Monday, August 5, 2013

Gabriel's Rapture - Chapter 46


Julia opened her eyes and saw bright July sunlight streaming in through the open door of the tent. She was curled up under two cashmere blankets that had been lovingly tucked around her. She was alone. Were it not for the fact that she knew that the tent belonged to Gabriel, she would have thought that she’d dreamed the previous evening. Or that she’d woken up to a new dream.
As she got out of bed, she found a note next to her pillow.
Darling,
You were sleeping so peacefully that I didn’t want to disturb you. I’ll ask Rebecca to make waffles for breakfast because I know you like them. Falling asleep in your arms again reminded me that I was only half a person in your absence.
You make me whole.
With love,
Gabriel.
Julia couldn’t deny the fact that a variety of emotions came upon her as she read the note, like a symphony of different instruments. Perhaps the most dominant feeling was that of relief.
Gabriel loved her. Gabriel had returned.
But forgiveness and reconciliation were two different things, and she knew that although other forces had been at work to effect their separation, she and Gabriel each bore responsibility for the situation in which they currently found themselves. Julia didn’t want to run back into his arms only to escape the pain of their separation;
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that would be like taking a pill to kill a pain without investigating its root causes.
She found her shoes and slowly walked across the garden, retrieving her purse before entering the back door. Rebecca was already at work in the small kitchen, preparing breakfast.
“Good morning.” She greeted Julia with a smile.
“Good morning.” Julia motioned toward the staircase that led to the second floor. “I was just going to use the bathroom.”
Rebecca wiped her hands on her apron.
“I’m afraid Gabriel is in it.”
“Oh.”
“Why don’t you knock on the door? He might be finished.”
The thought of running into Gabriel, damp from the shower, wrapped in a towel, made Julia’s skin grow pink.
“Um, I’ll wait. May I?” She gestured to the kitchen sink and, with Rebecca’s permission, proceeded to wash her hands. When they were dried, she removed a hair elastic from her purse and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
Rebecca invited her to sit down at the small, round kitchen table. “This house isn’t very convenient with only one bathroom. I end up having to climb those stairs several times a day. Even my little house has two bathrooms.”
Julia was surprised. “I thought that you lived here.”
Rebecca laughed as she retrieved a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice from the refrigerator. “I live in Norwood. I used to live with my mother, but she passed away a few months ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Julia gave Rebecca a sympathetic look as she poured orange juice into two wine glasses.
“She had Alzheimer’s,” said Rebecca simply before returning to her cooking.
Julia watched as she plugged in an electric waffle maker and proceeded to wash and hull a basket of fresh strawberries and whip some cream. Gabriel had planned the breakfast well.
“It’s going to be an adjustment to keep house for a professor after looking after my mother. He’s a bit particular, but I like that. Did you know that he’s lending me books? I’ve just started reading Jane
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Eyre. I’ve never read it before. He says that as long as I keep cooking I can keep borrowing books. Finally, I have a chance to further my education and use everything I learned from years of watching the Food Network.”
“He’s lending you books from his personal library?” Julia sounded incredulous.
“Yes. Isn’t that nice? I don’t know the professor very well, but I’m already fond of him. He reminds me of my son.”
Julia sipped her orange juice and began to eat her breakfast, urged as she was not to wait for Gabriel’s arrival.
“I don’t know why he bought this house when the kitchen is so small and there’s only one bathroom.” She spoke between bites of a cinnamon flavored waffle.
Rebecca wore a knowing smile. “He wanted to live in Harvard Square, and he liked the garden. He said that it reminded him of his parents’ place back home. He plans to renovate the house to make it more comfortable, but he refused to book a single contractor until you gave your approval.”
“My approval?” Julia’s fork clattered to the floor.
Rebecca efficiently handed her another one. “He might have said something about selling it if you didn’t like it. Although given the language I heard coming from upstairs this morning, I think he has decided to begin his renovations immediately.”
She passed a plate of crispy bacon to Julia. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the professor can be a little intense.”
Julia laughed loudly. “You have no idea.”
She was able to enjoy not one but two waffles before the sound of Gabriel and his Italian shoes came thumping down the stairs.
