Attempting to position her self in a way that projected more confidence than she felt Ivy Braddock was experiencing a mix of emotions. She was relieved to finally have her feelings out in the open but she could see the confusion on Jim’s face. In fact that look was on the verge of breaking her heart.

Despite having thought about this very conversation for weeks she felt woefully unprepared. "Jim, I don’t want to go back to New Jersey."

She paused, searching for the right words. Her shoulders slumped as she came to the realization that she really didn’t have a good argument for her case.

"I was hoping you would grow to love the Glen like I do. Here we don’t have to worry about everything else….like my brother and David and …"

There was so much more she wanted to say. To talk about subjects that were never mentioned; yet never out of mind. How the ghosts of the past haunted them both in New Jersey and how making their home in Australia could give them distance they could never achieve by simply moving to another neighborhood in Jersey. Knowing her case could never be effectively made without them she chose to leave them unsaid, this was not the time for that battle.

"You can be a boxer anywhere in the world. Maybe I could do something here in the Glen. I don’t know perhaps open a little grocery like the one my Uncle Ian ran when I was little. One day when you’re ready to retire we would already be part of the community here. I don’t know what I was thinking…"

Throwing her hands up in the air, she closed her eyes trying to keep back the panic and tears. Slowly opening her eyes she blinked a few times before she wiped away a tear.

"I know I shouldn’t be asking you to move to the other side of the world. To give up everything you have ever known for…me."

Taking his hand in hers Ivy held it for a moment. "As long as I have you, I have everything I need. No matter where we are. I’m sorry. I asked too much. You book the flight I’ll be ready when it’s time to go."

Jim held on to her hand and pulled her into an embrace. He just stood there holding her silently to him.