Totoka River and stood awhile in thought

"it is me."
how she had grown! how tall she was, and yet small, girlish and yet with a hint of the woman she might be. all he had missed, embodied now before him —
i thought you were dead, said a tiny voice inside him, one the mayfair harshly bit back — for a moment he only assured himself she was indeed existent, indeed real.
"i'm s-so s-sorry, blossom. i'm s-so —" his chin was tremulous; the corners of his mouth moved in emotional twitches; the tears were running once more. "i n-never knew what h-happened, not to t-this day."