And So I Did

     When I came home today, she sat rigidly, a book in her lap, running her tongue over her teeth.

     "I needed you today."

     "I'm sorry; I was busy." 

     "You know that I need you," she said earnestly as she looked up. 

      I stood still, my eyebrows slightly raised and my jaw twitching. Her eyes began to water and she plugged them with her knees.

     I sank down next to her and pulled her in. "I love you, and I will never leave you." I wanted to leave her right then. I expected her to weep, and so she did; she expected me to stop loving her, and so I did.