“Then you think this is a true relationship?” she said looking up at him through the water.
“It could be,” he said. “If you’d allow it.”
“But we don’t love each other,” she reminded him.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” he answered her. “Because eventually our love will blossom. I trust that as surely as I trust that you need me now. That need will grow to something more.”
“So you really think I’m a w***e?” she asked, remembering that accusation.
“I certainly think despicable things of you when you misbehave,” he said. He made her turn so he could look at her face as the water beat down on her back. “The truth is,” he softened much as he spoke, “I find you so gloriously perfect, I can’t stand the sight of anyone having you without my directing that moment. You are so precious to me,
