89 After We Get Out Of Here

That was embarrassing to admit out loud but I didn't want to lie. It had taken the craziness of the last few days for it to finally sink in that I had fallen in love with him. I was even denser than Franz.

A glorious smile lit my husband's face and he stroked my cheek with his thumb. What he said next shook me to my very core. He said thank you. He was thanking me for loving him.

His life had been so horribly sad and devoid of love that he thought it was necessary to thank me for what I realized now was completely natural relationship progression. Arranged marriage or no, Al was a lovable guy once you got to know him. As averse as I had been to staying with someone I had married out of necessity I had been doomed to fall in love with him from the start because of the kind of person he was.