Dancing in the Moonlight - Harlequin.com

210 DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
Sensing she needed to talk more than listen to him
spout more platitudes, he remained silent, just holding
her close.
“I’m alive. I know I am. I’m alive and I should be
grateful. Two of my team weren’t so lucky. Every time
I start to feel sorry for myself, I see their faces and I’m
so ashamed.”
His arms tightened around her. “Have you ever
thought maybe you should cut yourself a little slack?”
“Easy to say, Dr. Dalton. Not so easy in practice.”
“You didn’t plant that bomb, Maggie. You were over
there to help people, just doing what you signed up to
do, when you were caught up in circumstances beyond
your control. You’re certainly not to blame for surviving
when your friends didn’t, for getting a second
chance even if it’s not exactly the life you would have
chosen for yourself.”
He paused and pressed a soft kiss to her hair, wondering
how his heart could bleed at the same time it continued
to expand to love her more deeply than he ever
thought possible.
“You’re not responsible for what happened to you,”
he went on, his voice low. “But you are to blame if you
don’t grab that second chance you were given and run
with it.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not doing
much running these days.”
“Walk, hop or crawl on your hands and knees if you
have to. But move forward. That’s all you can do, sweetheart.
It’s all any of us can do.”