Resurrecting Harry by Constance Phillips Page B

that instant connection they had always shared would reignite itself. Her offer of a room gave him hope that she felt something for him. Her reaction to his arm told a different story. But which one was a true reflection of her feelings?
    “It’s a preposterous idea any way,” Bess snapped. “A man your age should be focused on finding a wife and having children. Family. That’s what’s most important in this life.” She clamped her mouth tight and pursed her lips. Walls visibly crumbled and the too familiar grief took their place.
    Erich wondered if she held Harry accountable that they’d never started a family. He knew the answer to the question he was about to ask. He was well aware of the pain not having children caused, but to Bess, Erich shouldn’t have a clue. “Did you want children?”
    “My husband would have been a wonderful father. Yesterday...that child...Harry would never let a toddler get out of his sight like that woman did.”
    Why hadn’t he connected these dots yesterday? When he allowed himself to think about it, he now knew the answer to the question he asked, “Is that why it affected you so much?”
    Bess stopped at the corner and waited for a car to clear the intersection before starting across the street. Only when they were on the other side did she continue. “Being deprived of something makes you see the world’s inequities a little clearer.” Her matter-of-fact tone did little to hide the jealousy that kept her words sharp as knives.
    “Children are fast. It wasn’t the mother’s fault.” No matter how true the words, Erich knew they wouldn’t change her feelings. Harry believed their lives to be full, but knew how much Bess longed for what they’d never had.
    “If she had to go just one day without, I bet she’d keep a tighter hand on that precious baby.”
    “You think Harry understood that?”
    She didn’t answer, but continued walking up the street. To resist the temptation to touch her again, he pushed his hands in his pockets and matched her stride. She continued a moment later by saying, “Family was important to Harry. His parents and siblings, mine too, he held them all dear. We used to believe we’d be blessed when the good Lord saw fit. Sometimes I wonder if he withheld his gift because our focus was so firmly placed in our work.”
    We? Even though she made it sound like they both held some responsibility , he knew better. Harry constantly drove the two of them further, always wanted more fame. Did Bess know he only wanted it to provide for her and that someday family? Erich suspected she shrouded Harry’s desires with a “we” for the benefit of the stranger she thought he was. For so many years, he’d clung to the notion they’d one day be blessed. In her mind, his drive was the sin and never experiencing the joy of children its punishment.
    Erich opened his mouth to defend Harry, but thought better of it.  Any attempt to explain the feelings brewing inside him would seem cheap and insincere. He wanted to comfort her, but she already refused his touch once. Still, he couldn’t let her grief lay there open between them and not say anything. “I know I’ve just met you, but I think you’d have been a wonderful mother.”
    A soft smile played across her face. Why did those words from a stranger mean so much? Having touched something, he continued. “There are mysteries and pains to the world that cannot be explained. I’m so sorry you had to endure even one.”
    She nodded in his direction and looked away. Even so, he caught a peek of her eyes, shiny with tears. He wanted to kiss them away, but if she’d gotten so angry at the offer of his elbow, she’d throttle him for even trying.
    He’d pushed enough, maybe said too much. Getting Bess to trust him was going to mean walking a fine line, just like the tightrope he’d learned to master at a young age. It would just take time and patience, but he’d overcome this too, even though his time was