Bearclaw Valley one voice tells me that they laugh

she did not resist when he pulled her near.

something about it acted like a floodgate. perhaps the reassurance that it was okay, that it would only be between them. she did not sob outright, but her tears continued. sniffles and uneven breathing into the thick of his chest.

i just wanted it to be okay. i just wanted to...make it stop, to fix it.

to control things, to put them right for all the times she felt she had never been able to.