Page 102 of Sol
As we turned down the next street, almost to my apartment, I stopped him mid-stride.
“I have so much to tell you.” I started saying, then covered my mouth with my hand, unsure of what he thought of me. A few people walked by, but we were out of the confusion and rubble. “I read yourletter.”
He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay.”
“Trent. You have toknow—”
A flush crept across his cheeks. “I wrote it a long timeago—”
In the middle of the cobblestone street, I put my hand on his chest, right by his heart. “Trent. I loveyou.”
His mouth fellopen.
“I’ve always loved you,” I continued. “I love how caring you are. How watchful. You put my needs before yours. That is the very definition oflove.”
He shook his head, incredulous, almost dazed. As if he couldn’t believe what I was saying. “I’m not worthy of you. I vowed to protect you…look what just happened. I promised myself, hell, I promised Degan that I’d look after you. But I failed.” His head dropped down, but his eyes looked up atme.
“No, youdidn’t—”
“I did.” His hands fell to his sides. “I’m not the right one for you. For your sake, I need to leave you alone. I hurt you just being around you, by making you dredge up too much misery. I don’t want to see you in pain. I’ll let yoube.”
“No!” I yelled. I placed my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. “No. I love you. You’re my Trent. You make me real. I lived in a fake, fairytale land. One I constructed. None of it was real. You made me real,Trent.”
He tilted his head and paused, then cleared his throat, not saying anything. Shaking his head again, he said, “No, Dani. You always were real. I didn’t doanything.”
“You broke me loose. Don’t you understand? Before, I lived in a prison of my own mind. One I created. And you helped me escape by smashing the bars and letting mefly.”
“What does thismean?”
“It means I love you. Always have. Alwayswill.”
Blinking as if he didn’t believe me. “But I failedyou.”
“You won me. You are the bravest soldier I’ve ever met. Who else would fly halfway around the world to tell the girl he loved that Degan had died? It must have given you absolutenightmares.”
I didn’t get a reaction from him, but that was confirmationenough.
“Don’t you see? We belong together. You’re my base. You support me. And you help mefly.”
He bowed his head. “You give me a reason forbeing.”
“And you give me a home. One I never thought I’d haveagain.”
“Oh, Dani.” He lifted his head, opening his eyes. Then he took a step forward and hugged me tight, kissing me everywhere, careful with my bandage. “I love you, too,” hesaid.
Held in his arms, in the middle of this disaster, not knowing what happened or what was going to happen, I knew that with him by my side, I could surviveanything.
Even my brother’sdeath.
And I knew that he was the most loyal, glorious man I’d evermet.
“Want to know something?” I asked, needing him to know that he really and truly wasforgiven.
“Yeah.”
“I know you would have died for mybrother.”
With a reverent move, he laid his hand on his heart and closed his eyes, nodding. My Trent was beating himself up because Degan was the one to die, not him. But if the situation had been reversed, he’d have done the same thing as my honorable, courageousbrother.
