Page 80 of Finding Amanda

Amanda yanked her hands away, grabbed a T-shirt out of the pile beside her, and buried her face in it. Her shoulders shook with sobs.

Her blond hair, tangled and disheveled, fell forward. Hestroked it gently. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that before. I should have. It never occurred to me you wouldn't already know how I felt."

"Don't," she said, the single word muffled by the fabric of the T-shirt.

"I'm an idiot. What do I know about this stuff? All I thought about was myself and my anger. It never occurred to me to think about what you needed me to say."

"It's too late."

"No, it's not. Look at me."

She looked up, and he saw raw pain, pain that he'd put it there. He hated himself for it. "Amanda, it's not too late. I didn't tell you then, but I'm telling you now. It wasn't your fault. You were taken advantage of, and that man is a pig. A pervert. What he did to you . . ."

She lowered her head, so he crouched down and met her gaze. "What he did to you was unthinkable. He stole your innocence. Don't let him destroy our marriage, too."

Tears dripped off her chin onto her pajama pants.

He held her shoulders and tried to pull her close.

She resisted.

"Please, Mandy. I'm not asking you to make a decision right now. Just wait. A month. Give me one month to try to convince you."

"I don't know."

"Tomorrow's November first. Give it till December first. Please. Is that too much to ask? We can spend Thanksgiving together." Her eyes widened, almost fearful. "Not with my mother. Here, at our house. As a family." Another thought occurred to him. "I can go to New Hampshire with you this weekend."

"What about the girls?"

"I'll have Mom watch them."

"No. Now that your mother knows we're separated, she'll turn them against me."

"I promise she won't, I won't let her. She loves them." With his knuckle, he wiped fresh tears from her cheek. "I'd like nothing more than to spend the weekend with you."

Her voice was weak, tentative. "I'm not going to have any free time."

"I'll bring a book. If nothing else, at least we'll have our nights together."

She blushed and turned her head.

Against his will, his heart throbbed with a fresh dose of hope. "Please? We can spend some time together without confusing the girls. And I want to be with you. There's no place I'd rather be than with you this weekend."

She pushed her hair behind her ears. "I don't want you to get your hopes up. I mean, I don't think I'm going to change my mind. But, if you really want to come this weekend . . ."

Mark could hardly sort throughhis emotions on the cold drive home. Thank God Amanda had agreed to put off filing for divorce. As she walked him to the door that night, she'd agreed to wait thirty days. What if they hadn't slept together? Would she have called him the next day?Hi! Thanks for taking the girls trick-or-treating last night. We need help getting the stupid ghost off the porch ceiling. And by the way, I'm filing for divorce . . .

Thank God he'd talked her out of it. And thank God she was going to let him go with her to New Hampshire. Not only would he be able to spend the weekend with her, but he could protect her. He wanted Sheppard to show up. They could end this thing once and for all.

But what made him think he could change Amanda's mind in a weekend or a month?

Despair seeped into him like the cold night air.

No, he wouldn't think that way. He'd been praying for a miracle, and tonight he'd gotten one. God was at work. Faith. He had to have faith. This weekend, nestled in the beautiful White Mountains, he would court her like he had when they'd first met back in Providence. He would win her back.

Driving his truck around his apartment building with a renewed sense of purpose, Mark scanned the lot automatically. The cars all belonged here except one. A racing green Porsche was parked to the right of the front door. He looked toward the Dumpster and spied a pile of broken-down cardboard boxes. Seemed the new renter had moved in to the apartment across the hallway, just like his landlady had promised.

Why would anyone who could afford a Porsche move into this building? Finding no plausible explanation, he parked his car and unlocked the exterior door of his building.

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