“Good morning,” he greeted her, kissing the top of her head.
“Good morning.” Acutely aware of Rebecca’s presence, Gabriel and Julia made polite small talk for a moment or two before Julia excused herself to visit the bathroom.
With one look at her face and hair in the mirror, she realized that she needed to have a shower. And that’s when she noticed a shopping bag placed neatly on the corner of the vanity.
Inside the bag she found bottles of her old brand of vanilla shampoo and shower gel, along with a new lavender-colored poof.
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Even more surprisingly, she found a pale yellow summer dress with a matching cardigan. It took a moment or two for her to overcome the sudden, almost overwhelming feeling that passed over her. But she swallowed it back and showered and dressed, making herself presentable.
She was grateful to have clean clothes to wear but slightly irritated at Gabriel’s presumption. She wondered if she’d find lingerie in her size hanging in his closet. She wondered if, when he moved the contents of his condo, he kept all the clothes and items she’d left behind.
She swept her hair behind her ears. Grace’s earrings were hidden in the back of her underwear drawer with a few other precious things, in her apartment. She knew that putting them away, although it seemed necessary when he left, had injured Gabriel deeply.
They’d wounded each other, and both were in need of forgiveness and healing. But Julia couldn’t decide what path would be the best one to take in order for her to mend. The obvious choices in life aren’t always the correct ones.
When she finally came downstairs, Rebecca was cleaning up the kitchen and Gabriel was in the garden. She found him sitting in a chair under the shade of a large umbrella.
“Are you all right?” she asked, for his eyes were closed.
He opened his eyes and smiled. “I am now. Join me?” He extended his hand, and she took it, settling herself in the chair adjacent to him.
“That color suits you,” he said, appraising her yellow dress with unconcealed delight.
“Thank you for going shopping.”
“What would you like to do today?”
Julia tugged the hem of her dress to cover her knees. “I think we should finish our conversation.”
He nodded, silently renewing his prayer. He didn’t want to lose her. And he knew that her reaction to the next part of his story might bring about just that.
“I know you remember our conversation in the hallway, after the hearing. When John was rude to you, I wanted to break off his finger and feed it to him.”
“Why?”
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“I don’t think you comprehend the depth of my feeling for you. It goes beyond wanting to be near you, or to protect you. I want you to be happy, and I want you to be treated you with respect.”
“You can’t break off people’s fingers when they’re rude to me.”
He made a show of stroking his chin thoughtfully. “I suppose not. What can I do? Strike them with the collected works of Shakespeare?”
“In one sturdy volume? Of course.”
They shared a laugh before falling silent for a moment.
“I wanted to communicate what had happened behind closed doors, but I was ordered not to talk to you. That’s why I spoke in code. Except I stupidly quoted Abelard, forgetting that you and I had different interpretations of his relationship with HĂ©loise. I should have quoted Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, anyone.” He shook his head.
“You were so angry. You accused me of fucking you. Julianne…” Gabriel’s voice broke as he pronounced her name. “Did you really think so lowly of me? To think that was how I would choose to say good-bye?”
Julia looked away, avoiding the intensity of his gaze. “What was I supposed to think? You wouldn’t talk to me. You left the next morning without leaving a note. And then at the hearing, suddenly it was over.”
“I didn’t trust myself to speak with words. When I made love to you, I thought you understood what I was trying to say — that we’re one. That we’ve always been one.”
“You were talking about our conversation in the hallway after the hearing,” she prompted, eager to change the subject. “I don’t understand how they could have forced you to leave the city.”
“They couldn’t, really. Jeremy simply wanted my word that I’d stop seeing you.”
She folded her arms in front of her. “Then why did you leave?”
“Jeremy discovered I broke my promise before we exited the building. He demanded I break things off with you and swear on my honor that I would stay away from you. I’d already told him I’d do anything if he helped us. I had no choice.”
Julia thought back to her exit interview with the Dean and Professor Martin, just before graduation. “Why did Jeremy think you
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broke your promise? You wouldn’t talk to me or answer my messages. You sent me an email telling me it was over.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’d hoped you’d read between the lines and realize it was just for the administration. I’d sent you another email before that from my Gmail account, saying it was only temporary.”
