Chapter 10 - What Aayoka Feared
Elias had assumed Aayoka feared losing another husband.
He was wrong.
Her fear was different.
“I don't want to replace Tahoma,” she told him one evening.
They stood beneath the porch roof while snow fell.
“I wouldn't ask you to.”
“I know.”
“Then what scares you?”
She looked at him.
“That you think loving me requires forgetting him.”
Elias understood.
He had spent years believing a new home would betray the old one.
A new family would somehow erase his first family.
Maybe Aayoka carried the same impossible loyalty.
He stepped closer.
“I don't want you to forget him.”
Her eyes filled slightly.
“And I won't forget mine.”
“Then what are we doing?”
Elias considered the question.
“Building something that comes after.”
Aayoka smiled.
“After?”
“Not instead.”
That was the first night they kissed.
It was quiet.
Brief.
Almost uncertain.
Then Aayoka rested her forehead against his.
May you like
Neither needed anything more.
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