She did not press him further, and he could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that he could trust her not to be the sort of woman who could not take an answer as it was. He nodded quietly as he listened to her sniffles, hoping that she might have been able to relate his current fears and insecurities with the ones that had consumed him in his youth.

He kissed her back softly, then more hungrily, and then not at all. He abruptly broke the kiss and buried his face into her bare neck, seeking the soft of silent comfort that he'd tried to give her nights before.

After a moment, though, he turned his head, both so he could breathe and so he could speak.

"I never wanted be like her—or him, for that matter. Not with my child. Not with my wife."

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