Right now was about her. She needed time to process this information, not be attacked because he loved her so vehemently and needed to feel her in his arms again. "We grew up together. We were best friends," he said, keeping his tone neutral. Just giving her the facts.
"So you know my family?" she asked, the tears still present, reminding him so much of the last morning he saw her back home.
Her mind was probably spinning with questions, so he set his own needs aside, and let her take the lead. "I know them very well."
Her body seemed to buckle under his words, and she cried while bent over.
Ben's fingers touched her back lightly and that seemed to be the catalyst for her. She threw herself into his arms this time accepting him and wrapped her own around him. Three years. He had held hope and waited for three years. And she was in his arms.
"I want to see them. I want to know them. Ben, will you help me?" she asked, looking up at him from where she rested against his chest.
"Yes. Yes. I'll give you everything back. All your memories and your life."
Her head lowered, but her cheek remained pressed to his chest. He held her this time for both of them, and whispered, "You were so loved. You are so loved. You are loved more than you can imagine."
When the phone in her purse beeped she stepped back, and he caught a glimpse of panic in her eyes. "I have to go, but I need to know more. I've felt so confused about my past, and can't believe I might finally get some answers. When can I see you again?" Ben had missed looking into those eyes. His memories and photos didn't do them justice. Maybe it was because he was seeing them in person again, and he would take tear-filled to the absence of them any day. Deep down, he believed he could relieve those tears and the pain she felt. It must have been so lonely for her, to not know anything about her past. Who she was. If she had family. Friends. A job.
"When can you meet next? Later?" he asked. "I'll be there-anytime, anyplace. Just name it."
"I, um, I'm not sure. I have a meeting with the caterers right now and then I have my personal trainer. Ugh! Then there's a dinner I agreed to go to weeks ago. I'm sorry. I can't meet again today, but I'll move some things around. Can we meet here tomorrow at the same time?"
"Caterers for the wedding?" She was engaged and planning her wedding-to the dark-haired Dr. Chicago Under Forty. This realization was another punch to the gut, winding him.
She had been engaged to him in another life, but now she was marrying someone else in this one. In the last twenty-four hours, she had come back into his life. Sure, she was engaged, but wasn't that supposed to change now that she knew the truth? Wasn't she supposed to remember the love they shared? Ben didn't know what to expect when he told her she had a life back home (with him), but he could acknowledge he thought she'd be single, as if waiting for him.
Although, to assume that, was he being hypocritical? He had Rebecca. And Grace was a beautiful woman. Of course someone would see her and want her.
Last night he thought he'd had a chance. She wasn't married. For some reason though, in the harshness of the daylight hours, he realized that she was getting married and this discovery and pain would be for nothing. Feeling agitated by this prospect, he changed the topic. "Why do you have a personal trainer?"
"Being a physician, Hunter likes us to stay in shape."
"You were perfect as you were. You're more stunning than ever, but you were already perfect."
He knew he'd given himself away by saying that, but he meant every word. As he watched her tears dry, he felt their connection slowly reestablishing itself.
"I need to ask you something else, Ben."
"Anything."
"Were we ever more than just friends?"
It was obvious. He wore his heart on his sleeve as if the shirt designer intended it to be exposed. Ben knew too much, or at least, more than a friend might know. When he didn't respond right away because of the debate warring in his head, she looked at her watch and took a step backward. "I have to go. I'm already late." But before she dragged herself away, she stopped and looked up into his eyes as if seeking the truth.
"We were more than friends, weren't we?"
That ended the debate. Why protect her from the truth? The truth, in its own form, could be the catalyst to set her free. So he looked straight at her, and neither his stance nor voice wavered. "Yes."
5
Ben Edwards
Grace has amnesia.
The situation was not what he expected, and he wasn't sure what to do. Grace has amnesia.