“Please, honey. Don’t start crying again.”
“I’m trying not to
.”
He rose to his feet slowly, his head starting to thump and thunder again, and took her into his arms. It was kind of difficult, trying to comfort her the way a husband should, but he tried.
“Listen, Beth,” he whispered against her cheek. “It’ll all come back to me. It’ll all come back eventually and I’ll remember. But for now ... for now, you’ll have to bear with me. I don’t know where I’ve been, or what I’ve done, so don’t tell anyone I’m here. Please! Don’t tell a single soul! No one!”
“But why, Nick?”
“Because I could have killed someone. I could be a thief, a desperado or something. I don’t know. I could even have gotten married...”
[p35]
“Oh, darling!” She collapsed on his shoulder and began crying violently again.
“Honey, honey! I didn’t say that’s what I’ve done. It’s just that I don’t know. Whatever I am, I can take my medicine, but I want to know what it is first. You’ve got to understand that.”
She tried a smile, blinking back the tears that lay close to the surface, and he forced a smile to pull at his mouth. It was difficult to comfort her, yet he knew that it was his duty to do so. She’d been through a hell of a lot, and she had the memories of it. He did not. Despite the alien feeling that was welling within him, he knew that she was the only person who could help him return to himself. Whether he loved her or not was immaterial; he needed her desperately to show him to the man he was. Perhaps it would all come back then.