And all the while, he sang to her.The Lady of Shalott. The Bonny Swans. The Sheep Beneath the Snow. Ben had a fine voice. And not once did he stutter.
Another minute, another hour passed—maybe, she didn’t know—before she could speak.
“I’m sorry.”
Ben stopped singing. “N-no.”
“I am.”
“No,” he said, firmer. “You will never apologize, to me or to anyone, for that pathetic excuse of a human being.”
He stroked her hair.
He started singing again.
“You have a beautiful voice, do you know that?” she asked after a while.
He stopped, nuzzled the top of her head, and sighed.
“No one’s ever told me that.”
“That’s because you sing under your breath, where no one can hear you.”
“Except for you.”
Charlie nodded. “That makes me lucky.” She looked up into his face as best she could. “No one’s ever called me a princess.”
“That’s because no one ever saw the woman under the armor.” He shifted until he could look into her eyes. “But I can see both—the warrior and the princess. Because you’ve shown me both. And that makes me a lucky man.”
A tear slid down Charlie’s cheek. Ben was smart enough to let it fall freely.
“How much did you hear?”
He closed his eyes. “I should have come out sooner.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want you to. I didn’t want—” She took a shuddering breath. “I wanted to be strong and handle it myself. I wanted to hide you. From him. The way I’ve always hidden the things I love from him.”
She went stiff as she realized what she said.
“I love you, Charlie.” Ben brushed a lock of hair off her forehead. “I love all of you.”
“I love you, too, Ben.”
He held her close.
“When you’re ready,” he said, “I want you to pack your art supplies, and anything else you want for the rest of the week, and I’m taking you to my house.”
“That sounds good.” Right now, her apartment felt polluted. And what if he decided to come back?
She knew Ben understood.
NINETEEN
The kitchen smelledlike coffee and the faint sweetness of maple syrup from the pancakes Ben was keeping warm in the oven. His princess was still sleeping and he didn’t want to wake her just yet.
In spite of everything, he was nervous about today. He wanted it to be perfect.
Charlie had been living with him for two weeks now, ever since Desmond went off like a nuke in her apartment. The first few days she'd been cautious, afraid to move anything or claim space. She asked if it was okay to make coffee. Asked before she opened the fridge. She'd practically asked permission to use the bathroom.
