Instead, I kissed Gil’s head and anywhere else I could reach, murmuring reassuring nothings against his damp skin, telling him I’d be there, that I wouldn’t leave him alone. That I cared. That he meant the world to me. And in time the shaking stopped, his breathing evened, and he fell heavily into my arms. And as he slept with his eyelashes laced over his cheek, his heart beating strong against my chest, and his arm still tight around my waist, I whispered, “I love you.”
