by Woods, Karen
“Do I comfort you?”
“In every sense of the word. You are my comforter, my strength, my support. I wouldn’t have made it through this without you.”
Josh shook his head. The sadness in his eyes tore at her heart.
He said, “That only leaves love. And that can’t be it. You have to know I love you.”
“And how would I know that? Am I supposed to be a mind reader, now? You’ve never told me you love me.”
“Baby, I thought I told you through my actions every time I touched you, every time I kissed you, every time we made love. I don’t know how you could have missed the declaration of my actions.”
Geri was quiet for a long moment. She sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe I’m just stupid.”
“Gerianne Evelyn!” Josh said in shock. “You really don’t believe I love you?”
Geri sighed. “The most you’ve admitted to was being fond of me. As I recall, the conversation was to the effect that you didn’t know if it was more than that.”
Josh held her more tightly. “Mandy used to tell me that I was remarkably dense when it came to women.”
“Most men are,” Geri replied, fighting the uneasiness that arose whenever Amanda’s name came up. “You can talk to me about her, you know. I know I’ll never be the love of your life the way she was.”
“You’re wrong there, Geri. You’ll be the love of my life for the rest of my days.”
“I love you so much, Josh. Sometimes, I get scared you won’t need or want me. I’m frightened you compare me to Amanda and I come up lacking. I’m not the woman she was. I’m not even half the woman she was. She reached out to people, put people at ease, was many things I’ll never be.”
“You two are very different people. But, that doesn’t mean I love you any less than I loved her.”
“It’s her name you call out in the night,” Geri replied lowly. “You reach for me, and call me her name while you tell her that you love her. How do you think that makes me feel? I’ve cried myself to sleep over that, and you never even noticed.”
He looked at her and sighed. “God, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
“I called you Mandy’s name? And that’s why you cried?”
“You were still wearing her ring when you asked me to marry you. You weren’t ready to marry me. The circumstances forced us into this.”
“Why do you think I came back to the office after the charity auction last Friday night?”
She shrugged.
“Why do you think that I asked you to go to the charity auction with me, last week?”
“You needed a woman on your arm?”
“I wanted you to go with me. Our marriage would have happened sooner or later. All these circumstances did was to speed up the process. I love you. You are the light of my life, now and forever. Never doubt it.”
The End