“No, you didn’t.”
He retrieved his phone. Scrolling through a few screens, he settled on something. Then he fixed distressed and haunted eyes on hers.
“After the hearing, I ducked into the men’s room and quickly sent you an email.” He gently took her hand. “Here,” he said, giving her the phone.
Julia quickly glanced at the screen.
Beatrice, I love you. Never doubt that. Trust me, please. G.
She blinked several times, trying to assimilate what she saw typed in black and white with what she’d experienced. “I don’t understand. I didn’t receive this.”
Gabriel gave her a tortured expression. “I know.”
She looked at the screen again and saw that the date and time of the email corresponded with Gabriel’s story. But the addressee of the email was not her. In fact, the actual recipient was someone entirely different.
J.H. Martin.
Julia’s eyes widened as the magnitude of Gabriel’s error suddenly became very, very clear. Instead of sending the email to Julianne H. Mitchell, he’d sent it to Jeremy H. Martin, the Chair of the Department of Italian Studies.
“Oh my God,” she breathed.
He plucked the phone from her hand, muttering curses. “Every time I tried to do something for you, it backfired. I tried to save you, and the hearing officers were suspicious. I tried to give you a clue in conversation, and I made you feel like I’d abandoned you. I tried to email you, and I sent the email to the very person who’d forbidden me to contact you. Honestly, Julia, were it not for the fact that I hoped that someday we would be having this conversation, I would have stepped out into rush hour traffic on Bloor Street and ended it.”
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“Don’t say things like that. Don’t even think it.”
Julia’s sudden show of fierceness pleased him, but he found himself back-pedaling quickly. “Losing you was a low point for me. But suicide isn’t an option I’d entertain again.” He gave her a look that seemed to signify much more than he could say at that moment.
“Jeremy was furious. He’d put his career and his department on the line to help me and I’d gone behind his back two minutes later. Now he had proof, in writing, that I was breaking my agreement with the committee. I had no choice but to do whatever he said. If he sent my email to the Dean, the repercussions would have been devastating for both of us.”
At that moment, Gabriel and Julia were interrupted by Rebecca, who joined them on the patio, carrying a pitcher of homemade lemonade garnished with a few frozen raspberries that floated delicately in the cloud of yellow. She served their drinks with an encouraging smile and vanished back into the house.
Gabriel drank greedily, enjoying his reprieve.
“So?” prompted Julia, sipping her lemonade.
“Jeremy told me to stay away from you. I had no choice. He held Damocles’s sword in his hand.”
“He let you go?”
“With a handshake and a promise.” Gabriel grimaced as the memory of that dreadful conversation haunted him. “He showed me mercy. Then more than ever I felt obligated to keep my word. I resolved not to contact you directly until you were already assured your place at Harvard.”
Julia shook her head stubbornly. “But what about me, Gabriel? You made a lot of promises to me. Didn’t you think about keeping them?”
“Of course. Before I left Toronto, I put the textbook in your mailbox. I thought you’d find the passage in Abelard’s letter and read what I wrote on the back of the photograph.”
“But I didn’t realize it was from you. I didn’t even look at it until the night you came to see me. That’s why I was running outside. I didn’t have an internet connection in my apartment and I wanted to email you.”
“What would you have said?”
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“I don’t know. You have to understand that I thought you’d had enough of me. That you’d decided I wasn’t worth the trouble.” Tears sprang to Julia’s dark eyes, and she brushed them aside.
“I’m the only one in this relationship who was never worth the trouble. I knew I’d put myself in a situation in which I was careless with your heart. But it wasn’t done to hurt you. It was pride and bad judgment and mistake after mistake.” He looked down at his hands and began to turn the wedding ring around his finger.
“Katherine Picton tried to help me. She said she’d see that the university left you alone during my absence and that she would do everything she could to help you graduate on time. She mentioned that an old friend of hers had left the Department of Romance Studies at Boston University in order to take a position at UCLA. She wanted my permission to nominate me as his replacement. I asked her to go ahead.
