[His words and gesture have their intended effect and she smiles, a beam of sunlight through the thick clouds this topic always seems to bring. Still, she's glad it's not as she feared.]
[Her thumb gently strokes his cheek for as long as he keeps her hand there.] I wish I could take the pain away, so that when you thought of her you would have nothing but joy.
What is that 'everything else'? [She has a feeling she knows, but making presumptions right now wouldn't be fair.]