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She smiled “You sound just like my father”

“That’s a handsome compliment”

“One wholly deserved”

The need to confess what she meant to him surfaced The need to tell her that he had loved her for so long The need to say that loving her was the only thing that made him feel whole

By way of a distraction, he said, “What’s it like?”

“Desire?” she said, confused

“No Loving your parents”

The words carried the weight of a burden he’d lugged around for years The guilt he bore for his lack of feeling The crippling sense of inadequacy, the belief that he was somehow to blame

She pursed her lips and took a ranted But I couldn’t have wished for a better childhood, couldn’t have wished for better parents”

He could sense e before water filled her eyes

“I didn’t ht yourin the shadohen you ca downstairs, when you collapsed into your father’s arms”

She blinked back her tears “You were the person who came to see my father in his study?”

“We often hed “Your pain has stayed with me It made me feel normal Everyone suffers Those who are loved and those who aren’t”

She dabbed at her eyes “There is no love between you and your parents?”

“None” Guilt tightened its noose around his neck “When I saw ht, I didn’t embrace her I didn’t welcoer the lonely child Can’t be the loving son she lost”