Mrs. Lovett's face burned with embarrassment.
She struggled to remember everything she had said—she knew she'd said something stupid about him being a man. That was embarrassing, but not too terrible. What else had she said?
There were other things. Important things.
"I thought you'd leave after I didn't respond, so I waited for you to give up on me," he murmured.
She was feeling very stupid now.
"And then, when you started talking, I figured I would wake up suddenly in the middle of what you were saying so you would leave," he grumbled.
Her head hurt from straining to remember what she had said.
"Figured and you'd never be the wiser." he added.
What had she said?
"But then you started saying things I never thought you would say… you mentioned Lucy."
Lucy. Of course. But had that been it?
"I want to ask you something."
He looked into her eyes, then, and she felt tears form again. For a moment, he was the ever-gentle, ever-charming Benjamin Barker. His eyes had a hope in them that she barely recognized.
"Is she really gone? Is she really dead?"
For a moment, Mrs. Lovett wanted desperately to tell him that she wasn't—Lucy was alive. But wouldn't it hurt him terribly to see her the way she was? Wasn't it better for him to remember her only the way he loved her?
Wasn't she protecting him?
Or was she being selfish and horrible? Would lying to him help or hinder their relationship in the end? Mrs. Lovett wasn't certain. She hated lying to him, but it kept them together.
"Yes," she whispered. A single tear fell as she spoke. She hoped, with only the glow of the moon serving as light, he wasn't able to see her face. "She's really gone."
He looked pained, though not nearly as pained as he had looked the first time she had told him.
His eyes drifted back to the ceiling. "There was one more thing."
One more thing? What else had she said?
And suddenly, it hit her. She knew what was coming. There was no way to avoid it.
"You said…that you loved me."
Of course. She had told him she loved him.
How could she have been so stupid?
She leapt up and turned to the door. "Wait!" He barked. She ignored him. She approached the door, her fingers trembling as they reached for the door knob.
"Wait," he said again.
She paused.
She heard the floorboards creak as Sweeney Todd got out of his chair. "Wait," he said again.
Mrs. Lovett lingered in the doorway, her hand hovering above the door knob. "Yes?" She asked, her voice sounding far more controlled than she had expected it too.