QUOTE : He came for me. But the Vicar never got very far with what he intended. I was not raped.” A sudden, rather awful thought assailed her. “You do believe me, don’t you?”<br /><br /> A wide grin spread across his handsome face. “Darlin’, I don’t believe in God, but I believe in ye.”<br /><br /> “Michael, that’s blasphemy,” she chided, even as she couldn’t keep the corners of her own mouth from turning up.<br /><br /> “No,” he said, very serious now, “that’s love. I hear ye, I believe ye, and I love ye, me darlin’.”<br /><br /> She looked at him mutely, too afraid to ask.<br /><br /> But he nodded as he drew her into his arms. “I love ye, Silence O’Connor, with all me black heart.”<br /><br /> “I don’t think your heart is all that black.” She smiled though tears sparkled in her eyes again. “I love you, too.