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“I felt that I did. I wanted them all to know that I didn’t know I had an enemy who…”
“Is mentally ill. She murdered her own parents for reasons her sick mind thought justifiable.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I guess. Anyway, I asked Compton to distribute those letters only because I didn’t have anyone’s address.”
“She’s received replies. She’s holding them for you for when you’re ready to read them. She says they’re—”
“She read them?”
“She felt it was her duty.”
“Duty, my ass. She was being nosy.”
Elle smiled. “She says you’ll be deeply touched by their contents.” She traced the rim of the deep triangle beneath his Adam’s apple. “You didn’t send me a letter.”
“I was hoping to hear your reply in person.”
Looking into his eyes, she said, “I don’t blame you, Calder. No one affected blames you.” In a softer voice, she added, “That is, no one except yourself. And if you—No, let me finish,” she said when she saw that he was about to interrupt.
“If you allow this undue guilt to become ingrained in you, you had just as well have died in the shooting, because the life you could and should have had will have ended that day.” She kissed him tenderly and left her lips against his. “Let it go.”
He took a deep breath. “That may take a minute, Elle.”
“That’s an allowable amount of time.”
They smiled at each other. He said, “Can I count on you to be there?”
“You’re the one who’s always running off, not me.”
He sank all ten fingers into her hair. “I’m not going anywhere that I can’t be with you.”
“Then you were being truthful when you said you’re falling deeper and deeper in love with me?”
“Yes. And it’s killing me. I’ll work on the guilt thing. I will. But I’ve got to have you.”
She seemed to think it over. “The prepared ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech that you never delivered?”
“What about it?”
“What you said in summation was enough.”
“What did I say?”
“You don’t remember? It was profound.”
“As I remember it, I wasn’t trying to be profound. I was trying to get on you.”
She laughed. “Well, what you said worked then.” She ran her fingertips across his lips. “It works now. Tragedy brought us together, but I’m not going to let it keep us apart.” She rolled onto him and kissed him gently. “So, here I am.”
He folded his arms around her. “Hereweare.”
