Page 26 of Midnight Snack

“That’s because those mean old ladies starved you’ve.”

She frowns. “No, as mean and cruel as they can be, they’ve always made sure I had plenty of food to eat.”

“Not starved of food, but of love and affection. Hell, even basic human kindness.”

She chokes on a sob.

“So much so that you don’t even know what it looks like when someone is so in love with you.”

Again I thumb away her tears, then I pull her into my lap.

“Caroline, as long as it takes I’ll be by your side proving to you what love looks and feels like. I’ll be patient, but I don’t ever want to be apart from you again. Just being near you soothes my soul.”

“You love me?”

“Yeah, cher, I love you.”

“That Cajun accent is dangerous. It’s probably best you don’t talk in your videos or you’d have a lot of restraining orders to file.

“That so?”

She nods. “You’re right that my family hasn’t shown me an ounce of affection. But I have the very best friends. Those two women out there are my chosen family and they’ve shown me more love than I thought possible. So I do know what it feels like. Enough to know that I’m in love with you too.”

“So we get our happy ending?”

She smiles. “Yeah, I guess we do.”