“You let me wait for fifty-five years.”
“I know.”
Then I asked the question that mattered most.
“If Danny chose Margaret, why is he here now?”
Helen gave me a phone number.
“Call him.”
I did.
The next afternoon, my backyard filled with wedding guests.
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Danny smiled when he saw me.
“You look beautiful.”
“So do you.”
Helen walked me down the aisle.
Danny looked relieved.
The ceremony began.
“Do you take Danny to be your husband?”
I looked directly at him.
“No.”
Silence.
Danny’s face changed.
“Helen got to you.”
“Actually, your son did.”
His expression collapsed.
I continued.
“Margaret wasn’t just your nurse. She was your partner for almost fifty years. The mother of your children. The woman you built a life with while I thought you were dead.”
“You’ve twisted everything.”
“You never married her because you were still married to me.”
Danny said nothing.
“And now, suddenly, you wantedn urm another wedding. Funny how important our marriage became once Margaret was gone.”
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He tried to explain.
I stopped him.
“You were very interested in whether my house was paid off. And whether I had a will.”
His face changed.
“That’s when I understood why you came back.”
“I loved you.”
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“Maybe once,” I said. “But you didn’t come back for me. You came back for what I owned.”
“That isn’t true.”
I looked at the man I had mourned for most of my life.
I no longer saw my nineteen-year-old husband.
I saw a stranger wearing his face.
“You were right about one thing,” I said.
“What?”
“At our age, we shouldn’t waste time.”
I pointed toward the gate.
“So please don’t waste another minute in my house.”
Danny walked away.
Helen came to stand beside me.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“Can you forgive me?”
“Not today.”
I looked at the empty wedding chairs.
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For fifty-five years, I had waited for Danny.
I wasn’t waiting for anyone anymore.
I’d thought keeping that cheap little ring meant staying loyal to him.
Now I understood the person who deserved my loyalty was me.