“I interviewed for the position, and while I waited for their decision, I went to Italy. I had to do something to shake myself out of my depression before I did something I would regret.”
Julia’s stomach suddenly tightened. “Something you would regret?”
“Not women. The mere idea of being with someone else made me sick. I was more worried about other — vices.”
“Before you go any further, I need to tell you something.” Her voice was stronger and more determined than the will behind it.
Gabriel began to watch her carefully, wondering what in the world she was about to reveal.
“When I told you that my relationship with Paul didn’t go beyond friendship, what I said was true. Technically.”
“Technically?” Gabriel’s eyebrows flew up and his voice lowered to a growl.
“He wanted more. He told me he loved me. And we — kissed.”
Gabriel was silent for a moment or two, and Julia watched as his knuckles whitened.
“Is Paul who you want?”
“He was a friend to me when I needed one. But I never had romantic feelings for him. I think you know this already, but you ruined me for other men when I was seventeen.” Her voice trembled.
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“But you kissed him.”
“Yes, I did.” Julia leaned over and with a gentle hand, brushed a lock of hair away from Gabriel’s forehead. “But that’s all. I had no idea you were coming back to me, but I still turned him down.” She withdrew her hand. “Not because I wouldn’t have had a good life with him. But because he wasn’t you.”
“I’m sure that distressed him.” Gabriel sounded sarcastic.
“I broke his heart,” said Julia, her shoulders hunching. “And I took no pleasure in doing so.”
The sight of Julia’s obvious discomfort tugged at him, but he couldn’t disguise the relief at her admission that he had no rivals in her affection. He squeezed her shoulder before he spoke.
“I was worried that if we had any contact and Paul found out about it, he’d run and tell Jeremy.”
“He wouldn’t have done that. He was good to me, even after I broke his heart.” Julia smoothed imaginary wrinkles out of her yellow dress. “I know you said you were faithful, and I’m not questioning you on that. But did anyone — kiss you?”
“No.” He smiled ruefully. “I’d make a good Dominican or Jesuit, don’t you think? With my new virtue of celibacy? Although I discovered during our separation that I don’t have the disposition to be a Franciscan.”
Julia gave him a quizzical look.
“That’s a story for another day.”
She squeezed his hand in affection and withdrew it, silently willing him to finish his story.
“If I wasn’t offered the position at BU, I was going to resign my job in Toronto. All I had to do was keep myself together until after graduation.
“I wanted to feel close to you, to remember a happier time, so I went to Italy. Truthfully, Julianne, those days with you in Florence and Umbria were the happiest days of my life.” He averted his eyes. “I even went to Assisi.”
“To become a Franciscan?” She smirked.
“Hardly. I visited the Basilica and I thought I saw you.”
He looked over at her hesitantly, wondering if she would think that he was disturbed. “Your doppelgänger led me to the lower church and down to the crypt, to the tomb of St. Francis.
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“At first, I stared at the young woman, wishing she was you. Wishing I hadn’t made so many mistakes. I was confronted by my own failures. My sin. I’d made an idol of you. I’d worshipped you, like a pagan. Then when I lost you, I was in danger of losing everything. I told myself I needed you to save me, that I was nothing without you.
“I began to see how I’d been given chance after chance. Through no goodness of my own, I’d been given grace and love. And I’d thrown it away or treated it cheaply. I didn’t deserve the family who adopted me. I didn’t deserve Maia, who was the best part of my relationship with Paulina. I didn’t deserve to survive the drugs and graduate from Harvard. I didn’t deserve you.”
He paused and brushed at his eyes again, but this time the moisture didn’t abate.
“Grace isn’t something we deserve, Gabriel,” Julia said softly. “It comes from love. And God wraps the world in second chances and sticky little leaves and mercy, even though some people don’t want them.”
He kissed the back of her hand. “Precisely.
“In the crypt of the Basilica, something happened. I realized you couldn’t save me. And I found — peace.”
“Sometimes we search for grace until it catches us.”
