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"Callum Gallagher?" Malone frowned and then looked at Sabine. "Isn't he the brother of…?"
Sabine immediately looked sad, and I knew she was thinking of Seamus. Fuck, this woman had loved my brother so hard, so deep. I would always be grateful that he'd felt that love before he died. Could she love me like that? Maybe. But the question was could I love her back—hard, deep, and forever?
Fleur’s words came to mind then as she read a poem to me by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.
She'd introduced me to poetry when I told her I never really cared for it. She'd bought books and taken me to poetry readings at Baldwin & Co.
"I met your brother a few times," Malone told me. "I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Thanks. Would you like to join us?" I asked politely.
Malone looked at his watch and nodded. "I got here early. I'm meeting an old friend. I'd love to catch up with you, Sabine."
Sabine cleared her throat then. "Why don't you call me? Callum and I are on a date."
Malone looked surprised and a little pissed off. I hid my shock. A date? When had that happened?
"Of course, I'll talk to you."
Sabine sat down and smiled at me. "I'm sorry about that. I don't know why he said yes to a drink."
"I asked him," I pointed out.
She smiled sweetly at me. Could I love her all the way from my soul so I could see hers? Was I capable of that?
"Callum." She held out a hand, and I put mine in hers. "I know Daddy talked to you about us."
Fuck! I wasn't ready for this conversation, not when every time I closed my eyes, I saw Fleur.
She licked her lips. "I feel safe with you. And I think that Seamus would have wanted us to take care of each other."
That I could relate to. Seamus would have wanted me to be there for his wife—but would he want me to be intimate with her? I tried to think about it from my side. What if I died, would I want Seamus to fuck Fleur?Absolutely not!
But why the hell not? Fleur wasn't my wife. She was nobody.
She was your Grian, your sunshine,the voice inside my head that was doing a whole hell of a lot of talking these days said.
"Sabine, I don't know," I finally decided to go with honesty.
"Don't know what?"
She had such soft eyes, and I didn't want to add to her pain with rejection when she'd shown so much courage by broaching this subject with me. "Sweetheart, you know I care about you."
"I know." She smiled shyly.
"I'd do anything for you," I added; because it was true, I would.
"Then love me," she whispered, her heart in her eyes. "Please, Callum. I'm so lonely, and I just want to be happy. You make me happy. No other man has made me feel what you do. Not since Seamus."
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. This wasn't quite how I'd expected this to happen. I was going to ask for time, and then…thenwhat?
"I do love you," I told her because I did. "But I need some time."