Julian was looking at her with that expression she could never quite find the right word for, not just love, though it was love, but something that love only becomes after years, after difficulty, after watching a person make choices repeatedly that prove who they are in the quietest and most private ways.
Admiration that has become so settled it no longer needs to announce itself.
"She is becoming a better person," Amara said. "That is what I saw when she came to the office. She was not the same girl she was before. She had sat with the truth of things and let it change her, and that is not a small thing. That is, actually, one of the hardest things a person can do." A pause. "So yes. It was all worth it."
She reached forward and picked up the cup of tea that had been sitting on the table in front of her, cooler now than she liked it, and wrapped her hands around it the way you hold something when you want the warmth more than the drinking.
