“The marriage condition wasn’t in the original plan. Michael added it a few weeks before he died.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. He made the change the day after Ethan visited him.”
Suddenly, I remembered being twenty-two.
Before Michael, there had been Ethan.
We had secretly dated for four months before Ethan suddenly ended things.
Michael comforted me. Eventually, I married him and loved him deeply.
But now I needed to know why Ethan had really left.
When I confronted him, he finally told me the truth.
“I never wanted to leave you.”
“What?”
“Michael told me you chose him.”
My stomach turned.
“He said you were embarrassed to tell me yourself. He told you I didn’t want anything serious.”
“He confessed before he died,” Ethan continued. “He told me he’d lied to both of us.”
“Why?”
“Because he loved you.”
Michael had seen an opportunity and taken it. He told Ethan that I wanted him. He told me Ethan didn’t want me.
Neither of us knew the truth.
“You disappeared first!” I cried.
“I thought you’d chosen my best friend!”
Fifteen years of memories suddenly shifted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were happy. I wasn’t going to destroy your marriage because my feelings were hurt.”
“So Michael decided he could fix it.”
“He thought he owed us the choice he stole.”
“By making another choice for us?”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“You knew all of this before marrying me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“At first, I was afraid you’d lose Michael all over again. Later, I was afraid you’d think everything I did was because I wanted you back.”
“Did you?”
His answer took too long.
“I don’t know.”
Then he said something I hated because it sounded exactly like Michael.
“You would try to carry everything alone until it crushed you.”
“And the kids are my family too.”
I looked toward the stairs.
“So what happens now?”
“You decide.”
