“I’ve missed you,” he said.
I stayed silent.
“You don’t have to hear me out. If I were you, I probably wouldn’t. Not after everything I’ve done. I just wanted you to know that I was an idiot. A complete idiot. I didn’t like being pushed into a relationship and so I was resistant to it. Right away. Even when I knew we were mates, I didn’t want anything to do with matrimony. When I thought my parents were pushing me into it, I resisted as hard as I could, even going so far as to pick someone all wrong for me just because I wanted to keep my autonomy. But I was miserable. And trapped. I felt torn between what I wanted and what my heart wanted. Make no mistake, Maron. My heart always wanted you. It was my big, dumb head that kept getting in the way.”
My hands began to shake.
“I hated the way you challenged me, insulted me, made me see the bigger picture. I didn’t want to see any of that. I wanted to see what I wanted. I was shortsighted, hot-headed, insulting, and mean, Maron.” He let out a short laugh. “But I’m asking you to forgive me.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know how egotistical this sounds. I know you probably want to punch me in the nuts. But I can’t help it. I want you.”
“What about children?”
“We have hundreds of years before we have to think about it.” There was a hopeful look in his eyes. “You haven’t punched me yet.”
“I’m still debating on the area,” I said. “We’d have to be extremely careful.”
He reached over and took my hands. “Maron. I don’t care. I just want to be with you. I destroyed an entire forest and when the lightning was raining down around us and I thought I was going to die, all I could think about was not being able to see you one more time.”
“But you were going to marry her.”
He hung his head. “I was.”
“Even after I threw myself at you.”
“Yes.”
“Twice.”
His nostrils flared. “I know.”
I pushed the soup aside, stood, grabbed my purse and left.
