Tears welled in her eyes, catching the harsh light as they fell. "At first, I told myself it was just gratitude—for everything he'd done for me, for how he protected us. But it wasn't that." She looked up at Frank then, her eyes wide and shining with a painful mix of shame and wonder. "He told me he loved me, Papa. Said he'd loved me from the very first day he met me, despite the ghosts in both our pasts."
She drew in a shaky breath, her voice softening into a whisper that trembled with truth. "And so I accepted his love. Even when I shouldn't have."
Frank's shock deepened, his misty eyes searching her face. "In love? With that man? Eli, my girl... that's a whirlwind I never saw coming. But if he loved you, what happened next?"
