Without her many layers Melody was without her armor. She had no defense — no fan to hide behind for this conversation. Instinctively, she drew her robe closed as he entered, some last ditch effort to hide herself — and her feelings from him. It wasn't his fault his family despised her, after all. Ben did the best he could given the circumstances (even if he had brought up children less than ten minutes in).

A heavy sigh slipped past at his apology. There were so many things they each had to apologize for (though her trespasses were admittedly far worse) that the list felt endless. "It's not your fault." She answered weakly. "They weren't prepared for you to elope, obviously. I don't blame them for their opinions." Hatred was the word she wanted to say, but her desire to not incite another argument outweighed her honesty.