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Ethan hung his head and closed his eyes, rubbing a palm over his face.

“Then I hope that she would find it in her heart to forgive me,” he told them brokenly when he faced them again. “Not for myself, but so that she might find the peace that I so cruelly deprived her of.”

“And what if she does not?” Alice asked him softly. “What if you have already hurt her beyond repair? What if she is so broken that she no longer believes in all the things you now want her to believe in?”

Ethan blanched. A world where Phoebe no longer believed in love was a world devoid of color. She would be a husk of her former self, and it would all be his fault.

“Then I will make it up to her every single day for the rest of my life,” he told them softly. “I would let her know how much I love her every single day, even if she no longer believes it—or me. For the rest of my life, she will only know how much I love her, and I will not stop even after I have breathed my last breath.”

For a moment, the entire parlor seemed to be stunned into silence at his solemn oath. The three ladies looked at each other, and Ethan could almost see the thoughts spinning in their heads, hear the words that were being communicated by their gazes alone.

Women were such complex creatures—nurturing and fierce at the same time. A striking duality of light and dark, radiance and sensuality.

And out of all the women in the world, it was Phoebe who fit him perfectly. Phoebe who matched him in every aspect, who matched him toe to toe, word for word.

It was Phoebe who showed him how to love even when he believed himself incapable of it.

As he wallowed in the uncertainty of his situation, Ethan was certain of only one thing—helovedPhoebe.

She was his light, and he would spend the rest of his life loving her.

Alice raised her head and smiled—not at him, butpasthim.

“What do you think?” she called out.

“I think I have heard enough,” a familiar voice replied.

That one voice that tugged at his heart and made the blood in his veins sing.

He would recognize that voiceanywhere.

He turned to the doorway, the breath leaving his chest as he looked at Phoebe, radiant as the moon, her eyes twinkling like golden stars against a cloud of emerald velvet.

And wonder of all wonders—she waslooking at him.

CHAPTER 37

Can I trust him?

Can I trust him to be telling the truth this time?

Her heart pounded so loudly in her chest that she feared the entire household could hear it. Her knees were knocking into each other even as she tried to maintain her serene demeanor as she looked at Ethan from the doorway.

A part of her was glad to see him stewing in regret, but men said many things and then forgot them. Could she trust him to truly mean what he was saying?

Or was he simply saying what hethoughtshe wanted to hear?

She had to find out for herself, and she could not do that with Alice and their friends around.

“Are you sure you will be all right with him?” Scarlett asked her, shooting Ethan a quick glare.

Phoebe smiled slightly. “He cannot hurt me any more than he already has.”

She watched as her husband grimaced.

He needed to hear that. He needed to know that she had been hurt so much that it would take more than just a quick apology to fix all the damage.

She was no longer going to hide herself and her feelings just so others could feel better about themselves.