I couldn't sleep with her next to me.

It's one thing to want to be a bigger man. It's completely different to assume that you are.

My life thus far, untainted by ill temper, prejudice, greed, even religion, had ensconsed me, rolled me out to greet the world. I was the man who fought for the powerless, from the playground to the courtroom. I was the man on the covers of the local newspaper, the man who shocked the nation when my pale hand, wrapped in the dark grip of a powerless woman was held aloft.

I would die for that powerless woman.

Just as surely as I thought I would die for the woman next to me.

She's pale. Like cakes of snow on grass, the green blanket wrapped around her. Her lips are pink and parted and she's snoring just so slightly.

She'd a secret.

I told her I wouldn't judge her for it. I loved her! She could trust me.

She told me.

I smiled and I kissed her, and I was horrified to find that my stomach was disturbed. She felt it instantly and rolled over.

"Did I make a mistake? I shouldn't have spoken."

I didn't answer her.

I thought I was a bigger man.