44

BRIAN'S POV

I wasn't sure if to be excited about her welcome, or suspicious about it.

It sure didn't feel right, but I was just happy to be seeing her wearing a smile again, and at the time, that was all that mattered to me.

I picked her off the ground, in my arms like a baby and headed straight in.

“Welcome home, Cinderella,” I said.

She looked at me with a broad smile and I walked right up the two flights of stairs to my room.

I placed her gently on my bed and took a deep breath.

“It sure feels good to be home,” I said, looking around.

“I'm sure it does,” she said.

I knelt in front of her, as she sat up right, with her legs on the floor on the edge of the bed.

“Princess,” I called, holding her hands in mine, “I know that no amount of apology would fix what I have broken, or make it right, or bring back what was lost.”

“But I want you to know, hard as it is to believe, that I would never do anything intentionally to hurt you,” I said.

“I've been through pain, I have lost