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“Just a friend?”
I blushed.
***
Six months later, Walter looked at me across the table at our favorite diner.
“Debbie, I don’t want to waste any more time.”
My heart skipped.
“What do you mean?”
“Debbie, I don’t want to waste any more time.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
“I know we’re not kids anymore. I know we’ve both lived whole lives without each other. But I also know that I don’t want to spend whatever time I have left without you.”
He opened the box.
Inside was a simple gold band with a small diamond.
“Will you marry me?”
I started crying happy tears. The kind I thought I’d never cry again.
“Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He opened the box.
***
Our wedding was small and sweet.
My daughter and son were there. A few close friends. People who kept saying how beautiful it was that love could come back around.
I wore a cream-colored dress.
I’d spent weeks planning every detail myself. The flowers. The music. The vows I’d written by hand.
I wanted everything to be perfect.
Because this wasn’t just a wedding. It was proof that my life wasn’t over. That I could still choose happiness.
I’d spent weeks planning every detail myself.
Walter wore a navy suit. He looked so handsome yet so nervous.
When the officiant said, “You may kiss the bride,” Walter leaned in and kissed me gently.
Everyone clapped.
For the first time in 12 years, my heart felt full.
Everything felt perfect.
Then, while Walter was across the room, a young woman I didn’t recognize walked straight toward me.
She couldn’t have been more than 30.
A young woman I didn’t recognize walked straight toward me.
Her eyes fixed on mine as if she’d been searching for me.
She stopped close enough that only I could hear.
“Debbie?”
“Yes?”
She glanced over her shoulder at Walter, then back at me.
“He’s not who you think he is.”
My heart raced.
“What?”
She glanced over her shoulder at Walter.
Before I could say anything else, she slipped a folded note into my hand. The words haunted me:
“Go to this address tomorrow at 5 p.m., please.”
Below was an address. Nothing else.
“Wait, who are you? What are you talking about?”
But she was already walking away.
She turned back once at the door and nodded at me. Then she was gone.
I stood there, frozen.
Below was an address.
I looked up at Walter across the room. He was laughing with my son. Looking so happy. So innocent.
Was I about to lose everything I’d just found?
I couldn’t focus for the rest of the reception.
I smiled, laughed, and cut the cake.
But inside, I was terrified.
What was Walter hiding? Who was that woman?
Had I made a terrible mistake?
I was terrified.
I excused myself and went to the bathroom.
“You need to know the truth,” I whispered to my reflection.
Whatever it was, I couldn’t ignore it. I’d spent 12 years running from life. I wasn’t going to run anymore.
I made a decision right then.
I would go to that address and face whatever was waiting for me.
Even if it broke my heart.