Part 29 (1/2)
”Oh, Jonas. I am so glad. It's all worked out, hasn't it? Just perfectly.”
”Not quite, it hasn't.”
Right then, one of the Yorkies whined in happiness. He knelt and greeted them, then snapped his fingers. They trotted off.
He stood again. ”They missed me.”
He watched those full b.r.e.a.s.t.s move beneath that little bit of s.h.i.+rt as she sucked in a deep breath. ”Uh. Yes. It looks like they did. They missed you...”
”Did you miss me, Emma?”
”Oh, Jonas...”
He repeated the question, with tenderness. ”Emma. Did you miss me?”
She seemed to be having trouble looking at him. She looked at the wall over his right shoulder, at the ceiling, the curtains across the room and finally down at her feet, where she appeared to be studying those polka-dot toes.
”Uh-uh.” He put his finger under her chin and made her meet his eyes. ”I already know the answer. But I want to hear you say it, anyway.”
”Oh. Well, I...”
He rubbed his thumb over her smooth and only slightly stubborn chin. She trembled. That pleased him.
He offered, ”I'll even go first. I missed you. So much. You ripped my heart out, Emma, and you took it with you when you left.”
She gave a small cry. ”No. Jonas. That wasn't what I wanted.”
”It was what you did. Now, did you miss me?””Oh, please! You know that I missed you. Every day without you has been-””Empty?” he suggested. ”Gray? Ugly? Sad?””Yes,” she said angrily. ”That's right. All those words. Exactly right.””Then why the h.e.l.l did you leave?”She put up both hands, then dropped them to her sides again. ”Because I really thought it was the right thing. To set you free. Aunt Ca.s.s used to say, 'If you love somebody, you have to be able to set them free.'” She must have read the look on his face. She scowled. ”Well, all right. Maybe Sting said it first, but Aunt Ca.s.s said it, too.”
”I don't give a d.a.m.n who said it. It doesn't apply when the somebody you love has no desire to get away from you.”
”But I thought-”
”Don't say it. I know what you thought. And you were wrong.”
”But-”
”Emma. In this, you were very, very wrong.”
She said nothing. Her sweet mouth was quivering.