Chapter 31
“I want you, no, I need you to understand what I’m about to say, I mean from the bottom of my heart. I’m not saying it out of a sense of obligation. I mean it totally.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, God, this is so difficult.” He then looked directly into my eyes. “Simon…I…I love you.” He buried his head in my lap and wept.
I couldn’t speak. My mind was turning cartwheels; did he say what I thought he’d said? It seemed that what I had wanted for so long had finally come to pass. He loved me, just as I loved him. Oh, joy of joys, sing hallelujah! I never thought another man, let alone one as beautiful both inside and out as Mark, would ever say those three magical words to me. I thought about the sincerity on his face and in his words. Yes, he truly meant what he’d said. I couldn’t speak, but I could move. I rubbed his shoulders and then I stroked his hair.
Eventually I found my voice. “Mark, please look at me.”
He slowly lifted his head.