He smiled. “Same thing at our age.”
It made sense.
At least, I wanted it to.
You’ve thought about this a lot.
***
The day before the wedding, I invited my family over and announced our surprise.
“We’re getting married tomorrow.”
Everyone started talking at once.
Then Helen arrived.
She walked into my backyard, saw Danny, and stopped cold.
We’re getting married tomorrow.
Danny leaned toward me. “That’s the face of someone who never expected her lie to walk through the door.”
Helen looked at me. “You cannot marry that man.”
I laughed bitterly. “Now you care?”
“Please.”
“You knew he was alive.”
You cannot marry that man.
Her face changed. “Who told you that?”
“He did.”
Helen looked at Danny.
Then back at me. “You need to listen to me.”
“I listened to you fifty-five years ago!”
You knew he was alive.
“Not here.”
“Why? Because there are witnesses?”
She grabbed my arm. “I wanted you to leave back then. Yes.”
My chest tightened.
Danny had been telling the truth.
You need to listen to me
“You convinced me to move.”
“Yes.”
“You married his friend.”
“Yes.”
“You knew things you never told me.”
Danny had been telling the truth.
“Yes.”
I pulled away. “You stole my life.”
Helen’s eyes filled. “I made a terrible decision. But not for the reason he told you.”
Danny appeared beside us. “Don’t do this, Helen.”
She turned on him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
You stole my life.
“Helen…”
“No.”
Then she looked at me. “Fine. Ask your perfect husband who Margaret is.”
The name caught somewhere in my memory.
Then I remembered. “The nurse?”
I made a terrible decision.
Danny went completely still.
Helen gave a bitter little laugh. “Yes. Ask him about his nurse.”
Danny ignored her. “She helped me after I was injured. She saved my life.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
Ask your perfect husband who Margaret is.
Helen shook her head. “Then tell her how long Margaret kept saving you.”
“Enough!”
Danny rarely raised his voice.
That frightened me more than the shouting itself.
Then he softened. “Sweetheart, after fifty-five years, are you really going to let your sister destroy us again?”
How long Margaret kept saving you?
I looked at Helen.
Then at him. “No.”
My sister stared at me for several seconds.
“Then I hope you ask yourself why he came back now.”
She left.
That frightened me more.
***
That night, Danny slept beside me.
I didn’t.
At two in the morning, I realized love had answered every question for me except the ones Danny kept avoiding.
- Why didn’t he have Helen’s letters?
- Why rush the wedding?
- Why ask about my house?
- Why now?
And why had one name frightened him?
