*Faith*
My heart lurches, my stomach roils, and the tightness closing in around my chest makes it difficult to breathe. All the pain I have been feeling for myself now shifts over to him. With one hand, I cradle his jaw. I can't find the words, all I can do is hold his gaze, while the tears roll over onto my cheeks.
With his thumb, he captures my tears. "Don't cry, darling. It was a long time ago."
"But it never leaves you." I say softly.
"No, it doesn’t. But you don't have to let it own you, and for the longest time, I did. I thought what happened to me made me unworthy, unworthy to love, unworthy to be loved. I thought those men left something ugly inside me that it would touch others. That it would touch you." He circles his thumb around my cheek. "That night you came here, I wanted
