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“Oh…”

“Marcello suggested I talk honestly with you, but I have been doing that for days now and it does no good”

“Honest co relationship” But the person you were couess yourwith his

Could it be true? Did he love her? She’d been wrong about so s and so had he, but he apparently wanted to fix his shortcos He wanted her to feel loved

“That is what Flavia said, but Papa thinks you need proof Again, I did not find that very useful I do not knohat proof to give you”

She actually sruntled tone in his voice “Your brothers had no suggestions for that?”

“As I said, nothing I could use”

“Bed is not the only place to express love” But she sa that it had been the place he had beenso

“I know this I reserved all my affection and the release of my emotions for the bedroom, but that only convinced you your primary use to me was as a bedmate And it isn’t, amore Please believe that you have always mattered to me on every level a woue for soht we needed a divorce You believed every one of them too easily, but then you could not believe me when I told you they were proent as a husband and had convinced you too strongly of s for you to easily believe I have them for you now I did not realize any of this until it was too late”

“Too late?”

“I woke up to s too late” The sadness in his voice was too real, too deep to ignore

He really did love her He hadn’t realized it and in typical Claudio fashion, had been intent on not being controlled by his e

Just as she had been hurting

She felt like his agony was inside her own heart And conversely, she thought that if she asked…he would say he could also feel the pain that had been causinginside her than the endometriosis Because he loved her and her pain was his pain

The evidence had been there all along, but she’d attributed every motive under the sun except the true one…that he loved her

She turned on her side to face him fully and reached up to press the button above their bed that turned on di glittery dark orbs and telltale wetness on his temple

She reached out and touched it, unable to believe that he was crying for her Men like Claudio did not cry Not ever