Marie leaned her head back on the couch. Richard brought her a cup of tea, and she held it between her hands and let its warmth, and aroma soothe her troubled mind.

She really was going off the deep end. Everything that happened could have been coincidence-A whole lot of it. But suspecting Karen because she smiled a certain way, that was even silly for her. Marie opened her eyes. Rich sat in an easy chair across the room as lost in his thoughts as she had been. "I'm sorry, Rich."

His eyes popped open. "For what?"

"For making you suspect Sheri." Had she really been so jealous as to try to destroy what happiness he might have found? She smiled at his confused look. Yes, she could.

"Don't worry about it, Princess."

A sob escaped Marie's lips. "Don't call me that." She could see he understood, but there was a fleeting look of pain too. "Please. I don't deserve it."

Richard got up and crossed the room in two lunging steps. He grabbed her from the couch, and pulled her close as her tears started to fall. "We just got caught up in everything that was happening. It was so fast, and so often, it would have been scary for anybody." He squeezed her tighter, and it felt so good. Marie never wanted him to let go. But he did. He pushed her back and lifted her chin to look into her eyes.