Author's note
Thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited this collection so far! I always love to hear from you.
This little drabble was written to mark the birthday of the lovely nitapostsblog - thank you for the prompt and I hope you enjoy this!
No regret
Tom stirred in his sleep and reached out for Sybil. Realising she wasn't in bed with him, he got up and walked into the living room to find her.
She was sitting by the window, feet drawn up under her nightgown, staring unseeing out of the window. When he touched her shoulder, she jumped.
"Sybil, love, are you all right?"
She turned her eyes up to meet his and he saw they were full of unshed tears.
"What's wrong, darling? Please tell me."
She still didn't speak, and he knelt down in front of her, looking into her face.
"Tom, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"Sorry, Sybil? Sorry about what?"
"For taking so long to make up my mind to marry you. When I think about all the time we've missed together, that we can never get back, I regret it so much…"
Her voice broke a little and a couple of tears escaped her eyes and ran down her cheeks. He wiped them away, hastening to reassure her.
"Sweetheart, don't cry, please don't cry. We're together now, and that's all that matters, that's more than enough for me."
"I should have said yes to you back in York, all those years ago, Tom – I was in love with you then, so desperately in love, but I was too afraid of what saying yes to you might mean. I was a fool, such a cowardly fool."
"No you weren't, not at all – you were so brave, choosing the life you wanted in spite of your family, standing up to them, fighting for our love." He took her hands in his, running his thumbs over her knuckles – "There's nothing for you to regret, I promise – we've got a whole lifetime together to look forward to. Remember when I told you I'd wait forever for you? I wanted you to take whatever time you needed, to be sure that a life with me was the life you really wanted, that you would be happy with me."
"Tom, oh darling – being with you makes me so happy, I really don't know what I did to deserve you." Her eyes met his, a smile curving the corners of her mouth.
He leaned in to kiss her cheek then put his arms around her, holding her to his heart. "Me too, Sybil – being with you, being your husband, it's the dream that I still can't believe came true."
They stayed by the window for a while like that before he picked her up and carried her back to bed. She laid her head on his chest and he tightened his arms around her, pressing a kiss into her hair as their breathing softened into sleep.