Recap.
Without thinking, I reached for him. My hands rested on his shoulders, tracing the tense lines that ran through them. "You don't have to carry it all tonight," I said softly.
They lay side by side, the room quiet except for their breathing. He stared at the ceiling for a long time, as though the answers he needed were hidden there. Erica didn't rush him. She never did when she sensed the weight sitting on his chest.
"My mother was never soft," he finally said. His voice sounded unfamiliar, stripped of control and certainty.
I turned toward him. "But she loved fiercely."
He let out a slow breath. "Yes. Fiercely. Everything I am came from watching her endure things she shouldn't have had to." His jaw tightened. "She survived so I could stand where I am."
"And now?" I asked gently.
"And now I don't know if I'm mourning her," he admitted, "or protecting her."
My hand stilled against his. "Benjamin… what does that mean?"
