Perchance to Marry
Page 21
“I know. I saw it in your face. In your panic, you might have cracked your head or broken limbs.”
She said inadequately, “I haven’t thanked you properly for saving me.”
He laughed a little wryly. “When you save someone you love you save yourself. There’s nothing brave about self-preservation. I haven’t known you so very long, but there’s one thing I’m sure of. Without you, I wouldn’t want to live.”
She looked into his eyes then, a little frightened. It was what she had wanted so desperately, to be loved like that; but it was a huge responsibility.
She said softly, “I’ve been childish in some ways, but I do love you. I so longed to have you come in and see me. Why didn’t you?”
“I did come in a few times, after you were down for the night, but I didn’t want us to do any talking till you were up and thinking clearly. If I’d walked into your room each afternoon for tea, a new, polite little barrier would have grown up, because you wouldn’t have been in a condition for frankness. The way I saw it, that fiesta fire had burned down part of the wall between us, and next time we talked the rest would have to crumble. As it has, my love!”
“Darling,” she whispered, and put her arms about him. His response was swift and passionate. Sally didn’t want to think any more for a long time. Some time she would get down to musing about Katarina, who must be helped out of her sadness; of her mother, who would no doubt prefer Captain Northwick to Mr. Essler. Perhaps some day soon she and Marcus could find out which of the nurses in the British section of the nursing home had attracted Dr. Carlos Suarez; they must have some social meeting ground ... and what better place than Las Vinas?
Las Vinas, the home that Sally and Marcus would share for the rest of their lives.
THE END