“And your mother… what happened with her?”
“I grew taller. Stronger.” Theodore paused in binding her wrist. “One day, she raised the fire poker to hit me, and I stopped her. I took the poker out of her hands and threw it against the wall. She ran, screeching about what a demon I was.” He scoffed. “A day later, she moved out of the house.”
“Thank God,” Margaret murmured with a sigh. “Theo…” She reached out toward him. He didn’t stop her or catch her hand, he just let her place it on his chest.
Overawed that he was now so free with her, she laid her hand to the center of his chest.
“Don’t let them mark you forever,” she pleaded. “Your mother… her darkness, don’t let it affect the rest of your life.”
“Ah, Maggie.” He sighed. “It always will. There’s something more I need to show you.”
He stood, her hand falling from his chest. She sat back, watching as he turned and started to take of his cravat. Speechless, she watched him remove his waistcoat next and then his shirt.
What is he doing?
He faced her as he pulled the shirt over his head. He looked in agony, ashamed, unable to look her in the eye.
“What is it?” she asked. Any wish she had to admire him, to marvel at the strength and tone in his body, paled when she saw his expression.
Slowly, he folded up the shirt, though he seemed to lose the will to be so neat as he dropped it loosely onto a chair nearby, then he turned around to face away from her.
The candlelight bathed his back, revealing hundreds of white scars across his skin.
Margaret stumbled to her feet, kicking over the teacup between them, in her alarm, though neither of them made the effort to right it again. She ran toward him, reaching out but not quite touching his back.
The numerous scars were vivid. It shocked her, to see what both his mother and father had done to hurt their child.
“How could they do this to you?” Her voice hitched at the terror of it all. They took out their angers on life on their son, a boy that they should have loved.
“See?” Theo whispered over his shoulder, looking at her. “The marks will not go away.”
“No, perhaps not, but they will fade.” She moved toward him. Without thinking about what she was doing, she hugged him from behind, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing herself against his scarred back.
She wouldn’t have been surprised if he had thrown her off him, demanded to be released. It was the kind of thing he might have done in the past. Instead, he laid a hand over one of hers on his waist.
“You are not horrified?” he asked.
“Of course not.” She lifted her head from his back, looking at him over his shoulder. “They will fade, Theo. Maybe you cannot see it now, but they will. What you can see here, the scars you feel, too, they will fade in time. Just live your life to the full. Don’t let them win by cowering away from a life fully lived. I beg that of you.”
He turned to face her, prompting her to loosen her arms. She shifted so that her hand rested on his chest, over his heart. He looked down at that touch, but he didn’t touch her back.
“It seemed simpler, to pull away, not to let these shadows affect anyone else.” He met her eye. “If you stay with me, Maggie, this darkness… it won’t go away completely. It’s part of me. Why would you want to be anywhere near that?”
“Because there is a lot else to you. You just haven’t been looking for it as hard as I have been,” she said with a smile. To her surprise, he mirrored it. He even looked tempted to laugh.
“What is it about you?” he whispered. “You could have run from me a thousand times, as many have done when I so much as glare at them, but you never did. Even when I ran from you, you didn’t quell. You cried.” He raised his hand and cupped her cheek, gently. “Why would you cry for losing me?”
“Shall I tell you why?” she whispered, moving so she was that bit closer to him, looking up into his eyes as he caressed her cheek. “Because I care for you, Theo. I care for who you are, deep in here.” She shifted her fingers on his chest, aware of the way he inhaled deeply, apparently stunned at her touch. “And no matter what you say to me, even if you tell me until you are blue in the face that you have a heart of stone –”
“I did say that, didn’t I?”
“You did. I will not believe you.” She shook her head. “Because I have seen your heart. It’s a strong heart, courageous, brave, and holds itself in a little locked iron chest not to let anyone else near it, but it’s there all the same.” She smiled up at him. “Could you honestly tell me, Theo, that after you came and pulled me out of that cellar you do not care for me?”
He blinked, clearly startled she had said these words.
“You dragged me out of there, clutched tightly onto me, as I did you. Surely… I am not so much of a fool to think that I am the only one risking their heart here. Am I?” she asked, holding her breath as she waited for her answer.
He closed his eyes and leaned toward her, resting their foreheads together.
