And I would have felt the collapse of my heart no less keenly than when I did finally hear the news, but he would have been beside me. Those grey eyes looking at me right up until the point when my heart remembered it had to keep me alive for several more years yet. And once I’d recovered—not from the bitter truth, but from thinking it would take me down with him—he would have lifted his chin and given me that sought after mark of his approbation: the single nod, followed by a smile braced with as much determination as he could manage.
