"I -- "

Us, she said. Which means -- something. And he could ask, but . . . it doesn't seem much like she wants him to. Not now, anyway.

"It'd put you in danger. They were trying to let you have lives, to grow up . . . without having to lose anything. Or at least, as much as she could keep that loss away?"

The plural isn't an accident, but he's still not asking.