If Crane did not want a wife, even in the most practical sense, then what was he seeking a doomed marriage for? As if having a woman present in his life would make the urges go away, and not make them even stronger; as if a shield could prevent rather than simply deflect an attack on his integrity.

Malachi reasoned with a frown, "if anything, constable, having a wife will not make you less lonely because there is someone in your bed. It will only draw your attention to the fact that it is not him beside you."

He had no experience with marriage, of course, but that seemed rather obvious enough. Crane's follow-up question had him hesitate.

How had he... gotten over it?

Through no means applicable to the constable's situation, he was afraid.

"I... I had to accept that there was nothing I could do," but he supposed when the other person was dead, it was a little different.

"That things between us would not change whether I spent my life in grief or not. No one deserves to waste the rest of their time alive on being caught up in the past, or wishing for what can never be, or holding onto someone just because you want, so desperately, for them to hold onto you. I had to accept that they never would. The rest of moving on followed after that."