"No, no that doesn't sound silly at all. And I'm sorry for your loss--even if it was a long time ago." He doubted it could have been that long ago; she had a young face. If she looked after herself as well as Dorian or Vivienne did, she might be ten or fifteen years his senior at most, but he doubted that.

"It's always good to love again, even if it's hard," Krem said, a bit cautiously. Dorian's advice about hope sort of rattled about in his head, and Krem reminded himself that he ought to let himself do his healing first before anything else.

The waiter arrived with the chocolate cake pudding and fruit, and the new bottle of port wine. There were two spoons for the pudding, and Krem smiled a bit cheekily at Adaline.

"Did you intend to share that? I wouldn't want to presume."