He answered slowly.
“I want to be a good father.”
“That’s one thing.”
“I want to become somebody you can trust.”
“That’s another.”
Mark nodded.
“And?”
He looked at her.
“If there ever comes a day when you want to try again, I want that.”
Emily was silent.
“But,” he added, “I don’t want you to do it because I waited long enough.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want good behavior to become another way of pressuring you.”
Emily’s eyes softened.
“That may be the smartest thing you’ve said in twelve years.”
“I’m putting it on a plaque.”
“Don’t ruin it.”
He smiled.
Then left when he said he would.
Their first marriage counseling session happened two weeks later.
Emily suggested it.
Mark almost asked if that meant she was coming home.
He stopped himself.
Instead he said, “I’d like that.”
