He doesn't speak, but she can feel him boiling under his skin, as he did in the first days they were together. He wears a hunted look around his eyes, like an animal caught in a trap.

"I'm not asking for a marriage proposal, Curtis. I just want to know that whatever this is -- it's serious. It's something worth fighting for. Worth waiting for."

The longing still runs through her words, clear and bright, even as her fear surrounds it like storm clouds.