin of the wound.
“And the one that affected your memory?”
He took her hand and guided it to the right of his temple. She stroked her fingers through his hair, feeling the scar.
“What caused it?” she whispered.
“When I was stabbed in the chest, I fell forward and hit my head on a rock.”
She flinched. “I cannot imagine the horrors you must have endured, Simon.”
“I am well now,” he murmured reassuringly. “As well as I can be.”
She nodded, moved closer to him, and rested her cheek against his chest. There was a tenseness about her delicate shoulders, and it showed that she anticipated him pushing her away. However, Simon did not. He closed his arms around her and returned her hug. A sigh escaped her, and she relaxed into their embrace, her slender arms tightening around his waist. With a jolt, he realized she cried silent tears. And he knew they were for him, that the very idea he might have suffered tormented her. A powerful ache formed in his chest, and Simon hugged her even tighter.
“Fanny,” he murmured.
“Yes?”
“I would like to take a walk by the lake; will you join me?
He was gratified to feel the curve of her smile on his chest.
“Yes.”
Simon took some time to dress in a simple shirt that hung loose from his pants, liking the sense of freedom in dressing so informally. Should his mother see him now, no doubt she would collapse from the shock. He chuckled at the image, and Fanny grinned at his bare toes but made no remark.
Holding her hand, they walked from the cottage, and Simon noted that he felt different. That a keen sense of anticipation had enlivened his blood, and he wanted nothing more than to spend the day with the woman at his side.