“How are you not an angel?” he breathed. “Whatever happened to me, it made me want to be good. My experience caused me to focus on God, but also to love you more. I’ve always been attracted to your goodness, Julianne. But I believe I love you more deeply now than before.”
She nodded as her eyes suddenly blurred with salt water.
“I should have told you that I loved you sooner. I should have asked you to marry me. I thought I knew what was best for you. I thought that we had all the time in the world.”
Julia tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat.
“Please tell me that it isn’t too late, Julianne. Please tell me I haven’t lost you forever.”
She stared at him for a moment, and put her arms around him. “I love you, Gabriel. I never stopped. We both made mistakes — with our relationship, with the university, with each other. But I hoped that you would come back to me. That you still loved me.”
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She kissed him on the lips, and Gabriel felt an overflowing of joy mixed with guilt.
He was embarrassed, she could tell. But Julia also knew that his damp eyes were the result of a myriad of things — exhaustion and frustration, and the pain that lingers from a prolonged depression.
“Then you’ll stay?” His voice was soft.
She hesitated just long enough for him to feel worried.
“I want more than what we had before,” she said.
“More than I can give you?”
“Not necessarily, but I’ve changed over these past few month, and I see that you have too. The question is, where do we go from here?”
“Then tell me what you want. Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”
She shook her head. “I want us to figure things out together. And that will take time.”
P
Soon it was too warm to sit outside, so Gabriel and Julia returned to the house and settled themselves in the living room. He reclined on the leather sofa, while Julia made herself comfortable in one of the red velvet chairs.
“Should we address the elephant in the room?” she asked.
He nodded, suddenly tense.
“Um, I’ll start. I want to get to know you again. I want to be your partner.”
“I want you to be a good deal more than that,” whispered Gabriel.
Julia shook her head vehemently. “It’s too soon. You took away my choices, Gabriel. You have to stop doing that or we aren’t going to get very far.”
His face fell.
“What is it?” she asked, dreading his answer.
“I don’t regret trying to save your career. I wish we could have come to a consensus about it. But when I saw you in danger, I reacted. And what’s more, so would you if I were in danger.”
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Julia felt her anger rise. “So this whole conversation, your apologies, mean nothing?”
“Of course not! I should have talked to you before I did anything. But if you expect me to be the sort of man who watches the woman he loves lose her dreams, then I can’t meet your expectations. I’m sorry.”
Julia flushed a brilliant red. “So we’re right back where we started?”
“I didn’t hold it against you when you went out of your way to protect me from Christa, or from the committee. I didn’t hold your harassment email against you, even though we both agree it was a mistake. Can’t you give me the same consideration? Can’t you give me grace, Julianne? Your grace?”
Despite his pleading tone, Julia wasn’t listening. At that moment, all she heard was Gabriel discounting her objections. Again.
She shook her head and walked to the door.
Here was the fork in the road, where the paths diverged. She could walk through the door, and everything with Gabriel would be over. There would be no third chance. Or she could stay, knowing that he refused to see his damned heroics in front of the committee as anything problematic.
She hesitated.
“Let me love you, Julianne. The way that you should be loved.”
He stood behind her, his lips vibrating against her ear. She could feel the warmth of his body radiating through her clothes and against her back.
“I am your faithful one, Beatrice. Of course I want to protect you. Nothing will change that.”
“I would rather have had you than Harvard.”
“Now you can have both.”
She turned around. “At what cost? Don’t tell me that our situation didn’t damage us, possibly irreparably.”
He brushed her hair over one shoulder and pressed his lips to the bare side of her neck. “Forgive me. I promise I won’t rob you of your dignity or our partnership. But I won’t stand by and watch you get hurt when I can prevent it. Don’t make me to revert to being a selfish bastard.”
In stubborn annoyance, Julia took a step toward the door, but Gabriel caught her arm.
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“In a perfect world, there would always be communication and consultation between partners. But we don’t live in that world. There are emergencies and dangerous, vindictive people. Is my desire to keep you from harm so great a sin that you would leave me over it?”
When she remained silent, he continued. “I will do my utmost to make decisions with you and not for you. But I make no apologies for wanting you to be safe and happy. I won’t be beholden to the rule that I have to consult you before I act in cases of emergency.
