Chapter 12

“Carol?”

“I can’t marry you, Daniel. I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t marry me?” He jumped to his feet. “You love me.”

“Well, yes, I love you but I…” She struggled to find the right words, but had to settle for the truth. “I don’t want to marry anybody. We don’t have to get married to be together, Daniel.”

“I want to marry you and take you home and start a family,” he said slowly.

Carol held up her hands, sudden fear chasing away the last memories of their lovemaking. “Take me home? You mean to Mountain Grove? Daniel, I’m never going back there. That’s not my home. San Francisco is my home now.”

“But you just said you wanted us to be together,” he pointed out, pulling on his pants.

“I do. Here. We can have a whole new life together, right here. You’ll see…”

Daniel shook his head. “I can’t stay here, Carol. I have to get back to my mother, back to our land. I have a life there. I can’t just abandon it.”