The longer they'd been here the more Ben's anxiety had waned, but he was aware that it wasn't the same for Melody. She was obviously on edge through the entire afternoon. He couldn't blame her, but he also couldn't soothe her. He wasn't sure if telling her any details from the previous day would have helped anyway or only made things worse, but even if he'd wanted to he barely knew what had happened himself. But he knew what time he'd gotten the letter from Diana Abbott, roughly, so he knew that they were past it now — and in his heart he'd already believed that she was saved the moment they'd left the Abbott house. It was a change, and he wanted it to be enough, so he had decided that it was, and having made it to the evening without any sign of disaster had only convinced him he was right.

"It won't happen," he reassured her, moving one hand to rub her arm. He wished he hadn't let on about it at all, because he hated to see her this strung up, but at the time it had seemed necessary to convince her to leave in the first place. "Nothing's going to happen to you." Not while I'm here.

For a few moments he just laid there, breathing and watching her and occasionally moving his fingertips lightly along her skin. "I didn't, either," he eventually said, quiet. "I only regretted not loving you better."

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