“You want me to treat you like an equal. I want the same treatment. That means that you need to trust me to make the best decision I can, given the information I have, without being omniscient. Or perfect.”
“I’d rather have you alive and carrying your shield than have you dead and covered by it.” She sounded obstinate.
Gabriel laughed. “I think the battle of Thermopylae is behind us, darling. But I share your sentiment and would ask the same of you. My little warrior.”
He kissed her neck again. “Take my ring.” He quickly slipped the wedding ring from his left hand and held it over her right shoulder. “I wore this to signify the fact that my heart, my life was yours.”
She hesitantly took the ring from his hand and slipped it on one of her thumbs.
“I’ll sell this damn house. I only bought it to be close to you. But I can find an apartment until we choose a home together.”
“You just moved in. And I know you love the garden.” Julia sighed.
“Then tell me what you want. We can take our time without making promises about the future. But please forgive me. Teach me, and I promise I will be your most willing student.”
When she was silent and unmoving for several minutes, Gabriel took her hand, leading her from the living room upstairs to his bedroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked as they approached the door.
“I need to hold you in my arms, and I think that you need to be held. That damn sofa is too narrow for both of us. Please.” He led her to the bed and positioned himself on his back with open arms, inviting her to wrap herself around him.
She hesitated. “What about Rebecca?”
“She won’t disturb us.”
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Julia was unwilling to return to his bed simply because he invited her, and so she looked around for something, anything, to distract him.
“What are these?” She pointed at what looked like two groupings of large picture frames that were leaning against one of the walls and covered by a sheet.
“Look at them.”
Julia crouched down on the hardwood floor and removed the sheet. There were about ten large photographs, stacked in two groups of five, all black and white. All featured Julia. Some included Gabriel.
She hadn’t seen most of them before as they had been framed after their separation. There were photographs from Belize, from Italy, and posed photographs that had served as part of her Christmas present to Gabriel. All were startlingly beautiful and amative.
“It was difficult for me to look at them when I thought I’d lost you. But as you can see, I kept them.”
Gabriel watched as Julia looked through the photographs once more before studying his favorite, a picture of her lying on her stomach on a bed in Belize.
“What happened to the old ones? The ones you had before you met me?”
“Long gone. I didn’t need or want them anymore.”
She placed the sheet over the pictures before walking to the bed. She looked conflicted.
Gabriel reached out his hand. “Relax. I just want to hold you.”
She allowed herself to be pulled into his arms so she could nestle against his chest.
“That’s better,” he murmured, kissing her forehead. “I want to earn your trust and your respect. I want to be your husband.”
Julia was quiet for a moment, holding her breath, as his words sunk into her consciousness. “I want us to take things slowly. No more talk of marriage.”
“Fortunately, I can wait.” He kissed her once again.
This time, the kiss escalated. Hands roamed to find purchase on muscles and curves, mouths connected determinedly, punctuated by sighs and almost breathless moans, hearts began to beat faster. It was a
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kiss to mark a reunion, to pledge the continuation of fidelity and love. Gabriel kissed her to show her that he loved her, that he was sorry.
Julia kissed him back to tell him that she could never give her heart to anyone else. That she was hopeful their shared imperfections, once acknowledged and explored, could be ameliorated in order to provide both of them with a healthy, happy life.
She pulled away first. She could hear his quickened breathing, and it cheered her that they still had this spark between them.
“I don’t expect our relationship to be perfect. But there are some things we need to work out and whether that takes a therapist or not, I know it’s going to take time.”
He met her gaze. “I agree. I want to be able to court you as I was unable to back in Toronto. I want to hold your hand as we walk down the street. I’d like to take you to the symphony and kiss you on your front steps.”
Julia laughed. “We were lovers, Gabriel. You have photographs of the two of us in bed together, just over there. Would you really be satisfied with simply courting me?”
He wove their fingers together. “I want the chance to make things up to you — to treat you the way I should have treated you all along.”
“You were always very generous in bed,” she deflected.
“But selfish in other ways. Which is why I won’t make love to you until I regain your trust.”

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