"I did want it. But I do not want it now. When I wrote that letter I had forgotten my promise."

"You shall have your promise back again if you want it. I shall not hold you to it, or to anything, if you'd rather not."

"I can never have my promise back—I made it to Edie."

"To Edie?"

"Yes. A short time before she died."

His face brightened.

"What did you promise her?" he said softly.

"That I would never leave you."

"Did she make you promise not to?"

"No. It did not occur to her that I could leave you. She did not think it possible."