He stumbled through his words, making complete sense and absolutely no sense at the same time. She probably had the least context of everyone regarding Ben's marriage. She'd actively avoided articles and gossip about him and Mrs. Crouch in the time she'd known him, not wanting any mean-spirited rumors to impact their budding friendship. She'd only ever heard that they'd eloped rather suddenly, which she'd always assumed was a testament to their love rather than... complications, but now she was rethinking that, too.

"Last year I — there was an incident at sea, and I hit my head, too. Everything was fuzzy for a while, and I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about everyone around me. I lost some things that I'm not sure I ever got back," she explained, letting her palm slide off her cheek and onto the table in the space between them. "Has the healer indicated that she would ever remember things... as they were?" The mediwitch—that dormant but ever-enduring part of herself—wanted to hear a list of symptoms, to examine it from the medical perspective, but she knew that wasn't what Ben needed.

"What I mean to say is... have you talked to her about the way things were before?" Ari had done that for her. Loyal, patient Ari—he'd talked her through her accident, through their past and their family. Maybe Ben was too scared—or maybe he had tried, and nothing had changed.

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