"Stay like that. Close. Don't go."
She stayed, pressing her face down tighter, rubbing her cheek against his rough tweed. He put his arm round her shoulder, holding her there; his fingers stroked, stroked the back of her neck, pushed up through the fine roots of her hair, giving her the caress she loved. Her nerves thrilled with a sudden secret bliss.
"Jerrold, it's heaven when you touch me."
"I know. It's hell for me when I don't."
"I didn't know. I didn't know. If only I'd known."
"We know now."
There was a long silence. Now and again she felt him stirring uneasily. Once he sighed and her heart tightened. At last he bent over her and lifted her up and set her on his knee. She lay back gathered in his arms, with her head on his breast, satisfied, like a child.
"Jerrold, do you remember how you used to hold me to keep me from falling in the goldfish pond?"
"Yes."
"I've loved you ever since then."