I may never embrace her again, he thought. It was hard to believe. For weeks he had lain with her every night and touched her as familiarly as he would touch himself. And now, suddenly, it was forbidden. And she was like a stranger.
She turned away without another word. Tom knew she would not change her mind now. She never vacillated. She was a person who made a decision and then carried it through.
She is going to miss me as much as I will miss her, he thought. After a while, when her anger has died down, and she has settled into a new routine, she will hanker for someone to talk to, a hard body to touch, a bearded face to kiss. Then she'll think of me. But she was proud. She might be too proud even to come back if she wanted to.
He sprang out of his chair. He had to tell her what was on his mind. "Will you come back one day, just to see us? If I know you're not going away forever, that I will see you again sometime, if only for a little while... if I know that, then I can bear it."
She hesitated. Reluctantly he let her go.
-- From "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett
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