I Want to Know What Love Is

They sat on the couch facing one another.

"Are you sure you don't mind me doing this?" he nervously questioned her.

She dropped her eyes down and saw that his hands were almost as, if not more, shaky then his voice.

"I'm sure," she whispered reassuringly to him.

He continued to sit there, shaking like a scared schoolboy.

He tried to reign his unsteady breathing back under control.

It was his inner voice that was in overdrive this time.

Go ahead, she won't bite. What are you waiting for?

For the first time, he was almost relieved that he couldn't see her or her face. That way if he disappointed her, he wouldn't have the additional humiliation of seeing it on her face as well.

Sensing his nervousness and uneasiness, "Here, let me help you," she offered.

She cupped his severely trembling hands into her own and brought them up to her cheeks. She pressed the palms of his hands into her cheeks and then spread out his long fingers, with her own on top.

She closed her eyes and blocked out everything else around her, allowing herself to get lost and drown in his touch.

His touch was just so warm.

Like a parent teaching their child how to ride a bicycle, she knew she would soon have to "let go."

Carefully and slowly, she detached her hands from his.

He was still terribly nervous, she could tell that by the way he caressed her face. The periodic tap of his fingers as his unsteady hands traveled up and down her cheeks.

To compliment his caress, she tilted her head in kind.

He dropped his right hand down and turned his left one over and started to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand.

She involuntarily flinched, which didn't escape his attention, and he immediately withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

She opened her eyes and saw that his face had dropped. He looked ashamed.

"For what?"

"Y-you pulled away from my touch. I might not be able to see you, but I can…which can only mean that I-I…that I've done something wrong," he stammered and berated himself.

"I'm so sorry. If it makes you feel better, I disgust myself."

Her heart broke at his admission.

Her knight had such low self-esteem when he shouldn't. It just broke her heart to see him beat himself up and she wondered if subconsciously this was in reaction to something he couldn't remember.

"You silly sod," she playfully teased him. "It was the hair on your knuckles, it tickles. That's all."

She brought his hand, which was shaking even worse than before, back to where he had withdrawn it. "Please, continue," she requested.

His trembling hand finally made its way to the top of her cheek and met with her long, locks of hair.

Now with both hands, still shaking, he combed his long fingers through her equally long, velvety locks.

"What color is your hair?"

"Auburn."

He leaned in and sniffed.

She opened her eyes briefly, worried, and then saw something she had never seen before, a smile on his face.

What a smile it was.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"Cherry bark and almonds."

Moving on, he continued to go over every crevice of her face.

"What's the color of your eyes?"

"Brown."

He concluded his study of her face by sliding his finger down her nose, landing it to a rest on her lips.

His breathing started to get heavy and unsteady again as his nervousness kicked into overdrive.

"I-I love y-you D-Daphne..." he stuttered and confessed as he cradled her face in his trembling hands and brought it in close to his own and went to kiss her.

Bloody Lies

Her own actions surprised even her.

She pulled away.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry." She got off the couch and went to sit in the overstuffed chair.

"No, I-I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, I've pushed you and you weren't ready," he apologized.

"It's not you, it's me," she explained.

"Before I came to America, I was engaged to me boyfriend Clive, and before I moved here, I broke it off with him because I had a vision that there was someone else I ought to be with."

Neither said anything.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to hurt you."

Though the hurt in his eyes belied his next statement, he reassured her, "Don't worry, you didn't hurt me, I'm fine." He sniffed and placed his finger under his nose.

"Could you please hand me a tissue, my nose is bleeding."

He dropped his face again and vowed, "Just so you know, I will never hurt you again. I promise."

She looked over at him and saw that his nose was profusely bleeding and that both his hands were already covered with blood.

She grabbed a huge wad of tissues and lifted his head, and stuffed the tissues under his nose.

"What on earth could have started this?" she asked rhetorically and continued to apply heavy pressure to his nose.

After several long minutes and a box and a half of tissues, she was finally able to get his nosebleed under control and slowed to just a trickle.

"Just lay back, but keep these tissues under your nose," she instructed. "I'm sure you're very dizzy right about now."

He slightly nodded and closed his eyes, as she got back up and went back over to the chair.

Neither said anything. Finally, after a few more uncomfortable minutes of silence, she carefully offered her explanation she was about to give when his nosebleed started.

"Listen to me, you didn't hurt me. I know you would never purposely hurt me. But you have to look at things from my point of view. We have no idea who you are. For all we know, you could have a wife and kids somewhere who are desperately trying to find you and bring you back home. You might even have a dog."

Then more quietly, she concluded, "I just can't risk falling for you only to lose you to somebody else."

He opened his mouth to protest her declaration, to ease her fears, perhaps both, but nothing came out.

"I just can't. I'm sorry again that I hurt you," she apologized.

Even though his life was a blank page, he still remembered what heartache felt like, since he was feeling it right now. Additionally, he had his manners and respected her and her wishes.

Chest fallen, but always the gentleman, and putting aside his own pain and hurt he finally said, "And I told you, you didn't hurt me," he repeated as his trickling nosebleed started to get heavier again.

"If that's how you feel and if that's what you want." He concluded and sniffed.

"It is."

To be continued…