"Well I for one am glad you made it," Eward countered, his head hung low before he raised it to look directly into her eyes. For the remaining talk he did not move them for more than a second, his breaths becoming more frequent as he tried to prepare himself. If she was not going to confess her true feelings then it was left to him/
"Katherine it does not pain me to say what I am about to confess to you but it is difficult all the same... I am sorry. For how I behaved around you all these years, and I regret it wholly and completely. You have every reason to doubt me and worry that my word is not true or said in genuine affection but I beg you to keep an open mind as I tell you I can't stop thinking about you..." His voice faltered but he continued. "You are in my thoughts daily since that night and suffice to say it is driving me mad. My sisters have noticed, I have lied to them and also to myself; the truth is I long to be around you as you simply fascinate me. Before, I thought my anger was just because we were opposites but I realise now that all these years I have held a deep, unyielding attraction to you which I have hidden under so many masks, simply because I could not stand the truth of you hating me.."
Eward took a much needed breath, a small smile on his face; this was liberating, albeit scary. "I confuse even myself in explaining, but in short - I wish to put the past behind us. I do not want to fight any more. I hope for you, possibly in the future, to think of me if not not as a friend then simply as a good man who took one woman's mistake as a chance to rectify a lifetime of ill treatment. I may not deserve your kindness, but I feel I must beg of it this moment."