I waited until she was asleep.
This took longer than it should have because she was not a woman who surrendered to sleep easily when her mind had something to work on, and her mind had considerable material to work on tonight. I had settled her on the bed with the careful, deliberate attention of a man who understood that what had happened in this room a few hours ago had a physical aftermath that the body needed to process regardless of what the mind was doing, and I had sat beside her and said little and been present in the specific way that presence is sometimes more useful than words, and eventually her breathing had changed and her hand had gone loose against the duvet and she was gone.
I sat with her for a few minutes after.
Not because I needed to confirm she was sleeping. Becaus
